Rocketship X-M Movie Review

Cheaply produced and rushed into theatres to beat out George Pal's much-touted Destination Moon, this vintage tale depicts a pioneering lunar mission that goes awry thanks to a pencil-and-paper (!) navigational error and lands instead on Mars, where the Earth explorers discover the portentous remnants of human-like society destroyed by atomic war. Static and melodramatic, but worthy as a historic curio. Considered the first American movie released that took space travel seriously, if not entirely accurately – astronaut garb seems to consist of street clothes or bomber jackets. Scenes on Martian terrain (actually Death Valley, a good guess at the real thing) were tinted red. Some video versions carry additional f/x footage lensed much later, with long-shot doubles for the actors. AKA: Expedition Moon.

1950 77m/B Lloyd Bridges, Osa Massen, John Emery, Hugh O'Brian, Noah Beery Jr.; D: Kurt Neumann. VHS, Beta, LV MED, RXM