Tuesday, October 3, 2023

ROCKETSHIP XM 1950 (BETAMAX TV)

One of the earliest sci-fi films, and one of the best.

The film opens with just minutes to go before the first ever rocket is sent to the moon. We are introduced to the crew and before you know it they have blasted off.

All is well early into the flight, but something goes wrong and the rocket begins to hurtle thru space at an incredible speed and the crew passes out.

When they awake they find thay are closer to Mars than the moon so the head of the expidition, Dr. Karl Eckstrom (John Emery) decides they will take this rare chance given them and land on Mars.

Upon landing they disembark and find that life on Mars has been reduced to prehistoric cavemen after a long ago atomic war. Everyone is killed or injured by these savages except Col. Floyd Graham (Lloyd Bridges) and Dr. Lisa Van Horn (Osa Massen).

On the journey back to Earth they discover they don't have enough fuel to make it and they burn up in the atmosphere. This is a very downbeat film and that is kind of suprising. However it does make for grand entertainment.

The print I saw was the original with the red tinting of the scenes on Mars. I love this film and wish it was seen more. The rest of the cast includes Noah Beery, Jr., Hugh O' Brian and Morris Ankrum.

True sci-fi fans will no dubt enjoy this, and I am sure most of you have probably seen it already.

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