Rocketship X-M (1950)

ROCKETSHIP XM is actually one of the nicer and better '50s American Sci—Fi low—budget features, rather restrained as far as goofiness and cheesiness are concerned; it has a Vernian breath. 'XM', as you may suppose already, comes from Expedition Moon. Basically, this registers as suspenseful hard Sci—Fi.Still, when you see that one of the astronauts is unable to identify Earth's continents as seen from space—and then most of the crew is taken by surprise by freaky imponderable-things begin to look a bit creepy, or tend to stink. As in other '50s space—trip flicks, the crew tends to be lousily ignorant, or, to put it mildly, scientifically naive—anyway, wholly clueless; was it prudent to send in space, as a first mission, guys who didn't know how the Earth's continents look? Why sent on a scientific mission people unable to behave like grown—ups? And why, since an unexplored planet has atmosphere, should one dread a possible microbial contamination? And when the crew of a scientific expedition lands on a planet, what better things to do than tease the Stone Age inhabitants and start a fight with them? These nerds act as if they were Magellan—except that Magellan simply wasn't on a damn scientific mission.Anyway, the story ends on a Boris Fradkin note—anticipating, probably, the similar ending of Boris Fradkin's extraordinary novel ….

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]).

Actually a nice Sci-Fi feature directed and written by Kurt Neumann. Special effects very good for the time of release. Well acting cast in an interesting story for a low budget flick. The first expedition to the moon is knocked off course and lands on Mars. Lloyd Bridges leads the crew that features Noah Beery Jr., Osa Massen, Hugh O'Brian and John Emery. Pioneering Mars results in ancient ruins being discovered before the crew minus a few members struggles to return to Earth. The footage contains a cool tinted sequence. The early explanation of the workings of the rocketship is interesting. It is strange that the astronauts can settle down in the cockpit in less than ten minutes. But of course, at the time viewers were too excited to question that situation. ROCKET X-M is worth watching, especially for early Sci-Fi fans.

I'm seeing a pattern here. If you see a movie on Mystery Science Theater 3000, chances are if you go to IMDb.com there will be hordes of lovers of the film, yet it was picked to be on that TV show because it was sooo bad. I'm sorry but I read a lot about Rocketship X-M as being some landmark sci fi film that stressed realism. Well if that is the case I could write for several paragraphs about how even with 1950's knowledge this movie is utterly flawed. Gravity might be the first obvious observation, or as MST3K did as a skit "selective gravity", also what about when they are plunging to their death and they are just standing there looking out of the window, um would'nt the ship being upside down effect that scene? I would like to think that they started with good intentions and that it ran over budget or something but I think this movie was just plain cheese as in the from under type. Just compare this to "When Worlds Collide" which was released in 1951 to see the true place where this movie ranks, there's no comparison. The movie gets a 2 or maybe 3 on its own, its not even funny to watch on its own. It gets about a 5 or 6 as a MST3K episode as there is no action or much to make fun of, just bad, bad, bad, oh did I mention, it's bad.