La Conquête de l'espace

It is interesting that Pal felt the first astronauts would be like navy crews - I don't think that NASA ever sent NCOs into space, only the best qualified scientists and pilots. The age of the commander would have disqualified him as well, and as it turns out, that would have been better for the expedition. I found the Irish "tag-along" character deeply annoying, and I am not sure how he could have managed to sneak on board.

All that aside, this was Hollywood's first serious attempt to reach Mars, and considering that Viking hadn't been there yet, it's not too bad. Shame about the blue skies...

Most interesting for me was that the futuristic "minimalist" fittings and fixtures on the space wheel look like nothing other than the style of the sets for the really up-to-date Star Trek: Enterprise.

Yes, just like the present, it's going to be a retro future, folks!

Intended as a follow-up to his previous success DESTINATION MOON, George Pal puts together a visually-impressive rocketship story that is largely successful, if a tad slow. While the first film used science-fiction author Robert Heinlein for its source material, this film uses the works of rocket scientists Willy Ley and Werner Von Braun. The difference between the two beginnings result in a little less characterization, and a little more emphasis on the hardware.

Some of the characters and situations are standard sci-fi fare, but the quality of the execution is remarkably high. Production values are top-notch, and show Pal's touch despite budget limitations. Some stock character relationships (the father/son turmoil, the commander's breakdown) fill in less serviceably, but the honest adventure works, far better than recent 'sci-fi' epics like ARMAGEDDON, which tread the same hackneyed stereotypes and cliches, but without the honest enthusiasm and optimism of the earlier, more innocent time. What results is still a superior product to most of the 50's SF pictures.

I can think of few other films with the stunning, vibrant color of this one--it's rather sad that Hollywood can't do these glowing hues and bright visuals anymore.

Disregard the critics on this one. This unpretentious film has much to offer on many levels. First of all, the acting is very good, especially from first time non-actor Phil Foster, whose primary occupation was that of a 'stand up' comedian.

Also, the performance of the highly under appreciated character actor, Walter Brooke, is a winner. Brooke is believable as the General in charge of the Mars mission, whose mental fabric is rapidly deteriorating under the pressure of evolving religious misgivings about the divine role of humans in space. This challenge to religion, within the framework of a science fiction film, was quite daring for the time.

Although not one of Director George Pal's best, the film, nevertheless, affords an informative and highly entertaining look at how the "future used to be", as viewed by the 50's generation. And incredibly, among all of the things they got wrong, how very much they got right.

Producer George Pal was a man of vision and accurate imagination. The one thing that he can be given undeniable credit for is how accurately he portrayed the surface of Mars. The Mars Explorer photographs when we had them revealed a world not unlike what we see in Conquest Of Space. Of course a lot of credit is also due to scientist Willy Ley whose books are the basis of the film.

Conquest In Space is a future world concept from 1955 where we now have a World Space Organization where the USA is taking the lead in space exploration. An international space station is constructed and people live there months at a time. It's under the command of General Walter Brooke who is concerned with the psychological problems of being too long in space. So he wants a handpicked crew for the exploration of the moon.

But the authorities on earth are shooting for bigger game. Kind of unrealistically they decide to forget the moon and aim for Mars. Brooke is in command and his eventual crew is his own son Captain Eric Fleming, Sgts. Mickey Shaughnessy, Benson Fong, and Phil Foster. In this future world no blacks or women are on the space station. The presence of the latter might well have cured at least some of the problems the guys were having.

On the way there Brooke develops some space problems of his own as he gets downright metaphysical, wondering if God meant for us to leave the planet earth that He bequeathed as a domain for man. Those issues cause all kinds of problems for the rest of the Mars expedition that are the basis for the plot of the film.

Conquest Of Space is imaginative but also intelligent. No hostile Mars creatures are found at least not in the corner of Mars they land. It was a realistic assessment of man surviving in a hostile environment and one of the better science fiction films of the Fifties.

This movie recently came out on DVD so I rented it from Netflix. I'm reasonably familiar with the plot and the work of Bonestell, Pal, and Willey Ley, so I don't think I had unreasonable expectations for this movie. Sadly my expectations were still to high, as I didn't enjoy this movie despite the interesting visuals done up by Chesley Bonestell and George Pal.

Compare this movie to the 1956 movie Forbidden Planet, and think about which one gives you a better 'futuristic' portrayal of how mankind has advanced in 'the future'. Even allowing for the un-PC aspects of the 1950's (which I find amusing/enjoyable, not offensive), the plot devices of Conquest of Space are absurd. There's no way that a mission to mars wouldn't catch the mental problems inherent in one of the main characters, which is the primary plot device for causing peril in the mission.

Buy/rent this movie for the visuals of the space vehicles and Mars, and for the place in sci-fi history this movie occupies, not because you expect this to be a 'good' movie. The basic premises of the plot are pretty heavily flawed and therefore annoying.