The Wizard of Mars (1965) User Reviews (44)

Nothing Yellow Brick here....

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 4 July 2020]

Well maybe a harsh red and some pastel purple or blue, but this odd version of the Red Planet is a cheesy film lover's delight. Even if cheesy, it is ahead of its time with a female astronaut, and one who doesn't scream every time something spooky appears. As far as monsters are concerned, there's only briefly a "Tingler" like critter that swims, and they are only on screen for a few minutes. But it is a planet of mystery, filled with eerie looking caves and odd looking wastelands, and finally a castle filled with the seemingly frozen bodies of Martian inhabits, not the green men of "Mars Attacks!" or the spider like creature of "Red Planet Mars", but seemingly kind creatures who look up to their wizard, played by the head of John Carradine whose booming voice is instantly recognizable.

The cast of unknowns needed a star name to make an impact on the advertising, and Carradine was pretty much the man to go to when a Z movie producer needed an authority figure to provide the film's moral or do ghastly experiments or just provide a familiar face. Some fans of films like this probably expected him to be in pretty much every film of this sort, and I'm sure when he didn't appear, someone said, "Guess what. I saw a crappy sci-fi/horror movie last night, and John Carradine was not in it!" This is far from a great film, but entertaining for the purpose it serves, fantastic in many ways, if not the good way. Interesting art direction and color schemes makes this interesting from a technical standpoint, but unfortunately, the film offers little humor, intended or unintended.

Wizard Of Mars

[librisleo · 2/10 · 22 December 2007]

OK, OK, it's a bad movie: plot holes, continuity errors, and awful acting. I remember seeing this for the first time on a Saturday afternoon, as a time filler, when I was a preteen. (Remember when you could only get 3 channels?) I purchased this film on video a few years ago, and watched it again, several times. There were possibilities that were never utilized.

*Spoilers ahead* The idea of time standing still, for instance. In the narration, we're told that everybody's watch had stopped. We don't find out why till the conversation with the Wizard: the Martians had stopped time for themselves, and so affected the astronauts. After finding themselves back on the ship, they realized they were 2 minutes overdue on their check-in. The men have 4-5 day beards, so they must have been on the planet. It seems that the Martians, now that they could control time again, had not only sent them back to the ship, but sent them back in time, too. Why? We are not told. A bit of mystery to liven up the dull plot. I give it 2 stars for the cool music, and for the attempt at showing time manipulation.

Totally Silly, and Yet

[mandagrammy · 2/10 · 31 March 2021]

Although this film is totally silly in nature, it is a bit of nostalgic fun... reminding me of long ago days of the B movie being shown with the main feature at the drive-in theaters. I saw this with the altered title of 'The Horrors of the Red Planet', but there is a total lack of 'horror' in the entire film. The acting by one and all is definitely not worthy of adding to a resume. The plot is beyond thin and the action, if it could be called that, is as slow as molasses. John Carradine's role is short, but far from sweet. Basically he gives us a rather boring monologue and that's it. Overall, you'll thank your lucky stars that the film is so short, although it seems longer.

Strange, beautiful film - deliberate or inadvertent art?

[johnsabotta · 29 January 2001]

WIZARD OF MARS is very slow, as some of the preceding comments would indicate, but it is also extremely beautiful, and the slow pacing adds to the hypnotic effect. The film is literally like a half-remembered dream, but it's difficult to decide if this is due to deliberate artistic choice or the demands of the "road show" live performance/film feature combination that this film was originally meant for. One should note that certain themes seen in this film (time loops, nature of time) reoccur in other of Hewitt's films - THE TIME TRAVELLERS most notably. This is *not* an Ed Wood-style "bad film" to be laughed at - either you are prepared to make allowances for it and enter it's half-remembered, dream-like Martian landscape, or you just shouldn't bother to watch it at all. Do not expect convential narrative or action - not for fratboy parties or Mystery Science Theatre-oids.

I liked this movie a lot.... a long time ago.

[degree6 · 5/10 · 26 July 2000]

I remember this movie as being shown a lot on the "Mel Jazz Afternoon Movie" show on an independent Minneapolis TV station in the very early 1970s.

When I was 6 years old and seeing this, it was the stuff of nightmares, especially the frozen Martians in the castle who looked like "Wishnik" trolls in tubes. I also recalled the castle itself, and the way the sun shined with 4 points.

Unfortunately, I was able to see this movie again much more recently, and it did not hold up to childhood impressions.

One of the big continuity flaws not mentioned by others is when the astronauts cross the desert. They are walking in a well-trodden path of hundreds of footsteps in the sand from previous takes of the scenes... and this is supposed to be unexplored territory! There is really no attention paid to matters like this. The presence of a hot dog vender on this popular beach would not have made the scene much worse at all.

The characters are annoying and not very well acted. The only thing I will say for this film now is that some of the music is good, and some of the visual elements (the Wishniks in the tubes and the castle) are decent pieces of production design. The parts I remember from childhood held up, but the rest of it, which I did not recall, is pretty bad.

"There was an irony in our twilight"

[hwg1957-102-265704 · 5/10 · 1 June 2020]

Four people land on Mars, walk about a lot, encounter sea snakes and a volcano and reach a ruined city that they liberate from stasis in time. Which sounds fun but it plods along trying to make sense but doesn't reach that goal. In the end they come upon a manifestation of many Martian minds in the guise of John Carradine who spouts meaningless explanations, albeit in a pleasant dignified manner.

The cast are not that interesting. Jerry Rannow as Charlie the comic relief is particularly grating. One wanted him to fall into the volcano but alas he did not. Rather liked two things The make up of the entombed Martian was effective and also the atmospheric music score by Frank A. Coe or as it was called in the credits 'Electroneffects'. Any sense of wonder or tension that the film had was due to the composer's electronic sound patterns.

Morons mess up on Mars

[Travis_Moran · 1/10 · 27 July 2005]

It's certain my friends are sadistic and laughing their asses off every time I admit to watching one of these lame movies they so "thoughtfully" provide to me. Where do they find this crap anyway. Well, I've found a few on my own too so I won't dis em too bad. Anyhow, my coaster collection is growing.

This movie takes boredom to new depths---the depths of Mars. At least there were some of the usual hokey effects to laugh at. Spaceships you can see stars through, Stupid looking lightning storms on Mars, Volcanos & lava that don't remotely resemble the real thing, Lame water snakes that pose no threat other than putting the viewer to sleep. The only decent effect was the Martian in the crystal tube---looked almost cool.

This is a spoiler although there isn't much to spoil: What little story there is goes something like this: 4 total morons crash land on mars and go in search of their main stage (which they dumped earlier) so they can return to Earth. Along their incredibly boring and mostly silent trek they encounter such things as water snakes (really dumb), lightning storms (no rain involved), spelunking via inflatable life raft (somehow they never move but just seem to be sitting there in their little rafts gabbing about nothing), they encounter what is supposed to be volcanic action (not), sand dunes (at least these are real), and of course the ancient Martian city (this looks like something I might have made in the 2nd grade on the beach out of sand).

When they do encounter the Martians, it is via the little gnome-like guy in the tube (this is the high point of the movie---if you can consider this movie as having such a thing as a high point). Then all the Martians' minds get together to form a floating head which lectures the 4 idiots for way way too long (man I thought I was back in English class or something it was so boring). Now supposedly these Martians have their city frozen in time and want to get time going again so they tell the dumb earthlings how to start it up again. They proceed to do this and the city crumbles as they flee for their lives. Of course they stand around the time chamber looking dumb (really easy for these actors) for several minutes while the city is crumbling before actually running.

When they are at last back on the spaceship I guess heading back to Earth (how they got there is a mystery---one instant they were running from the destructing city, the next they're on board their ship), one of the crew says, "it's only been 2 minutes." Now that's exactly how long this movie should have lasted! Oh, yeah. There are 3 references to the Wizard of Oz: The girl's name is Dorothy, There is a yellow brick road (mostly covered in sand), and the disembodied head appears (much less effectively than the Wizard of Oz's). I'm wondering what the actors and producers of this idiotic piece of crap were smoking while working on this.

It's sorta funny to note that these reject butt nuggets start off with full spacesuits, then offer a really lame excuse to use the Martian air, then when in the ancient city, lose the helmets completely. And at the end when they're fleeing the city, they don't even have their suits on. What total bunk.

If you are in search of a painfully dumb plot, moronic actors, hokey effects---and a cure for insomnia, you found it.

Finally found it

[pnunes68 · 5/10 · 10 March 2006]

I remember seeing this movie as a kid on the "Sunday Afternoon" movie on the local station in the late 70's, but I couldn't remember the title. I knew it had to be from the 60's so IMDb helped me narrow the possibilities. The key was I remembered the astronauts finding a "Golden" road under the desert, so the "Wizard" title grabbed my eye.

A Google search brought some web sites that fully describe the movie and show screen shots.

I am a bit disappointed now that the actual movie does not live up to my memories of it. I remember it being kinda spooky and strange, but now it seems really stupid.

I would like to see it again, too bad there doesn't seem to be a DVD yet. I wonder if it is on any movie compilation set of "B" movies.

Paul

The wizard of ozone.

[ulicknormanowen · 5/10 · 4 April 2021]

Bearing more than a distant resemblance to the highly superior "forbidden planet" and even the low-budget but pleasant European " first spaceship to Venus " ,as far as the autochton's fate is concerned , "the wizard of Mars " is a curio.

Made at a time they believed there were canals on the red planet , it features many implausibilities ,particularly the subterranean passage where you can breathe as easily as on good old Earth .The ending is botched .

One of the worst movies viewed.

[caracalla1 · 1/10 · 15 September 2005]

Four astronauts crash land on Mars and struggle to escape. Their antics are incomprehensible and boring. No one dies in this thriller, yet the female astronaut talks about all the dangers present. This movie tends to remind one of a documentary more so than a sci-fi adventure or action flick. The movie will put you asleep if you're not careful. There are many mistakes made in this movie. The astronauts talk about their oxygen running out, yet at times running around without their face shields on exposing themselves to the atmosphere. There is another scene where the female astronaut(Dorothy) says there is no life. She says this to a group after they pass by a tree. One of my favorite parts is the rifle with unlimited ammunition. This astronaut shoots at these poor helpless aliens floating in the water(cheap looking plastic segmented white worm props). He doesn't even hit one of them even after firing 15 to 20 rounds at a range of two feet. Another great part in this movie is the stage hands leg moving the time machine pendulum back and forth. He is up in the rafters in the ceiling. I can't believe they didn't edit that out. John Carradine climax's the movie with a 20 minute dissertation on history and life.When this movie is done, you wonder, "What's the point of this movie?" I can't believe I bought this movie. I purchased it as "Horrors of the Red Planet". The box it came in described this movie as an intergalactic war movie. Obviously they never watched it. This movie is awful and boring. I rank this up in my top 10 worst movies of all time.

Classic Hewitt Z grade blockbuster

[auteurus · 10/10 · 1 January 2006]

I saw this little gem on late nite TV as a kid and it has stuck with me every since. From the psychotronic sound track to the low budget effects and cheesy plot, this is a gem of Z grade science fiction from a true Hollywood outsider - David L Hewitt, the king of low budget masterpieces!

I guess I'm nostalgic about unloved, low budget movies from this time period. If you shot a movie like this today on your fancy video camera, edited it on your Macintosh and promoted it on the Internet, it would suck royally. I have a certain respect for self-made directors like Hewitt who churned out exploitation flicks like this in the 60's, when it truly was a 'labor of love'.

I own several Hewitt movies on DVD but sadly, Wizard has yet to see the light of day. I'd pay good money for a Wizard of Mars collectors edition DVD with a commentary from the master himself. Quick, someone get Criterion on the case!

Well...it's got John Carradine...and it's in color...umm...did I mention John Carradine?

[Vigilante-407 · 6/10 · 16 February 1999]

It's certainly not the best movie, and it's definitely not the worst either...but it is very slow going.

I remember seeing this as a child and never knowing what movie it was...I remember the walk through the volcanic interior of Mars and the part where the hapless astronauts find the oxygen containers...and the run out of the Martian City...but I for the life of me do not remember seeing that inane "yellow brick road", nor the actually pretty scary-looking Martians...lord knows that woulda really scared the beejezus out of me.

Like I said in the title, it's got John Carradine and it's in color. Sums it up pretty well I think.

They're off to See the Wizard.....

[BaronBl00d · 1/10 · 26 August 2000]

Visual artistry, fine acting, a John Carradine performance weighted more by subtlety than flamboyance, accurate scientific research, careful, attentive direction, and a tight, coherent script all WOULD have made this film a good one. But Alas it was not to be! This is a muddled mess about four astronauts that must land on Mars only to follow a yellow brick road to an empty Martian city(one crumbling building). The scientific knowledge used to fuel the script has more holes in it than a chunk of swiss cheese. I must confess the concept has(had) possibilities, but under the grade z budget and the lacklustre acting, etc... it becomes a test of endurance for the viewer..whether or not he or she can see the film without dozing off. The first forty minutes or so are nothing more than the four astronauts walking around in a desert and a bunch of caves, constantly reminding us of the little oxygen on the planet and their own low supply. Funny that, however, as fires raged all over the planet. I always thought a fire would not burn without oxygen...but then again science isn't my strong suit( nor the people's that brought us this film). Finally, the astronauts reach the city with a red dome, find a dead/living alien intelligence and talk with the bust of John Carradine(for over fifteen minutes...a real test of endurance here). After this, I have no idea what really happened, but was glad whatever it was ended. The film is not the worst I have seen...and there are a few good moments, but the budget is just soooo low. A real eyelid drooper!

This Wizard hides behind an alternate title, not a curtain

[wsureck · 21 February 2001]

I bought the video originally because the box said that Lon Chaney and John Carradine were in it. Well, Lon was nowhere to be found and this flick is not part of his filmography. However, John's head was in it, so that's no lie! The box art was also exciting-looking as it proclaimed the flick was titled "Horrors of the Red Planet." Well, its really "Wizard of Mars," but I would have called it "The Insomnia Cure of the Red Planet." "Wizard" resembles a large budget student film of wannabe filmmakers who must have been using this production for practice and who may (or likely did not) go on to better things. An amateurish looking drywall "spaceship," Death Valley-style desertscape, Carlsbad caverns, and what looks like a warehouse set the scene. Our band of high school play dropout explorers land on Mars and discover an ancient civilization replete with aliens housed in tubes (that have mud packs for makeup) and eventually the alien disembodied "Wizard" image of a John Carradine (desperate for work). The Wizard's "city," as depicted in miniature, looks like an aquarium castle, with a sun shining over it as if with a flashlight shot through a bedsheet in a darkened room. I could go on for several paragraphs with descriptions about the almost scene by scene mistakes of logic, science, bad acting/script/staging, etc...ad nauseum. Perhaps thats why I find this film so fascinating...it has so many mistakes, its an adventure to find them. Only the atmospheric photography in a few scenes and the sci-fi-weird music was really of note.

Corny and fun

[msandberg-77643 · 5/10 · 11 November 2021]

When still pretty much a youngster I saw an advert in a newspaper for a company selling Golden Age movies on VHS. I bought several. Some were really true classic films and awesome. But some were just.... ....odd and strange. This was strange, but I loved it. It just goes on and on. Low budget heaven. Many years have gone. I have bought 1000s of movies since. VHS, LD, DVD. But my VHS is gone. I miss it! I want this on BLU-RAY.

A Martian tombed civilization where the time stood still!!

[elo-equipamentos · 5/10 · 12 July 2023]

Somehow I pleased to had watch it on 1983, hereinafter never got a chance to see it again, yesterday I have found it at Youtube with original audio and subtitled in English either, the image is quite acceptable at least, starting watch it I've been wondering when the main star John Carradine will appears, just in last part sadly in quickly appearance displaying his face only, what a waste indeed, whilst it was a smart conceptive idea developed by David L. Hewitt, even with scarce money it became a fine offer of sci-fiction and horror genres.

A Rocket with five earthlings landing at circle polar on Mars, they had a lowest supply of oxygen for four days only, thus they sailing in a boat in a poisoned lake (Death Valley alike) passing through a longest natural cave (Lehman cave at Nevada) end up in a volcano underneath, get out of there into a desert area toward a crumbling empty city of an ancient Mars civilization, coming in inside the city strangely such place has oxygen, they found the Martians tombed on crystal tubes, when appears a holographic image the Wizard of Mars (David Carradine) explained how high advance civilization made the time stood still due they break the universe's laws.

Tie up by lack of money the producers have to improvise a lousy Rocket-Spaceship where had an odd and inconceivable device to look at space thru a periscope alike, whoever had designed it was drunk or nutty quite sure, a wooden set where a easily noticed for the audience, laughable special effects and so for, oh my God, at least the plot is well-crafted.

Thanks for reading.

Resume:

First watch: 1983 / How many: 2 / Source: TV-Youtube / Rating: 5.

No Doubt the Worst "Mars Movie" Out There

[mrb1980 · 1/10 · 24 July 2007]

Classic "bad" sci-fi includes movies like "Queen of Outer Space", "Attack of the 50-Ft. Woman", and "The Brain from Planet Arous". These films have lots of action, actors who are at least moderately known to the public, and decent production values and direction. Sad to say, "The Wizard of Mars" has none of these and can't even qualify as campy. Simply put, it's a really poor movie that's not even good for laughs...and it also made me wonder how and why it was made in the first place, and why anyone would have gone to see it when it was released.

The future year is 1975, and a band of brave astronauts is approaching Mars in what looks like a modified 1960s station wagon with a periscope. After a few "scary" encounters with apparent meteors, the craft crash-lands on Mars, and the astronauts are--gasp--stranded. The rest of the film consists of the marooned crew walking...and walking...and walking some more. They have a couple of lame encounters with alien life forms before they find pavement made of yellow bricks (see where we're headed here?).

The yellow brick road, at least in this movie, leads our intrepid space travelers to an old castle-type building that is inhabited by extremely unconvincing alien creatures in plastic tubes, accompanied by the ghostly image of none other than John Carradine. Carradine has a really incomprehensible conversation with the spaceship crew, then instructs them to tinker with a giant brass timepiece. The ancient clock starts working, the building starts to crumble, and the crew members suddenly find themselves back on their ship, as though nothing ever happened.

Most "Mars movies" have entertaining aliens, some interaction between crew members, and musings about other worlds. This movie just consists of the unknown cast wandering around for what seems like an eternity. The ending is so lame, and so illogical that, after the movie is over, the viewer just wants to ask, "what?".

Most minor movies I can at least recommend as mindless time-fillers. This one is so boring that I can't even do THAT.

Too rotten for MST3K!

[afnaste · 1/10 · 7 May 2002]

This movie was so bad even I couldn't stand it. It was the first movie I ever removed from my massive personal collection because it was just that lame. I gave it to someone for free under the condition that he took it away, far away. I bought it under the title "Horrors of the Red Planet", and it was only slightly less nauseating than "Wizard of Mars" because it was shorter. You could cut half of this film out and you wouldn't miss it. The summary on the box had absolutely nothing to do with the movie, it mentioned black holes, alien ships and photon torpedos, none of which appeared in the film. I've seen better films on Petri dishes. The special effects were so bad they made Doctor Who look like Star Wars. (I'm not slamming DW, that's my favorite show.) A wall of shaking tin foil with a red lamp on it wa supposed to be underground magma. The science in this made Godzilla look like Andromeda Strain. One of the characters said something like,"We don't have enough oxygen to make it. But there is a little oxygen in the Martian atmosphere, so if we drop our suit pressure to below Martian air pressure, the extra oxygen will flow into our suits." WROOOOOOOONG! The characters were about as bright as coal sacks, sharp as balloons. I gave this movie a 1, which was far too generous but it's the lowest score available. If you want a better movie, watch Blood Diner.

Not enough like the Wizard of Oz.

[planktonrules · 2/10 · 14 August 2016]

"The Wizard of Mars" is a rather boring low budgeted film. I watched it mostly hoping it was at least interesting when it came to the parallels to "The Wizard of Oz" but sadly this didn't pan out at all.

The film begins with a space ship crashing onto the surface of Mars. There are several men and, surprise, a lady. Their biggest problem is that they only have a very limited supply of air and so they leave their vessel in search of some way to survive. This search makes up the bilk of the movie and, sadly, it never gets interesting or the least bit like "The Martian"...it's just a cheaply made film with dull characters (despite the supposed Oz parallels). Even for bad movie buffs, this film has little to offer...it's not even enjoyable on a camp level.

The Buzzard of Mars

[tracywinters-44332 · 1/10 · 14 August 2015]

Four dips on a spaceship which looks like a grade school pencil sharpener land on Mars, even though they weren't supposed to (they were only going to take photos to make a map).

Once 'our heroes' get their heads out of their butts, they can explore the surface. The crew consists of a lame commander, a co-pilot who could pass for one of the Bowery Boys, a chick with a dubbed voice, and a hairy Mexican.

These half-wits cross a pond, get caught in a cave, and almost become roasted when they try to pass through a valley of fire. Unfortunately, they survive all of this and reach a deserted city. It is here where they meet the disembodied head of John Carradine (who else?).

Cheap movie cost about $1.75 to make. Cool 'space music', though.

Horrors of the Red Planet, the list...

[dane-92 · 1/10 · 23 May 2016]

You may be wondering just what horrors await you in the movie, "Horrors of the Red Planet. Let me break it down for you:

Story...Horrendous. Acting...Horrific. Script...Horrible.

I collect classic sci-fi movies, and in order for the collection to be complete, it was necessary to include this flick.

There are lots of really sad sci-fi specimens from the 50//60s, and a few that are true gems. But this has to rate as the worst of the worst. It makes "Plan 9 From Outer Space" look like "Citizen Kane."

An appearance by respected actor John Carradine only serves to illustrate, by contrast, how horrible the other actors are, and indeed, how far his own career had slumped by 1965.

Prospect of sitting through it a second time...horror personified.

We're off to see the wizard...

[tom-1575 · 10/10 · 29 October 2005]

By rating this film as "excellent", of course, I mean a perfect example of this classic sci-fi space genre. As a collector of these films (I have over 100), this is one that I use as an example of just how "so bad it's good" can get.

The dialog is so terribly limited, and the action is so utterly action-less, that it truly IS hypnotic.

The parallel with "The Wizard of Oz" is just too precious for words. Hey, they even "follow the yellow brick road". No mention of the famous (non-existent) Martian canals, but they do run into a "tin man" in the shape of an old space probe from Earth...probably the best scene in the movie.

John Carradine's role as the Wizard is more like a reprise of his role of The Preacher (Grapes of Wrath) with none of the good writing. He drones on for minutes on end, talking about how the Martians became so smart that they distanced themselves from the Fabric of Time; and suddenly you find that you have, in fact, lost all track of time too. Brilliant.

I'm sure that the film makers were trying to make a serious statement...what that might be, I have no clue. That's not even important. Films like this are not meant to be compared to the post-Star Wars reality of space movies; not meant to be analyzed in a contemporary light.

For me, in the world of sci-fi space films, this one takes at least a tie for first place. Personally, I like to watch this (and most of the other pre-Star Wars space films) in black & white. They seem to make more sense that way. The original color print seems to want me to take this more seriously than I am able to. But the b & w viewing takes me right back to a Saturday Movie Matinée, and I'm 10 years old again.

I find this film particularly delightful when viewed from this nostalgic POV. It's why I collect, and why I whole-heartedly recommend this film.

David L. Hewitt's 'The Wizard of Mars' (1964)

[Matthew_Capitano · 7/10 · 13 May 2013]

Four American astronauts are trying to orbit Mars so they can take pictures of the surface to make a map. Unfortunately, they get dragged down through the atmosphere by a "mysterious force".

Director David L. Hewitt's red planet offering isn't bad once the space travelers stop bickering on the ship and step out onto the Martian soil. Armando Busick's art direction and Austin McKinney's cinematography give the film a big boost by depicting the planet's terrain as blue (instead of red), and the sky as orange (instead of blue).... very good. John Carradine participates as the planet's 'Wizard'.

An interesting film with fine eerie 'space music' by Frank A. Coe; a fun movie to watch at 3:00 AM with all the lights out.

This movie is why you should be allowed to give negative ratings.

[13Funbags · 1/10 · 2 May 2017]

This is the worst movie I have seen in a long time, which is saying a lot.Four astronauts are going to Mars and the trip is very boring.They spew mumbo jumbo and look through periscopes and it's so poorly acted and slow moving that you can't even laugh at it.They crash land on Mars and then they just make up a bunch of stuff and decide roaming the planet blindly is the best thing to do.Some decent special effects could have helped but they went for the worst effects ever.They just use a weird red and yellow filter for everything on Mars.It looks so stupid that doing nothing at all would have looked better.Of course Mars is mostly tight shots and it always looks like the south west United States.They literally spend a third of the movie floating in rafts on what looks like the lazy river at your local water park.Never see this.