Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964)

When this film was made, NASA and space science were in their infancy. Still, this holds up well even now. Basically a space version of the famous novel, Two astronauts and a spider monkey accidentally crash land on mars. While there, the surviving Astronaut learns how to survive, makes an alien first contact and has several adventures. Yes, today we know that one can't survive on Mars without special gear, but, as I said, this was done in the dark ages of space exploration. The main characters are likeable, rounded characters and the story unfolds very quickly. It's a lot of fun and when watched people should remember that. A great movie.

I first watched this movie about human survival, yet somewhat palatable as you witness the difficulty of Commander Christopher Draper (Paul Mantee) and his pet Monkey Mona survive the Martian landscape for a food and water. Let me start over by explaining Draper's uncustomary circumstance. Two astronauts, (The other being Dan McCready played by Adam West), and a monkey named Mona are on a collision course with a large meteoriod. Commander Draper and McCready have to abort their ship and enter two separate life pods to avoid an oncoming sphere. Forced down to Mars in a life pods which crash land, Draper and Mona survived but McCready wasn't so lucky. The real problem starts when the air, food and water run out. You follow Draper in his struggles. The cinematography was used with specific camera angles as if you were with Draper all the time. The movie made me feel like I was there along for the adventure. Despite all those obstacles the biggest challenge was solitude, isolation. This movie worked for me on all counts. I wasn't bored even with this limited cast as your waiting for something to happen at anytime. Adequate supporting role by Victor Lunden as Friday. This film sparked my curiosity for the stars.

Well, this isn't technically an adaptation of Robinson Crusoe, because Robinson Crusoe isn't even the character's name! In fact, we actually hear the word "Robinson Crusoe" being said at one point! As in, it's the name of a novel in universe! Still, this movie is a lot better than you would think. Judging from the title, I thought it would be pretty dumb. I expected it to have a lot of goofy looking aliens, given on par with 1960's effects.Instead, we actually got none of that but instead a faithful retelling of the classic tale! It's never campy or anything. Speaking of camp, I didn't even recognize Adam West in this movie and may he rest in space. The monkey is very entertaining here. I checked that he had a tail and is indeed a monkey! The colors are very nice and so is the character Friday. ***

This is a great sci-fi film, an excellent premise, thought-provoking, touching and almost sappy but not quite. Adam West's supporting performance is far better than he managed in his later, lead role on TV as Batman.The suspense in this film, and the down-time between, is nerve-wracking. Just a real nail-biter. The character interactions are fascinating throughout, and even the faux science (present in all sci-fi flicks) is fun to think about. I was prompted to write this review when I read the news today 9/28/2015 that there is, currently, flowing water on Mars which means there is life on Mars for sure.