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For those keeping count at home, Draper was the one who recommended jettisoning her at the beginning of the movie.

Things get weird a bit more than halfway through when Draper runs into a mysterious traveler (Victor Lundin), confirming that he is not alone on Mars. Draper nicknames the man “Friday,” as a nod to the novel Robinson Crusoe – which for those of you who didn’t pay attention in high school, concerned the exploits of another shipwrecked adventurer. Of course, Friday turns out to have quite a backstory. But the most interesting thing about Robinson Crusoe on Mars isn’t the obvious literary parallel. This was not some creep-of-the-week knockoff, but a supremely inventive film with ambitious goals and rather impressive (for the time) cinematography and special effects.

And while the story itself is clearly meant to be allegorical, a lot of thought seems to have gone into deciding what kinds of equipment and procedures astronauts of the near future might have, and the results are actually pretty effective. This means that legitimate attention is also paid to the fact that after many months of isolation – with no guarantee of rescue – it takes some pretty deep digging to keep yourself off the crazy train.

Another thing this film gets very little love for is the performances. Today, Adam West is the most famous (not to mention only surviving) member of the cast, but as we’ve already discussed, I don’t recommend getting attached to him here. This means that Paul Mantee spends almost the entire first half of the film sharing the screen with just a monkey and the script. To say he sells his role well is an understatement. Vic Lundin has less dialogue here than a Jason Bourne movie (cue Matt Damon reference alert), relying on body language for a large part of his screen time.

And again, it works well. What I guess I’m saying is that not knowing otherwise, you’d expect this to be a really corny, borderline unwatchable film from a laughably backward period in science fiction history. But of course, you’d be wrong. Great sci-fi is by no means a new thing, and I don't consider it hyperbole to call this an overlooked gem of a genre film. Robinson Crusoe on Mars is a really fun, well-acted, extremely watchable classic. It makes you feel like a kid without treating you like one. It's a “B” movie that exceeds its grade in every respect.

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