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"The last and greatest adventure of mankind," a persistent Byron Haskin thrust (From the Earth to the Moon, Robinson Crusoe in Mars). Generational tension in orbit, the colonel (Walter Brooke) who's designed a space station versus the son (Eric Fleming) who's weary of being "a robot spinning around the world every two hours on a tin donut." The lunar mission is shifted to Mars, the stowaway sergeant (Mickey Shaughnessy) joins a trio of volunteers: The Viennese medic (Ross Martin) who gets a tearful Old World farewell, the Japanese expert (Benson Fong) who links his country's limited resources to the planet's, the electronics specialist (Phil Foster) who grouses in fluent Brooklynese ("For a fat, solid year, I been eatin' boidseed on this goofy sombrero with no squawk"). A matter of inquisitive modernity bumping against evangelical dread, the skipper reaches for his Bible and ponders cosmic blasphemy. "What are we? Explorers or... invaders?" Resolve and doubt in interstellar vastness, reliable ingredients for an early space odyssey. Anti-gravitational poetry is denied ("We'll have no unnecessary floating aboard this ship"), a juicy steak stands out amid sterile pills not unlike a Here Come the Girls clip of Rosemary Clooney as a spangled odalisque screened for the homesick crew. "There's always the female of the species." "Yeah, but what species?" cf. Lang's Woman in the Moon. A casualty en route drifts away into the milky void, metallic cross and green sprout adorn the red soil, the new frontier contrasts with metallic designs until it gets covered with snow for the Christmas miracle. "Remind me next time to take the train." The coda's Noble Lie echoes Ford's Fort Apache. With William Redfield, William Hopper, Vito Scotti, and Joan Shawlee.
--- Fernando F. Croce |