Osh's Space Odyssey: Adventures in Sci-Fi Geekery: June 2023

The Angry Red Planet (1959) American International Pictures Starring Gerald Mohr, Naura Hayden, Les Tremayne, Jack Kruschen

Probably needs therapy...

Angry Red Planet is the directorial product of Ib Melchoir.

The story begins with the return of a space probe MR-1 that was thought lost in the exploration of the Planet Mars.

Failing to make contact with the crew, ground control tries to bring in the rocket through remote control...

Push random buttons and see what happens.

with much of the film being supplemented by stock footage. Back in the day government stock footage served as filler to extend the run time of the film, as well as a cheap solution giving the illusion of production value. (Shoot the rodeo as stated by RLM).

When the ship successfully lands ground control finds they are only two members to return from the original four man crew. Dr Iris Ryan (Naura Hayden) and Col Tom O'Bannion (Gerald Mohr) are found aboard the ship and the rescue team find that the Colonel is infested with an alien growth on his arm. Sadly the two other crew members, Sam Jacobs (Jack Kruschen) and Professor Theodore Getell (Les Tremayne) are nowhere to be found.

Dr Iris is asked to recount the details of the mission and the story begins being told in flashback fashion.

Ok so if the door is at the bottom, where do the engines go?

Spaceship is ready to chart the stars...

Much of the trip to Mars is standard conversation expositing to the audience scientific knowledge at the time of the planet Mars They , banter between the crew, setting up the dynamics of the character archetypes (Brave captain romantically involved with female doctor, smart scientist guy providing info dumps on sciencey stuff and goofball engineer providing comedy relief. Old timey sci fi fans you know the drill).

Skipper

Mary-Anne

Professor

Gilligan

Roomy and spacious crew quarters. They
really knew how to build rockets back in the day!!!

Suddenly I feel like ordering
some Kenny Rogers chicken...

Of course most of the interesting stuff happens when the cast actually land on Mars and start exploring the Planet's surface.

This is where the film's gimmick kicks in. All scenes that take place outside the ship is filmed in a red tint the film-makers called "Cinemagic".

Much of the Martian landscape takes on an "otherworldy" effect as the screen becomes saturated with a crimson hue.

Ooooh, I'm so very angry....

As she is peering out the porthole Iris gets a first look at the Martian staring at the crew through the window. She screams and the rest of the crew take a look outside but see no trace of the alien. Looking at it reminds me personally of the aliens in the 1958 film "I Married a Monster from Outer Space"

In the land of strawberry jelly...

The crew set out to explore this strange new world and the Iris is attacked by a giant carnivorous plant monster. Luckily she is rescued by Jacobs and his freeze ray gun.

Exploring alien wildlife

I think I'm going
to call you "Cleo"

Peek abooo...

The crew decides that they have had enough adventure for one day and retire to the ship only to find that they

Rat Bat, eject...

are unable to communicate with Earth. It seems that the Martians are preventing any transmissions.

Day two of the expedition our heroes runs into the film's most iconic creature the infamous Rat-bat spider crab monster. Yes you read that right. Once again the crew are saved by Sam and his freeze ray as he fires into the monster's eyes and blinds it. (Yes I know about the creature being showcased on the Misfits album cover).

Realizing the dangers the crew decide to leave the mission early but are prevented from taking off due to a force field holding the ship in place.

Seeing as they can't leave O'Bannion leads the team out on a Martian lake where they see the cityscape of the inhabitants and marvel at the architecture.

Just sit right back
and you'll hear a tale...

Meet George Jetson...

Step right up, take
a look at the stars...

Up from the depths...

Before our heroes can make their way towards the cityscape they encounter a giant aquatic amoeba that breaks through the water and gives chase to the explorers. While running back to the ship the slimey attacker manages to get a hold of Sam and not even his freeze ray can save him from being digested by the creature. The captain's arm manages to get infected as well.

Hedora's lesser known cousin.

Yummy, lunch...

The creature engulfs the ship and the crew surmise that it will eventually dissolve the craft via digestive acid.

Thinking quickly they realize that by rewiring the ship they can electrify the hull. the plan is successful and the ship is able to takeoff. Due to the stress of the takeoff the professor dies of a heart attack leaving Iris and the Captain as the only survivors.

The Green Sliiiime!!!!

At this point we are taken back to the beginning of the film, where Iris realizes that the same electric shock solution used on the monster can be utilized to cure the Captain.

Everything seems to end well until the flight crew find a recording on the flight logs featuring an alien voice (Ted Cassidy: Lurch Addams Family, Balok: Star Trek TOS) warning the people of Earth never to set foot on the planet again.

All in all this movie is a fun ride of 50's irreverence and nostalgia.