Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964)

Stranded on Mars with only a monkey as a companion, an astronaut must figure out how to find oxygen, water, and food on the lifeless planet.

Director:

Byron Haskin

Writers:

Ib Melchior (screenplay), John C. Higgins (screenplay) (as John Higgins)

Stars:

Paul Mantee, Victor Lundin, Adam West

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Paul Mantee	...	Cmdr. Christopher 'Kit' Draper
Victor Lundin	...	Friday
Adam West	...	Col. Dan McReady
The Woolly Monkey	...	Mona

Storyline

During a flight to Mars in the spaceship Mars Gravity Probe 1, Commander Christopher 'Kit' Draper and Colonel Dan McReady are forced to deviate from an asteroid and they leave their spacecraft in pods. Draper lands on the surface of the Red Planet and survives. He learns how to produce oxygen and while exploring the planet, he finds McReady dead in his crashed pod. He finds also the monkey Mona and brings the animal to the cave where he is sheltered. He learns that he can breathe the Martian air for short periods but needs also oxygen. But Mona finds water and an edible plant in the underground. .After a long period alone, Draper feels the loneliness. One day, he sees a spacecraft landing on Mars and he believes it might be the rescue team to save him. But he finds aliens working on the planet and some of them are slaves. One of them flees and stumble with Draper and he names him Friday. Now he needs to find a way to be rescued and return to Earth.

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Plot Keywords:

stranded | mars the planet | monkey | life on mars | human alien team | 

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Taglines:

One U.S. astronaut pitted against all the odds beyond this earth!

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Genres:

Adventure | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

June 1964 (USA)

Also Known As:

Robinson Crusoe en Marte

Filming Locations:

Castle Dome Peak, Yuma, Arizona, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,200,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Aubrey Schenck Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min 96 min (cut)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The "air pills" were stock M&Ms, while the "poi sausages" harvested from the Martian plants were pepperonis.

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Goofs

(at around 52 mins) As Draper is dreaming about talking with McReady, the rectangular shadow from the camera crosses over McReady's torso.

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Quotes

Draper: Mr. Echo, go to hell!

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Connections

Version of Robinson Crusoe (1973)

User Reviews

Old School Sci-Fi at it's Best

I remember seeing this one (in syndication?) late at night on TV as a kid about 1967. It was not long after we got our first color TV. Mars was still a distant planet, the space race was on and Kennedy had just said we would be the 1st to the moon, Gemini was flying out of Cape Kennedy and there was little data on Mars as the *1st Mariner fly-by missions* were still a YEAR away, forget about landing there we had never been near the place. The movie holds up well considering that we were still ignorant about the "Red Planet". It compares to the Mission to Mars done recently and it is the Robinson Crusoe on Mars for 12-year-olds of this generation. (The fact we send robots to Mars does take some fun out of it now and I still hope we walk around there) It is as good as any of Pal's other movies and it is a shame it is out of print. Heck, it even has Batman!