Conquest Of Space

Conquest Of Space (1955) by George Pal, starring Walter Brooke, Eric Fleming

CONQUEST OF SPACE introduces a group of men brought together to construct an innovative robot to explore the depths of Mars. Located on a space wheel 500 miles above the Earth, commander Samuel Merritt (Walter Brooke) and his men (including Eric Fleming and Benson Fong) struggle to complete the mission when aggression within the group begins to surface.

Product Description 

From a space wheel 500 miles above the Earth, commander Samuel Merritt and his men construct a sleek robot, then receive orders providing their new craft’s destination: Mars! But once the spaceship’s voyage is underway, doubts surface. Merritt questions the audacity of humankind’s reach for the heavens. He calls it blasphemy and threatens to destroy the mission. Five-time Oscar winner George Pal (The War Of The Worlds) produced this adventure rooted in the ’50s understanding of space exploration… and heightened by the awareness that no matter how advanced science becomes, human weaknesses remain.

Cast of characters

• Walter Brooke (The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm) … Gen. Samuel T. Merritt. The commander of the space station, whom the audience sees is suffering from mental issues after his long time in space. But the rest of the characters don’t.
• Eric Fleming (The Queen of Outer Space) … Capt. Barney Merritt. The general’s son, who initially wants to return to Earth, to be with his wife. But the general refuses. And when the mission to Mars happens, Barney volunteers to be his father’s second in command.
• Mickey Shaughnessy (North to Alaska) … Sgt. Mahoney. The “mother hen” of some of the crew, who stows away onboard the ship to Mars. The general’s oldest friend, he takes his death very hard.
• Phil Foster (Laverne and Shirley) … Jackie Siegle. The least trained of the crew, but hard working and trustworthy. Not quite comedy relief, although he comes close.
• William Redfield … Roy Cooper
• William Hopper (20 Million Miles to Earth) … Dr. George Fenton. The scientist who’s overseen the design of the interplanetary ship. A friend of Colonel Merritt, he brings news of his promotion to General.
• Benson Fong (The Left Hand of God) … Imoto. Promoted to the Mars crew, he believes that plantlife can grow on Martian soil.
• Ross Martin (The Wild Wild West; The Great Race) … Andre Fodor. One of the five crew members chosen for the Mars mission. He has to do EVA to repair something, when a meteor approaches …
• Vito Scotti (Cactus Flower) … Sanella
• John Dennis (Frankenstein 1970) … Donkersgoed
• Michael Fox … Elsbach
• Joan Shawlee (The Reluctant Astronaut; The Apartment) … Rosie McCann. Jackie’s girlfriend, who wishes him the best on his trip to Mars, during a televised broadcast. And embarrasses him as she keeps talking to her new boyfriend offscreen!
• Iphigenie Castiglioni … Mrs. Heinz Fodor

Additional cast

• Dan Barton (Sailor Beware) … Crewman (uncredited)
• Kei Thin Chung … Japanese Replacement (uncredited)
• Rosemary Clooney (White Christmas) … Musical Number (archive footage) (uncredited)

Trivia

• The spaceship model was later used as a background set decoration in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982).
• When Rosemary Clooney is seen on the space station’s big screen singing the song “Ali Baba,” it was taken from the 1953 Paramount release “Here Comes the Girls.”
• The spaceship design was taken from Wernher von Braun’s actual designs that appeared in a 1954 issue of Collier’s.
• General Merritt’s opinions on Man’s ‘trespass’ into space was actually a reflection of a real-life movement. In the 1950s there were those who claimed that the heavens were God’s domain and that humans would be committing blasphemy by engaging in space travel. Although real, the movement was never very widespread and once actual space travel began it was quickly drowned out by the public enthusiasm for the space race.
• Ross Martin’s film debut.