Red Planet Mars (1952)

Early cold war fable about transmissions from Mars. When American scientists using technology developed by a brilliant Nazi succeed at translating messages from the red planet, the Earth is thrown into panic by the revelations. At first the messages seem to come from an advanced civilization whose technological advancements are somehow interpreted as a threat to democracy and capitalism, this part of the film was not done that well and never made much sense to me. However in time the messages change to those of a spiritual nature, prompting a Christian revolution overthrowing the Soviet state, and putting the Russian Orthodox Patriarch in charge of the country. However could it be possible that one or both of these sets of messages were actually a con perpetuated by the previously referenced brilliant Nazi? This being the kind of period film it is, you can rest assured that only the atheistic sounding transmission came from the Nazi, God sent the good Christian message that the pious American President gets to read to the nation. A few neat ideas, but corny, and Andrea King, who plays the Peter Graves characters wife, is more then a bit over the top in her deep held commitments. Fun enough as a curio, but for a better period execution of a similar concept see instead The Next Voice You Hear. Two and a half out of Five.