ALL SCI-FI

[The Spike]

The title does the film no favours at all because it kind of reeks of daft Z movie origins, in fact if I hadn't looked up some research on the film prior to viewing it, I would have expected a comedy!

This is an interesting variant on the much loved Daniel Defoe story about Robinson Crusoe, only as the title suggests, this is set on Mars.

Whilst orbiting Mars, Commander Kit Draper is forced to eject and is stranded on Mars with only his wits and Mona the monkey for company. Here he has to source all the basic ingredients to stay alive, but he finds that man's need for companionship can trouble the mind greatly, and not only that, he finds that he is not alone after all, and the visitors that turn up are not exactly of the friendly kind.

This is a very solid and intelligent sci-fi picture, dealing with isolation and the will to stay alive. Robinson Crusoe On Mars is very much a film that relies on story over style.

That it succeeds is with much credit to Paul Mantee as the lonesome Draper, carrying the film for two thirds on his own (except for the wonderful Mona Monkey of course). He infuses emotion and credibility in abundance to lift the film way above average. 7.5/10
_________________
The quality of mercy is not strnen.

[Pye-Rate]

I have enjoyed this film since I first saw it on tv in 1960's.

[Pow]

Good movie. They reused the Martian ships from George Pal's War Of The Worlds.

[Randy]

I have the Criterion Collection Blu-ray version and it looks as good as when I watched it when it first played in the theater!

[Krel]

[Bud Brewster]

For five years running I showed this movie to the 4th and 5th grade classes I taught, between 1997 and 2002. I showed it in 20 minutes segments each day over an entire week, stopping it at places I knew would be good cliff hangers.

Then the students would write about what had happened so far and what they thought would happen next.

The last couple of years I was able to set up a "movie screen" in the room by taping a 3 ft X 9 ft piece of white paper on the wall, with a 12 inch wide black paper boarder, and I used a computer projector from the school library to project the movie onto the screen from my laptop while the audio played through a modest sound system with several speakers.

The kids would push the desk out of the way and arrange the chairs into rows. They always loved the movie.

In 2001 and 2002, students who had been in previous classes would come to visit me and ask if I was still showing the movie to my students.
_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

________________________________

This statement caught my eye when I read the article at the link below from one of Pye-rate's posts.

[scotpens]

Future Batman Adam West played Draper's fellow astronaut, Col. Dan "Mac" McReady. West's total screen time is about six minutes.



Mona the monkey had a bigger part. She probably had a better agent.

[Bud Brewster]

__________________________________

Here are some wonderful videos about Robinson Crusoe on Mars, our All Sci-Fi's Friday Live Chat feature for October 27th.
__________________________________

__ Mick Garris on ROBINSON CRUSOE ON MARS


_________


_ Is "The Martian" a Remake of "Robinson Crusoe on Mars"?


_________


_Co-star Victor Lundin's song for Robinson Crusoe on Mars


________________


* And a song by Johnny Cymbal ("Hey Mister Bass Man" and other hits) released on Top 40 radio at the time the movie came out, which perfectly describes why we all love science fiction!

___ Robinson Crusoe On Mars by Johnny Cymbal


_________
_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[orzel-w]

[alltare]

Bud-
I'm curious. What other SF movies did you show to the kids, and do you recall which were their favorites?

[orzel-w]

[Gord Green]

This is far from a bad movie, but it is very much a victim of it's time.

The real accurate information on atmospheric conditions was unknown as was most of the topographic data. Still it told a compelling story with great characterization. .

I always thought that the "pod" Kit landed in was a bit small for an escape pod.

The extraterrestrial slavers was a 80's "Gotta make it sci-fi" affectation to make it relate to the Defoe story and introduce Friday.

Still I wish for what it could have been if the original vision had been followed.

As it is, it's a compelling story of survival and the strength of the human spirit as was the original story.

[Bud Brewster]

________________________________

The Criterion laser disc of Robinson Crusoe on Mars has a ton of extra features which describe what the original project was like, complete with production notes and concept art by screenwriter Ib Melchior.

The art work is great. But some of the ideas . . . not so much.

Mars was going to be populated by a number of hideous monsters that threatened Christopher Draper. Here's what Michael Lennick writes about the film at The Criterion Collection website.
________________________________

In preparing his heavily illustrated first draft of the screenplay for Robinson Crusoe on Mars, a film he intended to direct, Melchior was clearly seeking a middle ground: native plant and critter life galore, but this time in support of a lonely astronaut's internal struggle.









Conflicting projects forced Melchior to drop out of Robinson Crusoe on Mars, leading to a very different take on the material once director Byron "War of the Worlds" Haskin signed on.
________________________________





If a large budget and a brilliant team of FX designers had been employed on Melchior's version of the film, I'm sure it would have been wonderful. However, I suspect that it would have been a bit more like two of Melchior's other two less-than-stellar science fiction efforts, Journey to the Seventh Planet (1962) and The Angry Red Planet (1959).

With the change in directors and the significant alteration in the film's nature, we got a much more intelligent and compelling story, one which has been a favorite of mine for many years.





Two IMDB trivia items refer to possible sequels that were never made.
________________________________

A sequel titled "Robinson Crusoe in the Invisible Galaxy" was planned but it was scrapped due to the films lackluster box office.

— and-—

After this film was released, screenwriter Ib Melchior and Victor Lundin collaborated on a script called "Columbus of the Stars". which they presented to Paramount. It was similar to Star Trek (1966), complete with illustrations similar to the Enterprise. Some time later, "Star Trek" went into production. Lundin does not claim that his ideas were borrowed by Paramount.
________________________________

It occurred to me this morning that a good idea for the sequel would involve the revelation that during Friday's 70+years as a slave (he states that in the film), he had been trained by the aliens to service and repair their technology.





After returning to Earth, he urges the scientists and the military to enhance Earth's defenses against the aliens who enslaved him. He shares his knowledge of their technology and helps mankind design spacecraft and weapons that can be used against the hostile aliens.





After the first of the ships have been built, an expedition which includes Draper and Friday would be sent out to gather info about the alien enemy, and this would allow the sequel to carry the story to another star system, with all the action and special effects any fan of science fiction could possibly want!
_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Krel]