Radar Men from the Moon (1952)

Strategic targets on Earth are being destroyed by an unknown weapon. Government security head Henderson suspects it's an "atomic ray" originating from the moon! He assigns Commando Cody, ... See full summary »

Director:

Fred C. Brannon

Writer:

Ronald Davidson

Stars:

George Wallace, Aline Towne, Roy Barcroft

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
George Wallace	...	Commando Cody
Aline Towne	...	Joan Gilbert
Roy Barcroft	...	Retik
William Bakewell	...	Ted Richards
Clayton Moore	...	Graber
Peter Brocco	...	Krog
Robert R. Stephenson	...	Daly (as Bob Stevenson)
Don Walters	...	Henderson
Tom Steele	...	Zerg
Dale Van Sickel	...	Alon
Wilson Wood	...	Hank
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]

Storyline

Strategic targets on Earth are being destroyed by an unknown weapon. Government security head Henderson suspects it's an "atomic ray" originating from the moon! He assigns Commando Cody, scientist and man of action with a secret flying suit, to investigate. Soon, Cody is battling Earth thugs in the pay of Krog the moon man and making trips in his experimental rocket to the moon itself, in a perilous and all but singlehanded effort to thwart the planned invasion of Earth.

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Taglines:

BLASTING OUT OF SPACE...and into ATOMIC ACTION.

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Genres:

Action | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

9 January 1952 (USA)

Also Known As:

Planet Men from Mars

Filming Locations:

Iverson Ranch - 1 Iverson Lane, Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$185,702 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Republic Pictures (I)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

167 min (12 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Victor System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Made by Republic in the final years of serial production, it recycled the "rocketman suit" from the studio's wildly popular serial King of the Rocket Men (1949).

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Goofs

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.

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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.

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Connections

Referenced in Troldspejlet: Episode #23.15 (2000)

User Reviews

Maybe, My Favourite REPUBLIC Movie Serial?

In 1936 Republic made a very boring serial called Undersea Kingdom. But it had some fancy aircraft effects. In 1941 Republic made an okay serial called The Adventures of Captain Marvel. But it had amazing flying footage of Marvel. In 1949 Republic made a reasonably good serial called King Of The Rocketmen. More amazing flying effects. This was all a lead up to something. In 1952 Republic would make a true comic book classic.

Republic Studio effects man Mr Howard Lydecker is the most under-rated effects man in Hollywood. His work in Radar Men (and the above mentioned serials) steals the show. We have full scale spaceships, miniature spaceships, rocketman flying in the sky, fancy sci-fi hardware all over the place (including an early model of that female robot from the Lost In Space episode "Ghost Planet"), it is all here!

I also like looking at 1950s cars race around country roads and there is no shortage of that here. All great stuff! The cast? I don't know any of them but who cares? This is just screen comic book entertainment and nothing else. In the 1960s Howard Lydecker would do effects for TV's Lost In Space and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.