The odd naming choice of the serial's main hero, "Commando Cody," was possibly an attempt by Republic to make young audiences think they were seeing another adventure of Commander Corry, the hero of the popular ABC TV and radio series Space Patrol (1950–1955). However, there is no surviving evidence that this was a consideration by anyone at Republic.[3]
Plot
Commando Cody with lunar tank
Commando Cody (George Wallace) is a civilian researcher and inventor with a number of employees. He uses a streamlined helmet and an atomic-powered rocket backpack attached to a leather flying jacket. Cody also uses a rocket ship capable of reaching the Moon. When the U.S. finds itself under attack from a mysterious force that can wipe out entire military bases and industrial complexes, Cody surmises (correctly) that the Earth is coming under attack from our own Moon. He then flies his rocket ship there and confronts the Moon's "ruler", Retik (Roy Barcroft), who boldly announces his plans to both conquer Earth and then move the Moon's entire population here using spaceships and atomic weapons. Their weapons use a power superior to uranium which they call lunarium.[4]
During the next 11 serial chapters, Cody, now back on Earth, and his associates Joan (Aline Towne), Ted (William Bakewell) and Dick (Gayle Kellogg) battle an elusive lunar agent named Krog (Peter Brocco) and his gang of human henchmen led by Graber (Clayton Moore) and Daly (Bob Stevenson), who use lunarium-powered ray cannons to disrupt defense forces and weaken public morale. After a second trip to the Moon, in which he captures a sample ray cannon for duplication in his lab, Cody tracks Retik's minions to their hideout where Krog is killed by one of his own devices, and Graber and Daly subsequently die in an over-the-cliff car chase. Retik flies to Earth to take personal charge of his collapsing operations but is blasted out of the sky by one of his own ray weapons.
Radar Men from the Moon was budgeted at $172,840, although the final negative cost was $185,702 (a $12,862, or 7.4%, overspend). It was the most expensive Republic serial of 1952[1] and was filmed between October 17 and November 6, 1951 under the working titlePlanet Men from Mars;[1] the serial's production number was 1932.[1]
The serial's budget was so tight that a stunt double was not always used for lead actor George Wallace. His nose was broken by accident while filming an energetic fight scene with actor Clayton Moore. For the camera's close-up flying sequences, Wallace was suspended in mid-air above a sound stage; he was lying on a horizontal board with the rocket suit's jacket closed around it, with a rear projection screen behind him. Wallace performed his own stunt flying take-offs by jumping onto a springboard that would send him up and over the camera rig set-up.[3]
This serial is heavily padded with rocket-suit effects footage first filmed for the earlier King of the Rocket Men, to which some believe this was a pseudo-sequel. Despite reports that a repainted Juggernaut vehicle from Republic's much-earlier Undersea Kingdom serial is reused here as Retik's lunar tank,[6] the tank-like Moon "Scout Car" was not used in the earlier serial. All spaceship footage was filmed new for Radar Men from the Moon. Outer space is shown as brightly lit, and the characters are shown walking on the Moon, in normal Earth gravity and in daylight, without pressure suits. The laboratory building is actually a Republic Pictures office building with a prop "Cody Laboratories" sign added to its exterior.[6]
Two different aerodynamic helmets were used with the Commando Cody rocket backpack, with the lighter weight version being used only in the stunt sequences; the single-hinged visors of both helmets were always getting stuck open or closed.[6]
Releases
Theatrical
Radar Men from the Moon's official release date is January 9, 1952, although this is actually the date the sixth chapter was made available to U.S. film exchanges.[1]
Republic's next new serial, Zombies of the Stratosphere, also used some of the previous Cody flying suit and spaceship film footage. It followed in the summer and began as a sequel to "Radar Men". For unspecified reasons, at the last minute, Republic changed the character names of Cody, Joan, Ted, and Bob.[1] In between these two serials, Republic had begun filming its first attempt at a TV series, "Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe", but stopped production after completing the first three episodes to begin work on "Zombies of the Stratosphere". After that serial was completed, Republic resumed the production on nine more episodes of the Commando Cody TV series. After it was completed, Republic released it (for contractual reasons) to theaters as a traditional 12-part movie serial. It was finally syndicated to TV in 1955 as a 12-part weekly series.
In 1955, Republic's final movie serial, King of the Carnival, was released. Radar Men from the Moon was also re-released on September 30, 1957 in between Republic's re-releases of the similar Zorro's Black Whip and Son of Zorro.[1]
Television
Radar Men from the Moon was one of 26 Republic serials syndicated in 1966 as a 100-minute TV film under their "Century 66" package marketing name. The film title used for the TV release was Retik the Moon Menace.[1]
In 1989, the serial regained notoriety as the first shorts shown by the cult series Mystery Science Theater 3000. The first eight-and-a-half chapters of this Commando Cody serial were lampooned before the showing of their main feature-of-the-week (only half of the ninth installment was shown, with the in-show excuse being that "the film broke").
Home media
Radar Men from the Moon has been available for decades on all manner of Home Video formats, and was re-released by Grapevine Video on Blu-Ray, October 13, 2017. Despite a well-made pasted-over main title, a feature version called Commando Cody vs. the Moon Menace, available from Alpha Video (Oldies.com), is nothing more than the television feature version of Retik the Moon Menace, with additional material edited out by sources unknown.
Critical reception
In his 1984 book In the Nick of Time author William C. Cline dismissed the serial as a "quickie".[8]
Copyright
Because of a failure to renew copyright, Radar Men lapsed into the public domain in 1979.
References
Notes
^ abcdefghijklMathis, Jack (1995). Valley of the Cliffhangers Supplement. Jack Mathis Advertising. pp. 3, 10, 128–129. ISBN0-9632878-1-8.
Cline, William C. "5. A Cheer for the Champions (The Heroes and Heroines)". In the Nick of Time. NJefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1984. ISBN0-7864-0471-X.
Cline, William C. "Filmography", In the Nick of Time. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1984. ISBN0-7864-0471-X.
Harmon, Jim and Donald F. Glut. "11. New Masks for New Heroes "Get That Masked Trouble Maker". The Great Movie Serials: Their Sound and Fury. London: Routledge Publishing, 1973. ISBN978-0-7130-0097-9.
