STORY STUDY - CRITERION WEEK - 404. “Robinson Crusoe on Mars”

It’s one thing to be able to travel through space; it’s one thing to be stuck on Mars with the constant support of an entire organization and the whole world rooting for your survival; it’s a completely new game where aliens are involved.

Directed by Byron Haskins, written by Ib Melchior and John C. Higgins, and based on the novel Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe on Mars is about Commander Christopher “Kit” Draper who, along with his Colonel, Dan McReady, is forced to abandon their spaceship and land on Mars after using up their remaining fuel to avoid colliding with a meteoroid.

They land separately, with Draper surviving the landing, but McReady dying on impact. The only other survivor is their pet monkey, Mona.

With resources, food, and oxygen dwindling, Draper has to do all that he can to survive until help arrives.

Very much like The Martian, the film has Draper trying to survive the harsh conditions of Mars. He even records his findings, here through a radio and tape.

Unlike The Martian, a film using authentic science and physics, this film is very much rooted in on the fiction side of science fiction. Heck, on Mars, there is a human slave labor camp run by ALIENS.

Honestly, the film would be fun to watch if it was about fighting and surviving aliens… and Draper does do that… for last 45 minutes, after he discovers the aliens’ existence. The beginning just shows him trying to survive using whatever he can find.

What he finds is just implausible: water resources, plants that grow sausages, rocks that disperse oxygen; he even walks on the surface with only an oxygen tank to breathe in, wearing no spacesuit.

Scientific accuracy aside, what the film does present in its reality is fascinating. It reads and plays out like a sci-fi pulp novel/B-movie. There’s enjoyment to be had in watching a film in that genre.

The practical props are interesting, and the use of matte paintings for the surface of Mars are just beautiful, even if they do look a little unrealistic by today’s standards.

I will admit, the film can get kind of boring in the first half. Revelations that Draper has about the planet and what it has to offer work fine, but the rest of the film is him is just walking. We know he has to figure out how to replenish his resources, but that’s not really an immediate danger; more like covering plot holes. Like I said, it gets more intense when he the aliens arrive.

At a point in my life, I wanted to explore the Criterion Collection, and I came across Robinson Crusoe on Mars on its inventory list. I was aware of the general story of Robinson Crusoe, a man surviving on an island. The fact that the film puts the survivor on a PLANET just made me interested to want to check it out. I am, however, confused about the title; the novel is referenced in the film, but it’s not like Treasure Planet where the characters from the novel exist in a futuristic society; it’s just a protagonist experiencing the same situation as that of the protagonist from an influential book.

If you’re into sci-fi B-movies, Robinson Crusoe on Mars is certainly worth your time. Anyone still boasting about the greatness of practical effects needs to see this film.