The Angry Red Planet
| The Angry Red Planet | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Ib Melchior |
| Produced by |
Sidney W. Pink Norman Maurer |
| Screenplay by | Sidney W. Pink Ib Melchior |
| Based on | Original story by Sidney W. Pink |
| Starring |
Gerald Mohr Naura Hayden Jack Kruschen Les Tremayne |
| Music by | Paul Dunlap |
| Cinematography | Stanley Cortez |
| Edited by | Ivan J. Hoffman |
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Production
company |
Sino Productions
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| Distributed by | Sino Productions (originally) American International Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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83 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | US$190,000 |
The Angry Red Planet (also called Invasion of Mars and Journey to Planet Four) is a 1959 science fiction film starring Gerald Mohr and directed by Ib Melchior. Melchior was given 10 days and a budget of $200,000 to make the film. The shortened production time necessitated the use of a CineMagic technique, which involved using hand-drawn animations together with live action footage, and it was used for all scenes on the surface of Mars. Although this process was largely unsuccessful, producer Norman Maurer would attempt the same technique again in The Three Stooges in Orbit.
The rocketship MR-1 (for "Mars Rocket 1"), returns to Earth after the first manned flight to Mars. At first thought to have been lost in space, the rocket reappears but mission control cannot raise the crew by radio. The ground crew land the rocket successfully by remote control. Two survivors are found aboard: Dr. Iris Ryan (Naura Hayden) and Colonel Tom O'Bannion (Gerald Mohr), the latter's arm covered by a strange alien growth. The mission report is recounted by Dr. Ryan as she attempts to find a cure for Colonel O'Bannion's arm.
While exploring Mars, Ryan is attacked by a carnivorous plant, which is killed using a freeze ray (nicknamed "Cleo") fired by Chief Warrant Officer Sam Jacobs. They also discover an immense bat-rat-spider creature, after mistaking its legs for trees, and the monster is repelled, again by Jacobs. When they return to their ship, the crew find that their radio signals are being blocked and the MR-1 is grounded by a force field. O'Bannion leads the crew to a Martian lake with a city visible on the other side. They cross in an inflatable raft, only to be stopped by a giant amoeba-like creature with a single spinning eye. The creature kills Jacobs and infects O'Bannion's arm. The survivors escape to the MR-1 and commence liftoff. Professor Theodore Gettell, the ship's designer, dies of an apparent heart attack due to the stress of the lift-off from Mars. The survivors then return to Earth, where O'Bannion's infected arm is cured using electric shocks.
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Wikipedia