From the far reaches of the Milky Way Galaxy, It's Retro Nerd Girl with a film review for you.
Today I'll be reviewing the movie Radar Men From The Moon released in 1952.
Starring:
George Wallace, Aline Towne, Roy Barcroft
Directed by:
Fred C. Brannon
Genre:
Action, Sci-Fi
Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) Rating:
Approved
Budget:
$185,702 (estimated)
Current IMDb Rating When Reviewed:
4.7
The Synopsis is:
Commando Cody, a civilian researcher and inventor must save Earth from the impending invasion of Moon men.
Before Radar Men From The Moon, King of the Rocket Men released in 1949 led the way, featuring a rocket man hero for Saturday morning serials played in movie theaters as short episodic chapters for Republic Pictures Corporation. This film inspired and even had the suit and footage recycled in Radar Men from the Moon, Zombies of the Stratosphere (1952), and the television show Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe (1953). “If a formula is working, use it again and again,” appeared to be Republic’s motto and could you blame them? It’s a pretty cool looking gimmick.
This idea of a rocket man was so powerful that it was also the inspiration for the comic The Rocketeer which first appeared in 1982 for Pacific Comics and later became an adapted movie in 1991 under Walt Disney Pictures.
It’s also easy to see a resemblance of the character Commando Cody and Iron Man Tony Stark.
With seasoned serial director Fred C. Brannon, an awesome action packed screenplay by Ronald Davidson, and awesome special effects for the 1950's by Howard and Theodore Lydecker, Republic banged out 12 chapters of black and white gold filmed between October 17 and November 6, 1951 under the working title Planet Men from Mars.
The plot proceeds as so: On the moon it seems to look a lot like Earth with an atmosphere, cities and people who look just like humans. Over time the moon’s atmosphere has become so thin and dry, it’s impossible to raise food except in pressurized greenhouses. The people of the moon can’t leave their homes without helmets. Instead of moving to Earth and blend in with the people here, Retik the ruler on the moon has decided to invade Earth by force with their lunarium atomic energy weapons.
It isn’t the smartest plan, but it’s what seemed to be his best option from his perspective. It reminds me a lot of the plot for Cat-Women of the Moon released a year later in 1953 and it’s sequel Missile to the Moon in 1958. Also, I better warn you now, that the science in these films will never be up to our standards today. We have access to more information and this is where we really have to suspend our belief a little, because the point of this exercise is to put our heroes in harrowing danger and watch them get out of it.
The first part of his plan included the arrival of Krog to launch a series of attacks on Earth as to “soften” our defenses for their mass migration and invasion because although the moon's weapons are advanced, a regular invasion would not work.
Our hero Commander Cody (played by George Wallace) runs a laboratory, where he has perfected a sonic-powered rocket suit and a spaceship that can reach the moon. Ted, Hank, and Joan are his assistants who also accompany him on his many adventures.
Although Joan is pictured in a few promotional pictures holding on to Commando Cody, she is not a romantic interest and is simply an assistant at his lab. I liked that about the film. In fact she suggests a few smart ideas during the adventures and not heavily played as a damsel to be saved. I thought that was very progressive even though the film is male centric.
The story begins with mysterious explosions that appear across the world which prompts a visit from a government man by the name of Henderson. Henderson speculates that these random events are an attack and puts Commander Cody on the job to do whatever it takes to save Earth.
First he makes a trip to the moon and encounters Retik, who is such a trope of a villain that he divulges every detail of his plan to invade Earth. One would expect that most of the battle to save Earth would occur on the moon, but a good chunk of it happens on Earth battling Krog and his goons composed of corrupt earthlings looking for a job. They know full well that they are helping the invasion of their own planet, but I think the writers didn’t really set up a good explanation as to why they are willing participants besides being paid well for their job.
One of the most competent goons is Graber (played by Clayton Moore) who gets the better of Commando Cody more often than you would think, which sets up a pretty good challenge for the good guys. His actions really keep this adventure churning from event to event.
In one of the fight scenes between George Wallace and Clayton Moore, Wallace zigged when he should have zagged, and Moore accidentally broke his nose. I’m not even surprised by that because little to no fancy editing happens during many of the wild fight scenes that appear in the film and they are all truly savage and nail biting.
Much of these fights and stunts were played by the actors. For the close-up flying sequences, George Wallace was shot above the sound stage lying on a thin horizontal board with the rocket suit's jacket closed around it and a rear projection screen behind him to mimic the sky. He also performed his own flying take-offs by jumping onto a springboard.
By chapter 8, the good guys return to the moon to steal some lunarium in order to counter Krog’s ray guns but by the next chapter they are back on Earth and are nearly blasted out of the sky by Graber. This is just an example of how busy this adventure is.
Chapter 10 is a recount of the events of Chapter 1, 2 and 3 which recycles a lot of what we already saw. One of the most used footage from King of the Rocket Men in the film was a special effect that Howard and Theodore Lydecker created by running a full-sized dummy on internal pulleys along a very long, taut wire tilted at a downward angle.
It’s not fooling anybody, but I think that for a very low budget production, they did well. There were also many clips borrowed from other serials. I really love that they used cost effective methods using the things that they had to tell the story. For instance, the laboratory building is actually a Republic Pictures office building with a prop sign "Cody Laboratories".
When you see that the film is a total of 2 hours and 47 minutes you may raise an eyebrow, but honestly, most of it consists of recycled clips of spaceships flying, different establishing shots and delightful cliffhangers replayed in the next episode and sometimes altered in editing so that the hero can be seen escaping. As well, there are intros to each chapter detailing the events of the last chapter.
Chapter titles
- "Moon Rocket" (20 min)
- "Molten Terror" (13min 20s)
- "Bridge of Death" (13min 20s)
- "Flight to Destruction" (13min 20s)
- "Murder Car" (13min 20s)
- "Hills of Death" (13min 20s)
- "Camouflaged Destruction" (13min 20s)
- "The Enemy Planet" (13min 20s)
- "Battle in the Stratosphere" (13min 20s)
- "Mass Execution" (13min 20s) - a re-cap chapter
- "Planned Pursuit" (13min 20s)
- "Death of the Moon Man" (13min 20s)
If you can be a little patient with that, the story is pretty solid and flips on its head every 15 minutes. The tension is quite palpable with each adventure.
I can imagine the thrill of being a kid watching these in 1952 and wondering in anticipation how the hero will fare from what looks to be his doom.
The film was going to be sequeled in Zombies of the Stratosphere but television picked up Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe instead, which did alright for CBS.
In 1989, the serial was lampooned by Mystery Science Theater 3000 and gained more awareness among the masses as a result.
If you want to see this film right now, it shouldn’t be a problem seeing it for free because the copyright lapsed and was not renewed, so this film is now in the public domain.
Even with the many scenes of recycled film from other shows and serials, there are plenty of interesting things to fascinate you by the way it is all put together to flow into the adventure such as the costumes of the moon men, spacesuits and rocket suits, practical stunts and explosions, the melting rock mountainside and tunnels, the miniature moon city, unique ray guns, and the design of the many vehicles and spaceships.
As well you may enjoy the knock down drag out brutal fist fights, insane gun fights, daring rescues, fiery car crashes, energetic chase scenes and harrowing escapes accompanied by thrilling action packed music to immerse you in the story.
My Rating:
7.9
That sums up my review. I hope you liked it. This is Retro Nerd Girl signing off!
Take care movie lovers! I'm off to the next review!
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