Robinson Crusoe On Mars (PG.)
Directed by Byron Haskins. 1964.
Starring Paul Mantee, Victor Lundin and Adam West. 110 mins. Released on Blu-ray by Eureka!
No film reviewer worth his acid managed to get through a review of The Martian (link now goes to review of the film rather than American Ultra) without mentioning this piece of 60s sci-fi, and Eureka! have got in there sharpish with this Blu-ray release. The main appeal is clearly nostalgic: harking back to a simpler age of film making, or perhaps a poignant reminiscence of when you first saw it as a child.
Robinson Crusoe On Mars is nothing if not straightforward: it promises you Robinson Crusoe on Mars and that's exactly what it gives you, with Mantee getting stranded there after a rocket malfunction causes their Mars mission to ditch and crash land on the red planet. His commander dies, but the ship's monkey survives. Still, chin up; American astronauts are made of stern stuff so he goes about locating food and water supplies and nestling up in his little cave.
Considering how old it is, the effects have aged quite well. The sets may look fake and location work in Death Valley doesn't look much like Mars but shot in wide screen Technicolor it often looks rather lovely. Director Haskins was a dab hand at this kind of pulpy sci-fi adventure having previously directed From Earth to Moon, Conquest of Space and War Of The Worlds
I remember seeing this film as a kid, on one of those curtain pulled summer afternoons when I should have been outside playing. I'd been very excited about seeing it, primarily because it had Adam 'Batman' West in it, so when he gets killed off in the first fifteen minutes I was quite disappointed and overall I found it a bit boring. Decades later and I felt much the same sting of disappointment. There are lots of long dull stretches, primarily while Mantee and his monkey work out or luck into ways to survive.
On the other hand you are impressed by how much spare time they had back then, people were prepared to sit and watch these thing slowly unfold.. The main virtue of space films from the era was simplicity - both in the colour scheme and the message. Everything was doable with a can do attitude; perhaps that is why The Martian has proved so popular half a century later.
Robinson Crusoe On Mars (PG.)
Directed by Byron Haskins. 1964.
Starring Paul Mantee, Victor Lundin and Adam West. 110 mins. Released on Blu-ray by Eureka!
No film reviewer worth his acid managed to get through a review of The Martian (link now goes to review of the film rather than American Ultra) without mentioning this piece of 60s sci-fi, and Eureka! have got in there sharpish with this Blu-ray release. The main appeal is clearly nostalgic: harking back to a simpler age of film making, or perhaps a poignant reminiscence of when you first saw it as a child.
Robinson Crusoe On Mars is nothing if not straightforward: it promises you Robinson Crusoe on Mars and that's exactly what it gives you, with Mantee getting stranded there after a rocket malfunction causes their Mars mission to ditch and crash land on the red planet. His commander dies, but the ship's monkey survives. Still, chin up; American astronauts are made of stern stuff so he goes about locating food and water supplies and nestling up in his little cave.
Considering how old it is, the effects have aged quite well. The sets may look fake and location work in Death Valley doesn't look much like Mars but shot in wide screen Technicolor it often looks rather lovely. Director Haskins was a dab hand at this kind of pulpy sci-fi adventure having previously directed From Earth to Moon, Conquest of Space and War Of The Worlds
I remember seeing this film as a kid, on one of those curtain pulled summer afternoons when I should have been outside playing. I'd been very excited about seeing it, primarily because it had Adam 'Batman' West in it, so when he gets killed off in the first fifteen minutes I was quite disappointed and overall I found it a bit boring. Decades later and I felt much the same sting of disappointment. There are lots of long dull stretches, primarily while Mantee and his monkey work out or luck into ways to survive.
On the other hand you are impressed by how much spare time they had back then, people were prepared to sit and watch these thing slowly unfold.. The main virtue of space films from the era was simplicity - both in the colour scheme and the message. Everything was doable with a can do attitude; perhaps that is why The Martian has proved so popular half a century later.
