A very entertaining sci-fi disaster movie from China.
Though this film's premise is very similar to that of many other Sci-Fi disaster movies, including disasters that may easily destroy the Earth (here the sun is about to burn out), where the movie really shines is that it has a stronger emotional connection for us than most similar films do. A major part of this movie's plot is about a man trying to bring back his dead daughter through technology. This part is handled beautifully and is not only very emotionally involving but also quite thought provoking. It is fascinating to stop and think about the implications of this and whether or not this is something moral, or whether or not this would still be the same daughter that had died. There are many scenes with him interacting for a few minutes with a version of his daughter on a computer screen. These scenes are heartbreaking, while also giving the audience an uneasy feeling. An incredible scene comes when one of his friends notices him talking to his dead daughter on the screen and at first unsure of how to react to this. Yet in every scene dealing with this we can feel and understand the pain he is feeling. Honestly if this where the whole movie, I would have given it an "A." There is another subplot involving a man having to leave behind his child and dying wife, when he is stationed off planet. While this subplot is not hugely developed, it is easy to relate to and can tug on your heart strings. This movie also does a great job at world building and making this sci-fi world seem real. The technology and how it works is explained quite well and much of it is very imaginative and interesting. Also adding in the social issues of this world and how others react to it (protestors against much of the technology is very prevalent), also makes this world feel more real, while adding some pretty good social commentary that reflects similar issues today (such as machines taking people's jobs).
The action scenes here are fine but hardly stand out. They do their job well and provide some exciting moments. However they feel very similar to action scenes in other movies and in many of those films they are even better. There is nothing really wrong with these scenes, it is just that they aren't going to stick in your mind much after the movie is over.
This movie is near three hours long and there is no reason for it to be that long. There are times when the film can really drag and moments that simply don't add much to the story. This movie also has too many characters. Because of this, a few of them come across as really interesting and relatable, while others are simply bland and one-dimensional. Because of this too, many of the characters will simply run together in your mind as you watch the film.
This is a well made movie and will delight fans of Sci-Fi.
Abbott and Costello Go to Mars has often been looked at as the nadir of the duo's career by many comedy fans. To be fair this film shows the major change in Abbott and Costello plots from the 1940's (when their most popular movies were made) to their later days and often less respected films. There are none of the verbal routines that played a major role in the duo's earlier movies but instead this movie relies more on physical slapstick and outlandish situations for its humor. While I fully understand why many Abbott and Costello fans may hate this movie, I admit to having a soft spot for it. Then again, I first saw it as a kid, when I would have loved anything with Abbott and Costello, so I have a bit of nostalgia for it.
Despite the title Abbott and Costello never actually go to Mars in this movie. When Hideaway Orphans Home's oldest orphan, Orville (Lou Costello), hides away in a truck that is headed for a top-secret lab, he finds himself helping Lester (Bud Abbott), a lab worker load supplies on rocket ship. Naturally through being the lead characters in a slapstick comedy find themselves alone in the ship and cause it take off with them in it. This leads to them flying across the country in this ship and eventually landing in New Orleans. When they land there, they believe they are on Mars and with people being in costumes for Mardi Gras, they believe those people to be aliens. There they also have trouble when two crooks find the rocket ship and two space suits. This causes our heroes to be mistaken for the two crooks. Later in the film the duo as well as the crooks blast off in the rocket ship. They land in Venus, which is completely populated by beautiful women (played by contestants in the Miss Universe pageant). The queen there has a crush on Orville and he is safe with her as long as he stays true to her.
Though this movie does not have a great reputation, I personally find it to be quite a bit of fun. The film moves at a fast pace and the time goes by really quick. Though this is a feature film, it feels like a short because of how quickly it goes by. Though there is no Who's on First level routine here there are some pretty good comedic set pieces here. I especially like the conversation between Orville and the professor, he is mistaken for and our heroes' mistaking people in costumes for aliens gets some pretty good laughs. This film is also one of the duo's silliest movies and I love that the storyline is so unabashedly corny and silly. There is a real charm to a movie that is proud of its own silliness and that is definitely the case here.
I admit though that there are parts of this movie that don't reach the comedic heights they should. This is especially true of the scenes on Venus and our two heroes being in the runaway rocket. There is nothing bad about these scenes but they simply feel like they should funnier. I also admit that the two crooks are not as funny or memorable as they should be.
This film was directed by Charles Lamont, who is too often overlooked by comedy fans. His career began in the silent era when he directed shorts for Mack Sennett and Educational Pictures. At Educational Pictures he directed many of the Juvenile Comedies, a comedy series starring Malcolm "Big Boy" Sebastian. This looks forward to probably his biggest claim to fame, he is often credited with being the one to discover Shirley Temple, and he directed here in some of the talkie Baby Burlesk comedies, a series of short films starring kids. At the same time he was making these he directed some of Buster Keaton's talkie shorts at Educational. After the closing of Educational Pictures, he briefly worked at Columbia studios where he directed Charley Chase in The Wrong Miss Wright (1937) and Calling All Doctors (1937) and The Three Stooges in Playing the Ponies (1937). For Universal Charles Lamount, would become one of the studios best comedy directors. There he directed some of the best Ma and Pa Kettle films and The Francis the Talking Mule movie, Francis in the Haunted House (1956, Lamount's last film). His work with Abbott and Costello marked some of their best later day efforts. Though he mostly directed Abbott and Costello's later films, he did direct one movie with them in their early years, Hit the Ice (1943). His 1950's work with Abbott and Costello including Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion (1950), Comin' Round the Mountain (1951), Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951), Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd (1952, for Warner Brothers), Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1953), Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops (1955, which featured a cameo by Lamount's former employer, Mack Sennett) and Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955). Lamount also did some TV work for Disney directed some episodes of Annette (1958), Zorro (1957-1959) and the original The Mickey Mouse Club (1955-1958).
The following is from a 1952 issue of The Independent Film Journal.
"Denver. - A 'date party' contest at a local Air Force base and personal appearances of starlets from the film highlighted the promotional campaign accorded to the promotional campaign accorded the premiere engagement Universal-International's 'Abbott and Costello Go to Mars' at the Paramount Theatre.
"Contest developed by Jack Wodell, Paramount manager, and Velma Bulkely, of Wolfberg Denver Theatres, tied in with a local paper to invite airmen to send in letters of 25 words or less on why they would like a date with a U-I star on Mars.
"Winners were awarded dates with Mari Blanchard, featured in the film, and two of the 'Miss Universe' girls. Airmen met the girls at the airport. In addition, a specular rocket ship theme was provided the Paramount. A large model of a spaceship carrying the film's title was suspended above the marquee above a gala arrangement of flags."
The following is from a 1953 issue of the Motion Picture Herald,
"Universal will send four of the winners in their 'Miss Universe' contest as exploitation for 'Abbott and Costello Go to Mars' - and not a bad tieup with a very reasonable association of ideas. These 'heavenly bodies' are Mari Blanchard, who is featured in the picture, plus Anita Eckberg (Miss Sweden); Judy Hatula (Miss Michigan) and Renate Hoy (Miss Germany). From advance reports, they will take separate trails, so if you see all four 'heavenly bodies' you'll have to hit the road yourself. Gala premiere at the Melba Theatre, Birmingham and the Paramount Theatre, Denver, will start the migration."
After the major success of The Three Stooges Meet Hercules(1962), it was only natural that Columbia Pictures would quickly follow with another feature film starring The Three Stooges. The film would be The Three Stooges in Orbit. This movie would have the boys facing off against aliens as they had previously done in their feature film Have Rocket Will Travel (1959) and their short film Outer Space Jitters (1957). To this movie's credit it never once feels like it is repeating anything from those previous pictures.
With the desire to recapture the success of Hercules, this film would have many members of the behind-the-scenes crew return. Edward Bernds would return to the director's chair, Norman Maurer and Edwood Ullman would once again co-write the movie, Paul Dunlap would again do the music and Edwin H. Bryant would again be the editor. Edward Bernds, Norman Maurer and Edwood Ullman, all had history with The Stooges' characters, predating Hercules. His first time directing the trio was Micro-Phonies (1945), a film considered by most Stooge fans to be a real classic. Though he started directing the Stooges in the Curly-era most of the Stooges shorts he directed were during the Shemp era. In my opinion he was my favorite director of the Stooges during that time period and his Shemp films were often my favorite Shemp shorts. However, working with the Stooges was only part of a long and varied career for Bernds. To quote Leonard Maltin, "He was never a household name, even in Hollywood, but I defy you to think of anyone else who worked with both Mary Pickford and Sam Peckinpah, wrote for Shemp Howard and Elvis Presley, and directed Hugh Hurbert and Zsa Zsa Gabor." Ellwood Ullman's first time writing a Stooges film was with Cash and Carry (1937) and he continued writing Stooges short films through 1957 ending with the Joe Besser short, Guns a Poppin (1957). He would continue to work with the Stooges on all their following starring feature films. Elwood Ullman and Edward Bernds would cowrite such movies as The Bowery Boys Meet the Monsters (1954, which Bernds also directed), Bowery to Bagdad (1954, which Bernds also directed), Jail Busters (1955) and Tickle Me (1965). The two of them working on Tickle Me probably explains why it is Elvis' most slapstick movie. Norman Maurer was Moe's son in law and at this time The Stooges' manager. Before ever working on a Stooge film, he had written The Three Stooges comic books. He would work on all of The Stooge films following this one and would even write for The Stooge characters as a writer for the Hanna-Barbera cartoon studio. There he would write the episode of The New Scooby-Doo! Movies, where the Mystery Inc. Gang met The Stooges and create the series The Robotic Stooges.
The Stooges start off this movie down on their luck. Their landlady (Marjorie Eaton) has had enough of their antics and kicked them out. Meanwhile their TV show is in danger of being cancelled unless they can come up with a new gimmick. Having been kicked out of their apartment the boys rent a room with Professor Danforth (Emil Sitka) and his daughter Carol (Carol Christensen). The professor is an inventor who believes evil aliens are after his invention. He agrees that if the boys help him out with his alien problem, then he will help them out with trying to save their TV show with his new invention, electronic cartoons.
While this may not be the best of The Stooges' later day feature films, it is still highly entertaining. Despite their ages, The Stooges prove to be just as great at delivering the slapstick goods as they were in their younger days. Each slapstick moment is delivered very well, and you can see that these old pros still knew how to make a joke work to its fullest advantage. It is true that this movie may not be as consistently hilarious as the best of their short films, there are quite a few good laughs to be found. This film even gives Curly Joe DeRita sone of his best moments with the Stooges as he gets a handful of pretty good lines. Also, while not every joke may be laugh out loud hilarious, none of them really fall flat either and they all help add to the joyful silliness of the movie. The fact that Stooge style silliness is the main goal of this film is also a great asset. While there is a romantic subplot (a sadly pretty bland one), it is fully kept in the background allowing The Stooges to fully be the stars of the picture. This is something that this Stooge fan loved. There are also some pretty clever gags in all this silliness. I loved The Stooges reading the Martians' subtitles to understand what they were saying, as well them saving Disneyland, Moe and Larry telling Curly-Joe how to make a hole in the wall and Joe practicing his TV speech.
However, if I were to complain about this film, my biggest complaint would be the Martians themselves. These are rather bland and boring villains that neither feel that funny or frightening. They are just typical evil movie aliens with nothing to distinguish them.
Boxoffice Magazine, 1962
This movie also benefits from a good supporting cast. This was the last feature film for Carol Christensen, who had begun her movie career only two years earlier with Freckles (1960). Edon Stroll, who played Prince Charming in Snow White and the Three Stooges (1961), returns to play Captain Tom Andrews here. TV fans will know him best for playing Virgil Edwards in McHale's Navy (1962-1966). George N. Neise who played the villain in The Three Stooges Meet Hercules again plays a villain in this film, as the alien Ogg. His partner Zogg is played by Rayford Barnes, like many of the costars of these 1960's Stooges movies, the majority of his career was spent on TV shows. His TV career began with a 1952 episode of Racket Squad (1950-1953) and ended with a 2000 episode of Touched By an Angel (1994-2003). Most of the time he played characters who only appeared in one episode of a show. In some shows, he would appear in multiple episodes as different characters in each episode. He appeared in two episodes of the show, The Invaders (1967-1968) and in both he plays aliens like he did in this film. One of the rare reoccurring roles he played on a TV show was as Ike Clanton in The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955-1961). Stooge fan favorite Emil Sitka has a large supporting role in this movie. He first worked with The Stooges in Curly's last short film Half Wits Holiday (1947). During the Shemp-era and the Joe Besser-era he would become a regular face in The Stooges' short films. He will be forever beloved by Stooge fans for his immortal role in the short film, Brideless Groom (1947) where he delivered the immortal line, "Hold hands you love birds." He is a rare supporting player who appeared in Stooge films with all six of The Three Stooges.
The first day of shooting for this movie was April 6, 1962 and the last was April 27, 1962. However it is unknown what days the boy's were filming and what days no filming was being done. To save money on special effects some footage was reused from the sci-fi B-movie, Earth Vs. the Flying Saucers (1956).
Comic book adaptions were made for most of The Stooges' feature films of the 1960's. However, The Three Stooges in Orbit's comic book adaption was especially interesting because it used live action frame blow ups from the movie for its pictures.
With the Stooges' short films experiencing major popularity on TV in the late 1950's and early 60's, it was only natural that The Stooges would try to have their own half hour TV series at this time. One of the attempts for this was called The Three Stooges Scrapbook. The idea for this show was similar to the team's later TV series, The New Three Stooges (1965). It would feature the Stooges in both live action and animated segments and would be produced by The Stooges and Norman Maurer's Normandy Productions. TV Spots Inc. would agree to make 78 5-minute cartoons for the show. Each episode would feature two of these animated segments one with The Stooges as adults and one entitled Li'l Stooges, which would feature kid versions of the characters. Because the Stooges were becoming much more popular with children due to TV, parent groups were complaining about the violence of their films. However cartoons with equal amounts of violence were also popular with children and there were (at this time at least (by the 1970's this would have changed drastically) far less complaints about children watching these. So the plan was that the live action segments would feature much less violence while the cartoons would be more typically violent Stooges slapstick. Moe would speak about this in an interview for the show stating, "In the live portions of these films, we will cut out the deliberate physical horseplay and substitute unintentional violence - if you have to call it violence. In other words I won't purposely clunk Larry or Curly-Joe, but if I'm carrying a ladder, let's say and I make a quick turn, it could accidently clip Curly on the bean. The deliberate stuff will only be seen in the cartoon segments. That will make everybody happy." The TV series was never to be though. Though some sponsors were interested in the show, a good time slot could never be found. The only timeslots offered for the show would be after 10pm. Since The Stooges were hugely popular with children and had been aiming their act more at younger audiences at this time then they had been before, this slot would have alienated a huge portion of the show's audience. This was simply past kids' bedtimes and unacceptable for that reason. Because of this the sponsors that were interested in it all pulled out leaving the show to be shelved. However, this was not the end of the story. A pilot episode entitled Home Cooking (1960) had been shot. Much of the live action portions of that pilot appear in this movie. In fact, it is out of the pilot being unsold that this movie would be made. Norman Maurer would later state, "I approached the Columbia executives with the half-hour Scrapbook film (a $30,000 investment), and an expanded storyline, and they bought it." Though the pilot was shot in color and featured a laugh track, in this movie the footage appears in black and white and (thankfully) sans laugh track.
Resources Used
The Three Stooges Scrapbook by Jeff Lenburg, Jean Howard Maurer and Greg Lenburg.
This move manages to do what so many sci-fi films try to do but fail at, this is to make us feel like we entered a new world. Over the course of this film, I became very engaged in this sci-fi world and by the end it felt completely real. There are multiple reasons for this. One is that this movie is not afraid to slow down and take its time and this allows us to fully absorb the setting and the people who live there in a completely natural and unforced and unrushed way. It also allows us to spend some quality time in this world instead of hopping from place to place or being overwhelmed with action scenes (both of which too many sci-fi films do), making the audience truly have the feeling that they are visiting this place for a couple hours. Another reason is the excellent sweeping cinematography. Though much of the film takes place in desert, it is made highly visually interesting in a large part due to Greig Fraser's (Who has experience with big budget sci-fi due to being the cinematographer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and some episodes of The Mandalorian) sweeping cinematography. Another reason is that the film really delves into the mythology (which plays an important part in the story) and the politics of these planets (this is done expertly as to never feel like it is simply exposition). One can never discount how much music adds to a film and Hans Zimmer's music adds a lot to making this world feel real.
On top of this our main character is extremely likable and gives us an emotional connection with the story. None of that is hurt by how good Timothée Chalamet is in the role. In fact this whole movie is very well cast with every actor working perfectly as the characters they are portraying.
The storyline is very well handled. It features many of the complexities and deeper meanings that are present in the source material but at the same time, tells a seemingly simple story very well. This way audiences can enjoy it on two levels. Though this is not a fast moving film at all, I was amazed when the end credits started to roll that I had had been watching it for two and a half hours, because it went by so quickly. I didn't want it to be over. This film is obviously not the end of the story and I can't wait to watch what happens next.
A missed opportunity that somehow misses the mark almost completely.
A major plot point in this film is that the characters are experiencing their "true personalities" for the first time. When this is directly stated in the dialogue, it becomes crystal clear what the problem is. These so called personalities amount to nothing more than good person, bad person and liking sex. In other words these personalities are as bland as can be. The ideas and premise of this film cry out for deep character studies, but this movie doesn't only not do this, but makes the characters so boring that we don't want to study them. Much of the basic storyline is taken from Lord of the Flies, but everything that makes that story interesting is missing here. Instead we go through the motions with cliché after cliché. After so long you simply stop caring. By the time the action packed climax came, I just simply wasn't interested in what was happen on screen anymore and no amount of action could do this. I was amazed that was less than two hours, because it felt so much longer. While some fascinating ideas about free will, a world without law and discovering real pleasure for the time appear in the story, they take a backseat to cliché plot points and bland characters. Because of this we get something that is much worse than a completely irredeemable film, but a bad movie that feels like it really should have been a good movie.
There were so many interesting ideas here, that I really wanted to like this movie, but sadly despite this I find it impossible to recommend this film.
Note: I saw this film in a theater and it is so good to be back.
Michael's Movie Grade: C
An enjoyable trip to the movies but one can't help but feel this should have been better.
The main reason to watch this film is the two main characters. While they may not be extremely fleshed out, they are quite likable. On top of this the two actors (Tom Holland, Daisy Ridley) have excellent chemistry. They play off each other quite well and you grow to completely believe the friendship that grows between them. These two character bring much needed heart to this story. This especially shows in the scenes that discuss their parents. Because of us liking the characters these scenes are surprisingly heartfelt. Adding to this is that there are some well done action scenes and some pretty funny moments as well. One of the main plot points of this movie is something called the noise which allows you to hear and see men's thoughts. The way this is visual portrayed is honestly quite clever and this makes even some dialogue heavy scenes visually interesting.
The problems with this movie begin with the world it takes place in. The problem is that despite taking place on a foreign planet (with the exception of the noise) there is nothing really interesting about this planet that can visually be seen. Not only does the planet simply look like a run down small town, but the entirety of what makes this planet different from ours in only heard in expository dialogue. Because of this none of the history of this planet is in anyway interesting or real to us. This film also suffers from being overly predictable. You can guess where the story is going early on and there are no real surprises here.
Despite these faults, the things that work still make this an enjoyable watch. Still it could have been quite a bit better.
Legendary movie director Billy Wilder once said that in his Ten Commandments to filmmakers the first nine were "Thou shall not bore." To me this movie broke all nine of those commandments. Though I have enjoyed some Star Wars movies, I am one of those rare movie buffs that never really got that into the series. With that in mind, I went into this film not wanting it to give me an epic conclusion to the saga, but rather to give me a fun time at the movies. I can't say how the many Star Wars fanatics will react, but this film failed to provide me with any of the fun I wanted. The humor is dreadfully unfunny, the side characters are annoying rather than fun, the main characters are devoid of anything resembling personality or likability, the dialogue is groan inducingly bad, the environments are bland and boring, and the cliché predictableness of the story is enhanced by the fact that many movies have done this much better. In other words boredom was the only emotion I felt. To be fair there is a lot of fan service, where the film plays on the nostalgia of Star Wars fans. Since I don't have that nostalgia, these scenes do nothing for me. My feeling of boredom was enhanced by the long length of the movie. Since I simply couldn't care less about anything that happened on screen, this movie seemed to drag on for an eternity. It didn't take long into this film, until I was simply ready for it to end. At times I wasn't even sure it would do that.
Maybe people who are bigger Star Wars fans than I am will enjoy this movie, but for me I found it extremely boring and painful to sit through.
An incredibly atmospheric and moving film. One of the year's best movies so far and as good as you can want from a science fiction film.
Anyone who wants Star Wars style action in their sci-fi movies might be disappointed by a film like this. This is a quiet, slow and contemplative film that requires and demands a lot of attention. However for someone who is into this type of film, this is as good as it gets. The story of this film is controlled by emotions rather than logic. Few space movies have captured the pure isolation of space than this film. This movie's sense of isolation is incredible. This movie's vision of space is so massive and awe inspiring. However as beautiful as this film looks, the look also gives a sense of pure emptiness and coldness. Space not only dwarfs our main character, but offers him little if anything warm and human. The other people in this movie offer him the same lack of warmth and humanity. Many act like cold machines simply doing their assigned tasks in their assigned way. Meanwhile what our main character is looking for may or may not be just as empty. He is looking for answers that may or may not even exists. This brings up questions of whether man truly alone in the universe or if there may be some purpose out there. This film gives no easy answers to either of those questions making the sense of isolation all the more powerful.
Director and co-writer (along with Ethan Gross) is especially daring to even attempt a film like this. The fact that he successeds so fantastically is an even more incredible feat. Meanwhile Brad Pitt gives one of the finest and most subtle performances of his entire career. He gives a pure sense of humanity to the role that helps endear this abstract art film to us on such a relatable level.
Though this is certainly not a film for everybody, it is a powerful movie that had a really powerful impact on me.
.jpg)
