1964 - ROBINSON CRUSOE ON MARS, Good Science Fiction

A good reliable science fiction film anyway you cut.  The director Bryon Haskin was a talented craftsman who knew his way around this genre.  The film is also smart enough and self aware enough to acknowledge that it is based on Daniel Defoe's novel.

 A great deal of the film was shot in Death Valley by master color cinematographer Winton Hoch.  Hoch was a named usually associated with John Ford and frequently Irwin Allen.  The sky was so blue it allowed the special effects technicians to add optical work with a great deal of  clarity,  unusual for a modestly budgeted 1960's science fiction film.

The acting, story and design have been carefully thought thru.  The story moves along as the astronaut  Christopher Draper encounters challenges surviving in the Martian environment.  This is Hollywood movie making at it's best, with the filmmakers bringing a lot of skill to a premise which could have been very ridiculous.

The film wasn't a success when it was released, but has grown it stature with time.

 Ib Melchior and John Higgins wrote the screenplay, 110 minutes.