The Angry Red Planet (1959)

Shot in only 10 days, The Angry Red Planet is one of those films that is probably not all that good but if you watched it at the right age then you’ll probably have a soft spot for it.  It’s quite infamous for its use of the cinemagic technique which in simplistic terms lays a distracting pink hue over the ropey effects shots so that you don’t notice how poor they really are!

Story-wise it concerns the return to earth of Rocket Ship MR-1 from its manned mission to Mars.  There are only two survivors left and they recount their adventures upon the red planet where they were attacked by various alien creatures including the spectacular forty foot bat-rat-spider thing!  Anyway they eventually escape the power of the alien force field that’s holding them there and return to earth to impart their cautionary tale.

To add some further weight to the argument that Mars is a deadly place to visit, the scientist discover a message telling them that humanity has been judged too dangerous to be allowed to ever return to Mars and that the Earth will be destroyed should the warning ever be disregarded. A little bit contradictory I always thought but then like most of the sci-fi films of the time, its all about The Bomb, really


Steve