*****MARTIAN POLAR CAP-SIZED SPOILERS!*****

As a kid in the 1970s, I remember staying up very late one night (well after my family had gone to sleep) to watch a movie on TV called “Robinson Crusoe on Mars” (1964). While the title sounded a bit goofy, the movie was amazing. I sat in rapt attention (even through tortuous commercials), and I loved every minute of it. Sitting alone in the dark, watching the action unfold on the old 25” Zenith, the solitude of the movie really sunk in. This was not long after the first color images from the surface of Mars came in via the Viking landers, and I was surprised to see that the movie’s Martian sky was fairly close to those NASA images. As an adult, I would watch the movie repeatedly on cable TV, before recording it on VHS and eventually buying the Criterion DVD about 12 years ago. I would often recommend the movie to friends too, even if I prefaced that recommendation with an apology for the silly title.

Filmed in 1963, after the United States had just completed the Project Mercury phase of its Moon Race with the Soviet Union, the film’s then-current technology made little attempt at future-forecasting; with small capsule-sized spaceships and USAF-style pressure suits.  The movie was also released before Mariner IV first flew by the red planet in July of 1965.  Needless to say, knowledge of Mars in those days was very limited, so movies about it tended to be more fantastical than what we might see in 2015’s “The Martian.”  While the movie acknowledges the air on Mars is far thinner than Earth’s, Commander “Kit” Draper” (Paul Mantee) is somehow able to adapt by simply taking boosts from oxygen tanks and swallowing pills. This was in keeping with the film’s heady, “new frontier” spirit of the 1960s, when anything seemed possible.

I had mentioned “Robinson Crusoe on Mars” before in one of my earliest columns (“A Tale of Two Martians”), when I compared it (favorably) to “The Martian,” but that only scratched the surface of this truly remarkable movie, which remained in B-movie hell for far too long.  So strap in, prepare to fire retros, and let’s get into…

“Robinson Crusoe on Mars” (1964)

The movie opens in Mars orbit aboard a spaceship unimaginatively named Mars Gravity Probe-1, a cramped orbiter vehicle fitted with a pair of landing craft. MGP-1 is crewed by two astronauts, Col. Dan “Mac” McReady (Adam West), Commander Christopher “Kit” Draper (Paul Mantee), and a woolly monkey named “Mona.” The two astronauts are contemplating which food tube they’ll be having for dinner when they observe a firestorm on the surface.  With little warning, a large flaming meteor heads straight for them.  They fire upper retros, which pitches their craft below the meteor, and into a decaying orbit. Without fuel to make a course correction, they’re forced to abandon their mothership. Kit escapes in one of the single-person landing crafts, while Mac and Mona squeeze into the other…

Note: Mac is played by future “Batman” star Adam West (1928-2017), who is not the star of this film. West would play a much sterner commander of a Mars mission in The Outer Limits episode, “The Invisible Enemy” (1964).

The story then follows Kit’s emergency landing on Mars, as his lander craft topples down a sand dune, having landed right in the middle of the Martian firestorm. Before abandoning his wrecked lander, Kit grabs some gear, including the ‘Omnicom;’ a bulky but sturdy combination TV/VCR/radio and personal log device.  Opening his pressure suit’s faceplate, Kit immediately has trouble breathing in the thin, carbon-dioxide heavy Martian atmosphere.  Realizing the thin air will make nights unbearable, Kit sets off across the treacherous dunes to seek shelter. 

Note: I don’t want to nitpick the science of this sixty-year old film too harshly, since very little was known about Mars during its production.  Scientists at that time already knew the Martian air was thin, but they didn’t know exactly how thin (or cold). The movie’s firestorms would be highly unlikely in such an oxygen-poor atmosphere (though sandstorms and dust devils are very common). The aurorae seen in the movie are similarly impossible, since Mars has no appreciable magnetic field. The movie’s Mars has both green patches and ‘canals’; two phenomena observed from Earth that were later found to be optical illusions. Martian gravity is also about a third of Earth’s, which would slow the falls Kit takes as he encounters unexpected sinkholes in the terrain.  Anyway, on with the movie…

Kit eventually finds an elevated cave within the side of a cliff; the cave is spacious and offers generous shelter from the elements. He then sets down his bulky equipment, which includes a portable radar tracking unit and the Omnicom, which he also uses to keep a record of his time on Mars. Kit has already discovered a unique yellow rock which burns like coal, and can be used to warm the Martian nights. After opening his pressure suit faceplate, Kit takes inhalations from his oxygen tanks at regular intervals to compensate for the thin air. Sleep poses a problem, since oversleeping would cause asphyxiation. Kit vows to improvise some kind of hourglass-style alarm clock to prevent that.  Before signing off, Kit vows to look for Mac the following day…

Note: Kit’s journal is a narrative device similar to Star Trek’s “captain’s log,” which allows both exposition and narration to be conveyed realistically, since Kit is supposed to be keeping a record of his activities and any possible survival tips for the benefit of future manned missions.

The following day, Kit sets out across the harsh Martian dunes to look for Mac’s landing craft.  He eventually finds the wreckage of the crash-landed ship.  Mac’s limp, outstretched hand is visible from beneath the wreckage.  Kit then takes his late commander’s personal effects, including a photo of his wife Elinor and their two kids, before building a cairn with a makeshift cross for Mac’s gravesite.  After this grim duty, Kit sees what looks like a curled alien tendril appearing from behind the wreckage.  Drawing his pistol, Kit discovers it’s the tail of their woolly monkey, Mona. Grateful to have a companion in this wilderness, he takes the monkey and her much-needed oxygen tanks back with him to the shelter.

Note: In earlier drafts of the screenplay, Mona was going to be an armadillo-like Martian creature that Kit discovers and names “Marsa” (much like the exotic parrot taken in by Crusoe in Daniel Defoe’s original 18th century novel). Changing Marsa to Mona the monkey saved the production the hassle of building an animatronic alien prop, while also homaging the first US ‘astronaut’ chimpanzees (Ham, Abel and Baker) who preceded the human Mercury astronauts into space. The monkey playing Mona was actually a male named Barney, who wore a furry patch over his crotch to hide his genitalia.

Back at the cave with Mona, Kit finds their remaining oxygen reserves are dwindling.  As he slowly asphyxiates, Kit decides to forgo rationing, and lets Mona eat whatever she wants, since the small monkey requires less oxygen than her human companion.  Recording what he believes to be his final log entry, Kit then collapses near a pile of the yellow stones he’s been using as coal.  To his surprise, the unconscious Kit awakens, as small gusts of oxygen blow across his face.  He then realizes the stones discharge oxygen. Kit then boils the stones in to release it even faster. Noticing that Mona is continuing to eat through their food supply, Kit quickly grabs the remaining food tubes and caps them for future meals.

Note: The notion of Mars containing oxygen in its rocks isn’t farfetched, since the planet’s current reddish hue comes largely from rust; a telltale indicator of the planet’s wetter, warmer, oxygen-rich past.  Nevertheless, it’s unlikely a small group of such rocks would simply expel oxygen, let alone in a quantity needed to prevent a man from asphyxiating to death. Also of note, actor Paul Mantee does an amazing job in the near-asphyxiation scene; in fact, it’s downright unsettling to watch.

As the weeks go by, Kit and Mona settle into their cohabitation. Kit tries offering the monkey some of their rationed water, but Mona is not interested.  Wondering why his simian friend hasn’t been thirsty for the last few days, he then offers her salty crackers with extra paste on them, in order to make her thirsty.  Kit doesn’t like teasing his only companion, but he needs to know what she knows. Kit then follows the sneaky monkey to see just where she quenches her thirst…

Note: When I met actor Paul Mantee in March of 2004, he told me about his simian costar’s chronic diarrhea on set (!). Nevertheless, Barney the woolly monkey was quite skilled for an animal actor (a performance made possible via his trainer and judicious editing, no doubt).

After following the nimble monkey, and falling through yet another of Mars’ many treacherous sinkholes, Kit finds Mona’s secret water supply; a small rocky pond of fresh water at the base of a tall cliff face. The pond, which Kit later dubs “the beach,” is also filled with a reddish seaweed containing unusual, sausage-shaped plants that Mona has been eating, as well. Kit thanks Mona for guiding him to this little Martian oasis.  After taking a refreshing swim, Kit uses an airbag and accompanying tubes as a makeshift bagpipe, creating a musical cacophony for the impromptu beach party. Kit’s mood is dampened when he hears his lonely voice echoing in the cliff.  Starved to hear a voice other than his own, he angrily shouts, “Mr. Echo Voice, go to hell!”

Note: There was a deleted scene in 2015’s “The Martian” (that was also in Andy Weir’s 2011 book) where the stranded astronaut creates an improvised bathtub for a refreshing bath on Mars. This also brought to mind the scene near the beginning of 1968’s “Planet of the Apes” where the three astronauts find a large, refreshing mountain stream after several days of walking through a hostile desert.  Finding water is the dream of every hero who finds themselves stranded in a hostile habitat, reaffirming the notion that water is life.

A few months go by, and Kit realizes the red seaweed from ‘the beach’ is “mana from heaven.”  With this new resource, he uses an improvised loom to weave thicker protective clothing, and a hat. Chef Kit also cooks the seaweed’s sausages into a thick, brownish stew, which promptly gives he and Mona matching cases of food poisoning.  Kit and Mona double over in pain after their disastrous dinner, with Kit grimly noting that “it’s eight months to the nearest hospital.” 

Note: The movie sees a reddish seaweed being used as a valuable resource, in contrast to sci-fi author H.G. Wells (1866-1946), whose Martian invaders were using blood from human beings to make their own iron-based “red weed” in an effort to remake Earth in Mars’ image. “Robinson Crusoe on Mars” director Byron Haskin also directed the 1953 movie adaptation of “The War of the Worlds,” which omitted the ‘red weed’ subplot seen in Wells’ book (no doubt its manufacturing process was too ghastly for 1950s moviegoers), though it reappeared in the 2005 Steven Spielberg remake.  For this film, red Martian seaweed is much more benign, save for the food poisoning it temporarily gives Mona and Kit. Counterintuitively, the red weed’s sausages seem safer to eat raw instead of cooked.

In one of the movie’s most haunting scenes, Kit rises from a feverish delirium to see a human shadow in his cave entrance. Pushing the large rocky door aside, he sees Mac standing before him!  Excitedly welcoming his former skipper into the cave, an eager Kit shows Mac all of his progress, such as using rocks for oxygen and food from native seaweed.  But the seemingly traumatized Mac remains silent, staring blankly ahead. A desperate Kit begs Mac to say something, anything, but the zombielike Mac only gazes catatonically into space.  Suddenly, the sound of Kit’s improvised ‘oxygen alarm clock’ goes off! Kit awakens to find himself standing upright and imploring empty space. Kit realizes the hallucination of his late commanding officer was only a fever dream.  

Note: Adam West’s brief return to the film is sufficiently creepy and disturbing, while Paul Mantee shows raw vulnerability, loneliness and desperation as he begs his former commanding officer to speak. Mantee’s performance in this film should’ve launched his career into the stratosphere.  It’s a real shame the movie was undeservedly relegated to B-movie status. 

After several months, Kit grows frustrated hearing his radar unit beeping loudly whenever his unmanned mothership appears in the sky overhead. Kit’s remote orders to bring the craft down fail, and the only order it responds to is the order to self-destruct. With the Mars Gravity Probe mothership gone, Kit commits to further exploring his new home, and he finds what appears to be the deliberately battered remains of a humanoid skeleton in the sand, with a large round shackle around its wrist; an extraterrestrial murder victim. Realizing he may not be alone on Mars, Kit hides a US flag and other traces of his existence around the cave. Before long, the radar unit begins to beep again, after the mothership’s destruction.  This new beeps sound less regular and more erratic. Looking skyward for the source, Kit sees several large, silvery manta-ray shaped alien spaceships. The craft then fire energy beams into the Martian surface, as they hunt an unseen quarry… 

Note: The alien spaceships are a reuse of the Martian war machines from Haskin’s aforementioned 1953 version of “War of the Worlds.”  In this film, the copper-hulled miniature had been repainted a silvery gray, with a red glowing beam emitter fitted onto their undersides. In those pre-CGI days, it was common practice to reuse miniatures by slapping a different coat of paint on them, or other minor detailing changes. For this reason, director Stanley Kubrick famously destroyed his sets, costumes and miniature spaceships from “2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968) to prevent them from being reused in B-movies. However, some miniatures and costumes did survive Kubrick’s purge; in fact, I’ve seen a few (A Movie Lover’s Dream; the Academy Museum).

After seeing an alien ship land nearby, Kit discreetly takes his Omnicom and portable video camera to the crater where it landed.  Holding the camera over the rim and into the pit below, he records what looks like an alien mining operation, with spacesuit-wearing overseers using energy rifles to herd bronze-skinned, dark-haired humanoid slaves in and out of the caverns.  Having recorded enough, Kit takes the Omnicom and prepares to leave, before he comes face to face with a runaway slave (Victor Lundin), whose wrists are fitted with the same thick shackles seen on the alien skeleton.  Realizing the overseers are after him, Kit hurriedly takes the runaway alien back to the safety of his cave. Once there, a distrustful Kit keeps an eye on his inscrutable alien guest, offering him shelter, but with a stern (and ugly) warning not to get out of line.

Note: Original drafts of the script depicted the alien slaves as less human-looking, with large eyes and three-fingered hands. No doubt for budgetary reasons, they were then made to appear more like the slaves of Ancient Egypt, wearing only a simple loincloth (called a shendyt) and wraparound sandals. The shaggy, simple black wigs reinforce that image as well.  The mining operation overseers wear what appear to be modified lunar spacesuits from George Pal’s “Destination Moon” (1950). Kit’s initial distrust of his alien runaway guest shows a darker side to his character. This is before he later accepts the alien as a friend, and eventually as a brother.

Overcoming his earlier distrust of this seemingly mute companion, Kit discovers that the alien, whom he now calls “Friday” (with apologies to Robinson Crusoe), can speak. Despite the language barrier between them, Kit is relieved to hear any voice other than his own. Over time, Kit begins teaching English to Friday, just as he begins to learn a few words in Friday’s native tongue.  Friday soon realizes his former overseers have abandoned their mining camp, and he leads Kit to look for survivors.  At the pit, they search through the caverns, where they find a pile of slave corpses.  Friday grieves, and Kit offers his sympathies.  Soon, they’re both facing a disaster, as a falling meteor explodes overhead; burying them both in a sea of ash. Friday quickly recovers, but he finds Kit unconscious.  Pulling Kit out of the ash, he revives the astronaut and offers him one of his ‘oxygen pills,’ which are used by the slaves to work in the thin Martian atmosphere.  In Friday’s language, Kit humbly thanks him for saving his life. 

Note: I’m glad that Kit’s distrust (and abuse) of Friday was short-lived.  At first, it seems that Kit was going to use Friday as his own slave. However, once Friday saves Kit’s life, their relationship dynamic immediately changes, and they become equals, despite Friday’s occasional deference.

We later see Kit and Friday at ‘the beach,’ with Mona in tow. The three of them are getting along well, despite former slave Friday’s occasional deference to Kit (old habits). With the language barrier between them eroding, communication becomes easier, and Kit tries to learn more about his alien companion.  He learns that Friday has been a slave since the age of 16, and that he’s now 78 in human years.  He also hails from the middle star in the belt of the constellation Orion (Alnilam, aka Epsilon Orionis). Kit vows to help Friday remove his thick shackles, which cause him pain whenever overseer spaceships fly overhead and activate a remote magnetic beam.  Realizing they need to head further north to evade the returning overseers, they use large cavernous tunnels beneath the Martian ‘canals.’ Kit calls these tunnels a new “underground railroad,” in a reference to America’s own ugly past with slavery.  As they make their way beneath the canals to the polar cap, Kit takes occasional breaks to cut through Friday’s shackles with carbon wire scavenged from his ship.

Note: As stated earlier, the ‘canals’ on Mars were an optical illusion first spotted by famed 19th century Italian astronomer Giovanni Schaiparelli, who called them “channels” (“canali” in Italian) but they were mistranslated into English as ‘canals.’ This stoked the imagination of American astronomer Percival Lowell, who assumed these canals were an obvious sign of intelligent life on the planet.  One very real (and very large) ‘canal’ on Mars is the Mariner Valley (aka Vallis Marineris), discovered by the Mariner 9 spacecraft in 1972. It runs roughly 4,000 km across (2,500 miles) and is located just below the Martian equator.  For context, Earth’s own “Grand Canyon” is a mere 277 miles/446 km long.

Kit, Friday and Mona make their way through the underground tunnels, but hit a fiery dead end, which forces them back up to the surface.  Once there, they battle increasingly frigid temperatures and a lack of water as they continue northward.  A weakened Friday has been holding back on taking his oxygen pills; saving them for Kit. When Kit learns of Friday’s selflessness, he takes charge of the pills, and distributes them evenly between the two of them. Desperate to stay warm, the two build an icy igloo for shelter, using their own body heat to stay warm (no, not by having sex—it’s not that kinda movie; besides, sex requires too much oxygen).  Unfortunately, a large meteor slams into the frozen polar cap, and the resultant heat from the fiery impact begins melting their igloo.  As ice turns to water, Kit and Friday save their electronic gear from becoming waterlogged.  Checking the equipment, Kit activates the Omnicom, as well as the radar, which picks up a steady beep…

Note: Despite its clunky appearance, that versatile Omnicom is pretty damn durable, too; it gets soaked in melting ice, and yet it still works. Not to mention that in the many months since he landed, we never see Kit change its batteries, either. Perhaps it’s nuclear-powered?

At first, Kit thinks the overseers are resuming their search for their runaway slave, but Friday listens to the beeps, which don’t match the overseer ships; “Not enemy… different,” he says.  Kit then gets a signal on the Omnicom, and it’s in English. Overjoyed, Kit identifies himself as “Commander Christopher Draper, United States Navy.” The voice at the other end is equally astonished to hear “a voice from Mars!” We then see a detached spacecraft landing on the remaining ice surrounding the largely melted polar cap.  Kit and Friday are being rescued.

The End.

Note: Just hoping that rescue lander doesn’t topple over like the previous two, and that it has room for an extra passenger (i.e. Friday). I also wonder what the reaction on Earth will be when the rescue ship returns with a bona fide extraterrestrial? That’s a whole other movie.

Summing It Up

Screenwriters Ib Melchior (“Angry Red Planet”) and John Higgins adapted Daniel Defoe’s 18th century classic “Robinson Crusoe” to the Space Age, complete with woolly monkey ‘Mona’ in lieu of a parrot, and a runaway alien slave named Friday (with all apologies to the source novel). While all of this might be waaay too on-the-nose now, it works well enough for a sci-fi fantasy set in a far less-cynical time. 

It’s with surprising restraint the writers renamed their hero Commander Kit Draper, instead of their first choice, “Robin Cruze.” Exotic aliens, jungle locales, and other ideas for Mars were scaled back for budgetary reasons, too. Veteran director Byron Haskin (1899-1984), despite a long career in many genres, was clearly comfortable with sci-fi/fantasy, having previously directed “War of the Worlds” (1953), “Conquest of Space” (1955), “First Men on the Moon” (1965) and TV’s “The Outer Limits” (1963-4).  Haskin was also the first associate producer brought on board for the original Star Trek pilot episode, ”The Cage,” but bowed out when the series was picked up, with the job being passed on to Herb Solow.

The cast really throw their backs into their roles, with actor Paul Mantee giving a very underrated performance as the almost-titular hero.  As the only onscreen human character for a sizable portion of the film, Mantee is completely riveting in his solo performance.  In fact, he’s every bit as credible as Tom Hanks in 2000’s “Cast Away.” Costar Victor Lundin also does a solid job as the runaway humanoid slave “Friday,” even if he’s forced to wear a silly wig, lots of bronzer, and a scant wardrobe (giving a sincere performance through such indignities is a real test of acting prowess). The actors’ believable onscreen bonding is an early prototype for other such stranded sci-fi duos, such as Dennis Quaid and Louis Gossett Jr. in 1985’s “Enemy Mine.” There’s also a pre-“Batman” Adam West as the ill-fated Mars Gravity Probe skipper, Col. Dan McReady.

Beautiful location shooting in Death Valley gives this little movie an unexpectedly epic scope, and the augmented orange/red-tinted sky is both exotic and surprisingly prescient. The widescreen cinematography by Winton C. Hoch (“Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea,” “Darby O’Gill and the Little People”) feels almost like a John Ford western in space; an illusion only hindered by a few obvious indoor sets and matte paintings (the cave and the watering hole), which are easily forgivable, given the film’s meager budget (est. at $1.5 million) and visual effects limitations of the time.  The musical score by Van Cleeve (“The Twilight Zone” “The Virginian”) alternates between 1960s-television and borderline Jerry Goldsmith brilliance, particularly during the treks across the desert.

If one can forgive the sixty year-old production trappings and dodgy science of a pre-Apollo 11 sci-fi movie, there is much to love about “Robinson Crusoe on Mars.” Despite the admittedly goofy title, this is a genuine, if dated space survival epic, and a clear antecedent to later space survival films such as “Gravity” and “The Martian.” There’s a good reason the restoration team at Criterion chose to give this underrated film a deservedly deluxe treatment on DVD and Blu-Ray.  It’s as worthy of preservation and restoration as any other film in the prestigious Criterion Collection catalog.

If you’re a fan of classic sci-fi films, and can forgive a certain mid-20th century innocence,“Robinson Crusoe on Mars” will reward your patience with an earnest tale of survival buoyed by sincere performances.

Meeting the Original Martian

At the Pasadena “Grand Slam Sci-Fi Convention” in March of 2004 (when I was relatively new to sci-fi conventions), I went upstairs into convention center’s designated autograph room and saw actor Paul Mantee sitting at his autograph table.  Recognizing the face, I went over and said hello, before almost involuntarily gushing about how “Robinson Crusoe on Mars” helped pique my then-budding curiosity about space as a kid (if you’ve ever seen the late Chris Farley’s bumbling, nervous interviewer character on Saturday Night Live, you get the idea). I even mentioned how the movie’s depiction of Mars’ sky coloring was surprisingly accurate. The movie definitely factored into my love of the planet Mars, and eventually becoming a (now 30-year) member of The Planetary Society. 

Mantee seemed humbled by the impact of the movie.  He then graciously posed for a photo with my wife and I, and he told us a few anecdotes about the movie’s production, including the nasty diarrhea of his monkey costar (!) and how he learned the devastating news of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination while on location in Mojave, California.  Mantee wondered if his old newspaper with that headline might still be out there in the desert, somewhere.  He also wore a sweatshirt promoting his daughter’s modeling agency.  At the end of our meeting, Mantee signed two autographs for us, thanking me for the kind words. Mantee was such a gracious man, and I was saddened to hear of his passing 11 years ago.  I’m only glad I had the opportunity to tell him how much his performance meant to me.

If you have access to the Criterion physical media release of the movie, I highly recommend listening to the film’s commentary track with Mantee and his costar Victor Lundin; it’s great to hear the two actors reminisce about their time together making this underrated film. 

Where to Watch

“Robinson Crusoe on Mars” can be digitally rented/purchased from YouTube, AppleTV, Amazon Prime Video and Google Play movies (prices vary from $3.99 and up) and, of course, it can also be purchased on Criterion Collection DVD/Blu-Ray from Amazon. The movie is also streaming on DailyMotion.com (with ads).  However you watch this landmark film (even on late night TV, past your bedtime), it’s well worth the effort.