Spacemens Luck

 

Where Tom Corbett, Captain Video, CMDR Corry and Other Spacemen Still Live

David Randall is a carefree ladies man and skilled pilot who finds he has been let in on the greatest and most terrible secret in the world when he is paid to deliver some mysterious pictures from one eminent astronomer to another.

The story begins at a remote observatory in South Africa where the astronomer, Dr. Emery Bronson discovers that two “heavenly bodies” are on a collision course with Earth. One, called Zyra will pass close enough to wreak havoc on land and sea, while the other, called Bellus will actually strike the planet and destroy it days later.

Read the rest of this entry »

A mysterious planet has entered our solar system and is approaching Earth at breakneck speed. It appears it will miss and pass near the earth. A small Scottish village name Burray on a remotes island is where the planet is expected to pass nearest to the Earth. A group of characters are gathering on the island to investigate this Planet X. Professor Elliot, his attractive daughter Enid Elliot, dashing reporter John Lawrence, a newspaper reporter called to the Scottish moor by his friend, Professor Elliot, to cover what will be the story of his lifetime. The Professor’s assistant who is a bad (but not mad) scientist Dr. Mears. The Professor and his team are working out of a makeshift observatory in an old Scottish tower next to the local moor.

Elliot’s daughter Enid and John discover as they are walking the moors a “magnetically powered range finder” used to determine the composition of the Earth’s atmosphere whose metal has unearthly properties and is quite a find for science.

Read the rest of this entry »

The 1951 “creature feature” The Thing from Another World also known simply as “The Thing” was a ground breaking film that was the first movie to ever depict aliens with an attitude that seem to have only one thing on their mind and that is everyone. This theme of destroy humanity films became very prevalent during the 1950′s. Some say, and I am one of those who does, that “The Thing” was at least a partial inspiration for the much later ground breaking 1979 “creature feature” Alien, staring Sigourney Weaver which spawned several sequels.

1951′s The Thing from Another World is a story of Scientist at an US military Arctic research station, inside the Arctic Circle, who discover an unexplained object buried in the ice. After notifying the U.S. Air Force a plane load of Airmen and a lone news reporter are dispatched to the Arctic research station. There first belief is that buried craft is a Russian spy-plane buried in the ice.

Read the rest of this entry »

In the far distant year of 2000 the US Air Force secretly builds a rocket ship without the knowledge of Congress or the American people and send it on a Flight to Mars. The name of the rocket ship is MARS. Among it’s crew are wisecracking newspaperman Steve Abbott, a former war correspondent and a crew (Four men and a woman) of scientists heading to Mars. After launch, while en route to Mars, our spacefarers encounter a meteor storm and are swept along and before you know it they end up crashing on the red planet. Unfortunately, their atomic power heads are destroyed which makes a return to earth impossible.

The Earthmen prepare to leave their ship by dawning bomber jackets, aviator’s caps and plain oxygen face masks which are not pressurized space suits or helmets.

Read the rest of this entry »

In The Day The Earth Stood Still a humanoid envoy named Klattu and his mighty robot Gort, from another world, lands his Flying Saucer on the mall in Washington, D.C. Emerging from his ship he is immediately shot and Gort, his very powerful robot, appears to save him and begins to melt tanks. The wounded Klatuu orders Gort to stop his rampage. Then he is taken to Walter Reed Army Hospital.

In the hospital Klaatu tells our government that he brings an important message to the planet that he wishes to tell to representatives of all nations. However, the mistrust between nations seems to get in his way. So he escapes into the city to try and learn more about this planet and understand earth-men.

Read the rest of this entry »

Watch Rocketship X-M: The 1950 Classic Space Travel Movie Rocketship X-M is available here for watching at Spacemen’s Luck. For more information and a review of Rocketship X-M go here:

Production Credits:
Directed by: Kurt Neumann
Produced by: Murray Lerner, Kurt Neumann
Screenplay by: Kurt Neumann
Cinematography Karl Struss
Production Designer Theodore Holsopple
Film Editor Harry W. Gerstad
Special Effects Jack Rabin
Original Music Ferde Grofe
Length: 77 Minutes

Read the rest of this entry »

Space scientists Dr. Ralph Fleming and Dr. Karl Eckstrom develop the first manned spaceflight, “Rocketship eXpedition Moon.” Dr. Ralph Fleming remains back on Earth while the Rocketship X-M crew, in addition to Dr. Eckstrom, includes Dr. Fleming’s Assistant Dr. Lisa Van Horn, Astronomer Harry Chamberlain, and ships engineer Major William Corrigan and pilot Captain Floyd Graham.

After a successful launch, the Rocketship X-M mission begins going wrong almost from the beginning, when their ship is hurled across space and past the moon by a rocket malfunction, where they land instead on the planet Mars. Deciding to turn their misfortune into an opportunity the crew begin to explore Mars. They no sooner begin their survey of the Martian surface when they find the remains of a once advanced civilization apparently destroyed by a nuclear holocaust.

Read the rest of this entry »

Destination Moon is available here for watching at Spacemen’s Luck. For more information and a review of Destination Moon go here:

Production Credits:
Directed by: Irving Pichel
Produced by: George Pal
Screenplay by: Robert A. Heinlein
Length: 92 Minutes

Read the rest of this entry »

The beginning of space travel movies, for me at least, was Destination Moon. Most space travel enthusiasts, agree that Destination Moon began the 50′s space movie craze. It also was the foundation for most space travel movies up to and including those of the twenty-first century.

Destination Moon was George Pal’s production of legendary Robert A. Heinlein’s vision depicting man’s first flight to the moon. A Space Travel visionary, General Thayer, fearing that some other nation (The un-said Russians as this was at the beginning of the Cold War.) than the United States might get to the moon before the USA with less than humane motives, will take control of the Moon.

Read the rest of this entry »

Below is a list of classic space travel movies listed by the decades. For this original publication I am including classic space travel movies from the 1950′ and 1960′. I will over time in later publications add additional decades. In later revisions I will update this list to include classic space travel movies produced as early as the first decade in the 1900′s and even movies right up to 2010 and (over time) beyond.

Once I add a decade in this list I believe I have a fairly comprehensive list, but, if you see a movie you know about is missing from the list, please use the comment system to tell me and the other visitors about it. This list is a work in progress because I am constantly finding some new gem I either had forgot about or never new of to begin with.

Read the rest of this entry »