Conquest of Space (1955)

A team of American astronauts leave their space station on the first mission to Mars, but the captain's religious beliefs may get in the way.

Director:

Byron Haskin

Writers:

Chesley Bonestell (book), Willy Ley (book),

Stars:

Walter Brooke, Eric Fleming, Mickey Shaughnessy

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Walter Brooke	...	Gen. Samuel T. Merritt
Eric Fleming	...	Capt. Barney Merritt
Mickey Shaughnessy	...	Sgt. Mahoney
Phil Foster	...	Jackie Siegle
William Redfield	...	Roy Cooper
William Hopper	...	Dr. George Fenton
Benson Fong	...	Imoto
Ross Martin	...	Andre Fodor
Vito Scotti	...	Sanella
John Dennis	...	Donkersgoed
Michael Fox	...	Elsbach
Joan Shawlee	...	Rosie McCann
Iphigenie Castiglioni	...	Mrs. Heinz Fodor

Storyline

A team of American astronauts leave their space station on the first mission to Mars, but the captain's religious beliefs may get in the way.

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Plot Keywords:

space station | sabotage | spacesuit | mars the planet | father son relationship | 

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Taglines:

See how it will happen - in your lifetime!

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Genres:

Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 April 1955 (USA)

Also Known As:

Mars Project

Filming Locations:

Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

81 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The spaceship design was taken from Wernher von Braun's actual designs that appeared in a 1954 issue of Collier's.

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Goofs

In most shots of the "Wheel", it is shown turning counter-clockwise. But in the scenes of Cooper being transported to it after becoming paralyzed aboard the rocket, the Wheel is suddenly turning clockwise - until the final shot of the rescue craft heading toward it, where once again it is moving counter-clockwise.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Narrator: This is a story of tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, when men have built a station in space, constructed in the form of a great wheel, and set a thousand miles out from the Earth, fixed by gravity, and turning about the world every two hours, serving a double purpose: an observation post in the heavens, and a place where a spaceship can be assembled, and then launched to explore other planets, and the vast universe itself, in the last and greatest adventure of mankind, the ...
[...]

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Connections

Edited into Destination Space (1959)

User Reviews

Great effects, but a questionable story . . .

Ambitious in scope, undeniably action-packed: George Pal's third 1950s sci-fi film is loaded with glorious, Technicolor special effects that rival `2001: A Space Odyssey' (supervised by John P. Fulton). The basic plot (the first manned mission Mars) can be criticized for being little more than a rehash of `Destination Moon' -- but it's a theme no one really minds repeating.

Unfortunately, the movie suffers mightily from the embarrassing performances of some of its stars. The script contains several ethnic stereo-types which are just short of tasteless ethnic jokes. Perhaps the film's worst flaw is its choice of `villains' -- a mission commander who goes crazy from reading the Bible too much. The message isn't really anti-religious, but it can easily be misinterpreted as such.

However, if you're able to get around this particular flaw, `The Conquest of Space' is a wonderful science fiction adventure. Impressive sets and props by art directors Hal Pereira and Joseph MacMillan Johnson. Excellent music by Van Cleave (`The Space Children', `The Colossus of New York'). The story is based on a book by Willy Ley and Chesley Bonestell (who also provided the great space art which the matte shots are based on).

When you watch this film, remember that the plans for the first satellite -- much less the first Mars mission -- were years away. All in all, they did pretty good. And my class of fourth grade students agree.