Movie #28: The Angry Red Planet

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100 Sci-Fi movies in 100 days!

"The Angry Red Planet" is a sci-fi film from 1959 which was directed by Ib melchior and stars Gerald Mohr, Naura Hayden, and Les Tremayne.
It's about the first spaceship sent to explore Mars, which disappears. We finally recover the ship, bringing it back to Earth via remote control. Only 2 of the 4 crew members are still alive... an unconscious girl and a guy in a coma with some sort of alien growth attached to his arm. The scientist are able to wake the girl up and as she slowly starts remembering what happened to them on Mars, she tells an amazing story of horror about giant creatures living on the Red planet. 

With the girl's help, the scientists are able to remove the growth from the guy's arm. The two astronauts tell of a warning that the aliens of Mars gave to them before they made it back to Earth. The recorded message is found aboard the spaceship and is played back, revealing a message from Mars that if the Earth sends another ship to their Planet, they will destroy the Earth.

                   Click on the box above to see the trailer

I thought the acting was pretty good and the costumes, props and sets were practical and believable for that time period. The special effects were unique... they put the film of the crew on Mars fighting aliens through some sort of process (which the trailer refers to as "cinemagic")that made it look almost like a negative image with a glowing red tint to it. It was actually pretty cool looking. 

Here's the Mars mission crew seen with the "Cinemagic" applied

The alien creatures they encountered on Mars were pretty freaky. One was a giant fly-trap type plant creature with tentacles. Another was a giant crab-like creature with a bat's head. There was even a gelatin type creature that reminded me of the creature on "The Blob." Yes, Mars is wickedly dangerous place that we Earthling should stay clear of.

Les Treymane as "Mentor" in the TV series "Shazam!"

One of the actors, the doctor aboard the spaceship, was Les Tremayne. He later acted in one of my most beloved kid's TV shows of the '70s... "Shazam!" Les played Billy Batson's mentor who drove the Winnebago RV. What a great actor. He passed away a few years back. Wish I could have gotten his autograph on a Shazam picture.

I enjoyed watching the film, but I don't think it's for everyone. But if you want to see some cool trials at early sic-fi special effects, then go for it. It's on Netflix and Youtube.

- Patrick Shawn Bennett
Broadcasting from the red planet.

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