Cheap Conquest of Space (Video) (Byron Haskin) Price

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Customer Reviews of Conquest of Space

great 50's sci-fi from George Pal
I highly reccommend. This film is an example of great 50's sci-fi from special effects wizard and producer George Pal. The space scenes hold up well for me and are not corny at all 50 years later. I still get excited watching the space wheel over a decade before Kubricks 2001 version. There are no hokey monsters or aliens in rubber suits here, man is his own worst enemy. This movie goes far beyond most sci-fi films of its time, exploring many issues of the human spirit for exploration in the face of danger. For one thing, it has an international cast to people the space station and the mission that it launches to Mars. There is discussion of the danger ahead, disagreements, accusations, forgiveness, and sacrifice. Lots of suspenseful moments. The trip is fraught with danger and a crewman is killed during a tethered spacewalk. The scene of the crew leaving him dangling on his space tether while they continue onward through space is still chilling to me. They finally have a space burial that is very memorable. This is the first film I know of that shows this, and a crewman that loses his mind and tries to sabatoge the journey.

There are some minor glitches here and there, like the gloves that are not sealed to the spacesuits, but other touches like loss of gravity are well done. Lots of great gadgets, and neat spaceships that "transform". While the special effects are fun and look eyepopping for their time, the gift of this movie is in its most subtle moments. This is one to see more than once. The desperation when they are stranded without water is carried off very well, and when they are near death and denying that there is any higher power in the universe a miracle occurs in a scene straight out of "It's a Wonderful Life". The crew is very human, and has interesting interaction with each other.

The scenes of the crew preparing for the journey are comical as only the astronaughts eat space food while the wheels crew gets steak. The astronaught are getting fed up with being under such a tight training schedule and they each have different feelings about the mission. The character actors are a fresh contrast to the usual cookie cutter crew. There is a great scene where a younger trainee is "washed out" by the hard nosed commander. Another intersting moment when another crewmember smuggles himself aboard and nearly dies since he is not in a restraining couch.

The color is good, and the picture is very clean on this vhs, no problems with sound either. Will look better in widescreen, but the quality of picture was close to dvd i=on this well made copy.

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An interesting view of our future from our past
In this follow-up to "Destination Moon" producer George Pal wanted to show how, possibly, our life in space would look. He used the book THE CONQUEST OF SPACE by Willy Ley and Chesley Bonestell as his basis and created a story of the first manned expedition to Mars. While the technology is deeply rooted in the 1950's, it interesting to note that the rotating space station that figures so prominently in the first half of the film is built as a combined project of the US, UK, Germany, Japan, Russia, etc., the same as the soon-to-be-launched ISS. While the film is not nearly as good as some of Pal's other works, such as "War of the Worlds" or "When Worlds Collide," it's still definitely worth a look.

Sadly, the producers of the video decided to release the tape in the EP/SLP format, resulting in a picture that is OK, but very grainy and sometimes hard to keep on track. It does have Hi-Fi sound, which is nice and clear. END

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The Space Corps, the Great Wheel, and Mars
This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of this remarkable film. If you were born before the start of the Space Age it is a real nostalgic blast from the past. If you were born later, then it gives you a window into the minds of the visionaries of space flight. Both Chesley Bonestell and Willey Ley were advisors on this project, so you know that both the visual design and the technical background must be first rate. In fact, it is absolutely amazing how non-dated much of the film is after all these years. Plus, you get that indefinable positive spirit from the Age of Optimism. This is the sort of film that fueled the dreams of many a young scientist and engineer.

A pleasant additional aspect is seeing all those great old familiar faces in the cast that would later go on to television fame: Eric Fleming in "Rawhide", William Hopper in "Perry Mason", Ross Martin in "Wild, Wild West", and even Vitto Scotti in "Laverne and Shirley."

As for this release of this film, the "Master Sharp imprint" makes this the sharpest, brightest, clearest version since the original theatrical release.