Tue 11 Oct 2016
A Sci-Fi Movie Review by Dan Stumpf: D-DAY ON MARS (1966).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , SF & Fantasy films[8] Comments
D-DAY ON MARS. Republic Pictures, 1946. Feature version of the movie serial The Purple Monster Strikes (1945). Dennis Moore, Linda Stirling, Roy Barcroft, James Craven, Bud Geary, Mary Moore. Directors: Spencer Gordon Bennet & Fred C. Brannon.
Back in the mid-60s someone got hold of a bunch of Serials from the ’40s, cut them down to 90 Minutes (from their original four hour plus running time!) and sold them to TV as feature films. D-Day on Mars is the thus truncated version of The Purple Monster Strikes, an early Republic Serial, and it’s actually pretty good with lots of well-staged fights and nifty cliff-hangers.
Veteran Heavy Roy Barcroft plays a Martian, come to Earth to steal the plans and prototype for a new Space Rocket so he can go back to Mars, build a mess of ’em and conquer Earth. (Warning!) He doesn’t make it. (End of Warning!)
As usual in these things, he ties up with a Gangster and they go around stealing or trying to steal Annihilator Beams, Rocket fuel, Magneto-Sensors and whatever else the writers decided they’d fight over that week, and of course Hero Dennis Moore keeps getting in rock’em sock’em slug-feats with the hood and his men.
For some reason, they almost always fight in groups of three – Maybe it was Union Rules or Family Pride: I see the Stunt-Men saying to the Producer, “We Don’ work ’less-a Tony work-a too.” Whatever the case, in each chapter, there’s a face-off, someone gets the drop on someone else, the gun gets knocked out of his hand and everybody throws punches, furniture and each other around for several minutes until the bad guys get away.
After awhile, this gets a bit redundant, but this one’s mostly fun, with inventive stunt-work and some nice comic-bookish sets and costumes.
October 11th, 2016 at 1:02 pm
Reportedly, Roy Barcroft lost about 30 pounds in order to fit into the Purple Monster costume. He lived a mile from Republic Studios, and called the serial “The Jerk in Tights from Boyle Heights.”
October 11th, 2016 at 2:32 pm
That sounds like Roy! Thanks Gary.
October 11th, 2016 at 3:29 pm
Dan, I don’t know about you, but Dennis Moore’s deadpan acting style always puts me in mind of Buster Keaton. Looks a little like him, too.
October 11th, 2016 at 10:11 pm
Any serial with Linda Stirling has to be good. She helps to defeat Roy Barcroft in Manhunt on Mystery Island, too.
October 12th, 2016 at 8:37 pm
Is this the one with Leonard Nimoy? Been years since I saw it.
October 12th, 2016 at 10:21 pm
Since the original serial this feature version was based on came out in 1946, it doesn’t seem likely he was in it, except as a child actor in his mid-teens. Possible, though?
October 14th, 2016 at 7:16 pm
The Leonard Nimoy one is Republic’s ZOMBIES OF THE STRATOSPHERE, from 1952. Nimoy played an alien henchman named “Narab.”
October 16th, 2016 at 9:20 pm
Thanks, Gary. That’s the one!