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The Angry Red Planet

The Angry Red Planet (1959)

November. 23,1959
|
5.3
|
NR
| Adventure Science Fiction

The first manned flight to Mars returns after having been out of communications since it had arrived on Mars. What would it reveal?

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Claysaba
1959/11/23

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

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CommentsXp
1959/11/24

Best movie ever!

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PiraBit
1959/11/25

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

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Kaydan Christian
1959/11/26

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

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tles7
1959/11/27

The Cinemagic effects were a total failure. The red tint at times looked a bit like Tron on a shoestring budget. Unfortunately, the drawings looked like drawings and not the desired 3D realism they were hoping for. I wonder if it was so visually poor when it was released in the theater...a psychedelic version of The Blob that must have given people headaches to watch. Maybe they just turned up the color so you couldn't see clearly how cheap it all is.

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a_chinn
1959/11/28

So-bad-its-good 1950s science fiction film about a co-ed team of space explorers traveling to Mars. There are some very fun special effects, which includes a 15-inch marionette standing in for a 40-foot tall monster that looks to be a combination of a crab, spider, and bat. Another dated element to the film is the wild amounts workplace sexism, which includes moments like:"You know, I can't say that I recommend spacesuits for beautiful young dolls. What happened to all your lovely curves?""You know, Irish, you're the first scientist I've ever known with lovely, long red hair!""I think I'll call you Cleopatra because you're such a cool doll!"Or from the female lead:"I know you think I acted like an hysterical female back at the ship, but I can assure you I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself."It's of course terrible, but the casualness of the sexism was morbidly entertaining the same way it is on "Mad Men." Also adding to this film's entertainment value is that it was filmed in "Cinemagic," which was reportedly a processing error that turned the mars sequences a pink tint. Overall, this isn't very smart of science fiction, but the corny special effects, the Cinemagic, and rampant sexism make this a very campy bit of 50s sci-fi entertainment.

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zee
1959/11/29

Warning, Mars is red. I mean RED. Between that and the piercing whistle laser, this is a migraine-inducing film.Standard B film sf plot of its era. Astronauts (old guy, chick, leader, and comic relief) go to Mars, there are monsters, they barely make it home. The best thing I can say about it is that they didn't suffer the cliché "meteor storm," just one meteor. About 50 minutes of actual story (lame as it is), padded by a totally superfluous framing device involving military talking heads.Oh, and guys, two pickup lines to never use: 1) I'd like to take you into a dark alley and 2) When I use your name, you'll know it.

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Paul Andrews
1959/11/30

The Angry Red Planet starts as the US spacecraft the X1 returns to Earth after a 60 day radio silence, the top brass at the US military are particularly interested in X1 as it was the first manned mission to Mars. Only two of the original crew that left Earth have returned alive, female scientist Dr. Iris 'Irish' Ryan (Nora Hayden) & the Captain Col. Thomas O'Bannion (Gerald Mohr) who has a strange green fungus like growth on his arm. It is quickly discovered that all the tape logs have been erased so the top Dog's have no idea what happened, the only chance of finding out what happened & to possibly find a way of saving Col. O'Bannion is to hypnotise Iris & unlock the secrets of her mind & provide the answers that their bosses want. As Iris is put under & starts to recount the expedition some of the things that she says may not make for easy listening as various encounters with martian aliens threaten the very existence of Earth itself...Co-written & directed by Ib Melchior this is one of those 50's sci-fi 'classics' that many people to seem remember for various reason & still enjoys a somewhat cult following even today, personally I think there are better sci-fi monster films out there from around the same period (It! The Terror From Beyond Space (1958) to name one I much, much prefer) but for what it is I suppose it's watchable enough. The script is your basic space adventure in which a team of astronauts find themselves on an alien planet battling native dangers including killer plants & three eyed Martians. Despite the potential for a cracking sci-fi adventure I found the majority of The Angry Red Planet quite dull, it takes ages to get to Mars & then not that much really happens, the crew walk around a bit, talk a lot & finally leave. As for Col. O'Bannion back on Earth infected with alien fungus I am surprised they just didn't cut his arm off, hell limbs have been amputated for a lot less that the potential threat of wiping out all mankind with an alien disease before! At 80 odd minutes it's not too long but again not that much happens, its hardly exciting & it just felt a little underwhelming to me. The final moral message about mankind destroying itself & becoming a threat to everything else in existence is a well used one & comes as no great surprise, it was clichéd even back in 1959 when The Angry Red Planet was originally made & released. I guess the word 'classic' can mean different things to different people but it's hardly a term I would endear The Angry Red Planet with.While watching The Angry Red Planet you have to bear in mind the period in which it was made, it goes without saying that the scientific & technical aspects of the film are laughably bad. From huge computers to the clichéd cylindrical rocket ship to the fact the US military seem to be pulling all the strings & making the decisions rather than NASA or any proper scientists to the idea that plants grow on Mars to the fact that the crew seem to enjoy perfect Earth gravity throughout their entire journey including in the X1 & on Mars itself. The makers advertised they had used a new filming process called 'Cinemagic' which was apparently supposed to blend hand drawn paintings & monster puppets with the live action actor's seamlessly, it failed although it does hide some of the cheapness of the effect since the whole screen is just tinted an annoying orange colour. The process was also used in The Three Stooges in Orbit (1962) a few years later & looked just as bad.Shot in about ten days on a budget of about $190,000 a lot has actually ended up on screen to be fair, maybe with a bit more time & money The Angry Red Planet really could have been a classic. The effects aren't too bad considering when it was made although it's hard to believe none of those scientists saw that Rat-Bat-Spider monster in an open clearing! The acting is pretty wooden here.The Angry Red Palnet is alright for a few laughs & a bit of light Saturday afternoon fun, it's an innocent enough sci-fi adventure that doesn't really hold up to inspection & hasn't dated that well but it'll pass 80 odd minutes harmlessly enough I suppose.

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