Monogram Pictures Corporation [1951] 72′
country: United States
director: LESLEY SELANDER
cast: MARGUERITE CHAMPAN, CAMERON MITCHELL,
cast: ARTHUR FRANZ, VIRGINIA HUSTON
In 1951, the Pentagon makes a shocking announcement – preparations have been completed on a secret military-funded project to send the first manned flight to Mars. Heading the crew are Dr. Lane, Dr. Barker [Arthur Franz], and Barker’s girl of the moment Carol [Virginia Huston as a much-maligned woman scientist never referred to with a 'Dr.' before her name] – two civilians, Professor Jackson and reporter Steve [Cameron Mitchell], are along to make observations. The rocket launches without issue and, in just 7 days [!], is within sight of Mars – it’s a good thing too, as Barker and Carol’s relationship is on the verge of an ugly meltdown and Steve is itching to make a play for the only female on board.
Suddenly, disaster strikes – the ship flies into a meteor storm and gets a pummeling. While the crew are unharmed, the storm manages to knock out the landing gear, forcing pilot Barker to attempt a crash landing. Unfortunately for those of us who are already sick of the cast, he is entirely successful. The crew steps out onto the frozen surface of Mars and are greeted by the planet’s rather human inhabitants, who waste no time in showing off their fancy underground civilization and ability to speak perfect English [that old 'we've been listening to your radio broadcasts for years' explanation is already feeling tired here, a scarce two months after Klaatu was heard using it in THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL]. What’s more, they offer to help the stranded Earthlings fix their ship and send them back on their way.
But the leader of the Martian counsel – Ikron [Morris Ankrum] – has more sinister plans. He intends, with the majority support of the counsel, to steal the visitors’ rocket technology, reverse engineer it, and build a fleet of such rockets with which to conquer Earth so that his dying civilization can have a new home. While assisting the Earthlings with their ship repairs, foxy Martian engineer Alita [Marguerite Chapman] learns of Ikron’s plot and spills the beans to her new friends. With Martian counselman Tillamar on their side, can the Earthlings possibly survive Ikron’s evil scheme, return to Earth, and jump-start interplanetary commerce with Mars?
FLIGHT TO MARS was produced by Monogram Pictures Corporation [later known as Allied Artists] as a down and dirty cash-in on the boffo box office returns gleaned from George Pal’s DESTINATION MOON and WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE as well as 20th Century Fox’s THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL. Though filmed in vivid SuperCinecolor [those wondering just how good INVADERS FROM MARS must have looked back in the day will find their answer in this film], its doubtful that FLIGHT exceeded the average $90,000 Monogram budget by much, if any, and it compares rather unfavorably to competitor Lippert Studio’s equally cheap but considerably more refined ROCKETSHIP X-M.
The biggest failing of FLIGHT is in its lousy scripting by Arthur Strawn, which rips many of its details directly from the films listed above – the crash-landing on the snow-covered Mars is torn from the closing minutes of WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE and is presented even more unbelievably here [Arthur Franz accelerates the ship right into the face of a mountain] – with a few of its details coming from Alexei Tolstoy’s novel AELITA [or, possibly, the resulting film of the same name]. Strawn seems to have taken his science as well as his villains from the likes of old Flash Gordon serials. The romantic drama that provides much of the meat of the story is staggeringly inept, with the rest of the action coming off as superfluous padding. Performances are mixed at best, with Franz and Ankrum being as reliable as always and others seemingly trudging through their lines for the first time. Direction from Lesley Selander is rather flat and uninspired, even for a film that was in the can in under a week.
Other important aspects of the production – design, effects, and costuming – are varied as well. Photographic effects, miniatures, and matte work by Jack Cosgrove, Irving Block, and Jack Rabin fair relatively well, all things considered, even when showing their budgetary shortcomings [the grand revelation of the vast underground Martian city is all but ruined by the foreground appearance of a very two-dimensional flying bus]. Set design is minimal – Mars is full of blank walls and the interior of the spaceship is the barely-redressed interior from ROCKETSHIP X-M – as is the costuming, which hearkens once more to the Flash Gordon days but looks neat enough thanks to the SuperCinecolor presentation [the recycled space suits from DESTINATION MOON look just a good here as they did in that film]. None of it is poor enough to be a production killer, but it’s certainly not enough to save FLIGHT from its awful scripting.
With a little more time and effort, FLIGHT could have been a minor classic instead of the tiresome bore that it is. Image Entertainment released it as part of their Wade Williams collection in 2002 – the print used is full of splices [a few of the drab dialogue sequences are blessedly truncated by jump cuts] and damage but color and detail are strong. Though far from perfect, but it’s doubtful that anyone will invest in releasing a better disc anytime soon. There really isn’t much more to say for this one – not recommended.
