Rocketship XM :1950 This film is believed to have originated from a 1948 project which special effects pioneer Jack Rabin named Destination Moon. The screenplay is by the film's producer and director, Kurt Neumann, and based on two of his earlier writings.
These were: Journey Into the Unknown, and None Came Back. The film's association with George Pal's Destination Moon (1950) is more than one of timing and subject matter. Neumann started production after Pal, but released his film to theaters weeks earlier.
	Rocketship X-M rode the wave of national publicity which was generated for D. Moon. This was to X-M's great benefit, while making the larger Moon project look bigger and better by comparison. Both concern the first voyage to the moon. Major similarities end there.
The tale begins as a voice echoes: "X minus eighteen minutes." Yes, 18 minutes before liftoff, our astronauts are checking their heartrates while preparing for a press conference. Pilot Floyd Graham (Lloyd Bridges) makes a crack about their fuel expert, Lisa Van Horne (Osa Massen).
	The "weaker sex" has the only normal heartrate of the five person crew. How amusing! Reporters gasp upon learning that the first moonshot is minutes away. One asks Lisa how she feels about being alone with four men, and why a woman is even going.
Doctor Eckstrom (John Emery) says an almost tearful goodbye to Doctor Fleming (Morris Ankrum!), who co- developed the R. X-M, and boards the ship with Lloyd, Lisa, Hugh O'Brien as navigator, and comic relief engineer Noah Beery Jr.
	Beery has a compulsive need to mention TEXAS whenever he speaks. Lisa sounds almost convincing during the pre- flight check on fuel mixtures, then it's time to strap down on the bunks for liftoff. Disguised momentarily as a V2, they rocket into the stratosphere.
"We're on our way.", radios Dr. Eckstrom. Credit must be given for the fact the R. X-M uses a booster stage, which Destination Moon did not foretell. Aside from nearly colliding with the cast off first stage, and a meteor shower, the flight goes as planned.
	Gravity lets go of a few objects, but the crew exhibit no sign of weightlessness. Suddenly, the engines shut down! Tests say the problem must be in the fuel mixture, sending Lisa and Eckstrom into a computerless mathematical fury. Earth cannot help them.
As they drift helplessly, Beery whips out a harmonica (Joe Sweeney style). Eckstrom and Lisa get different conclusions from their calculations, and he insists the error is hers. He informs Lisa that there is no time to continue the calcula- tions with both sets of figures.
	Lisa is miffed: "Aren't you human? Are you made of ice?... I'm sorry, I apologize." Eckstrom: "For what? For momentarily being a woman?" Later, when Lisa warns of the unpredictability of the changes they are making to the system, Eckstrom dogs her once more.
"Woman's intuition again?" Soon they are ready to try the new fuel mixture, concluding Lloyd's porthole musings. The engines burst into life and- Uh-oh! Maybe Lisa isn't as dumb as they thought! Unprecedented acceleration slams them to the decking.
	All lose consciousness as the vessel's unchecked speed rockets them deeper into the void. They awake many hours later, and marvel at the excessive speed they achieved in the vacuum of space. They cannot be sure how they did it, but one thing is certain:
Their speed is increasing, even with the engines off, because they have over-shot the moon by several million miles and are already within the gravitational pull of Mars! "Whadaya know!" Beery remarks. The decision is made to attempt a landing on Mars.
	A rainstorm welcomes them as they touch down on the barren surface. They wait until morning and set out exploring. They carry oxygen, but wear no protection from the elements. They survey a rocky wasteland which was tinted red to Martianize the Mojave.
The five trek miles from their rocketship, and eventually encounter a group of strangely shaped buildings in the distance. At their feet, buried in the sand they find a metal sculpture of a humanoid face. Eckstrom says they have supplies for several days.
	He and Lisa agree that they must investigate as long as possible. So, they try to spend the "night" in a culvert, huffing away at their tiny oxygen tanks, leaving Hugh O'Brien on watch. Only he sees the figures creep from the rocks, then disappear into the shadows as the others wake.
The five explorers from Earth follow, finding footprints. "Well, it doesn't take an Apache to Blah, blah, blah..." Hugh has enough sense to want to return to the rocket, but Dr. Eckstrom intends to follow the prints alone. Beery volunteers to accompany him, leaving the three to wait.
	Beery and Eckstrom track the Martians until they come upon a girl who seems blinded by cataracts. She screams, and two guys covered with scabby scar tissue escort her away. Eckstrom is now certain that these mutants are the all that remain of a great civilizaton destroyed by atomic warfare.
Hoardes of mutants send a hail of stones from the ridges above, and Beery is never to see Texas again. Eckstrom flees, catching an axe in the back. He dies upon finding the others, begging them to report their findings. The mutants bombard the three survivors.
	A huge rock smashes Hugh, who is carried off by the other two. Soon the R. X-M has left the red planet, plotted for Earth. As Hugh lays semi- conscious in a bunk, Lloyd is finally getting Lisa to realize it is her lot on life to go for his hunky lead protagonistness.
Confessing their love, they prepare for re-entry, only to find there is no fuel left whatsoever. They radio Morris Ankrum, who is crushed to learn of Eckstrom's demise, and tell him of the ruined state of the Martians. They transmit all they can of their voyage.

With no more to be said, the porthole is milked for one last scene as Lloyd and Lisa have a final embrace. They see the Earth rushing towards them and then a blinding light as they are incinerated by friction. Later, Ankrum tells reporters that their flight was Not a failure! "Tomorrow we start construction of RXM2!" Filmed for less than 100 Grand, with only three weeks of shooting, Rocketship X-M stands as a companion piece to Destination Moon. With less than 20% of D. Moon's budget, this project also fueled the public's new found fascination with space. The two rocket interior sets were very good (good enough to show up in later movies) and there was a clear attempt at scientific accuracy. While D. Moon won an Oscar for special effects, R. X-M had almost no special effects to speak of until 1978: Enter champion film archivist Wade Williams! In '78, Williams acquired the rights to Rocketship X-M and carefully re-edited the film to include three minutes of additional new footage. Williams and his team created shots that had been left to the imagination in the original version, and filmed them in such a way that they would blend perfectly into the 28 year old production. As of yet, the Academy has failed to realize that Williams should have received an honarary Oscar in 1978 for his skill and resourcefulness in this groundbreaking restorative effort.

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