ROCKETSHIP X-M (1950)
Tagline: The screen's FIRST story of man's conquest of space!
(Sci-Fi, Adventure, Angry Martians) [PG]
Note – This movie did not originally have an MPAA rating, but I am pretty sure it would have been a PG due to the ending.
You can't be arbitrary about imposing your will when these people's lives are at stake, don't you realize that? And you speak as calmly as if you were saying 'Pass the salt.' Aren't you human? Are you made of ice?
In this one Rocketship X-M is on a mission to the moon when a malfunction sends the vessel hurling towards Mars instead. Upon arriving on Mars the crew determines that an atomic war has wiped out most of the Martians and all that have survived are caveman-like humanoids. Can the crew overcome incredible odds and make it back to earth?
First off, this movie is actually made by Lippert Pictures which I don’t know much about, but they have a LONG list of sci-fi hits and misses from the 50's so that is pretty epic. PROJECT MOONBASE, MONSTER FROM THE OCEAN FLOOR, and UKNOWN WORLD to name a few. This is one of probably 100 or more movies that end up centering around Mars, but the majority of the movie's run time is spent on the rocket with the crew trying to figure out what to do.
Acting-wise we get the legendary Lloyd Bridges who is the father of both Jeff Bridges and Beau Bridges. He plays one of the crew, Col. Floyd Graham, in this film, but really didn’t do any sci-fi in the 50s outside of this movie and 1975’s STOWAWAY TO THE MOON. He is most famous for playing Steve McCroskey in both AIRPLANE! movies. John Emery is also solid in this as one of the crew members Dr. Karl Eckstrom. Emery is most famous for his role in KRONOS. The crew's only female Dr. Lisa Van Horn (which was pretty common in 50s movies) is played by Osa Massen, who is very good in this. Osa stopped acting in 1962 but had a career that involved 43 different projects. This was the only sci-fi movie on that list. We also have another Morris Ankrum sighting. He plays Dr. Ralph Fleming but didn’t have a large role. He just had to be in it because he is awesome and he was in tons of sci-fi stuff. The X-M crew is rounded out by Noah Beery, Jr (as Maj. William Corrigan) and Hugh O'Brian (as Harry Chamberlain). O'Brian's career spanned from 1948 to the year 2000. He was even in the movie TWINS with Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
ROCKETSHIP X-M stands out for a few reasons.
1. It was one of the very first movies that actually showed the dangers of atomic war. At the time, that was probably a pretty gutsy move.
2. It’s a downer. I am not going to give away the ending, but in spite of some websites listing this as a family film, I would not be watching it with family unless I couldn’t stand them and wanted them to be depressed. I am starting to rack up quite a bit of 1950’s sci-fi movie watches and very few are as much of a downer as this one is.
Overall this movie is well crafted and you will actually get to see some of the older special effects if you watch the none DVD versions. This thing is even streaming online for free in a few places. Having said all that, it’s also a movie I won’t be re-watching. It’s a lot of talking with very little payoff.
This is 2 out of 7. As I like to say, being first or near first in something doesn’t always make a movie better.
GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF LIPPERT PICTURES AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY.
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