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First Man Into Space
USA 1959
produced by John Croydon, Charles F. Vetter, Richard Gordon (executive) for Amalgamated Productions/MGM
directed by Robert Day
starring Marshall Thompson, Marla Landi, Bill Edwards, Robert Ayres, Bill Nagy, Carl Jaffe, Roger Delgado, John McLaren, Spencer Teakle, Chuck Keyser, John Fabian, Richard Shaw, Bill Nick, Helen Forrest, Roland Brand, Barry Shawzin, Mark Sheldon, Michael Bell, Sheree Winton, Franklyn Fox, Larry Taylor
story by Wyott Ordung, screenplay by John Croydon (as John C. Cooper), Charles F. Vetter (as Lance Z. Hargreaves), music by Buxton Orr
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Dan Prescott (Bill Edwards) is nothing short of a brilliant pilot -
which is why he's chosen for the Army's space program, back then still in
its testing stages. His borther Chuck (Marshall Thompson), who co-runs the
program, isn't very happy about this choice since Dan is a bit hot-headed,
has problems with authority, and always risks more than is asked of him.
That's why when he's supposed to fly a missile into the ionosphere, he
decides to go way higher and take the first trip to outer space, and ...
the missile lands safely on earth, but covered by a strange material that
seems to be something like a spontaneously created protective shield. Dan
though is missing, but by and by, weird murders start to happen in the
area of the crash site, and all of the scenes of crime are covered by
asteroid dust ... and eventually, Dan, who's by now a horrible monster
covered by the protective shield as well, makes it to the science lab
where his sweetheart (Marla Landi) and his scientist of trust (Carl Jaffe)
work, and they and Chuck manage to lure him into a pressure chamber, where
they can reduce the pressure to a level that convenes with his
monster-like condition and he admits he has become a bloodsucker and
things like that and ultimately dies ... First Man Into
Space is a film that pretty much falls into two parts: The first half
really aims for realism and seems almost a bit cold and impersonal because
of that, and the forced-upon sibling rivalry subplot is just that ...
forced upon. The second part with its blood-drinking monster story of
course couldn't be further removed from realism of course ... but it is
sadly completely shock and tension free, and while the monster makeup at
least looks horrific, it is introduced into the film very unspectacularly,
and likewise the drawn-out reconciliatiory ending kind of destroys the
little dramatic build-up there was previously. In all, as 1950's sci-fi
monster movies go - and everybody knows I love the genre - pretty much a
disappointment.
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