First Man into Space (1959) Review

 

First Man into Space (1959)

First Man in Space follows Dan, an ambitious test pilot, who after disobeying orders and becoming the first man to enter space, comes back down to Earth a blood-sucking monster, after he merges with an extraterrestrial substance.

It’s crazy thinking that one point, when this movie came out, a man going into space was still a concept, it hadn’t actually been done yet. Therefore I’ll give it some passes on it’s inconsistencies and improbabilities with space given that knowledge was still fairly unknown. All that aside though, this was a neat film, with it’s sets and special effects done really well for the time, particularly the space sequences, which mirror the likes of early Lynch films. The story is reminiscent of Icarus flying too close to the sun. Dan already had one close call when he got distracted by the beauty of space, crashing back to the Earth. The second time however, he wouldn’t be denied, flying into space and thus facing the consequences when a mysterious mist covered his plane and simultaneously killed and saved him from death, turning him into a barely sentient monster.

That said, its pacing is pretty slow and there isn’t much of a build up to give us any real connection to these characters, in the chance of their death. The monster itself doesn’t look bad for the time, but it doesn’t hold up at all, especially with it’s goofy zombie walk.

The film was relatively well acted, including Marshall Thompson, Marla Landi, and Bill Edwards. Edwards thrill and fame seeking pilot was intriguing, forcing you to look at yourself and question what you would do in his shoes. Thompson, playing his brother and Commander, also showed a good leading man quality, using investigative wit and heartfelt determination to save his brother.

First Man into Space is a fascinating science fiction movie that predates manned space travel, using the what-if concept to birth a staple of the time in a man turned monster, where the true determination of those around him bring out the true humanity, or what’s left of it, in him before his death.

5.4/10