Richard Chatten Without it's absurd title this strange little film might have been taken more seriously. As it was, knowing that it was supposedly based on 'The Wizard of Oz', instead of placidly accepting this film as a sort of 'Z' budget precursor of 'The Martian', I instead sat through fully two thirds of its running time wondering when John Carradine was going to show up in order to justify it's catchpenny title. It actually seems to owe at least as much to C.S.Lewis, and the ruined city at the end reminded me more of Charn in 'The Magician's Nephew' than the Emerald City.Considering that David Hewitt was just 25 when he made this on a tiny budget estimated at just $33,000, it's certainly nowhere near the embarrassment that John Boorman's pretentious bore 'Zardoz' (which also derived it's title from 'The Wizard of Oz') was ten years later. It's handsomely photographed in Deluxe Color by Austin McKinney and has an interesting electronic score by Frank A. Coe; but any director who employs Tom Graeff (who directed 'Teenagers from Outer Space') as his editor and Forrest J.Ackerman his Technical Adviser is asking for trouble! For much of its running time it feels like a foreign film dubbed into English which has had its plot amended in the process; and according to her daughter, Eve Bernhardt as 'Dorothy' was indeed redubbed after a spat between her and Roger Gentry after he made a pass at her while they were on location. (Which might account for her being billed fourth in much smaller letters than her male co-stars.) Bernhardt is an extremely beautiful woman, and refreshingly she's portrayed as just one of the crew rather than made part of a romantic subplot (not that that would have been easy since she spends much of the film inside a spacesuit), but she's saddled with a whiny little voice that obviously isn't her's; and with a whiny personality to boot. (She has also suffered from shoulder and back pain ever since, as a result of spending a month staggering about in an authentic spacesuit and helmet that "weighed a ton").As they escape from the collapsing city at the film's conclusion, they pass out by the half-buried remains of a red brick road that recalls the gold brick road that had previously led them there. So now I finally know where the Red Brick Road led...!

Michael_Elliott Horrors of the Red Planet (1965) BOMB (out of 4) Four astronauts crash land on Mars where they walk around for an hour's worth of running time before meeting the planet's wizard (John Carradine). Here's a really bad movie that somewhat keeps you interested because you're expecting something to happen but when nothing does happen you can't help but be really upset. Carradine doesn't show up until the final ten minutes and when he does it's only his head. The rest of the cast members are equally awful as are the special effects, directing, screenplay and so on.

librisleo 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.

pnunes68 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