FAST 50s: 'Forbidden Planet,' Monsters From the Id

Plus: 'Man in Space' and 'Mars and Beyond' present Walt Disney's sci-fi views.

Now Streaming: Imagine going to a movie theater for a sci-fi double bill in the 1950s. 

Perhaps after a few trailers roll, Walt Disney's animated/live-action hybrid documentary Man in Space, directed by Ward Kimball, begins to play. First broadcast on March 9, 1955, by ABC as part of the first season of Disneyland, the 20th episode was set in Tomorrowland, which fit into the series, which was meant to pump up enthusiasm for the titular amusement park, which would open that summer (July 17). 

Fresh off winning an Academy Award for co-directing the animated short Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Bloom, Kimball co-wrote the film and appears as an on-camera narrator initially, recounting the history of rockets, then presenting archival footage of the development of rockets and satellites, followed by a comic animated segment on the challenges facing anyone who travels in space, before getting serious again with a consideration of how rockets could achieve sufficient thrust to go into space. It's quite good; the segment on rockets features a mesmerizing selection of successful rocket launches -- as opposed, say, to the launch failures in Philip Kaufman's The Right Stuff (1984) -- while the animated segment balances that with humor before the concluding, somewhat inspiring concluding segment. 

In reality, the film was edited into a featurette and played in theaters along with Davy Crockett and the River Pirates. The full 49-minute film is now streaming. [Disney Plus]

One of the foundational films of my life, Forbidden Planet (1956) doesn't hold up as well as I thought it would. Part of that was watching it on Tubi TV, with its multiple ad breaks -- my most recent viewing experiences have been on Turner Classic Movies. (To be honest, I'm kinda shocked that I've never purchased it on DVD or Blu-ray.) 

I've watched it multiple times and always enjoyed it thoroughly. This time, however, the inherent sexism of a film made by MGM in the 1950s stood out to me to a much greater degree. The men going ga-ga over seeing a woman (Anne Francis) for the first time in a year, along with the eye-rolling dialogue between her and her two suitors, along with her supposedly "falling in love" with Leslie Nielsen after one day was almost as grating as the commercial interruptions. 

Perhaps if you believe in 'love at first sight,' you'll love that. For me, it was 'gag at first mention.' 

The other roadblock that popped up for me, even on my first viewing years ago, was the outdated talk about 'the Id, the Id,' and 'monsters from the Id.' The first part of the picture, however, still casts a YA adult spell on me, with its electronic musical score and imagining of space travel, landing on a distant planet, and looking up into a sky with two moons. (C'mon, we know George Lucas saw this before he wrote and directed Star Wars.)

And, yes, the scenes that stuck in my memory, even when first seeing them on a black and white television in the late 60s or 70s -- yes, with ad breaks throughout, I'm sure -- were when the monster attacked, which comes perilously close to full-blown horror.

Come to think of it, why am I writing about the film here? It did scare and scar me as a child.

Yet the overall impression I'm still left with is the awe and wonder of traveling through outer space. And getting to know about an alien race that far surpassed mankind "2,000 centuries" ago is enough to make any kid want to know more about the past -- and our future. [Tubi TV]

Originally broadcast in December 1955, the next installment in Ward Kimball's Disneyland trilogy, Man and the Moon, is not streaming. Reportedly, it's another animated/live-action hybrid, running under an hour. 

The concluding episode, Mars and Beyond, is now streaming, and was actually the first of the three titles under discussion that I watched, intrigued by a mention in Animation Obsessive, a wonderful newsletter on Substack that offers a free weekly edition that is always absorbing. (You can also get a paid subscription for another weekly edition that goes into greater depth on specialized or intricate stories. A subscription also opens up their complete archives. Highly recommended, if you can arrange your finances to do so.)  

That article goes into wonderful details on limited animation and cites a number of great examples that I'm still exploring. In the case of Mars and Beyond, the great Paul Frees narrates, which gives the entire episode an authoritative boost. In black and white, Walt Disney introduces the episode, which starts with an animated segment and returns to live-action archival material before plunging into an animated segment that mocks sci-fi comics and books is the funniest thing I've seen in a long time. 

In marked contrast to Forbidden Planet, the damsel in distress becomes a superhero and -- well, it's so good, I don't want to spoil it in its entirety, but it's very sharp and very funny and made me laugh out loud for nearly its entire run time. It's just a few minutes, but it's sharp and insightful as it rips apart man-boosting stereotypes and bug-eyed-monster tropes. I wouldn't be surprised if it's an unofficial inspiration for James Cameron's Aliens (1986). 

The remainder of the episode, though, is far calmer, discussing the possibilities of visiting other planets by recounting the inherent dangers involved before providing a step-by-step primer of how man could travel to Mars. It's a very good film and well-worth seeking out for adults, as well as children. Even teenagers might like this one. [Disney Plus]