User reviews

Although this film is totally silly in nature, it is a bit of nostalgic fun... reminding me of long ago days of the B movie being shown with the main feature at the drive-in theaters. I saw this with the altered title of 'The Horrors of the Red Planet', but there is a total lack of 'horror' in the entire film. The acting by one and all is definitely not worthy of adding to a resume. The plot is beyond thin and the action, if it could be called that, is as slow as molasses. John Carradine's role is short, but far from sweet. Basically he gives us a rather boring monologue and that's it. Overall, you'll thank your lucky stars that the film is so short, although it seems longer.

WIZARD OF MARS is very slow, as some of the preceding comments would indicate, but it is also extremely beautiful, and the slow pacing adds to the hypnotic effect. The film is literally like a half-remembered dream, but it's difficult to decide if this is due to deliberate artistic choice or the demands of the "road show" live performance/film feature combination that this film was originally meant for. One should note that certain themes seen in this film (time loops, nature of time) reoccur in other of Hewitt's films - THE TIME TRAVELLERS most notably. This is *not* an Ed Wood-style "bad film" to be laughed at - either you are prepared to make allowances for it and enter it's half-remembered, dream-like Martian landscape, or you just shouldn't bother to watch it at all. Do not expect convential narrative or action - not for fratboy parties or Mystery Science Theatre-oids.

I remember this movie as being shown a lot on the "Mel Jazz Afternoon Movie" show on an independent Minneapolis TV station in the very early 1970s.

When I was 6 years old and seeing this, it was the stuff of nightmares, especially the frozen Martians in the castle who looked like "Wishnik" trolls in tubes. I also recalled the castle itself, and the way the sun shined with 4 points.

Unfortunately, I was able to see this movie again much more recently, and it did not hold up to childhood impressions.

One of the big continuity flaws not mentioned by others is when the astronauts cross the desert. They are walking in a well-trodden path of hundreds of footsteps in the sand from previous takes of the scenes... and this is supposed to be unexplored territory! There is really no attention paid to matters like this. The presence of a hot dog vender on this popular beach would not have made the scene much worse at all.

The characters are annoying and not very well acted. The only thing I will say for this film now is that some of the music is good, and some of the visual elements (the Wishniks in the tubes and the castle) are decent pieces of production design. The parts I remember from childhood held up, but the rest of it, which I did not recall, is pretty bad.

I remember seeing this movie as a kid on the "Sunday Afternoon" movie on the local station in the late 70's, but I couldn't remember the title. I knew it had to be from the 60's so IMDb helped me narrow the possibilities. The key was I remembered the astronauts finding a "Golden" road under the desert, so the "Wizard" title grabbed my eye.

A Google search brought some web sites that fully describe the movie and show screen shots.

I am a bit disappointed now that the actual movie does not live up to my memories of it. I remember it being kinda spooky and strange, but now it seems really stupid.

I would like to see it again, too bad there doesn't seem to be a DVD yet. I wonder if it is on any movie compilation set of "B" movies.

Paul

I saw this little gem on late nite TV as a kid and it has stuck with me every since. From the psychotronic sound track to the low budget effects and cheesy plot, this is a gem of Z grade science fiction from a true Hollywood outsider - David L Hewitt, the king of low budget masterpieces!

I guess I'm nostalgic about unloved, low budget movies from this time period. If you shot a movie like this today on your fancy video camera, edited it on your Macintosh and promoted it on the Internet, it would suck royally. I have a certain respect for self-made directors like Hewitt who churned out exploitation flicks like this in the 60's, when it truly was a 'labor of love'.

I own several Hewitt movies on DVD but sadly, Wizard has yet to see the light of day. I'd pay good money for a Wizard of Mars collectors edition DVD with a commentary from the master himself. Quick, someone get Criterion on the case!

It's certainly not the best movie, and it's definitely not the worst either...but it is very slow going.

I remember seeing this as a child and never knowing what movie it was...I remember the walk through the volcanic interior of Mars and the part where the hapless astronauts find the oxygen containers...and the run out of the Martian City...but I for the life of me do not remember seeing that inane "yellow brick road", nor the actually pretty scary-looking Martians...lord knows that woulda really scared the beejezus out of me.

Like I said in the title, it's got John Carradine and it's in color. Sums it up pretty well I think.

Somehow I pleased to had watch it on 1983, hereinafter never got a chance to see it again, yesterday I have found it at Youtube with original audio and subtitled in English either, the image is quite acceptable at least, starting watch it I've been wondering when the main star John Carradine will appears, just in last part sadly in quickly appearance displaying his face only, what a waste indeed, whilst it was a smart conceptive idea developed by David L. Hewitt, even with scarce money it became a fine offer of sci-fiction and horror genres.

A Rocket with five earthlings landing at circle polar on Mars, they had a lowest supply of oxygen for four days only, thus they sailing in a boat in a poisoned lake (Death Valley alike) passing through a longest natural cave (Lehman cave at Nevada) end up in a volcano underneath, get out of there into a desert area toward a crumbling empty city of an ancient Mars civilization, coming in inside the city strangely such place has oxygen, they found the Martians tombed on crystal tubes, when appears a holographic image the Wizard of Mars (David Carradine) explained how high advance civilization made the time stood still due they break the universe's laws.

Tie up by lack of money the producers have to improvise a lousy Rocket-Spaceship where had an odd and inconceivable device to look at space thru a periscope alike, whoever had designed it was drunk or nutty quite sure, a wooden set where a easily noticed for the audience, laughable special effects and so for, oh my God, at least the plot is well-crafted.

Thanks for reading.

Resume:

First watch: 1983 / How many: 2 / Source: TV-Youtube / Rating: 5.

I bought the video originally because the box said that Lon Chaney and John Carradine were in it. Well, Lon was nowhere to be found and this flick is not part of his filmography. However, John's head was in it, so that's no lie! The box art was also exciting-looking as it proclaimed the flick was titled "Horrors of the Red Planet." Well, its really "Wizard of Mars," but I would have called it "The Insomnia Cure of the Red Planet." "Wizard" resembles a large budget student film of wannabe filmmakers who must have been using this production for practice and who may (or likely did not) go on to better things. An amateurish looking drywall "spaceship," Death Valley-style desertscape, Carlsbad caverns, and what looks like a warehouse set the scene. Our band of high school play dropout explorers land on Mars and discover an ancient civilization replete with aliens housed in tubes (that have mud packs for makeup) and eventually the alien disembodied "Wizard" image of a John Carradine (desperate for work). The Wizard's "city," as depicted in miniature, looks like an aquarium castle, with a sun shining over it as if with a flashlight shot through a bedsheet in a darkened room. I could go on for several paragraphs with descriptions about the almost scene by scene mistakes of logic, science, bad acting/script/staging, etc...ad nauseum. Perhaps thats why I find this film so fascinating...it has so many mistakes, its an adventure to find them. Only the atmospheric photography in a few scenes and the sci-fi-weird music was really of note.

Visual artistry, fine acting, a John Carradine performance weighted more by subtlety than flamboyance, accurate scientific research, careful, attentive direction, and a tight, coherent script all WOULD have made this film a good one. But Alas it was not to be! This is a muddled mess about four astronauts that must land on Mars only to follow a yellow brick road to an empty Martian city(one crumbling building). The scientific knowledge used to fuel the script has more holes in it than a chunk of swiss cheese. I must confess the concept has(had) possibilities, but under the grade z budget and the lacklustre acting, etc... it becomes a test of endurance for the viewer..whether or not he or she can see the film without dozing off. The first forty minutes or so are nothing more than the four astronauts walking around in a desert and a bunch of caves, constantly reminding us of the little oxygen on the planet and their own low supply. Funny that, however, as fires raged all over the planet. I always thought a fire would not burn without oxygen...but then again science isn't my strong suit( nor the people's that brought us this film). Finally, the astronauts reach the city with a red dome, find a dead/living alien intelligence and talk with the bust of John Carradine(for over fifteen minutes...a real test of endurance here). After this, I have no idea what really happened, but was glad whatever it was ended. The film is not the worst I have seen...and there are a few good moments, but the budget is just soooo low. A real eyelid drooper!

"The Wizard of Mars" is a rather boring low budgeted film. I watched it mostly hoping it was at least interesting when it came to the parallels to "The Wizard of Oz" but sadly this didn't pan out at all.

The film begins with a space ship crashing onto the surface of Mars. There are several men and, surprise, a lady. Their biggest problem is that they only have a very limited supply of air and so they leave their vessel in search of some way to survive. This search makes up the bilk of the movie and, sadly, it never gets interesting or the least bit like "The Martian"...it's just a cheaply made film with dull characters (despite the supposed Oz parallels). Even for bad movie buffs, this film has little to offer...it's not even enjoyable on a camp level.

This low-budget film from 1965 is set in the distant future of 1975. It tells the story of an American spacecraft with four people on-board that crash lands on Mars. There's a kind of twist at the end that renders this synopsis somewhat incorrect. The story actually has a theme to it, which relates to the passage of time. And there are a couple of references to "The Wizard Of Oz".

But overall, it's a slow moving boring affair that tests the viewer's patience. The character named Charlie, second in command, looks like a high school dropout who joined a circus. Much of the dialogue has each crew member informing another crew member of technical information that all four should have known about long before they ever left Earth. All this talky exposition is for the benefit of the viewer, of course. The woman, named Dorothy, whimpers: "Steve, what are we going to do now?" Responds Steve: "We'll have to run for it" ... a crew of real knowledgeable astronauts there.

On Mars, lots of screen time is spent just wandering around their surroundings, making stupid comments and asking dumb questions. In these sequences, the dialogue occurs while the camera is quite some distance from the characters, giving the impression that the visuals were shot first, with the dialogue superimposed in post edit.

Later, they encounter live beings, sort of. And the wizard finally makes an appearance well into the second half. When he does, he speaks in English, conveniently, and his voice has an echo chamber quality to it. He launches into a laughable, loquacious monologue that goes on for a tortuous four minutes. It's one of the more humorous parts of the film.

Special effects look cheap, though I did find the reddish, pink colors marginally convincing, given this is the red planet. Casting and acting are poor. Dialogue is awful. Scientific credibility is nonexistent. At least the script made an effort to create some thematic heft. And for me that's what saved "The Wizard Of Mars" from being a total cinematic disaster.

Four dips on a spaceship which looks like a grade school pencil sharpener land on Mars, even though they weren't supposed to (they were only going to take photos to make a map).

Once 'our heroes' get their heads out of their butts, they can explore the surface. The crew consists of a lame commander, a co-pilot who could pass for one of the Bowery Boys, a chick with a dubbed voice, and a hairy Mexican.

These half-wits cross a pond, get caught in a cave, and almost become roasted when they try to pass through a valley of fire. Unfortunately, they survive all of this and reach a deserted city. It is here where they meet the disembodied head of John Carradine (who else?).

Cheap movie cost about $1.75 to make. Cool 'space music', though.

Four astronauts (why is it always 'four'?) arrive at Mars to map the surface, but get pulled down by an unseen force.

Upon their exploration of the planet, the space travelers stumble onto a 'golden road' which takes them to a 'lost city' where they meet a 'wizard'. Considering The Wizard of Oz parallel, there really aren't too many similarities --- oh yeah, the chick astronaut's name is 'Dorothy'.

John Carradine is the 'Wizard', but the script may have been more interesting if the film-makers decided to stick with the plot of discovering an ancient civilization on Mars and lose the adaptive 'Wizard of Oz' element.

By rating this film as "excellent", of course, I mean a perfect example of this classic sci-fi space genre. As a collector of these films (I have over 100), this is one that I use as an example of just how "so bad it's good" can get.

The dialog is so terribly limited, and the action is so utterly action-less, that it truly IS hypnotic.

The parallel with "The Wizard of Oz" is just too precious for words. Hey, they even "follow the yellow brick road". No mention of the famous (non-existent) Martian canals, but they do run into a "tin man" in the shape of an old space probe from Earth...probably the best scene in the movie.

John Carradine's role as the Wizard is more like a reprise of his role of The Preacher (Grapes of Wrath) with none of the good writing. He drones on for minutes on end, talking about how the Martians became so smart that they distanced themselves from the Fabric of Time; and suddenly you find that you have, in fact, lost all track of time too. Brilliant.

I'm sure that the film makers were trying to make a serious statement...what that might be, I have no clue. That's not even important. Films like this are not meant to be compared to the post-Star Wars reality of space movies; not meant to be analyzed in a contemporary light.

For me, in the world of sci-fi space films, this one takes at least a tie for first place. Personally, I like to watch this (and most of the other pre-Star Wars space films) in black & white. They seem to make more sense that way. The original color print seems to want me to take this more seriously than I am able to. But the b & w viewing takes me right back to a Saturday Movie Matinée, and I'm 10 years old again.

I find this film particularly delightful when viewed from this nostalgic POV. It's why I collect, and why I whole-heartedly recommend this film.

You may be wondering just what horrors await you in the movie, "Horrors of the Red Planet. Let me break it down for you:

Story...Horrendous. Acting...Horrific. Script...Horrible.

I collect classic sci-fi movies, and in order for the collection to be complete, it was necessary to include this flick.

There are lots of really sad sci-fi specimens from the 50//60s, and a few that are true gems. But this has to rate as the worst of the worst. It makes "Plan 9 From Outer Space" look like "Citizen Kane."

An appearance by respected actor John Carradine only serves to illustrate, by contrast, how horrible the other actors are, and indeed, how far his own career had slumped by 1965.

Prospect of sitting through it a second time...horror personified.