Rocketship X-M (Cohete K-1, 1950)
Director: Kurt Neumann
Production: Kurt Neumann & Murray Lerner (Lippert Pictures)
Screenplay: Kurt Neumann, Dalton Trumbo & Orville H. Hampton
Starring: Lloyd Bridges - Osa Massen - John Emery - Noah Beery Jr. - Hugh O'Brian - Morris Ankrum
Filmed between February and March, 1950 - Premiered in New York, 26-May-1950 - 77 min.
A press conference summoned only 15 minutes before the launching. A rocket that stops halfway between Earth and Moon. An miscalculation which ends with the arrival of the rocket to Mars. A civilization destroyed by atomic energy. An end between mystical and heroic. All this, along with a rancid sexist tone and a scarcely scientific realism, may be found in this film directed by the German Kurt Neumann -another Central European emigré to Hollywood with the arrival of the sound to shot alternate versions in languages different than English-, one of the first in talking about the danger implied by nuclear proliferation, only ten years after Hiroshima and five from the first Soviet tests. Neumann had imagined a space-opera history with astronauts in Mars and dinosaurs, a plot that the commercial sense of Robert Lippert, one of the most enterprising and active independent producers in the post-war Hollywood, altered in order to beat at the box-office the most prestigious Destination Moon (1950), Irving Pichel's movie with a script by the great Robert Heinlein and production by the Hungarian George Pal, already in production but released one month later. The result, filmed in barely three weeks and with a budget close to 100.000 dollars, was a hodgepodge of good and bad ideas that, despite everything, keeps on being very interesting to see thanks to a suitable art design, a marvellous score by the composer and arranger Ferde Grofé (the author of the famous Grand Canyon Suite), and the convincing photography by the brilliant Karl Struss.
Production: Kurt Neumann & Murray Lerner (Lippert Pictures)
Screenplay: Kurt Neumann, Dalton Trumbo & Orville H. Hampton
Starring: Lloyd Bridges - Osa Massen - John Emery - Noah Beery Jr. - Hugh O'Brian - Morris Ankrum
Filmed between February and March, 1950 - Premiered in New York, 26-May-1950 - 77 min.
A press conference summoned only 15 minutes before the launching. A rocket that stops halfway between Earth and Moon. An miscalculation which ends with the arrival of the rocket to Mars. A civilization destroyed by atomic energy. An end between mystical and heroic. All this, along with a rancid sexist tone and a scarcely scientific realism, may be found in this film directed by the German Kurt Neumann -another Central European emigré to Hollywood with the arrival of the sound to shot alternate versions in languages different than English-, one of the first in talking about the danger implied by nuclear proliferation, only ten years after Hiroshima and five from the first Soviet tests. Neumann had imagined a space-opera history with astronauts in Mars and dinosaurs, a plot that the commercial sense of Robert Lippert, one of the most enterprising and active independent producers in the post-war Hollywood, altered in order to beat at the box-office the most prestigious Destination Moon (1950), Irving Pichel's movie with a script by the great Robert Heinlein and production by the Hungarian George Pal, already in production but released one month later. The result, filmed in barely three weeks and with a budget close to 100.000 dollars, was a hodgepodge of good and bad ideas that, despite everything, keeps on being very interesting to see thanks to a suitable art design, a marvellous score by the composer and arranger Ferde Grofé (the author of the famous Grand Canyon Suite), and the convincing photography by the brilliant Karl Struss.
Trivia:
- The copies in circulation include material shot for the cut assembled in 1976 by the exhibitor Wade Williams, a series of inserts and new visual effects that replaced the incomplete or simply nonexistent of the original cut. Among the good things was the restoration of the intense sepia tone of the Martian scenes, eliminated in the copies after the premiere.
- Gofré only received 5.000 dollars for his score, since Lippert decided to hire the much more economic Albert Glasser to orchestrate and direct the music. The result included the first use of the theremin in the science fiction cinema, an electronic instrument patented in 1928 that had been already introduced in American movies by Miklós Rózsa.
- Writer Dalton Trumbo, who had just been blacklisted by the HUAC, collaborated in the script without credit.
Una rueda de prensa convocada sólo 15 minutos antes del lanzamiento. Un cohete que se detiene a medio camino entre la Tierra y la Luna. Un error de cálculo cuyo resultado es la llegada del cohete a Marte. Una civilización destruida por culpa de la energía atómica. Un final entre místico y heroico. Todo ello, junto a un rancio tono sexista y un escaso verismo científico, puede encontrarse en éste título del alemán Kurt Neumann -otro centroeuropeo emigrado a Hollywood con la llegada del sonoro para filmar versiones alternativas en idiomas distintos del inglés-, uno de los primeros en hablar del peligro que implicaba la proliferación nuclear, tan sólo diez años después de Hiroshima y cinco de los primeros tests soviéticos. Neumann había imaginado un historia de aventuras espaciales con astronautas en Marte y dinosaurios, una trama que el olfato comercial de Robert Lippert, uno de los productores independientes más inquietos y activos del Hollywood posterior a la 2ª Guerra Mundial, había alterado con el fin de batir en taquilla a la más prestigiosa Destination Moon (Con destino a la Luna, 1950), la película de Irving Pichel con guión del gran Robert Heinlein y producción del húngaro George Pal, iniciada con anterioridad pero estrenada un mes después. El resultado, filmado en apenas tres semanas y con un presupuesto cercano a los 100.000 dólares, fue un batiburrillo de buenas y malas ideas que, pese a todo, sigue siendo muy interesante de ver gracias a un adecuado diseño artístico, una estupenda banda sonora del compositor y arreglista Ferde Grofé (el autor de la célebre Grand Canyon Suite), y la convincente fotografía del genial Karl Struss.
Trivia:
- Las copias que circulan de la película incluyen material filmado para el remontaje realizando en 1976 por el exhibidor Wade Williams, una serie de insertos y nuevos efectos visuales que reemplazaron a los incompletos o simplemente inexistentes del montaje original. Entre sus aciertos estuvo el de recuperar el tono sepia intenso de las escenas marcianas, eliminado en copias posteriores al estreno.
- Gofré sólo recibió 5.000 dólares por su partitura, ya que Lippert decidió contratar al mucho más económico Albert Glasser para orquestar y dirigir la música. El resultado incluyó el primer uso del theremín en el cine de ciencia-ficción, un instrumento electrónico patentado en 1928 que ya había sido introducido en Hollywood por Miklós Rózsa.
- El escritor Dalton Trumbo, que acababa de ser incluído en la lista negra del HUAC, colaboró en el guión de forma no acreditada.
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