Having produced the first "science fact/science fiction" film with "Destination Moon," George Pal should have been the perfect choice to produce "Conquest of Space." However, what Pal has assembled is a mess; for "Conquest of Space" consists largely of substandard special effects and plot implausabilities. Space is blue with stars that look like dots of white paint. When the space station moves erratically, it looks like the tiny model it is, since Pal didn't have it photographed using high speed cameras. The writers would have us believe "Sergeant Siegle" (Phil Foster), a character who would be more at home in a Jerry Lewis comedy is an "electronics genius" and that a man with virtually no knowledge of space travel would be "hand picked" to fly to Mars.
I have few problems with the plot device of having the psychologically unstable "religious fanatic" commander suddenly questioning the mission and space exploration in general. Modern audiences might find this baffling or illogical; but, those who viewed "Conquest " in 1955 were likely familiar with stories of J. Robert Oppenheimer and other scientists who worked on the atom bomb and later denounced its development. More recently, Admiral Hyman Rickover, father of the US nuclear submarine program did much the same thing, in testimony before Congress.
WARNING: SPOILERS I had slightly more problems with the Martian quake that conveniently begins just before the spaceship is to blast off from Mars. While this could easily happen in "real life," it would have been more dramatically plausible had there been a few "gentle" tremors during the year the crew was stranded on the planets surface.
I had a slightly bigger problem with the deliberate "spill" of hypergolic fuel by the unhinged commander. That stuff is nasty, toxic and VERY corrosive. However, even that could be overlooked because of the crew's protective space suits.
The movie makes a big issue of the crew conserving water and energy during their long period of being marooned on Mars. Yet the interior of the ship is always show brightly lit. It's also virtually impossible for the crew to have survived without heat on the surface of Mars, and this information was well known at the time.
END OF SPOILERS
"Conquest of Space" was a missed opportunity for George Pal. I can think of only two other purely "science fact/science fiction" films, "Destination Moon" and "Riders to the Stars." "Conquest of Space" is the weakest of the three, despite having much better special effects than "Riders ..." I give it a "4".
I have few problems with the plot device of having the psychologically unstable "religious fanatic" commander suddenly questioning the mission and space exploration in general. Modern audiences might find this baffling or illogical; but, those who viewed "Conquest " in 1955 were likely familiar with stories of J. Robert Oppenheimer and other scientists who worked on the atom bomb and later denounced its development. More recently, Admiral Hyman Rickover, father of the US nuclear submarine program did much the same thing, in testimony before Congress.
WARNING: SPOILERS I had slightly more problems with the Martian quake that conveniently begins just before the spaceship is to blast off from Mars. While this could easily happen in "real life," it would have been more dramatically plausible had there been a few "gentle" tremors during the year the crew was stranded on the planets surface.
I had a slightly bigger problem with the deliberate "spill" of hypergolic fuel by the unhinged commander. That stuff is nasty, toxic and VERY corrosive. However, even that could be overlooked because of the crew's protective space suits.
The movie makes a big issue of the crew conserving water and energy during their long period of being marooned on Mars. Yet the interior of the ship is always show brightly lit. It's also virtually impossible for the crew to have survived without heat on the surface of Mars, and this information was well known at the time.
END OF SPOILERS
"Conquest of Space" was a missed opportunity for George Pal. I can think of only two other purely "science fact/science fiction" films, "Destination Moon" and "Riders to the Stars." "Conquest of Space" is the weakest of the three, despite having much better special effects than "Riders ..." I give it a "4".