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American (1959) Gerald Mohr, Nora Haden, Les Tremayne, Jack Kruschen, Directed by Id Mechoir, Written and produced by (Sid Pink)?

Just when one has lost one's faith something unusual happens to convince us that there just may be a destiny. I had just been talking to someone at the PARSEC meeting about an old sci-fi movie I had not seen since a child. Well, later that night, I was glancing through the newspaper weekend television guide. (The fact that I don't buy the TV Guide should give you a hint as to how seldom I watch television, at least in any scheduled manner.) Sure enough, that very movie was playing on American Movie Classics that night. Video tape and popcorn ready I settled in and watched.

The story, via flashback, is basically about 4 crew members (3-men, 1-woman) who embark for man's first mission to Mars. They are heavily armed with oscilloscopes, a "sonic freeze" raygun, and most potent of all, 1950's sexism. The movie is full of technical science flaws which is possibly one of the reasons for it achieving cult status. For example as soon as they land on the "Angry Red Planet" as one of the crew calls Mars they peer out the ports at the VEGITATION and openly ask "Wonder if there is any LIFE out there, the PLANTS seem so still." Then they venture outside the first day and decide to go into the nearby Martian JUNGLE to see if they can find any signs of LIFE. Okay, maybe none of them, including the scientists were very good at Biology.

There are, however some interesting special effects. First all the outdoor scenes were heavily colorized so everything looks an "angry" tint of pink. Also there are some rather unique and creative monsters. One they meet on their first foray into the unknown is a tentacled plant who's primary food supply must be careless Earth women that stray off by themselves. Okay, okay, so we've seen that one before. But the second one, a forty foot tall bat-rat-spider is really kind of cool. In fact this one specific monster is perhaps the films second reason for cult-hood. It's used in most of the references made to the movie.

Actually the bat-rat-spider attack they make a realistic, lucid, decision to cancel the remainder of the mission and head home to report their discoveries. However.... When they attempt take off some strange alien force is keeping their ship firmly anchored on the planet's surface. Hmmmmm!

"Well, lets go outside and look around some more", they decide. Taking a raft they feel compelled to cross a Martian lake they found the outing before. Rowing toward the watery horizon they spot a city in the distance. No sooner do they get a glimpse through binoculars of gleaming mile high towers and curved skyways that the third and final monster attacks. (Almost sounds like the three ghosts in "A Christmas Carol.", the first monster will visit you at the stroke of midnight, the second at the stroke of...) Anyway, one of the crew gets eaten just to prove that this one really means business. This was one of the movie monster that gave me some unsettling nightmares when I was a kid.

I will leave the rest up to you to watch if you so choose.

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