AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

Lumsdal Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

Maleeha Vincent It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Lachlan Coulson This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

oscar-35 *Spoiler/plot- Rocketship X-M, 1950, During the very early years of the Space Race, an American scientific group designs and crews a spaceship to go to the moon. However during the mission an incident occurs and they are knocked unconscious. The ship overshoots the moon, heading for Mars. They decide to land on Mars. They find evidence of a dead, advanced, and human-like civilization and several hostile Martians. Only a few of the crew survive a martian attack to leave Mars for their trip back to Earth. And the rocket ship crashes back to Earth with no survivors.*Special Stars- Osa Massen, Lloyd Bridges, Noak Beery Jr, Hugh O'Brian, Morris Ankrum, John Emery.*Theme- Hope and progress in scientific matters is the best motivation for success.*Trivia/location/goofs- B & W. This was a low-budget rival for theater tickets when George Pal's expensive film, 'Destination Moon' came out near the same time. The Martian scenes were originally tinted red to add to the viewer's appreciation & drama and this film's Martian location is California's famous other-worldly Red Rock Canyon of HWY 395, outside Ridgecrest CA. With a very early role for Hugh o'Brian, viewers should watch for his 'beefcake' scenes near the movie's end. The film was re-cut in the 1980's to take advantage of better & modern film Efx shots replacing the very dated old V-2 rocket stock footage. Some of the 1980's footage is still in the film and not all removed. in the rocket ship Mar's landing & take-off sequences and Earth landing. There's a longer version of this film with more scenes about the doomed Martian civilization and it's destruction. That version seems to have been lost. These dramatic scenes are in error with science: When the first stage is jettisoned, it could not overtake the main powered stage & cause a collision. Also since gravity on Mars is half of the Earth, the martians throwing rocks at the crew would not be so deadly to kill. There is no rain on Mars. There is an inconsistency or screen continuity between spaceship designs in the film from WW2 V-2 and sleek bullet shaped spacecraft substituted in the 1980 film scene re-shoots.*Emotion- A very dramatic and memorable film about 1950's space travel to the moon. An excellent cast of B-Movie lead and character actors support an interesting script well on camera. Unfortunately this film was overshadowed and often confused with George Pal's film that had similar plot but more expensive production elements. While others were focusing on the moon, this film goes one better and deals with Mars. This is a fun and exciting film of a different time in space science.

MARIO GAUCI This is one of the earliest films to emerge during the heyday of sci-fi cinema, anticipating even DESTINATION MOON (1950) – to which it pretty much was a rival (albeit more modest) production. It already features many of the ingredients that would become genre staples: the crew of the spacecraft is virtually a microcosm of post-war America (though two are actually foreigners – including the obligatory intellectual female, Osa Massen, whose icy exterior melts under the dogged attentions of rugged pilot Lloyd Bridges), their mission (whose details are meticulously spelled out during the opening Press Conference) apprehensively observed by Ground Control and, of course, the eventual glitch which jeopardizes the flight and sends our heroes to Mars (inhabited by cave-men, victims of a nuclear fall-out, no less!) instead of the Moon. Needless to say, the film feels quaint at this juncture if still eminently watchable: given the low-budget involved, the narrative is mostly restricted to the admittedly stylish shuttle interior – though the climactic exploration of Mars effectively takes place on desert locations and shot in evocative sepia. Incidentally, the last act proves surprisingly downbeat (emphasizing its intent as a cautionary tale – Dalton Trumbo reportedly contributed to the script!) and, yet, it is capped by a determined effort to keep the space race going despite the initial failure (a scene which, again, would soon be turned into a sci-fi cliché: see THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT [1955]).

chuck-reilly The pioneering 1950 sci-fi film "Rocket Ship X-M" was way ahead of its time in regards to its message and also in terms of serious dramatic content provided by an "outer space" movie. Considering the low budget (even for 1950) for this "B" movie, the cast is solid with Lloyd Bridges, Hugh O'Brien, Noah Beery Jr. and Osa Massen along for the ride. The plot seems simple enough; a spaceship lifts off for a mission to the moon with five astronauts aboard. During their flight, they encounter a severe meteor shower which violently pulls their craft out of its orbit and points them towards Mars instead. Of course, that scenario is slightly scientifically implausible in today's modern physics, but this is 1950 and anything's possible. After landing on the Red Planet, the astronauts discover the remnants of a technically advanced civilization that was far superior to anything ever developed back on Earth. The astronauts soon surmise that somehow the civilization destroyed itself, possibly by a nuclear war. What happens next is the crux of the film and lingers with viewers long after the final reel. There are survivors from Mars' past after all, but now they're nothing more than primitive cavemen. Frightened by these "intruders," they attack the astronauts and send them scurrying back to their ship. Dangerously low on fuel because of their long detoured journey to Mars, the astronauts blast off and attempt to return to Earth. But there's no happy ending for Rocket Ship X-M. This movie makes some obvious points about the Cold War atmosphere of the early 1950's and the constant threat of nuclear war. There's no question that the filmmakers wanted the audience to understand exactly how drastic things would change if something like that happened. Living as cavemen wouldn't be too far off the mark. Although this film has certainly dated since its release nearly sixty years ago, its message holds true today just the same as it did back in 1950. It wouldn't take much to send us all back to the Stone Age. So next time you vote for president...

nnnn45089191 Wow, this was a real stinker. This early sci-fi flick has nothing going for it than pure camp. There's so much scientific mambo-jumbo in the dialog it's laughable. The female character played by Osa Massen is just a plot device for the male characters to serve sexist remarks during the entire length of the film. Watch this one with your girlfriend I guarantee it will make her blood boil.The only good thing is the musical score which expertly build the moods of the film. The special-effects are rather crude but not bad considering the vintage of the movie. With some good B-stars in the lead roles,the acting isn't too bad. But the lines they are given must have given them quite a challenge. The challenge of not laughing their heads off.