Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964 film)

Promotional image from Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964 film)...

Summary

"A lone U.S. astronaut space-shipwrecked on Mars!" Stranded on Mars with only a monkey as a companion, an astronaut must figure out how to find oxygen, water, and food on the lifeless planet.

Details

• Release Date: 1964
• Country/Language: US, English
• Genres/Technical: Science Fiction, Adventure, Fantasy
• Setting: "Near Future" (1970s?) Mars, Cthulhu Icarus
• Runtime: 1 hr 50 min
• Starring: Paul Mantee, Victor Lundin, Adam West
• Director: Byron Haskin
• Writer: Ib Melchior and John C. Higgins (screenplay), Daniel Defoe (novel Robinson Crusoe)
• Producer/Production Co: Aubrey Schenck Productions
• View Trailer: (link)
• TVTropes: (link)
• IMDB Page: (link)

Ratings

MPAA Ratings

• Rated: (not rated) (equivalent to a G or PG for mild Violence)

Tentacle Ratings

A rough measure of how "Lovecraftian" the work is:

• S____ (One Tentacle: Debateably Lovecraftian; has almost no direct connection to Lovecraft's work)

Not very Lovecraftian at all compared to some other "Dying Mars" science-fiction movies from the same era; this one comes across a bit more like an adventure survival film filtered through Edgar Rice Burroughs and Robert E. Howard....

Note: This rating is not intended as a measure of quality, merely of how closely related to Lovecraftian "Weird" fiction the work is.

Reviews

Review Links:

• Richard Cross at 20/20 Movie Reviews (Link) - "Daniel Defoe’s story of Robinson Crusoe lends itself to all kinds of re-interpretations when you think about it, most of which would arguably be more interesting than this lacklustre affair."
• Nigel Honeybone at HorrorNewsdotnet (Link) - "Robinson Crusoe On Mars remains an imaginative marvel of classic science fiction cinema."
• Dave Sindelar at Fantastic Movie Musings and Ramblings (Link) - "The movie pays a lot of attention to detail, and this makes the story quite intriguing for the most part."
• User:Ywhateley - "For some reason, since I first saw this as a youngster way back in the 1970s on late-night 'horror host' TV, I had always thought this was a great, tense, imaginative, and interesting film for the survival part of the movie, right up until the Martians show up about 2/3 of the way in, at which point I always felt like it fell apart.... It's really not very 'Lovecraftian' at all, and I'm largely including it in this movie list for the sake of completeness alongside other, far more 'Lovecraftian' dying-Mars-themed films, since it fits in well with those at least, and it can still make a useful contribution to research for a Lovecraftian Mars-themed setting as far as answering questions about how native Martians could possibly survive the hostile Martian environment...."

Synopsis (SPOILERS)

 Spoiler Section (Highlight to Read)

In a science-fiction adaptation of Robinson Crusoe, an astronaut finds himself stranded on Mars, where he struggles to find basic necessities such as air, water, food, and shelter. After he conquers the basics, he realizes he needs company, and discovers humanoid life on Mars while exploring his new home. Unfortunately, the Martians are actually slave labor employed by a cruel race of alien conquerors, and the astronaut must now defend his new home and his new friend from their intrusion....

Notes

Associated Mythos Elements

• fiction: Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe
• race: "Red" Martians
• race: "Black" Martians
• location: Mars
• setting: Cthulhu Icarus