Я был спутником Солнца aka I Was a Satellite of the Sun (1959)

I was a Satellite of the Sun (Or in Russian; Я был спутником Солнца) was a Soviet science-fiction film from 1959.

and as a bonus it includes a space monkey...

Steve

Eddie Gaedel - Space Midget! (1959)

Something to do with baseball and entertaining the crowds!  I don't really understand cricket to any great degree so there's no hope of me going into detail here.

"In 1959, Eddie made his last public appearance, dressed as a Martian and appearing out of a flying saucer at Comiskey Park in Chicago. He presented his Martian ray gun to White Sox players Nellie Fox and Minie Minoso"
...... according to one website.  Now you know as much as me.  Still,  great images.

Steve

Destination Space (1959)

TV pilot for a proposed series that never got anyone excited at the time.  Uses some stock footage from Conquest of Space as well as original stuff, so may look familiar.  I've not had the pleasure but it seems to have it's fans now days

 

Steve

Journey To The Moon (1959)

Rehla Ilal Kamar or Journey To The Moon as it is better known round our way, is an Egyptian film from 1959.  It's said to be something of a take on Abbot and Costello Go to Mars although it drifts away to slightly darker places towards the end.  Beyond that, you are on your own to go and explore the deeper merits and entertainments offered in such  as this.

But still; spacesuits from Egyptian cinema....who would have thought it!
Thanks for the find, Tim.

Steve

Men Into Space (1959)

I know very little about this American TV show except it ran for 38 episodes from 1959 to 1960 and was about men in space.  I don't think we got it over here on this side of the pond but the little I've read online make it sound quite interesting for its time.

 

Enjoy the rest of the gallery and then contemplate if this is the same space helmet as worn by Danz Borin in Star Wars IV

 

And this is Star Wars' Danz Borin...

  

So what do we think?

 

 

Steve 

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

The Three Stooges in Have Rocket will Travel (1959)

The Stooges are working as janitors at the Space Center but following an inevitable mix up they end up blasting off into space and heading for Venus.  There they encounter a talking unicorn, a giant fire breathing spider and an alien computer that creates evil duplicates of our comedy heroes.

It’s all harmless fun.... if not just a little bit like a load of other Stooges material.  Same gags, different backgrounds!  Can't help feeling these suits have been round the block one too many times as well.

Steve

First Man into Space (1959)

In the film the First Man into Space, Lieut Dan Prescott; test pilot, is flying his experimental rocket plane Y-13 and becomes the first man to fly outside the ionosphere.  Unable to turn the craft back round, Prescott ejects and is covered with metallic meteor dust.

When the craft returns to Earth, there is no trace of its pilot but soon after, first cattle, then people are found with their throats cut by something that seems to have a craving for blood.  Our errant spaceman has become transformed into something monstrous.

Sounds perfectly entertaining to me.

Steve

Nixon and the Spaceman (1959)

1959 and Vice-President Nixon visits Tomorrowland to say; Hello Spaceman…..although he seems far more interested in the Spacelady at this point.  Still, 10 years on from here and President Nixon will be chatting to a very real spaceman by telephone.  From The Whitehouse to the Moon, one small step but one very expensive phone bill.

Steve