A sci fi 50's gem. Love this movie and the ending is shocking but extremely well done. This is a classic of epic proportions. Peter Graves and a great supporting cast played this out with heart and passion. Herbert Berghof also played a great part of the Russian scientist. Also, Walter Sande a staple in the golden age of TV did an admirable job. The cold war era was played out well as the Soviets were always making threats of burying the US. The pictures of Stalin in the background of the Russian scenes is a stark reminder of the evil we faced at that time. Extremely well done and worth watching.

Radio transmissions believed to be from Mars turn out to have quite different origins in this intriguing Cold War-era sci-fi film that seems to be polarizing today, if IMDb is anything to go by (and I wonder). Peter Graves does a good job but Herbert Berghof steals the show as a former Nazi now working for the Russians. Andrea King is pretty annoying as the hysterical wife of Graves' character. The rest of the cast is solid. I like this movie because it's interesting with a unique plot. It's talky, yes, but that's not inherently a bad thing. It's a thought-provoking movie with some historical interest, not just a special effects spectacle. Because it has political and religious elements, it will trigger Certain Types. If you are one of those, gird your loins before watching.

I saw this movie in 2013 and I think it has some good ideas. After 61 years we see that some things are naive and anyone who likes action movies will not like this movie. But who likes intellectual movies might like this one. 100 years more and many ideas of this movie will make a lot of sense: the collapse of the political and economic institutions and people turning to religion. Unfortunately the movie seems much like a play with a very passive action. Peter Graves also does not help the action. This is not very appealing to today viewers. I think it would be a good idea to do a remake. Taking out the bad things, it is a good movie!

I was rather surprised to have seen this movie a long time ago. this obscure 1952 scifi movie is similar to the 1997 movie Contact, based off of a book by the same name. The plot is about an American astronomer, Cyron(Peter Graves) who obtains images of Mars suggesting large-scale environmental changes are occurring at a pace that can only be accomplished by intelligent beings with advanced technology. At the same time a colleague claims to have been contacting Mars by radio, first through an exchange of mathematical concepts and then through answers to specific questions. The transmissions claim that Mars is a utopia. A former Nazi, Franz Calder, who invented the hydrogen valve, is secretly bankrolled by the Soviets. He's set up in the Andes mountains. Messages come in telling of economic marvels.This revelation leads to political and economic chaos, especially in the Western hemisphere. The U.S. government imposes a news blackout after the first four messages, only to reveal much later that Earth's people can be saved if they return to the worship of God. Revolution sweeps the globe, including the Soviet Union.An avalanche destroys Calder's lab, but he shows up later at Cronyn's lab claiming to have sent the messages himself, to destroy the West's economy and the Soviets' empire. He then planned to tell all in order to destroy the faith the religious messages spawned. Cronyn and his wife decide that Calder must be stopped. They open the hydrogen valve, willing to die to stop Calder and preserve the new peace. At the last minute, the receiver begins to crackle. A new message comes in from Mars and obviously not Calder. Outraged, Calder shoots the radio, sparking the huge hydrogen-fueled explosion.Christian elements are woven throughout the film, just to underscore the point that the Free World has religion while the Communist country's are "godless". An interesting scene near the end, in which Calder scoffs at the Cronyn's faith in God. He quotes Milton. "Better to rule in hell than serve in heaven." Calder doesn't deny God's existence, but says he worships Lucifer. "God may have won that battle (kicking Lucifer out of heaven), but I will win this one..." (Nazi's are easy to hate.)Despite the fact that there are no aliens, flying saucers, or lasers it is a bit of a disappointment. But this is more of a thought-provoking film. It kind of makes you think what would happen if we did receive an alien message from space and the effect it would have on the world.