MUTINY IN OUTER SPACE (1964)

In the future era of the 1990s, Major Gordon Towers and Capt. Dan Webber return from the moon in their 2-man craft to Space Station X-7 with samples of ice taken from newly discovered lunar ice caves. Dan returns with a worrisome leg bruise, but Gordon is happy to be reunited with his main squeeze, biologist Faith Montaine, who works in a small greenhouse. Communications officer Connie Engstrom is sweet on the station commander, Frank Cromwell, but warns him that he's showing signs of exhaustion and needs to take some time off, perhaps suffering from what they call space raptures. Despite looking like he's on the verge of collapse, he insists he's fine. The astronaut who actually does collapse is Dan, whose bruise is diagnosed by Dr. Hoffman as some kind of moon fungus. The fungus eventually encases Dan's body, killing him, and Gordon tells Frank that he should tell Mission Control that they need to be put in quarantine when they land on Earth. But the paranoid Frank thinks Gordon is suggesting mutiny. Meanwhile, a meteor shower bangs the station up a bit, and some of the ice cave samples break open. Next thing you know, the ship is overrun by creepy crawly fungus tendrils, both inside and out. Hoffman, who has been infected with the fungus, thinks that it thrives in heat and suggests that cold will effectively fight it. Mission Control sends up a rocket which will expel a cloud of subzero particles that should envelop the ship and kill the fungus. But by now, Frank has gone full nutjob, threatening not just the rescue mission but all the astronauts, and a mutiny does indeed break out.

Reading online reviews of this movie, you would be tempted to think that there are two different versions in circulation. Some folks think this is as bad as an Ed Wood movie, citing the cheap sets, cardboard miniatures, and lackluster acting. Others like the retro look and the plausible screenplay, and note some visual similarities to 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. I'm in the middle. Exterior shots of the rotating space station are very bad, with the ship looking like it was made of paper plates and aluminum foil. The fungus looks like a bunch of feather boas strung together. But honestly, the amateurishness of the proceedings is a little charming. The interiors of the space station don't look bad; a reference to old satellites as space junk feels relevant today; we have indeed found ice on the moon. Worries about astronauts returning contaminated by a foreign substance were real. It's mildly interesting that in a crew of about a dozen, two members are women; both are attractive but also able to handle themselves well (most of the time). The acting is pretty good, considering the movie was shot in six days. William Leslie is fine as Gordon, the blandly vanilla baby-faced hero, though he seems distinctly uninterested in his kissing sessions with the botanist (Dolores Faith, only so-so). Pamela Curran, something of a blonde bombshell, is better as Connie who goes from defending Frank to joining the mutiny. Richard Garland is a bit of a letdown giving a one-note performance as Frank, though Glenn Langan is fine as the general at Mission Control who is cut to every so often. The familiar character actor James Dobson may come off the best as Dr. Hoffman, though I don't think we ever find out what happens to his character. After his infection, he is put in a refrigeration unit to kill off the fungus; we're told his theory was successful but we never see him again. Carl Crow is the newbie Capt. Dan who is sacrificed early on; Harold Lloyd Jr. gets a special credit in the tiles, but winds up with little to do; this was his last movie before his untimely death a few years later. Pictured are Crow and Leslie. [YouTube]