Movie Review: First Man into Space (1959)
Synopsis: Despite a tendency to disobey orders and apprehension from his commanding officer and brother, Chuck, Lt. Dan Prescott is chosen to be the first man launched into space. Once outside the Earth's atmosphere, Dan chooses to once again ignore his orders by pushing the ship to 250 miles above the planet and, as a result, loses control after passing through a mysterious dense cloud. The ship is later found encrusted in a rock-like material that is impervious to x-rays and other tests. Dan, meanwhile, has been turned into a blood-thirsty monster that is wandering New Mexico and killing people.
Who's in it? The movie stars Marshall Thompson, Bill Edwards, Robert Ayres, Carl Jaffe, Bill Nagy and Marla Landi.
Review: While I'm not a huge classic science fiction fan, I do enjoy the occasional movie filmed prior to mankind achieving space travel for real. Those movies often offer an interesting take on what space travel will do for the human race. In some cases, it's an optimistic prediction about the future. In others, like First Man into Space, it's an unlikely but still entertaining pessimistic view.
To be honest, I wasn't really expecting a whole lot from this film when I first started watching it this morning. I knew it would be limited by the 1950s special effects and figured a lot of other parts of the film would feel dated as well. However, it turned out to be a surprisingly good monster movie.
I think the thing I liked best about this film is it doesn't wait until the last minute to introduce Dan (Edwards) in monster form. The movie's introduction to the main characters is kept to a minimum (though still enough to get a good grasp of their personalities) and the transition from arrogant pilot to oxygen-deprived beast happens early enough in the movie to allow for the creature to start a reasonable rampage.
The movie's explanation about why Dan was suddenly transformed into what I would describe as a mutated space vampire also seemed legit. I'm not saying the science was even remotely accurate, but it at least explained why he was craving blood and why it would be difficult, if not impossible, to stop him. The latter also meant the movie's ending wasn't as predictable as would be expected since it wasn't as though they would simply be able to shoot the bulletproof creature.
My only real complaint is I did think it took Chuck (Thompson) and the others a bit too long to put two and two together as far as the creature was concerned. For a group of people who were smart enough to launch a man into space, their rocket scientist credentials were seriously brought into question as a result of that. While not a huge deal as far as the plot was concerned, it might have allowed for a bit more confrontation and an ending that didn't feel as rushed as it did.
Final Opinion: The film obviously relied heavily on theories about space travel that have since been proven wrong (or, at minimum, haven't been proven in the past 60+ years). However, it was still an entertaining movie that did justice to its worst-case scenario.
My Grade: A
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Here are some other reviews of other 1950s science fiction movies:
Movie Review: World Without End (1956)
Movie Review: Invaders from Mars (1953)
Movie Review: The Thing From Another World (1951)
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