Zombies of the Stratosphere (1952)

Sadly Over-hyped

Pretty Good

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Good start, but then it gets ruined

*Spoiler/plot- Zombies of the Stratosphere, 1952. Martians land on Earth and work with outlaws to used atomic methods to take control of the planet for Mars. Govt agents fight to stop the takeover.*Special Stars- Judd Holdren, Lane Bradford, Leonard Nimoy *Theme- The Martians always have a need to take over Earth.*Trivia/location/goofs- Early Leonard Nimoy camera appearance acting as a Martian 'henchman'. Many outdoor scenes shot at the Iverson Movie Ranch and rock formation called 'Garden of the Gods'. There are 'colorized' versions out in release. Not s enjoyable as original 'black and white'.*Emotion- A enjoyable theatrical serial of the era with it's campy-ness and corny drama intact. You still can suspend your belief in this science fiction dramas. Well worth your effort to see this saga and you'l get to see what Spielberg and Lucas experienced while young that would influence their filmmaking genius today.

The story/scenario for "Zombies of the Stratsophere" was originally written to be used as the fourth episode ( of the eventual twelve) of the Republic-produced "Commando Cody- Sky King of the Universe" syndicated television 1951-52 production season series. The studio unit that was doing the television series, under Associate Producer Franklin Adreon, was also doing the serials (for theatre distribution) and after the first three "Commando Cody" TV episodes were completed, then started production on "Zombies of the Stratosphere" prior to finishing the remaining nine Cody-TV episodes. On April 10, 1952, Adreon sent a memo to all Republic Pictures Corporation departments advising that certain character names in production number 133 (internal house number for the upcoming serial) have been changed as follows: Commando Cody becomes Larry Martin; Joan Gilbert becomes Sue Davis; Ted Richards becomes Bob Wilson; Mr. Henderson becomes Mr. Steele and Hank becomes Dick."Zombies" utilized stock footage from various Republic serials, features and one western; all of the 17 flying sequences of the airborn-wired dummy came straight from "King of the Rocket Men.", and the uranium-smuggling airplane sequence was lifted from the Roy Rogers western, "Bells of Coronado," which is why Clifton Young (as Ross)and Henry Rowland (Plane Heavy)show up in this serial. Larry Martin's space ship was recycled from "Radar Men from the Moon", while the Martians flew a new model (created for "Zombies")that featured a transparent bubble-gum turret housing a ray cannon atop the fuselage.Republic contract-player Roy Barcroft is not seen in the serial but his voice was heard on the radio (chapters 1 and 11) and as dubs for Ross (chapter 4)and Tarner (chapter 7.) There was a fabricated "Introducing Leonard Nimoy" added to the opening cast-sheet when this film was colorized in the '90's, a bit of revisionism catering to Trekkies. Republic Pictures Corporation itself did not pass out "Introducing" credits to players listed ninth in the cast.Filming started on April 4, 1952 and was completed on May 1, 1952. The budget (expected filming cost of the production) was $172,838 and the finished negative cost came in at $176,357, or slightly four thousand dollars over budget. These were the real numbers and, of course, do not fit the revisionist definitions of budget currently employed by some websites.

This one (so to speak) is for lovers of the old Republic Serials, those incredibly silly (by modern standards) episodic films that kept our parents or grandparents coming back to the Saturday matinée week after week. Produced on budgets not much larger than Ed Wood ever had, and on sets sometimes recycled from film to film, they still offered a weekly dose of action and adventure in the days when those terms were not synonymous with earth-splitting explosions, computerized special effects, and "I'll be back." The plots were straightforward; of course, most a/a genre films are simple of plot even today, but there is something about these old cans of cheeze that satisfies more than constant viewings of "Terminatorsaur" and "Predatalienator". The goods guys wear white hats (so to speak) and smell good; the bad guys wear black hats and stink of cigarette smoke; and the simplicity of the 'fex are lovely in themselves. Yeah, things still blow up and burn down, but that is still a function of a/a films, I guess. The logic is, bigger isn't always better, and the serials prove the point.In this Saturday-morning peanut-gallery special, the plan is for the aliens to blow up Earth, so that Mars can take its orbital place and get warm. Out to foil them is Larry, a "security agent," armed only with a .45 and a miraculous suit that lets him fly through the air just by twisting knobs (and jumping on a hidden trampoline for the initial takeoff). Can he stop the terrible zombies from completing their dastardly scheme before the train runs off the track, he gets burned in a raging inferno, or the movie runs out of reels? Return to the theater next week for the next exciting chapter...or just keep playing the tape. Get plenty of popcorn, settle in for a Saturday with the kids to introduce them to what film really was like, and keep your eyes open for Leonard Nimoy, sans ears and "Live Long and Prosper", in an early film appearance! One of the best-remembered of the serials, as well as one of the last ones (Republic stopped producing them in the mid-Fifties or so; check a specialist film-history Web site). Warmly recommended to all, unless you have no tolerance for cheesy sci-fi. I only hope it comes out on DVD eventually, and with Nimoy to comment on it or do a special feature!

Around 1990 Television NZ screened a colourised feature of this serial. I've never seen any reference to it elsewhere. It ran about 100 minutes. Considering how bad some colourisations can be this one was quite good, being very similar to Eastmancolour in the tones but without the saturation.