Radar Men from the Moon (1952)

Director:

Fred C. Brannon

Writer:

Ronald Davidson (written by)

Release Date:

9 January 1952 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

HILLS OF DEATH! SUPER-SCIENCE STRUGGLE!

Plot:

Strategic targets on Earth are being destroyed by an unknown weapon. Government security head Henderson...

Plot Keywords:

Moon | Rocket | Commando | Invasion Of Earth | Serial

Cast

George Wallace	...	Commando Cody
Aline Towne	...	Joan Gilbert
Roy Barcroft	...	Retik, Ruler of the Moon
William Bakewell	...	Ted Richards (Cody's lab assistant)
Clayton Moore	...	Graber - Henchman
Peter Brocco	...	Krog
Robert R. Stephenson	...	Daly (Graber's Henchman) (as Bob Stevenson)
Don Walters	...	Mr. Henderson
Tom Steele	...	Zerg
Dale Van Sickel	...	Alon
Wilson Wood	...	Hank (Cody's Pilot)
Noel Cravat	...	Robal
Baynes Barron	...	Nesor, Retik's Lab Aide [Ch.2]
Paul McGuire	...	Bream
Ted Thorpe	...	Al's Cafe Bartender [Ch. 6, 7, 12]

Also Known As:

Planet Men from Mars (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

167 min (12 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Victor System)

Certification:

USA:Approved | USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Filming Locations:

Iverson Ranch, Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Republic Pictures

Trivia:

Chapter Titles: - 1. Moon Rocket - 2. Molten Terror - 3. Bridge of Death - 4. Flight to Destruction - 5. Murder Car - 6. Hills of Death - 7. Camouflaged Destruction - 8. The Enemy Planet - 9. Battle in the Stratosphere - 10. Mass Execution - 11. Planned Pursuit - 12. Death of the Moon Man

Goofs:

Factual errors: Ordering the rocket ship to turn around the pilot is told to make a "quick 360" turn. In fact, a 360 turn would simply turn the ship completely around in a circle to resume it's present course.

Quotes:

[After one of the Moon Men is killed while onboard Cody's Rocket.]
Joan: What are they going to to with him?
Pilot: It's just like a burial at sea, Joan. He'll just float around and around.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Troldspejlet: (#23.15)" (2000)

a Man Of Action!

From my review to The Rocketeer (1991): This serial made an easy transition to television, and was played every Saturday - some years every day - on television throughout the early 1960s. I sat glued whenever it was on. Commando Cody actually did look like he was flying! - But more importantly, being the last of the great serial heroes, his writers had learned from previous mistakes, not to let Cody or his friends - or his enemies - do any much talking. The serial was just one fist-fight, shoot-em-up-explosion after another; but, what made this important is that Cody thus had no time to doubt, to question, even to pose - he had to take decisive action at every minute - and he did! - this was no typical wimp (which by the mid-'60s were cluttering up comics, books, and films), this was a Man Of Action! And the second I recall ever seeing from popular culture (after Eliot Ness in the Untouchables).

Accept no imitations.