A surprisingly faithful adaption of Daniel DaFoe's tale, Byron Haskin's Robinson Crusoe on Mars injects the classic tale with a science fiction angle, telling the story of a spaceship comander, Chris Draper, stranded on a hostile planet. Drager was on a mission along with Colonel Dan McReady, but when an asteroid threatens to destroy the ship, Draper and the test monkey eject themselves from the vessel. Safely landing on Mars, Drager must figure out a way to survive, learning how to breath, drink and eat on this foreign planet. Byron Haskin's Robinson Crusoe on Mars is a great piece of science fiction because it is intelligently creative in approach. This is an epic film told with intimacy, being a survival story at first that becomes more epic in scale as its narrative plows ahead. The first half of the film is really about the mental and physical deterioration that Drager goes through a character. This isn't only about the physical battle of survival, but also the mental wear and tear isolation has on him, as he struggles to deal with the idea of being alone forever on Mars. I particularly liked the idea of his spaceship not being destroyed by the meteor, caught in the gravitational pull, making it orbit the planet, being a depressing glimpse of hope and reminder of his potential salvation that lingers out reach. From there the film becomes more of what you'd expect from a science fiction film, with Draper meeting an alien slave that he names Friday, who has escaped from a hostile species. The two slowly become friends, as Draper teaches Friday english so they can communicate better. The film's attention to detail is impressive, like how Friday's english gets noticeably better as the film progesses, organically becoming more comfortable witth the language before our eyes. The other element of Rubinson Crusoe on Mars that really stands out is the beautiful technicolor matte work, that is intricate in detail, creating an impressive world for Draper and Friday to explore. The film also uses stock footage to great effect, adding a dimension to some of the action sequences that amplies the intensity. In the days of science fiction and blockbuster filmmaking where everything aims to be epic in scope, Byron Haskin's Robinson Crusoe on Mars is a refreshingly intimate film about a man attempting to survive in an alien world.
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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