First Man Into Space

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Trailer—First Man Into Space

First Man Into Space

The first pilot to leave Earth's atmosphere lands, then vanishes; but something with a craving for blood prowls the countryside... After being turned down by AIP, Gordon successfully pitched the film idea to MGM. Gordon and Vetter then signed on as producers for the project because of the financial success of their two previous films, "Fiend Without a Face" and "The Haunted Strangler". Because of MGM's financial involvement, the budget set for "First Man into Space" was slightly higher than for the producers' two previous films. While the film is not terribly well-known today, it is a great movie about space exploration before such things became standard. Indeed, who knew what might happen in space, or if the radiation would be a problem? The makeup and costume effects are excellent, and more than make up for any shortcomings from the actors.

While the plot involves a man getting blasted off into space, running into a meteor shower, and getting turned into something resembling a golem carved out of rock and having a strong desire for blood, I notice something else here. There seem to be some references to marijuana. Aside from the fact that they talk about the astronaut being very "high", he says that he'll bring back the "dope". If only they knew what they were saying! As for the movie itself, "First Man Into Space" was mostly like any '50s sci-fi flick. Although what the Italian woman said seems more relevant than ever: "Sometimes you have to understand that people are more important than science." As it is, if I'd had a hubby like that babe, you couldn't have paid me to go into space! All in all, nothing special, but worth seeing.

Bill Edward's experimental spaceship vanishes on an attempt to go higher than ever before. When a monster starts to drain the blood of people, first at the air force base, and then elsewhere, his brother, Marshall Thompson, investigates. It's a production of MGM in England, and its cheapness shines through. There's lots of stock footage, often of Chuck Yeager, and of US war planes on the ground. There's also some subtext about the risk of ambition, but it's mostly about the "there are some things man was not meant to know" trope. Geoffrey Faithfull, who started as a cinematographer with Hepworth in the 1910s and would work for another decade, shoots the movie efficiently.

I also saw this movie in 1959 as an 8-year-old. I went to the theater with my "older" friends, they were like 11-12. The movie scared the wits out of me; I hid my view behind the person sitting in front of me, my friends never let up on making fun of me. This was the first time I had gone to the movies with non-adults...big mistake! The monster was scary and creepy. It haunted me for years. In fact, I probably had some persistent subliminal turmoil over the movie. Fast forward to 2008 and I found the DVD to rent. I watched again, and guess what? The movie is still scary! It's pretty high-camp and was made on a limited budget, but the creepiness is still there. I suppose the fact that the back line story is believable makes it even more scary. Watching it with my wife probably exorcised some demons. Funny how movies can move us, positively or negatively. All my 60 years I can still rehash this event when I was eight. Still the scariest movie I ever saw. I dig it.

Rivalry between brothers leads to main story line. Navy Commander Chuck Prescott(Marshall Thompson)has developed the Y12 aircraft to test how far man can go up in the atmosphere. His brother, Lt. Dan Prescott(Bill Edwards), seems to be the best test pilot around and is chosen to go up in the Y12. Dan of course has a problem with taking orders and is also an over confident dare devil. On Dan's second flight, he hits over the 300 miles up comfort zone and his craft passes through a meteor dust storm. Returning to earth, Dan becomes a monster that resembles 200 pounds of bad asphalt. He also has a demanding craving for blood, whether it be from farm animals or fellow human beings. Short runtime of an hour and seventeen minutes; black & white with near stoic acting...typical of low budget sci-fi. Rounding out the cast is Marla Landi, Robert Ayers and Carl Jaffe. Noteworthy trivia: about two months after this film was released; the Russians put the real first man in space.

First Man Into Space has its low budget limitations, but it's story is a corker. It's one of the few 50s science fiction stories that question non-atomic technology: how far sure man go? What are the consequences of his thirst for knowledge and experience? This time there are no invading aliens, no throbbing radioactive brains from another planet, and no marauding killer tree stumps. We are simply confronted with a man who crosses a line and tries to come back. It helps that he looks like The Incredible Melting Man, but this is a movie that does more than simply shock the audience.