''Flying Disc Man from Mars'' is a 1950 Republic Pictures 12-chapter

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

adventure film serial, produced by

Franklin Adreon Franklin "Pete" Adreon (November 18, 1902 – September 10, 1979) was an American film and television director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. Early life and career Born in Gambrills, Maryland, Adreon was a Marine Reservist during the 30s ...

, directed by

Fred C. Brannon Fred C. Brannon (April 26, 1901 – April 6, 1953) was an American film director of the 1940s and 1950s. He directed over 40 films between 1945 and his death. His first film ''The Purple Monster Strikes'' in 1945 was co-directed with Spencer G ...

, that stars

Walter Reed Walter Reed (September 13, 1851 – November 22, 1902) was a U.S. Army physician who in 1901 led the team that confirmed the theory of Cuban doctor Carlos Finlay that yellow fever is transmitted by a particular mosquito species rather than b ...

, Lois Collier,

Gregory Gaye Gregory Gaye (born Grigoriy Grigoryevich Ge; October 10, 1900 – August 23, 1993) was a Russian-American character actor. The son of an actor, he was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. He was the uncle of actor George Gaynes. He was a cadet ...

, James Craven,

Harry Lauter Herman Arthur "Harry" Lauter (June 19, 1914 – October 30, 1990) was an American character actor. Early years Lauter was born in White Plains, New York. He worked as a model for a professional photographer and was a rodeo rider before m ...

, and Richard Irving. ''Disc Man'' is considered a weak example of the serial medium, even compared to other post-

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

serials. In 1958 Republic edited the serial's 167 minutes of footage into a 75-minute feature, released under the new title ''Missile Monsters''.

Plot

Martian invader, Mota (

), attempts to conquer the Earth as Mars is worried about its use of new atomic technology. The Martians consider that it would be much safer, and beneficial for both Earth and Mars, if the Martians were in charge. Mota, having been shot down by an experimental ray gun, blackmails

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

scientist A scientist is a person who conducts Scientific method, scientific research to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, ...

, and former

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

, Dr. Bryant ( James Craven) into assisting him and hires some criminals to be his

henchmen A henchman (''vernacular:'' "hencher"), is a loyal employee, supporter, or aide to some powerful figure engaged in nefarious or criminal enterprises. Henchmen are typically relatively unimportant in the organization: minions whose value lies prim ...

. Kent Fowler (

), the private pilot who shot down Mota with Dr. Bryant's ray gun, gets caught up in these events while working security for atomic industrial sites.

Chapter titles and run times

# "Menace from Mars" (20 min) # "The Volcano's Secret" (13 min, 20 sec) # "Death Rides the Stratosphere" (13 min, 20 sec) # "Execution by Fire" (13 min, 20 sec) # "The Living Projectile" (13 min, 20 sec) # "Perilous Mission" (13 min, 20 sec) # "Descending Doom" (13 min, 20 sec) # "Suicidal Sacrifice" (13 min, 20 sec) # "The Funeral Pyre" (13 min, 20 sec) # "Weapons of Hate" (13 min, 20 sec) - re-cap chapter # "Disaster on the Highway" (13 min, 20 sec) # "Volcanic Vengeance" (13 min, 20 sec) _Source:Mathis 1995, pp. 3, 10, 122–123.Cline 1984, p. 251.

Cast

as Kent Fowler, pilot * Lois Collier as Helen Hall *

as Mota, martian invader * James Craven as Dr Bryant,

and secretly a former

supporter *

as Drake, one of Mota's

* Richard Irving as Ryan, one of Mota's

* Sandy Sanders as Steve, Kent's sidekick * Michael Carr as Trent, disc-ship pilot-henchman

Production

''Flying Disc Man from Mars'' was budgeted at $152,640, although the final negative cost was $157,439 (a $4,799, or 3.1%, overspend). It was the most expensive Republic serial made in 1950. ''Disc Man'' was filmed between August 21 and September 12, 1950 under several

working title A working title, which may be abbreviated and styled in trade publications after a putative title as (wt), also called a production title or a tentative title, is the temporary title of a product or project used during its development, usually ...

s: ''Atom Man from Mars'', ''Disc Man from Mars'', ''Disc Men of the Skies'', ''Flying Planet Men'', and ''Jet Man from Mars''. The serial's production number was 1709. This is not a sequel to Republic's earlier serial '' The Purple Monster Strikes'', although the villain Mota wears the Purple Monster costume from that serial.Harmon and Glut 1973, pp. 55–56.

Special effects

The flying disc aircraft from Republic's '' King of the Mounties'' is reused for this serial (note that the Japanese rising sun logo is still visible), and most of the shots of it in flight are taken from that serial. In some shots this

flying wing A flying wing is a tailless fixed-wing aircraft that has no definite fuselage, with its crew, payload, fuel, and equipment housed inside the main wing structure. A flying wing may have various small protuberances such as pods, nacelles, blis ...

footage is from Republic's ''

Spy Smasher Spy Smasher is the name of two fictional characters appearing in comics published by Fawcett and DC Comics. The first is a superhero that was formerly owned and published by Fawcett Comics. The second is a female anti-terrorism government agent, ...

'' serial (used in chapter three of ''Disc Man''), where the tail fin is missing (the flying wing was built for ''Spy Smasher'', and the tail-fin with rising sun insignia was added for Republic's ''King of the Mounties'' serial). Other stock footage from several earlier Republic serials was reused to pad out ''Disc Man'' in order to lower its production costs. This includes the rocket crash from '' The Purple Monster Strikes'', a car chase from '' Secret Service in Darkest Africa'', and various scenes from '' G-Men vs. the Black Dragon''. All special effects in this serial were produced by the Lydecker brothers, the in-house duo who designed most of Republic's special effects.

Stunts

Dale Van Sickel Dale Harris Van Sickel (November 29, 1907 – January 25, 1977) was an American college football, basketball and baseball player during the 1920s, who later became a Hollywood motion picture actor and stunt performer for over forty years. Van ...

Kent Fowler/Watchman (doubling Walter Reed) * David Sharpe Henchman Ryan/Technician (doubling Richard Irving) * Tom Steele as Henchman Drake/Trent/Taylor (doubling Harry Lauter and Michael Carr) * Carey Loftin as Truck Loader Thug

Release

Theatrical

''Flying Disc Man from Marss official release date is 25 October 1950, although this is actually the date the sixth chapter was made available to film exchanges. This was followed by a re-release of '' The Tiger Woman'', re-titled as ''Perils of the Darkest Jungle'', instead of a new serial. The next new serial, ''

Don Daredevil Rides Again ''Don Daredevil Rides Again'' (1951) is a Republic Movie serial. It makes heavy use of stock footage from Republic's previous Zorro serials. The character of ''Don Daredevil'' (Ken Curtis) was created for this serial as the rights to Zorro bel ...

'', followed in spring of 1951. A 75-minute feature film version was created by editing the serial's footage, and was released on March 28, 1958 under the new title ''Missile Monsters'' as a

double feature The double feature is a motion picture industry phenomenon in which theatres would exhibit two films for the price of one, supplanting an earlier format in which one feature film and various short subject reels would be shown. Opera use Opera ho ...

with '' Satan's Satellites''. It was one of 14 feature films Republic made from their serials.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Cline, William C. ""Filmography". ''In the Nick of Time''. New York: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1984. . * Harmon, Jim and Donald F. Glut. "2. "We Come from 'Earth', Don't You Understand?". ''The Great Movie Serials: Their Sound and Fury''. New York: Routledge Publishing, 1973. . * Mathis, Jack. ''Valley of the Cliffhangers Supplement''. South Barrington, Illinois: Jack Mathis Advertising, 1995. . * Stedman, Raymond William. "5. Shazam and Good-by". ''Serials: Suspense and Drama By Installment''. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1971. . * Weiss, Ken and Ed Goodgold. ''To be Continued ...: A Complete Guide to Motion Picture Serials''. New York: Bonanza Books, 1973. .

External links

*
Flying Disc Man from Mars at Todd Gault's Movie Serial Experience
{{Republic serials 1950 films 1950s science fiction films American black-and-white films 1950s English-language films Films about extraterrestrial life Films directed by Fred C. Brannon Mars in film Republic Pictures film serials American science fiction adventure films 1950s American films