Robinson Crusoe on Mars - Criterion Collection (1964)

robinson crusoe on mars

I have watched this movie since I was a little kid.
I would recomend it to anyone who collects old si-fi classics. July 20, 2008

Stands above the rest

This is one of the best of the era's many SF films that still holds up today. The special effects were as good as anything done up till that time, and the stop action animation for the alien ships was cool. The three main actors, Adam West, Paul Mantee, and Vic Lundin (who plays Friday) all did fine jobs, and this might have been the peak of Paul Mantee's career, who I don't recall ever doing another staring role like this, although he turns up briefly many years later in the Robert Duvall film, The Great Santini, 15 years or so later. I always (along with West) thought he should have gone much further.

The Martian landscape is beautifully and realistically portrayed, and the science about the Martian surface was accurate for the time. One of the strengths of the movie is in showing how difficult it would be to survive there, and I didn't mind the Deus ex machina of the oxygen containing rocks too much--after all--there wouldn't have been a story if not for that. :-) The final big scene with the meteror strike melting the Pole ice is still memorable, too. Overall, a fine SF classic from another day that stands heads and shoulders above the rest. July 18, 2008

Great "Realistic" Science Fiction Film from the Early 60s

I first saw this film at a drive-in years after its release - and it was great watching it play out under the stars. What still makes this film good is the sense it creates of being alone on an alien planet - of being "lost in space" - that I'm not sure any other sf movie has managed to convey as well. Plus, in spite of some inaccuracies in its science, it comes across as a very probable movie, "realistic" as opposed to the space fantasies of the day.

The actors are very good - they took their roles seriously and it shows. I've always been surprised that Paul Mantee never had a big career after this movie - he certainly should have! What went wrong there? (He sure would have made a good Star Trek Captain.)

It's difficult to explain why this show is so addictive, but I think, more than any other movie of its time, it does make you feel how alien, and lonely, space can be.

This one makes my top 10 of SF movies.



June 25, 2008

Onbe of the best.

Robinson Crusoe on Mars is one of the best SciFi films of it era and genre. Drawing as much as possible on the science, technology and expectations of the time, it avoids hokey monsters. The plot is an intense one man/two man story of survival. The script inserts several interesting elements. First rate cinematography, effects and score. June 16, 2008

FANTASTIC CLASSIC SCIFI

I LOVE THIS CLASSIC OUTER SPACE TRIP TO MARS. IN MY VIEW IT IS AN EXCELLENT MOVIE AND ALTHOUGH NOT SCIENTIFICALLY ACCURATE, YOU BELIEVE EVERY BIT OF IT. THE FILM IS EXCELLENT. THE DVD IS WELL WORTH THE PRICE WITH ALL THE EXTRA FEATURES AND INFORMATION PAMPHLET. June 10, 2008

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