I never want this in my nightmares. Unless I AM the monster.
The Angry Red Planet[1] (1959, aka Invasion of Mars and Journey to Planet Four) concerns the first, disastrous trip to Mars. Mission Control has detected the presumed-lost exploration ship, now in orbit around Earth, and returns it to home base via remote control. Within the rocket they discover the remnants of the crew, and, through flashbacks, one of the survivors offers the story of the trip: the easy flight to Mars, the successful landing, and then the descent into disaster – the eerie feelings, a spectre at the porthole, the wildlife which they kill, and then in turn kills them.
And then the final warning from the masters of Mars to the inhabitants of Earth.
I might also add the boring stereotypes of characters, with the exception of the strong female scientist, wretchedly sexist dialog, the mixture of good and bad science, and, finally, the lack of thematic material, rendering the movie dull on an intellectual and emotional level.
But not all is awful about this flick. The special effects, which I would guess is the stuff of legend within the B-list movie cult, is more than adequate in the case of external views of the rocket (we speculated that it’s simply video of the rockets of the 1950s, played forward and backward), and the scenes on Mars, while perhaps not entirely realistic, were so outré as to excite comparison to avant-garde efforts. Apparently consisting of overexposed film that has been tinted red, the combination of scarlet tone (denoting danger) on landscape and various hideous monsters leaves this audience member wondering if he’s wandered into a painting by Salvadore Dali[2].
Emblematic of the overall impact of this movie, however, is the lone weapon deployed by the explorers, which, while employed like a laser gun, emits no palpable energy, nor has it gravitas, either metaphorical or physical. Frankly, it looked like it weighed as much an empty toilet paper roll, and its owner’s affection for it is rather creepy.
And so goes this movie. Some interesting flash, but at its core – rotten.
1This movie seems familiar, but I was unable to discover a previous review.
2With apologies to Emil Ferris.
