Robinson Crusoe on Mars

What vistas are left for man to explore? The first answer usually shot back quickly is space, and in the 1950's and 60's space was the place to be the subject of countless science fiction films. Many of these films were little else than pure hokum or a means to show exploitation, but Robinson Crusoe on Mars was not either of those. This little film(little in that it receives little recognition for its obvious merits) tells how one man and his monkey survive the rigours of life on the angry red planet. Paul Mantee plays the protagonist that crash lands on Mars with simian friend Mona. He must learn to live using the resources of the planet. His exploration and discoveries are very much like what Daniel Defoe's titular character Robinson Crusoe had to go through under very different circumstances on an island. I guess I am one of the few reviewers that actually likes the title, as I think is a wonderful and very apt allusion employed. Anyway, the methods of exploration and discovery used by Mantee are extremely creative and original(although have little scientific merit) and we the audience find ourselves caught up in his plight to survive. I had heard many things about this film before I got a chance to watch it, and I must say that I am most impressed with its scope and vision, its underlying theme about the inner strength of man's need and will to survive and create, and its almost claustrophobic atmosphere despite being filmed in wide open spaces.

I've got to say this movie was ahead of its time. The story is solid, and the acting first rate. Paul Mantee portrays the isolation on Mars perfectly. The back drops and special effects are superb and don't overtake the acting. I've seen it a million times, but whenever it's on AMC or Turner I have to catch some if not all of it!!

As we get closer to traveling to other planets, this is one story that could wind up being real. This story pretty much follows the original Robinson Crusoe story, only it takes place on another planet and not on a desert island. Paul Mantee puts in a credible performance as the astronaut who must learn how to cope without being around his fellow man. The scene that is especially interesting is when he hallucinates after getting food poisoning and seeing his dead fellow crew member. This shows the effect that isolation can have on a person and how it can drive a person mad. Luckily he did find a companion in the alien he named Friday. I recommend this film heartily.

Even though this movie was made in 1964, it puts to shame the more recent (and astronomically more expensive) "Mission to Mars" and "Red Planet".

The characters act much more like real people/enslaved extraterrestrials than was common in sci-fi films of that era. Mantee is well-trained and resourceful, handling most problems (with the exception of his forced isolation) with reasonable aplomb. He is much closer to what we expect an astronaut to be than the ridiculous characters from MtM and RP.

The equipment is also a notch above the usual 60s fare, with real cables, actual dials and knobs, and that utilitarian look so common in military hardware. I have to give this film and extra half-star just for the realistic technology.

Overall, a good, solid sci-fi film from the golden age. Like many others, I'm waiting for the DVD.

*** out of *****

Here is a film that has endured, perhaps because the science (relatively accurate back then) does not outweigh the fiction, and the crux of the fiction is the human relationship. The script, with just a few changes, could have been made as a Western, indeed, the appearance, and many mannerisms of Vic Lundin's Friday character seems to be based on portrayals of American Indians in Westerns.

Credit has to be given first to director Byron Haskin, no stranger to Sci-Fi, having made WAR OF THE WORLDS, CONQUEST OF SPACE and FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON in the decade before RCOM was released in summer of 1964. Interestingly, for a man who spent much of his career in the special effects department at Warners, the film does not depend on effects, in fact they may be the film's weak spot. Not that they are substandard for the era, but the repetition of shots of the alien ships in flight, and of the destruction they cause (not even taken from a different angle, or reverse printed), remind one that the film was a budget conscious production. Originally conceived by noted screenwriter Ib Melchoir for a more costly production, budget cuts mandated script revisions that were done by John C. Higgins. This was a curious decision, Higgins was more at home in film noirs that were made by Anthony Mann, this was his first and only genre assignment. To his credit, and Melchior's misgivings aside, he pared down the script to essentials, and the film in general looks like a costlier production.

Much of the films success has to be owing to the splendid performance of Paul Mantee as Kip Draper, who carries of most of the first half of the film singlehandedly. Mantee was an unknown at the time of shooting, and he only had one more lead in A MAN CALLED DAGGER, but this casting worked in the film's favor. With an unknown actor, we're not in the position to associate the performer with any other role, he becomes everyman, and we become he. We share his loss of his commanding officer, his need to discover new forms of food, shelter, oxygen, and most of all, his isolation and loneliness as he begins to realize he's not likely to leave the planet. Actor Vic Lundin does well as Friday, we originally are led to believe he is mute, and the actor's eyes and expressions convey his thoughts perfectly. While it could be carped now that the film is politically incorrect, that it is an example of imperialism that Friday learn English, rather than Draper learning Friday's language, but such points of view were uncommon in 1964. Besides, that would require the audience to learn Friday's language anyway, and the script, having Friday owe his life to Draper relieves this as a form of subservience. As the film goes on, the relationship becomes one of equals, and Friday does repay the debt by saving Draper's life.

Applause should also be given for the talents of Winston Hoch, cinematographer, for depicting a credible Martian landscape. Much of the film was shot in Death Valley, where 16 years earlier, Hoch shot John Ford's THREE GODFATHERS (he also shot the luscious photography of SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON as well as some of the Irwin Allen shows and movies in the 60s), but during the whole of RCOM, we can entirely believe we're on Mars. Composer Van Cleave contributed a score that unfortunately has not made its way to a home recording, but works marvelously with the mood of the film, embellishing it, but not overpowering it.

When the film was completed, Paramount and producer Aubrey Schenk were impressed enough to announce a sequel which was to be titled "Robinson Crusoe in the Invisible Galaxy" but disappointing boxoffice results quelled that project. Mantee would go on to a career of supporting roles on many TV films and episodic shows, and Haskin would come back with the excellent film THE POWER, but this was a shining moment for both of them. As with the best of Sci-fi before it, METROPOLIS, THINGS TO COME, THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE, INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS or THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN, the film is a celebration of the human spirit and a triumph of collaboration among talent.