Red Planet Mars

I recall seeing this as a youngster and being really disappointed! No Flash Gordon, no rockets, space guns, not even any Martians. After viewing it again recently, I realize, there was a REAL story here. More fantasy then sci-fi, views more like "The Next Voice You Hear", another movie that dealt in the spirtuality of modern times. A great cast performs admirably and the unexpected conclusion make this one well worth a second look.

Apparently, 1952 was the year the Big Guy finally got broadcasting rights in the US. Because movies like The Next Voice You Hear (1952) and this one managed to put God in direct communication with us mere mortals courtesy the Hollywood hotline. Of course, it really helped when the Big Guy enlisted on our side against the godless commies, while His Presence also helped clean up Hollywood's image as a commie harboring red nest. You might even call His intervention a godsend for the film industry.

Actually, this 90-minutes is to effective propaganda what the sledgehammer is to the fly swatter. At least, its companion movie (The Next…) had the good sense to avoid the obvious, like crude stereotypes. On the other hand, this concoction has no such inhibitions. Commies are uniformly beasts, Russian peasants are uniformly downtrodden, and Americans are uniformly thoughtful. I don't know what Soviet propaganda was like at the time, but it couldn't have been much cruder than this.

I will say the movie is well mounted visually. In fact, the skillful complexity of some of the visuals clashes with the simple-mindedness of the script. On the whole, I wish I could say this propaganda piece is nothing more than a clumsy Cold War artifact. But it's not. Unfortunately, it feeds into that current sense of smug self-congratulation that goes by the popular meme of American exceptionalism.

I enjoyed the film, like a little snip of history, as you could "feel" the mood of the times just watching it.

What I was wondering, when you see Peter Graves watching television at home he is clearly looking at a wide (really wide) screen set seemingly embedded in a wall that is made of stone floor to ceiling.

Additionally, he has knobs on a table along side his chair to turn on and off the set.

For all intent and purpose (with the exception of no remote control) the room is set up rather like a home-theater only in 1952. Were there wide screen television able to be set into a wall with knobs on tables back then? I noticed too that the screen was surrounded by wood trim, rather like the way you see a wall mounted AC unit! Interesting.

Completely Corny, Heavy Handed Attempt to Meld the Topical Communist Red Scare with Sci-Fi and an Over-the-Top Christian Religiosity.

Sombre, and seemingly Unaware of the Self-Conscious Sermon Like Dialog and Christian Witnessing that Permeates the Proceedings, Especially in the Second-Half.

It Starts with a Science-Fiction Template of a Communications Scientist Trying to Send and Receive Signals to and From the Red Planet.

The Interjection of a Russian Scientist Attempting the Same and the First-Half is Played rather Straight with the East-West Cold War.

Somewhere around the Middle the Movie Ratchets Up the Paranoia.

It goes way Out-There once Signals seem to be Received Regarding an Advance Knowledge of Futuristic Natural Resource Economy and the Ability to gain Abundance from very Little.

In the Third Act All Hell Breaks Loose Literally as Things become Ultra-Religious with Orthodox Imagery, Bible Verse, and a Satan Worshiper.

It's one of those that is Difficult to Describe and has to be Seen to be Believed.

Worth a Watch for just that Reason.

It is one that is so Out of Orbit from the Usual Stuff that it will Not be Forgotten.

Peter Graves plays a scientist in San Diego, California who receives messages from Mars on his radio transmitter (sneakily intercepted by the Russians); initially, the decoded Martian messages about prolonged life and their unnecessary need for industrial mechanics throw America's population into a tailspin. However, it turns out Mars is a Christian planet, and their next communication with us, a regular "sermon on the mount", begins to ease tensions and starts a religious revival worldwide. Talky think-piece, adapted from a play, amusingly full of clean-cut, incredibly polite Americans and savage-acting Russkies. Not likely to please science-fiction fans who are used to propulsive action, though the b&w cinematography by Joseph Biroc is excellent and there are some interesting ideas and a last-act plot-twist. Released at a time when communist hysteria was running rampant in the U.S., the movie is brave enough to attempt a humanitarian tact--and naive enough to believe in what it preaches. A livelier cast might have made it more memorable, but check out Peter's big-screen TV! ** from ****