DEFOE ON MARS

Yesterday, while reading this week's issue of Now Magazine, I came across a review of Criterion's new DVD release of the 1964 science-fiction feature film, Robinson Crusoe on Mars. I did not realize that this was scheduled to be released on disc. The laser-disc version came out back in 1994 and got good reviews at the time. Actors Paul Mantee, Victor Lundin, and writer Ib Melchior, were some of the commentary track guests for that release. Director Byron Haskin died back in 1984... it is too bad as he was an irascible, but genuinely funny, old-timer. He was not afraid to speak his mind. His comments over this one would have been interesting as the budget kept getting cut and cut over the course of development: Not only was Haskin a very fine director -- he helmed the original War of the Worlds -- but he was also a skilled technician. (On this new DVD release, there is an audio interview which was recorded back in 1979 with Haskin.) RCOM was done for more than a few dollars but what started as a grand 'journey to the planets' kind of film the budget kept getting pared down until it became what it is -- a relatively conservative film. This is probably a good thing: Focus is never a bad thing. And the budget cutting never got to the point, in my opinion, where it became a detriment to the scope of story being told.
I remember first hearing of this film. It played at my local theatre around 1973. I remember staring at the poster on the marquee and thinking that it didn't look too impressive; with the astronaut's ripped spacesuit and all. And who was that guy he was holding? When the day came, I put down my 25 cents and watched the film with an open mind -- when you are young, you tend to be more accepting and open about different things. Besides, it was a space movie. Around twenty minutes or so into the flick, my eleven year old brain thought, "this is pretty good!" And it was, and it still is in my opinion. Funny how a crazy title can taint a film. Paramount Pictures did not know what to do with the completed film. The story goes that it was basically dumped into the marketplace back in 1964. In fact, it took only two years for RCOM to premiere on network television. For all those who missed it in first run, they were now the first television viewers for a film which would eventually become a bit of a cult classic. I was lucky enough to see it on the big screen as the two local cinemas in my town were more or less repertory houses. This played in the smaller of the two. The other cinema was much bigger and handled, more or less, the new releases in addition to the older fare. I went to see RCOM again about a year later.

Actor Paul Mantee is very good in the lead role as astronaut Christopher Draper. Batman's Adam West played his fellow astronaut and does a fine job considering we don't see much of him. Mantee is alone on Mars for the first chunk of the movie and he does commendable work making us focus on him and buying the fact that he feels truly alone. And we can see a creeping sense of loneliness when Draper realizes he's on the planet for the long haul. The bonus is that Mantee looks and sounds like an astronaut; this was not the case in Ron Howard's Apollo 13 where I never for an instant believed that Tom Hanks was an astronaut, never mind Jim Lovell. This just goes to show you that careful casting helps a film immensely, even if not a career.

Shot in widescreen (Techniscope) and colour, sorry, color, Robinson Crusoe on Mars looks darn fine. The location shooting, done in Death Valley to represent the surface of Mars, is outstanding and really gives you that you-are-there feeling. Cinematographer Winton Hoch gave the film a classy look, and along with director Haskin, uses the wide frame to good effect. (Hoch, eight years before, shot the John Ford classic western, The Searchers... he knew how to shoot sand.) The art direction was also very good, especially for the modest budget. Byron Haskin, who was also an effects technician, liked the cobalt blue skies in Death Valley, as they served as automatic bluescreens. Later on, in post production, the blue skies would be replaced with optical matte paintings showing dark skies and an orange/red horizon. There are a couple of matte painting shots of the Martian surface which are eerie in that they are all but dead ringers for pictures taken by one of the more recent Mars landers. It must have been the particular area the probe landed on.
Also of note, Nathan Van Cleave's score fits the film like a space glove. "Van Cleave", which is how he scribed his name in the credits, composed an upbeat, warm, and somewhat romantic main theme tune; one which has a slight American national anthem feel. Throughout the film, the composer uses restraint, which is so nice to see, or hear. Some of the music, especially the travelling and survival music is reminiscent of his work for the original Twilight Zone series. Van Cleave used a novachord in both the series and this movie for its dreamy and 'out there' sonorities. His score is gentle and human which adds greatly in support of the characters onscreen.

Needless to say, if you are up on astronomy at least, this film could not be made today as it plays into the classic Mars look, with the canals and such. These canals are even referenced in the film's dialogue. The truth is this film was dated a few months after its release: In early 1965, NASA's Mariner-4 probe took close up pictures of Mars from orbit, beamed them back to Earth and low and behold, it looked more like our moon than the typical illustrations depicting a planet of red and green textures. Perhaps the fun was taken away a little. It's sometimes best to not know too much.