July 12, 2024

I quite liked the premiss here but the execution is really lacklustre. We start with a rocket that lands on Mars only to blow up. The project leader back on Earth - "Dr. Fielding" (Kent Taylor) doesn't know why, only that it isn't working so reunites with his family where his relationship with wife "Claire" (Marie Windsor) has become rather terminally strained after his years of dedication to his mission and missed Christmases. She's clearly a wo… read the rest.

I quite liked the premiss here but the execution is really lacklustre. We start with a rocket that lands on Mars only to blow up. The project leader back on Earth - "Dr. Fielding" (Kent Taylor) doesn't know why, only that it isn't working so reunites with his family where his relationship with wife "Claire" (Marie Windsor) has become rather terminally strained after his years of dedication to his mission and missed Christmases. She's clearly a women who comes from a wealthy family, and they - together with children "Judi" (Betty Beall) and "Rocky" (Gregg Shank) end up at their country estate where all start to see things. People end up in two places at one time. Inexplicable accidents start to occur. What's happening? Well we do, eventually, get to the bottom of quite a cunning wheeze from the occupants of the Red planet who have their own way of dealing with their interloping guests, but director Maury Dexter doesn't focus at all well on this more intriguing feature of the story. For the most part this is a rather confining family melodrama with a few wobbly visual effects to bolster it up. It's like a sci-fi comic with lots of words and no pictures - and it does drag a little before a fairly rushed denouement. I wouldn't bother, if I were you.

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