Red Planet Mars 1952 American science fiction film -starring Peter Graves and Andrea King. - directed by art director Harry Horner in his directorial debut.

 

Red Planet Mars 1952 American science fiction film -starring Peter Graves and Andrea King. - directed by art director Harry Horner in his directorial debut.

In the early 1950s there were a number of science fiction movies related to Mars,  Red Planet Mars, available on YouTube, is an entertaining film with an underlying religious theme,  

Critical response

When the film was released, the staff at Variety liked the film, writing, "Despite its title, Red Planet Mars takes place on terra firma, sans space ships, cosmic rays or space cadets. It is a fantastic concoction delving into the realms of science, politics, religion, world affairs and Communism [...] Despite the hokum dished out, the actors concerned turn in creditable performances."

The New York Times, while giving the film a mixed review, wrote well of some of the performances, "Peter Graves and Andrea King are serious and competent, if slightly callow in appearance, as the indomitable scientists. Marvin Miller is standard as a top Soviet agent, as are Walter Sande, Richard Powers and Morris Ankrum, as Government military men, and Willis Bouchey, as the President."

Allmovie critic Bruce Eder praised the film, writing, "Red Planet Mars is an eerily fascinating artifact of the era of the Red Scare, and also the first postwar science fiction boom, combining those elements into an eerie story that is all the more surreal because it is played with such earnestness."

The film critic Dennis Schwartz panned the film in 2001, writing, "One of the most obnoxious sci-fi films ever. It offers Hollywood's silly response to the 1950s 'Red Scare' sweeping the country".

British critic Leslie Halliwell described the film as "lunatic farrago that has to be seen to be believed

Like other older science fiction films it now seems comic, almost low camp