Planet Outlaws (1953)

Wonderfully offbeat film!

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Let me say right off the bat that at least for me, there were two things working in this film's favour even before I started it (as 2 nifty percent of my infamous Mill Creek 50-pack, 'Nightmare Worlds'): a) I love the old-time serials, a part a week at the theatres, each with a cliffhanger ending; and b) I'm a fan of Buster Crabbe, from seeing him previously both as Tarzan and in a Flash Gordon serial. Directors Beebe and Goodkind were masters at the format, and this is no exception (although since it's from the 30's, and with B-movie budgetary restrictions at that, I readily dismiss all negative comments from people complaining that for the 1950's, it's really crappy filmmaking--it's NOT from the 50's, but simply edited then into a feature-length film the company could then sell, most probably to television stations).I enjoyed it, though I wish that instead of seeing this, I was watching the unedited, undiluted full serial that was originally made. I have read that the best and most exciting parts were edited out.

There's always a way to pull a buck out of the movie going public, and for those young boys who hadn't been around when the original Buck Rogers had come out, getting to see it probably on a Saturday afternoon was a thrill, especially if they went with their father who had seen each of the chapter plays as a kid. I have never seen the full serial and really don't have the time amongst my movie research to see all four hours of it, so this greatly edited version of it will do just fine. For a serial made more than 75 years ago, it holds up very well, with Buster Crabbe handsome and heroic as Buck. A survivor of a trapped dirigible, he wakes up from being frozen centuries later, he must catch up on modern (or futuristic) technology and shows he's got what it takes to remain a hero many moons later.I'd like to think that young people today could enjoy this for its imagination, but they have been greatly spoiled by the noisy sound effects and computer generated animation of today. Constance Moore is a fine female lead with Jackie Moran as Crabbe's equally heroic sidekick and Anthony Warde a wonderfully nefarious villain. A lot of the back story seems to be missing, as is Manu of the thrills of the original, but the choice bits have remained, making this simple and to the point.

After a 1938 airship mishap, our handsome hero and his young pal are buried in an avalanche; but, they employ an experimental gas to put themselves safely in suspended animation. "When Buck Rogers (Buster Crabbe) and his sidekick Buddy (Jackie Moran) are aroused from centuries of cryogenic sleep, they are enlisted by Wilma Deering (Constance Moore) to save the world from the grasp of a tyrannical gangster named 'Killer Kane'. They travel to the planet Saturn to get some much needed help for their assignment, and then set out to deal with Kane and his villainous cohorts," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.This re-produced feature-length version of the fondly remembered 12-part serial "Buck Rogers" (1939) must have held up well for 1950s Saturday matinée and television audiences, due to its futuristic plot and imaginatively recycled sets. Apparently, the original chapters were edited down, with (brief) new work done on the opening and closing segments. "The planet Saturn" isn't as peculiar a setting as it might seem, if you consider they may be referring to "Saturn's planet Titan." No comment on the suggestion the place is populated with helpful Asians. The end brings Buck Rogers into the then popular anti-Communist fold.**** Planet Outlaws (1953) Ford Beebe ~ Buster Crabbe, Jackie Moran, Constance Moore, Anthony Warde

The old movies, and especially the old serials, had a naive charm of their own. Starting with the characters, there was no ambiguity here. Bad guys did bad deeds and only bad deeds. Good guys did good deeds and only good deeds. This characterization is very apparent in this movie. Killer Kane is all evil and Buck Rogers is the next thing to a saint.The futuristic sets and apparatus are a hoot. They would be laughed out of todays science fiction films. Compare with Stars Wars, big difference. The space ships eject sparks more appropriate to fireworks than a rocket engine. Saturn is a rocky planet, not a gas giant. The uniforms are ridiculous. Why bother with pressure suits and space helmets. Computers, what are they? The hero, of course, is indestructible, and so on.All of this elements, and a few more, make old movies the charmers that they are.