Radar Men From The Moon (1952) B&W
Commando Cody (George Wallace) is a civilian researcher and inventor with a number of employees. He uses a streamlined helmet and a sonic-powered rocket backpack attached to a leather flying jacket. Cody also uses a rocket ship capable of reaching the Moon.
When the U. S. finds itself under attack from a mysterious force that can wipe out entire military bases and industrial complexes, Cody surmises (correctly) that the Earth is coming under attack from our own Moon.
He then flies his rocket ship there and confronts the Moon's dictator, Retik (Roy Barcroft), who boldly announces his plans to both conquer Earth and then move the Moon's entire population here using spaceships. On Earth, Cody battles an elusive lunar warrior named Krog (Peter Brocco) and his gang of human henchmen, hired to steal and stockpile various supplies for the coming invasion.
Radar Men from the Moon was budgeted at $172,840, although the final negative cost was $185,702; it was the most expensive Republic serial of 1952. It was filmed between October 17 and November 6, 1951 under the working title Planet Men from Mars; the serial's production number was 1932.
However those numbers are interpreted, in practice the budget for this serial was so tight that no stunt double was used for lead actor George Wallace. His nose was broken by accident while filming an energetic fight scene with actor Clayton Moore.
Wallace was also suspended in mid-air, lying on a board with the rocket suit's jacket closed around it, in front of a rear projection screen for the in-studio shot flying sequences. Wallace performed his own stunt flying take-offs by jumping onto a springboard that would send him up and over the camera rig set-up.
Captive Women (1952) B&W
Starring Ron Randell, Margaret Field
Captive Women is fairly short, only 64 minutes. In 1956 it was re-released by the name 1000 Years from Now. In the United Kingdom the movie is known as 3000 A.D., the film's original title. It deals with the effects of a nuclear war and how life would be afterwards.
The story takes place in New York City in a post-apocalyptic setting. Two tribes, the "Norms" and the "Mutates", fighting in the remains of the city. They later band together to fight a third tribe, the "Upriver People", who are invading Manhattan through the Hudson Tunnel in order to steal the other tribes' women.
Red Planet Mars (1952) B&W
Starring Peter Graves, Andrea King, Herbert Berghof
An American astronomer obtains images of Mars suggesting large-scale environmental changes are occurring at a pace that can only be accomplished by intelligent beings with advanced technology.
Scientist Chris Cronyn (Peter Graves) and his wife, Linda (Andrea King) have been contacting Mars by a hydrogen powered radio transmitter, using technology based on the work of Nazi scientist Franz Calder.
They communicate first through an exchange of mathematical concepts, like the value of pi, and then through answers to specific questions about Martian life.
The transmissions claim that Mars is a utopia, which has led to great technological advancement and the elimination of scarcity, but that there is no fear of nuclear war.
This revelation leads to political and economic chaos, especially in the Western hemisphere, and is said to have "done more to smash the democratic world in the last four weeks than the Russians have been able to do in eleven years".
The U.S. government imposes a news blackout and orders the transmissions to stop due to fears that the Soviet Union could pick up and decode their messages.
This ends when the next message reveals that the Earth is condemned to the constant fear of nuclear war as a punishment for straying from the teachings of the Bible.
Revolution sweeps the globe, including the Soviet Union, which is overthrown and replaced by a theocracy, which is met with celebration in America.
The messages cease. Calder, armed with a handgun, confronts the Cronyns in their lab. He wants to announce that he has been duping the world with false messages from a secret Soviet-funded radio transmitter high in the Andes mountains of South America.
The transmitter was destroyed by an avalanche. There have been no transmissions since then. He shows them his log. When Linda raises the question of the religious messages, Calder is contemptuous.
He says that he transmitted the original messages supposedly from Mars, but that the United States government made up the religious messages, which he allowed because he wanted to see the destruction of the Soviet Union.
The Cronyns know that the religious messages were not hoaxes, but Calder's claim will be believed and it will mean disaster for a now peaceful Earth.
Unseen by Calder, Chris opens the valve to the hydrogen supply and tells Linda to leave. Calder refuses to allow it. She asks her husband for a cigarette. He says quietly that in all their years together he has never seen her smoke.
They both know the spark will ignite the hydrogen and destroy the lab. But before Chris can use his lighter, a message begins to come through and an enraged Calder fires into the screen, blowing up the transmitter, himself and the Cronyns before the message is complete.
However, the first part is decoded, and later the President reads it aloud to the world: "You have done well my good..." the rest evoking the Parable of the Talents in the Gospel of Matthew: "You have done well, my good and faithful servant."
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