Robinson Crusoe on Mars
| Robinson Crusoe on Mars | |
|---|---|
 film poster for Robinson Crusoe on Mars | |
| Directed by | Byron Haskin |
| Written by | Daniel Defoe (novel Robinson Crusoe) John C. Higgins Ib Melchior |
| Produced by | Aubrey Schenck |
| Starring | Paul Mantee Victor Lundin Adam West Mona (the monkey) |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release dates | June, 1964 (U.S. release) |
Running time | 110 min. |
| Language | English |
Robinson Crusoe on Mars is a 1964 Techniscope science fiction film retelling of the classic novel by Daniel Defoe. It was directed by Byron Haskin, produced by Aubrey Schenck and starred Paul Mantee, Victor Lundin and Adam West. It was released on DVD for the first time as a special edition from The Criterion Collection on September 18, 2007.
Plot
Commander Christopher 'Kit' Draper (Paul Mantee) and Colonel Dan McReady (Adam West) are the crew of Mars Gravity Probe 1. When they reach the planet, they are forced to use up their fuel to avoid an imminent collision with a meteor. With the ship now stuck in orbit, they have no choice but to eject to the surface, the first men on Mars. McReady is killed in the landing. Draper is stranded, with only a monkey named Mona for company.
He finds a cave for shelter. Then, he figures out how to obtain the rest of what he needs to survive. First, he burns some coal-like rocks for warmth and accidentally discovers that heating them gives off oxygen. This allows him to refill his air tank and move around in the thin atmosphere. Draper then constructs a crude sand clock that sounds an alarm to awaken him for a needed dose of oxygen. Later, Draper notices that Mona keeps disappearing periodically and that she is uninterested in the dwindling supply of food and water. He gives her a salty biscuit, but no water; when Mona gets very thirsty, he lets her out and follows her to the underground pond she has found. As a bonus, there are also edible plant "sausages" growing in the water.
As the days grow into months, Draper slowly begins to crack from the prolonged isolation. He watches helplessly as his ship, an inaccessible "supermarket", periodically crosses the sky. Without fuel, the ship does nothing when he orders it by radio to land.
One day, while walking about with Mona, Draper notices a rock standing in an unnatural position, as if deliberately planted as a marker. He looks at the ground around it and sees bones. He brushes away at the soil to expose the skeletal remains of a hand in a black bracelet. He digs up the rest of the skeleton and determines that the creature was murdered, as the skull is charred. Frightened, he signals his ship to self destruct to remove all signs of his presence.
Just in time as it turns out, as Draper sees a ship descend and land just over the horizon. At first, he believes it to be a rescue ship from Earth. In the morning, he heads towards the landing site, only to see an advanced alien craft in the sky. Realizing his error, he approaches cautiously and sees slave labor being used for mining. One of the slaves (Victor Lundin) escapes, running into Draper. The alien ships blast the area as the two flee. The stranger has black bracelets on his wrists just like the one Draper found earlier. That night, they witness the aliens blast the mine area and depart. When they investigate, they find the dead bodies of the other slaves.
Draper names his new acquaintance Friday, after the character in Robinson Crusoe, and starts teaching him English. In return, Friday shows him "air pills" that provide oxygen. They gradually grow to trust and like each other.
After a while, the aliens return, tracking Friday by his bracelets. The aliens blast the castaways' hiding place, forcing Draper, Friday and Mona to flee through the underground Martian canals. They eventually end up at the polar icecap. Exhausted, freezing and nearly out of air pills, they build a snow shelter "just like the Eskimos." Draper finally succeeds in cutting Friday's bracelets off. A meteor (probably the one from the beginning of the film) crashes into the ice cap, creating a firestorm and melting the snow.
Just then, they track an approaching spaceship. At first, Draper believes it to be the enemy again, but then their radio broadcasts a human voice. Draper identifies himself, and a lander comes down to pick up Draper and his companions. The credits then roll as Mars recedes in the background.
Production
Many of the Mars scenes were filmed in Death Valley National Park, California, at Zabriskie Point, Ubehebe Crater, and the Devil's Golfcourse.
The alien mining ships are identical to the Martian war machines from the 1953 version of The War of the Worlds. In fact, they were the same, recycled props, painted silver and modified so that the rays do not come from the stalk on the top, but from its replacement, a grid on the bottom. Byron Haskin also directed the earlier film.
These ships are often confused with the aliens' space craft, but this is incorrect. Draper sees a single ship land and depart. The ships that repeatedly blast away at the planet's surface are apparently the aliens' version of mining equipment.
Cast
- Paul Mantee as Commander Christopher Draper.
- Vic Lundin as Friday.
- Adam West as Colonel Dan McReady. West would later become famous as the star of the television series Batman.
- Barney, the Woolly Monkey as Mona the monkey.
Songs
Two songs were inspired by and named after the movie. One was sung by Lundin, the other by Johnny Cymbal.