Zombies of the Stratosphere

Solid followup to RADAR MEN, this fast-paced Republic serial pits federal agent Larry Martin against Martians hell-bent n blowing the Earth out of the solar system and into oblivion. Larry often dons the rocket suit to fight them, so we get lots of shots of him flying, and these scenes are quite realistic. The special effects team rigged a dummy on a wire and flew the thing several feet above the ground. The only catch is, Larry's not exactly a superhero and manages to get beat up and knocked out several times by his much tougher opponents. Also, he's a lousy shot with a handgun. So's everyone else, for that matter. No one ever gets shot. Also, everyone -- good guys and bad guys -- wear the same suits and fedoras, and they're all thin as rails, so at times it is hard to tell who's who. When they fight, they almost never lose their hats, the better to hide the stuntmen. Only the Martians are dressed differently. They wear what appear to be costumes from some old King Arthur movie. And they're green, of course. The amazing physical stunt work was handled by three of Hollywood's best stuntmen. It's wise not to watch this all in one sitting, by the way. Too much repetition of the flying scenes. There is a condensed, non-serial version from 1958, if you prefer. Regardless of what you're heard about colorization, make sure to watch this in computerized color. And watch for a young Leonard Nimoy as Martian No. 2.

Around 1990 Television NZ screened a colourised feature of this serial. I've never seen any reference to it elsewhere. It ran about 100 minutes. Considering how bad some colourisations can be this one was quite good, being very similar to Eastmancolour in the tones but without the saturation.

I didn't see any zombies in this movie (outside of the viewer....), but I did see Leonard Nimoy in one of his first screen credits. This serial style program which centers on the exploits of a rocket powered hero is a horrible movie, at least by modern standards, but it's so bad, it's funny and although I gave it only a 2 rating, it's campiness could almost make this one a cult classic! One of the funniest things is the control panel on our hero's chest. To go up, he rotates a knob to a spot labeled "up". To go left - you guessed it, he rotates the knob to a spot labeled "left". At the end of each scene, our hero is left in an impossible situation, only to have a slightly different take on that scene showing how he got out of it at the start of the next scene. Pretty funny! We sure hope he saves the damsel in distress and the Earth from those nasty Martians and the future Vulcan.

When viewing "Zombies of the Stratosphere " out of the context of the 1950's, it can be said that the serial falls short of avg. standards, but that said, if you have a Sat. afternoon to spend with your son, and conditions warrant you from going outside, then get out the popcorn, warm up the VCR, and pop in this adventure!!! While evil Martians(Zombies) plot to knock the Earth out of its orbit, with an Atomic(Hydrogen) bomb, Larry Martin and friends , outwit and out hustle, this dedicated group of Evil Doers, with 11 Chapters of car crashing , boat chasing, robot fighting, cliff hangers, that may amuse the over 35 crowd, and could delight younger viewers, whose Fantasy of Flight, is fulfilled, from those of us that are gravity challenged !!! Even the Female leads fight , and are not intimidated by the Outer Space villains !!! While the plot is so-so , this serial is very nostalgic , of a time when the future held so much promise, and the Universe, that was so close, still held so much mystery !!! Get the COLOR version, much more depth !!! Watch the landings onto the Spaceships, by flying humans, needs a little work !!! Enjoy !!!

One of my all time.... SO BAD IT´S REALLY GOOD FAVORITES! What is there to say about Movies like this one??? On just about every imaginable level... And in about every single production area you can name... This one is truly a STINKER! Everyone has heard of LOW BUDGET.... In this case... It is more like..... NO BUDGET!

Dozens of untintended laughs guaranteed!!! ..... If...Of course ... You can manage to sit through the ENTIRE 1 Hour and 15 Minutes!!!! ENJOY!!!