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| - It's the fruition of years of effort by avuncular Walt Disney-ish Dr. John Emery and his business partner Robert. Five middle-aged scientists and military men have been selected as the crew, led by Emery, (who designed the rocket), and pilot Colonel Graham (Lloyd Bridges). They elect to land, even though the ship was engineered for the Moon. As they descend akin to how one would back a truck up to a loading dock, we note that Mars has a thick cloud cover, thunderstorms and heavy rainfall, all of which was known to be inaccurate at the time. Hugh O’Brian rounds out the cast.
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| abstract
| - It's the fruition of years of effort by avuncular Walt Disney-ish Dr. John Emery and his business partner Robert. Five middle-aged scientists and military men have been selected as the crew, led by Emery, (who designed the rocket), and pilot Colonel Graham (Lloyd Bridges). After a press conference replete with baloney ("Gyros...will keep us right side up throughout the flight", explains Emery, and "We will keep in contact via shortwave radio" - ha ha!), the crew boards via a fifteen-foot ladder. (The Saturn V that powered the first Apollo moon landing was 363 feet high). This particular vehicle looks rather like a German V2, except that (we have been informed) it is a stage rocket. Bizzaro-world instrumentation includes artificial horizon and airspeed indicators. On leaving orbit, the ship is nearly rear-ended by its own jettisoned first stage (they decoupled it while its thrusters were still operating! How smart was that?). Next, an asteroid swarm (they call them "meteors") , the very same one confronted by the Lunar Eagle 1 from "12 to the Moon" and the Pegasus 4 from "The Phantom Planet". It illuminates the inside of the ship as though an elevated train were passing and generates the required whooshing noises in the vacuum of space (the studio suits probably insisted on it). Instead of course corrections they make 90-degree "turns" like a '57 Buick rounding a corner at 60 mph. In this film universe, gravity "falls off gradually to nothing as they get farther out into interplanetary space" (actually its effect would disappear once attaining orbit - I looked it up!) and then it only affects harmonicas and bomber jackets. (In fact, because they are under constant acceleration until the engines shut down, they would never experience any microgravity such as depicted in the film). Considerable film stock is devoted to gazing out a mammoth port window while Graham rambles on about nothing (his lungs, curiously, seem to have plenty of air here) to Danish lady-type scientist Dr. Lisa "Ice Queen" Van Horn (Osa Massen). Provincial jet-jockey and feed-lot comedy relief Major Corrigan (Noah Beery, Jr.) can't shut up about how his native Texas is paradise on Earth. They burn the engines for fourteen hours until they shut down unexpectedly (no need to do this because of Newton's first law of motion and the absence of friction in outer space). The scientists blame the fuel mix and alter the composition to an untried formula (risking everyone's life in the process). On ignition, everyone swoons from acceleration, and (days later?), they awaken just 50,000 miles from Mars. How? Divine intervention of course, explains Emery, who has learned he has to say things like this to get grants. They elect to land, even though the ship was engineered for the Moon. As they descend akin to how one would back a truck up to a loading dock, we note that Mars has a thick cloud cover, thunderstorms and heavy rainfall, all of which was known to be inaccurate at the time. On the surface, they all don "breathing equipment" - World War II gas masks that probably would not have been a wise choice for the vacuum of the Moon - and begin a recon. They discover the radioactive ruins of a once-advanced Martian civilization and are able to deliver, for perhaps the first time in cinematic history, what went on to become a genre staple - a warning about the likely consequences of nuclear Armageddon. The not-so-savvy group spend the night camping out in the open - with no food, water, tents, bedrolls, blankets, fire or iPhones. On awakening, they espy primitively-dressed humans/Martians (some are wearing "Members Only" jackets) observing from afar. Tactlessly, they race up the mountain en masse to confront them and are promptly and deservedly attacked. The Earth dinks flee, and in the process Major Corrigan and Dr. Eckstrom are slain and the navigator injured. The survivors immediately take off for Earth. Although their arrival at Mars was garnered only by the most improbable of coincidences and/or the hand of God, somehow they return to the vicinity of Earth just as easily. Alas, they discover - at the 11th hour - the fuel is exhausted and no landing is possible. The screenwriters heroically blame the woman ("It's all my fault!", wails Dr. van Horne) The ship augurs into the ground, killing everyone, although they actually would have burned on re-entry. Before meeting their doom, however, Colonel Graham and Dr. Van Horn bond romantically and share an imaginary lifetime together, creatively reminiscing about all the retroactive good times they never had. Maybe they even joined the Mile High Club, who knows? Eckstrom's business partner, Robert, appears emotionally crushed by the loss, but is able to put a positive spin on the whole thing. Hugh O’Brian rounds out the cast.
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