Category: Conquest of Space
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Rihlah ela el-Qamar
Ismail Yassin sits on the controls of a rocket and lands on the moon where he is met by a robot, a scientist and scantily clad dancing women. If not for Yassin’s incessant shouting and mugging, Egypt’s first space film from 1959 might have been a decent SF spoof. 3/10
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I Was a Sputnik of the Sun
In a near future, Soviet scientists are trying to figure out how to send a manned mission around the sun, but are thwarted by deadly “dead zones” in space. Made by documentarians, this minor 1959 effort uneasily straddles the gap between edutainment and SF drama. Visually neat, but lifeless. 3/10
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First Man Into Space
A maverick pilots his rocket plane into space and comes back as a vampiric monster. This 1959 low-budget US/UK cooperation takes its inspiration from The Quatermass Xperiment, but lacks its predecessors quality, atmosphere and intelligence. Still, it’s a competent and fairly entertaining programmer. 4/10
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Toto in the Moon
Achille just wants to write science fiction stories, but American scientists want to send him into space and are thwarted by communists and alien clones. Italian comedy legend Totò heads this sloppily written 1958 sci-fi spoof, more interesting for its call sheet than its plot. 4/10
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From the Earth to the Moon
Two rival arms manufacturers strike an uneasy truce to create a rocket to the moon. Byron Haskin’s ill-fated would-be epic never quite gets off the ground, tied down by a talky, slow-moving script and woefully badly written characters whose motivations never become clear. 3/10
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Missile to the Moon
A scatterbrained 1958 retread of Cat Women of the Moon, Richard Cunha’s cardboard rocket takes us to yet another civilisation inhabited by perky beauty pageant winners and their evil queen. A so-bad-it’s-good classic. 3/10
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Queen of Outer Space
Four astronauts crash land on the female-only planet of Venus and join Zsa Zsa Gabor in her revolt against the evil queen. Allied Artists’ 1958 colour Z-movie is an attempt at a spoof, but it is impossible to distinguish from the films it tries to make fun of. 2/10
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The Day the Sky Exploded
As an astronaut accidentally sends a mega-meteor on a collision course with Earth, scientists frantically work to find a way to save the planet. Italy’s first serious SF talkie from 1958 is an equal collection of hits and misses. The fairly intelligent script and Mario Bava’s atmospheric direction and photography…
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It! The Terror from Beyond Space
A mission to Mars returns to Earth with a monstrous stowaway aboard the space rocket. United Artists’ 1958 proto-slasher is clunky and occasionally hilarious, but Jerome Bixby’s tight script builds up some real tension, and gets a few points for originality. 6/10.
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The Space Children
Children help an alien brain with telekinetic powers to sabotage the launch of a nuclear satellite. Jack Arnold’s kiddie-friendly pacifist message film from 1958 is intriguing and fresh in its earnestness, but bogged down by a thin and redundant script. 5/10
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Space Master X-7
A mystery woman unwittingly spreads a flesh-eating fungus spore from Mars across the US, and G-men race to stop her. This 1958 Dragnet-styled thriller is a competent low-budget potboiler, but fails because the plot needs the smart heroes to act like idiots. Plus the relentless narration.
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War of the Satellites
A body-snatching alien infiltrates the international space program with intents at sabotage. Good low-budget effects and acting, but a dull script makes this one of Roger Corman’s lesser SF efforts. 4/10
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The Flame Barrier
The search for yet another lost husband in the Mexican jungles leads to a crashed satellite inhabited by a murderous alien blob. Gramercy’s 1958 SF jungle adventure has a good idea but lacks both script and interest. 2/10
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The Strange World of Planet X
Scientists accidentally blow a hole in the ionosphere, resulting in visiting aliens and giant bugs. This 1958 UK low-budget production has some good ideas, but is hampered by equally bad ones. 4/10
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The Mysterians
Aliens land in Japan, and demand to mate with Earth women. The united military might of Earth engage in battle with the aliens. Ishiro Honda’s 1957 epic is a visual feast, but unfortunately thin on plot. 6/10
Scifist. 