Conquest of Space
Director: Byron
Haskin
Year: 1955
Rating: 6.0
In 1950 with Destination Moon, George Pal took
us to the moon, but this time he is more ambitious and his destination is
Mars. Pal's trilogy of films about going into space - Destination Moon (1950),
When Worlds Collide (1951), Conquest of Space (1955) - were an amazing accomplishment
in taking sci-fi into serious territory. Add The War of the Worlds (1953)
and The Time Machine (1960) to those and you have one of the real pioneers
of fantasy and sci-fi that influenced films that came long after. This is
shot in Technicolor and the images are bright and nearly explode once they
reach Mars with its ruddy red soil. The special effects consist primarily
of matte paintings and models of the spaceship and the space station. Today
they look a bit plastic like and could be bought in a toy store but back
in the 1950s they were no doubt quite cool on the big screen.
It is a strange film though that is part
sci-fi, part melodrama that never quite jells. Unlike Destination Moon which
followed science as they knew it at the time, much of this feels like guess
work and questionable science. There is a huge space station circling earth
commanded by General Merritt (Walter Brook - most famous for saying "There's
a great future in plastics. Think about it. Will you think about it?" in
The Graduate). The General is a straight arrow - tough on his men but fair.
His son Barney (Eric Fleming - later to be on Rawhide) is the second in command
and his old friend and loyal war comrade Sgt Mahoney (Mickey Shaughnessy)
is always at his side. A spaceship has been built on the Station to go to
the Moon, but orders are received from earth delivered by a friend (William
Hopper - Paul Drake) to change their destination. To Mars! And they have
17 hours to get ready. Seriously? The Moon is days away; Mars months.
Slight difference in needs and logistics.
Only five men can go - the General, his
son, Siegle (Phil Foster) the necessary guy from Brooklyn and the unnecessary
comic relief, the Russian (Ross Martin) and the Japanese Imoto, played of
course by a Chinese man (Benson Fong). In a very peculiar speech, Imoto says
he is volunteering because Japan went to war because they had to use wooden
chop sticks. Or something. But off they go into the wild blue yonder dodging
meteors and conflicting personalities. The Sgt who has stowed aboard hates
the son, Siegle hates the Sgt and of all people the General seems to be going
nuts. And nobody really wants to say anything but when he starts calling
this trip an abomination of God's will and that they should turn back, I
would be getting a little nervous and get a strait jacket ready. None of
this really has much to do with the Conquest of Space and takes up too much
of the film. We are here to see the cool stuff and Mars. By the way, the
movie musical they are all watching on the Space Station and getting excited
by the women is the 1953 film Here Come the Girls starring Bob Hope but the
scene shown is of Rosemary Clooney and a bunch of dames. Looks like fun.
