I saw this one under the title "Horrors of the Red Planet." It's supposedly a sci-fi adaptation of The Wizard of Oz. It's a very loose adaptation but I guess it gives the movie something to brag about. God knows it needs it. Obviously the only value this junk has today is to give viewers something to make fun of. John Carradine appears as the Wizard, years removed from any decent movies he had made in the past and years away from any he would be a part of in the future. The rest of the cast is made up of a bunch of never-wases. The budget for this one was about equal to what you might find in between your sofa cushions. It's definitely a weird movie with some unintended camp value. There's an audience for that and, given the right amount of alcohol, I might be a part of it.

Four American astronauts are trying to orbit Mars so they can take pictures of the surface to make a map. Unfortunately, they get dragged down through the atmosphere by a "mysterious force".Director David L. Hewitt's red planet offering isn't bad once the space travelers stop bickering on the ship and step out onto the Martian soil. Armando Busick's art direction and Austin McKinney's cinematography give the film a big boost by depicting the planet's terrain as blue (instead of red), and the sky as orange (instead of blue).... very good. John Carradine participates as the planet's 'Wizard'.An interesting film with fine eerie 'space music' by Frank A. Coe; a fun movie to watch at 3:00 AM with all the lights out.

I saw this little gem on late nite TV as a kid and it has stuck with me every since. From the psychotronic sound track to the low budget effects and cheesy plot, this is a gem of Z grade science fiction from a true Hollywood outsider - David L Hewitt, the king of low budget masterpieces! I guess I'm nostalgic about unloved, low budget movies from this time period. If you shot a movie like this today on your fancy video camera, edited it on your Macintosh and promoted it on the Internet, it would suck royally. I have a certain respect for self-made directors like Hewitt who churned out exploitation flicks like this in the 60's, when it truly was a 'labor of love'.I own several Hewitt movies on DVD but sadly, Wizard has yet to see the light of day. I'd pay good money for a Wizard of Mars collectors edition DVD with a commentary from the master himself. Quick, someone get Criterion on the case!

Hewitt's "Gallery Of Horrors" is one of the great "so bad it's good" funny films, and his really stupid "Monsters Crash the Pajama Party" is inept but a lot less amusing. so the genuine qualities of "Wizard Of Mars" caught me off guard. It's video title "Horrors Of The Red Planet" is actually a lot better and more fitting. I hate to get into a fight here about the obvious merits of MST3K, who did not even do this movie, but it would have in fact been a bad choice for the show, as the film does have a strange, hypnotic effect that goes along with the clumsy flubs one expects from a Hewitt film. The film has a dream like quality, and it's strange story seems, yes, an interesting forerunner to "2001". Three of Hewitt's "Gallery Of Horrors" stars (Carridine, Roger Gentry, and Vic McGee) are back. McGee does the best work of his career, even toping hissleazy ganster in Ed Wood's "Sinister Urge." Opps, there I go. Actually, Vic McGee is a terrible actor who appeared in a handful of grade Z films, but his work here is somehow moving. See, this movie just won't let you make fun of it. I don't know if the actress is overdubbing her own voice, but they should have found a better one to use(the whole movie is overdubbed). In any case, see this film. It's right up there with "Creation Of The Humanoids" in the strange department.