Clearly this should have been my pick for Better Dead than Red. This is Seeing Red week and Red Planet Mars is currently available on instant Netflix.
PASS: Red Planet Mars (1952) – Not rated.
“A scientist (Peter Graves) attempts to contact life forms on Mars and receives a response that changes the world in this Cold War-era sci-fi film. The message, claiming a utopian society exists on Mars, causes a panic in the United States as fears of the aliens presumed advanced technology result in a collapsing economy. But is the message really from outer space, or is there a communist plot brewing?”
“Its the Sermon on the Mount…from Mars.”
“That will silence their hymns. What do these superstitious peasants think? They cannot compete against our guns.”
Okay I feel a little ripped off. I went into this thinking that this was a typical 50s science fiction schlockfest like say The Angry Red Planet or another Peter Graves one Killers from Space. The first clue that I was mistaken was that the opening credits indicate this was based on a play.
Peter Graves plays Chris Cronyn, our hero. He is the stock earnest scientist from many sci-fi films of this period. Remember when scientists could be heroes in a movie? Now if you have a scientist, they are inevitably misguided, delusional or the outright villain.
On the other hand many 1950s movie scientists are really computer technicians, hobbyists, communications & electronics specialists, etc.
Andrea King plays his wife and fellow scientist, Linda Cronyn. She delivers almost every line as if it is the most important line in the movie. While she seems over the top, her character is written to essentially speechify (as is the movie itself).
Of course we do have an evil scientist. Herbert Berghof plays Franz Calder, a German scientist who had been in prison for many years. As this is 1952, the assumption must be made that he worked for the Nazis and was jailed at the end of World War II. Of course now he works for the Russkies.
When the Cronyns reveal that they are in contact with Mars, media circus is given a whole new meaning. Not only do reporters camp out in front but so do people selling Mars photos, buttons and balloons.
It is pretty hysterical that when this happens Cronyn (the man of course 
) wins a Nobel Prize and our economy practically collapses. Mars can feed 1,000 people per half acre so food prices collapse. They use cosmic energy so when we hear of that the coal market collapses followed by the steel industry. Next up is a run on the banks.
Never mind that there is no indication that Mars is going to share this with us. On the other hand is it really any more far-fetched than the “complex derivatives” and other chicanery that drive our stock market?
Those darn Russkies are gloating until we find out that the Martians are Christians! No I am not kidding.
There are no special effects and almost no action at all. The movie just consists of people talking in a house then talking in a lab then a government building then back to the house and repeat.
The Netflix reviews seem pretty polarized. Either people love it for the pro-faith message (but do not kid yourself – it is very strictly pro-Christian faith) or hate it.
I found many of the ideas to be interesting but the film itself is too boring and the plot so full of holes that it is almost laughable. I liked the Franz Calder story arc as well as the ending but it does not make up for the rest of the film.
I did like that the film was not afraid to be anti-war when we were in the middle of the Korean “police action”. The pro-Christian faith message though is so pedantic and laughable that while I do not hate the film, I can certainly see why others would.
There is no real reason to recommend this. Similar to yesterday, this film would have been better as a Twilight Zone episode.
People Watch: Peter Graves went on of course to lead the Mission Impossible team. Andrea King went on to play in Blackenstein – I swear I am not making this up.
