Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964)

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

I first watched this movie about human survival, yet somewhat palatable as you witness the difficulty of Commander Christopher Draper (Paul Mantee) and his pet Monkey Mona survive the Martian landscape for a food and water. Let me start over by explaining Draper's uncustomary circumstance. Two astronauts, (The other being Dan McCready played by Adam West), and a monkey named Mona are on a collision course with a large meteoriod. Commander Draper and McCready have to abort their ship and enter two separate life pods to avoid an oncoming sphere. Forced down to Mars in a life pods which crash land, Draper and Mona survived but McCready wasn't so lucky. The real problem starts when the air, food and water run out. You follow Draper in his struggles. The cinematography was used with specific camera angles as if you were with Draper all the time. The movie made me feel like I was there along for the adventure. Despite all those obstacles the biggest challenge was solitude, isolation. This movie worked for me on all counts. I wasn't bored even with this limited cast as your waiting for something to happen at anytime. Adequate supporting role by Victor Lunden as Friday. This film sparked my curiosity for the stars.

(Flash Review)I've always heard the name Robinson Crusoe so I thought I'd see what his movies are like. It had a classic and low budget Star Trek feel to most of it. I guess that was intentional? Astronaut Crusoe and his co-pilot get pulled into Mars's gravitational pull while avoiding a large asteroid and crash land on Mars. The first third of the movie is like The Martian with Matt Damon as he tries to authentically survive by managing supplies of oxygen, food, etc… Later, while out exploring he comes across an intergalactic space battle with alien spaceships and their human-looking slaves. The battle is super-cheesy with many spaceships footage reused over and over again. He rescues one slave and they both fight for survival as well as from the aliens. Crusoe is super chill (maybe too much) and confident throughout the wild experiences. The sets and effects reeked of 60's flavors and quality. It was an amusing Sci-Fi B-movie and I won't be in a hurry to catch more of Crusoe's adventures.

Everyone knew by 1965 – including most 10-year-old kids – that Mars was a cold, airless place. Yes, this movie predates that moment slightly, but they didn't know this little. Or they would have known better if they would've made a single phone call to Lowell Observatory. By 1909, the concept of "canals" was dead due to improvements in telescopes. And if there were such a thing as oxygen pills, surely the screenwriters understood that stomach doesn't equal lungs.This does unfortunately carry with it the obnoxious colonial attitude of the original Defoe, in regards to poor Friday, and while the friendship developed, it was never really equal.The monkey is as irritating as monkeys always are. But the cinematography and visuals are kind of cool. Yes they're retro, but very pretty. And so I couldn't give it one star because of that.

More Thought Than Usual and a Bigger Budget Than Most of its Ilk, This is Fondly Remembered by the Generation that Grew Up On and Adored these Youth Oriented Flicks in the Fifties and Early Sixties.The Decade's End Would be Even More Thought Oriented with the Likes of Planet of the Apes (1968) and 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). Truth be Told it Wasn't Until the Late Seventies that Sci-Fi (like Comic Books) Would Gain Any Credibility Among the Cultural Elite.With That in Mind, This Visually Impressive Movie from Director Byron Haskin Resulted in a Solid Entertainment and Although it Failed at the Box-Office, Those "In the Know" Knew that this was Something Special.With a Nod Towards a Modicum of Scientific Accuracy and a Visual Template of Beautiful Imagery and Top Notch SFX (for the time), the Film Can be Considered One of the Best of the 50's-Early 60's Genre Gems.Credible Performances from All Three Leads (including Mona) Add to the Enjoyment. The Alien Space Crafts are Similar to the War of the Worlds (1953) Minus the Strings, but Create an Excitement of Their Own.Overall, Must See for Sci-Fi Fans and Others May Get a Kick Out of It, but if You are Looking to Make Fun of This Type of Thing, You Have to Go Elsewhere. This is Pretty Serious Stuff and Excellent Movie Making.