The Angry Red Planet By 1959 there were many takes on this still imaginary journey, and producer Sid Pink didn't hesitate to repeat them. His graphically wild view of Mars makes this gem, which it needs to. Devoid of science or likable characters, the film is still tops in rehash from the twilight of the 50's.
	The long missing Mars probe is landed by remote control from Earth. Rescuers park inches from the smoking rocket as a woman is helped down its ramp, followed by a body on a stretcher. In the hospital, doctors mull over the fate of the survivors, Dr. Iris Ryan, and Col. Tom O'Bannon. Iris' amnesia means she can't remember what that goo is that continues to absorb Tom.
We finally get into space with her flashback, which may explain why each scene seems to focus on her B-starlett self as the moronic dialog ensues. Now we meet the suave Col. Tom(cross Don Knotts with Ricky Ricardo), Sam the radioman(Ernest Borgnine meets Jay Leno), and Dr. Tokenscientist, played by Les Tremayne. In their portholed motel room of a rocket, they kill time in their pennyloafers, endorsing Bulova clocks and Burroughs computers.
	Dining from unsecured tin cans stacked loosely on shelves behind very wooden looking cabinet doors, they while away the hours discussing Dr. Ryan's figure until they land on Mars. Suiting up, they behold the Angry Red Painting, a lush, but still and silent jungle, where Iris is grabbed by a giant Venus Flytrap.

Sam dispatches the plant with his sonic raygun, but not before Dr. Ryan reminds us what a terrible actress she is. A second excursion runs them into what Iris somehow thought was a group of trees, which turns out to be the now famous friendly neighborhood spiderbat. This they leave a blinded wretch via Sam's sonic raygun, pressing on to the shore of huge, placid lake. They return to the ship where Tom says that he and Dr. T have decided to return to Earth 3 weeks early, and are strapped in and doing so 5 seconds after the "surprise" announcement, but a force field holds them down. Guessing at the cause, they raft onto the great lake and sight a floating city when they are attacked again! With paddles too small for ping-pong they beat the enormous amoeba to the beach, but it pursues to the ship, proving too much for the sonic gun. Absorbing Sam, the beast covers the rocket until they charge the hull with electicity. Freed to go, they hear a voice on the radio warning them not to return. Iris has fainted again, Tom got amoeba goo on his hand, and Dr. T has a coronary as they lift off. Back at the hospital, the taped warning is played to restore Dr. Ryan who saves Tom and everything is GREAT. Back to Film Views Home