The Lost Planet

This article is about the 1953 Columbia science fiction serial. For the science fiction novel, see The Lost Planet (novel). For the Republic feature film Lost Planet Airmen, see King of the Rocket Men.
The Lost Planet

Poster of chapter 5
Directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet
Produced by Sam Katzman
Written by Arthur Hoerl
George H. Plympton
Starring Judd Holdren
Vivian Mason
Michael Fox
Forrest Taylor
Gene Roth
Ted Thorpe
Music by Ross DiMaggio
Cinematography William P. Whitley
Edited by Earl Turner
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release dates
  • June 4, 1953 (1953-06-04)
Running time
 15 chapters
Country United States
Language English

The Lost Planet is a 1953 Columbia Pictures 15-chapter serial which has the distinction of being the last interplanetary-themed sound serial ever made. It was directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet with a screenplay by George H. Plympton and Arthur Hoerl (who also wrote for Rocky Jones, Space Ranger). It appears to have been planned as a sequel to the earlier chapterplay Captain Video: Master of the Stratosphere and shares many plot-points, props and sets, as well as some of the same cast. However, the Video Rangers do not appear, and their uniforms are instead worn by "slaves" created electronically by Reckov, the dictator of the Lost Planet (Gene Roth) with the help of mad scientist Dr. Grood (Michael Fox) and enslaved "good" scientist Professor Dorn (Forrest Taylor).

Plotline

Dr. Ernst Grood has succeeded in winning control over the planet Ergro as the first step in his desired conquest of the Universe. Reporter Rex Barrow, his photographer Tim Johnson, Professor Edmund Dorn and his daughter Ella are all captured by Grood, who plans to make use of the professor's knowledge. With the help of the professor's inventions, Rex is able to free Ergro of Grood's domination, while Grood is sent on an endless voyage into space.

Cast

Unlike the Captain Video serial, The Lost Planet has a female character, Professor Dorn's daughter Ella (Vivian Mason) who strides about the Lost Planet (Bronson Canyon) in a fetching female version of the Video Ranger uniform. The hero is not Captain Video, but a newspaper reporter, Rex Barrow, played by Judd Holdren (who had previously played Captain Video and Commando Cody). Books on the sound serials generally conclude that this is one of the worst serials ever made, but it still has points of interest. The bizarre performance of Michael Fox (1921–1996) as the villainous Dr. Grood is particularly memorable. This is one of Fox's first screen roles. He went on to a long and distinguished career as a character actor in dozens of feature films and hundreds of TV series right up to his final illness and death.

Production

The Lost Planet was the last of only three science fiction serials released by Columbia.[1]

This serial was, despite the characters' names, essentially a sequel to Captain Video, from which stock footage was taken for this serial.[1]

It was originally known as The Planet Men.[2]

Michael Fox recalled that writer George Plympton would deliberately write lines that he thought the actors couldn't say such as "The atom propulse set up a radiation wall which cut off the neutron detonator impulse!"[3]

Critical reception

In the opinions of Harmon and Glut, The Lost Planet is a "rather shoddy, low budget space cliffhanger."[4]

Chapter titles

  1. Mystery of the Guided Missile
  2. Trapped by the Axial Propeller
  3. Blasted by the Thermic Disintegrator
  4. The Mind Control Machine
  5. The Atomic Plane
  6. Disaster in the Stratosphere
  7. Snared by the Prysmic Catapult
  8. Astray in Space
  9. The Hypnotic Ray Machine
  10. To Free the Planet People
  11. Dr. Grood Defies Gravity
  12. Trapped in a Cosmo Jet
  13. The Invisible Enemy
  14. In the Grip of the De-Thermo Ray
  15. Sentenced to Space

Source:[5]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Cline, William C. (1984). "3. The Six Faces of Adventure". In the Nick of Time. McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 34. ISBN 0-7864-0471-X.
  2. ↑ 2 COMPANIES PLAN RAILROAD MOVIES: Metro to Film 'The High Iron,' Warners 'Last Train West' -- Katzman Makes Deals By THOMAS M. PRYORSpecial to THE NEW YORK TIMES.. New York Times (1923-Current file) [New York, N.Y] 14 Feb 1952: 23.
  3. ↑ p.104 Weaver, Tom Michael Fox Interview in It Came From Horrorwood: Interviews With Moviemakers In The Science Fiction And Horror Tradition McFarland, 2004
  4. ↑ Harmon, Jim; Donald F. Glut (1973). "2. "We Come from 'Earth', Don't You Understand?"". The Great Movie Serials: Their Sound and Fury. Routledge. p. 45. ISBN 978-0-7130-0097-9.
  5. ↑ Cline, William C. (1984). "Filmography". In the Nick of Time. McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 255. ISBN 0-7864-0471-X.
Preceded by
Son of Geronimo (1952)		 Columbia Serial
The Lost Planet (1953) 		Succeeded by
The Great Adventures of Captain Kidd (1953)
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