Although it has George Pal written all over it; it is not his best project, but a pretty darn good Sci-Fi flick for its time. A team of American astronauts assemble a space station called "The Wheel" to enable a spaceship to be built. Gen. Samuel Merritt(Walter Brooke)and his crew that includes his son Captain Barney Merritt(Eric Fleming) believe their mission is to eventually land on the Moon. Change of orders; new destination...Mars. Special effects are redeemable with the most striking color and depiction of the 'angry red planet'. Religion and human emotions are the subplots, because in the mid 50s we want to see space travel. Most of the cast will be remembered for later work: William Hopper, Benson Fong, Ross Martin, Mickey Shaughnessy and Phil Foster.
Review of Conquest of Space
