Customer Reviews

Zombies of the Stratosphere [VHS]

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In 1952, Republic Pictures was struggling. Their famous "movie serials" were losing attendence and fans to the new medium of television. Trying to cash in on the sci-fi craze, Republic presented one of the final movie serials ZOMBIES OF THE STRATOSPHERE Starring Judd Holdren, Lane Bradford, and in his first role... Leonard Nemoy, This serial tells the story of a diobolical ailen trying to create an H-Bomb explosion to blow Earth out of it's orbit so his planet can take it's place. Only Larry Martin can stop him, with the aid of his amazing rocketpack.

This serial takes advantage of Republic's greatest reasouce, Stuntmen and special effects. Larry Martin and his rocketsuit flying through the air is really little mroe than a dummy on wires. This classic matinee serial has been colorized and slightly edited to create an amazing improved version of this crazy sci-fi classic. After all, Green Faced Martians in Purple Suits in a Pink rocketship, It's hard not to have fun! If you're looking for a fun nostalgic trip into the past, you can't go wrong with ZOMBIES OF THE STRATOSPHERE.

This is the colored Movie version with a running time of approax. 93 minutes (not the 12 chapter serial with 194 minutes)! But it is nevertheless fun to watch!

I'm in my 20's so I wasn't alive in the 50's but I thought this serial was pretty entertaining stuff. Great veiwing on a Saturday afternoon.

A great variety of things come up, flying rocket belts, martians (Look CLosely, Leonard Nimoy is one of the martians, probably his first acting job hahaha), robots, the whole gamut of fun. I was particularly partial to the period office chairs with rollers the rockets come equipped with, sure made it easy to play along as a kid.

Anyway it is worth the admission fee on a rainy weekend day with the kids!

"Zombies of the Stratosphere" is one of Republic's last serials, a dying breath of the genre. "Zombies" isn't exactly about zombies... despite the title. It's about the evil Martians, led by Leonard Nimoy, who want to blast Earth out of its orbit and replace it with Mars. Only Rocket Man can save the day. It's quite boring, unfortunately. The plot plods dutifully along, and even the Mafia is involved (maybe "Godfather of the Galaxy" would've been better) However, it paved the way for long-running science fiction series,like Star Trek, which is now in its eleventh chapter. "Zombies" will have you fast asleep. As history, it's interesting. Plot-wise,not so much.

Republic Pictures present "ZOMBIES OF THE STRATOSPHERE" (1952) (167 mins/B&W) (Dolby digitally remastered) --- is a 12-Chapter Republic Movie Serial starring Judd Holdren, Aline Towne, Wilson Wood, Lane Bradford & Stanley Waxman, relive those thrilling days week after week venue brought you to the theater, as you were mesmerized in your seat waiting for the final chapter ... exciting action within 12 episodes from the Republic Serials department, released in July 16, 1952, our plot line has Security agent Larry Martin (Rocket Man), who can fly with an experimental rocket suit, investigates clandestine visits to earth by a Martian spaceship, meanwhile villainous Martians conspire with a traitorous atomic scientist to blast earth out of its orbit and replace it with Mars, only one hero can save us from these invaders .... Rocket Man!

Under Fred C. Brannon (Director), Franklin Adreon (Associate Producer), Ronald Davidson (Screenwriter), Stanley Wilson (Original Score), John MacBurnie (Cinematographer), Cliff Bell Sr. (Editor), Fred A. Ritter (Art Director), John McCarthy Jr.(Set Decorations), James Redd (Set Decorations), Bob Mark (Makeup), Peggy Gray (Hair Stylist), Roy Wade (Product Manager), Dick Tyler Sr (Sound Dept.), Howard Lydecker (Special Effects), Theodore Lydecker .(Special Effects), J.L. Cassingham .(Technical Advisor) ------ the cast includes Judd Holdren (Larry Martin), Aline Towne (Sue Davis), Wilson Wood .(Bob Wilson), Lane Bradford (Marex ), Stanley Waxman (Dr. Harding), John Crawford (Roth), Craig Kelly (Mr. Steele), Ray Boyle (Shane), Leonard Nimoy (Narab), Tom Steele (Thug in Launch]/Truck Driver), Dale Van Sickel (Peralta Junction Station Agent), Roy Barcroft (Central Control Radio Oper/Ross/voice), Ken Terrell (Man) ------ One of Repubic's best-remembered of the serials, as well as one of the last ones to come out of the Republic Serial Factory ... great stunt work by the Republic stunt personnel Dale Van Sickel stunt double for Judd Holdren --- don't leave the theater until the final chapter "Tomb of the Traitors" ... another winner from the vaults of Republic Serials --- this is a must watch for the serial buffs in all of us.

CHAPTER TITLES:
1. The Zombie Vanguard
2. Battle of the Rockets
3. Undersea Agents
4. Contraband Cargo
5. The Iron Executioner
6. Murder Mine
7. Death on the Waterfront
8. Hostage for Murder
9. The Human Torpedo
10.Flying Gas Chamber
11.Man Vs. Monster
12.Tomb of the Traitors

BIOS:
1. Judd Holdren (aka: Judd Clifton Holdren)
Date of birth: 16 October 1915 - Villisca, Iowa
Date of death: 11 March 1974 - West Los Angeles, California
[Special footnote, appeared in "Captain Video, Master of the Stratosphere" (1951)
and "Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe" (1953) TV Series]

2. Aline Towne (aka: Fern Aline Eggen)
Date of birth: 7 November 1919 - St. Paul, Minnesota
Date of death: 2 February 1996 - Burbank, California
[Special footnote, appeared in "Don Daredevil Rides Again" (1951),
Radar Men from the Moon" (1952) & Trader Tom of the China Seas - 1954]

3. Fred C. Brannon (Director) ("The Black Widow" (1947)/Serial)
Date of birth: 26 April 1901 - Louisiana, USA
Date of death: 6 April 1953 - Los Angeles, California
[Special footnote, "King of the Rocket Men" has a truly amazing mid-air chase in one of its early
chapters, ending with a startlingly realistic piece of stunt work as the rocket man flies in pursuit of
a plane, Brannon also directed episodes of the "Commando Cody" (1953) television series]

If you're into vintage serials as I am, why not pick up a copy of the following titles from VCI Home Video:
VCI CLIFFHANGER TRAILERS:
1. Adventures of Red Ryder (Don "Red" Barry)
2. Adventures of the Flying Cadets (Bobby Jordan)
3. Buck Rogers (Buster Crabbe)
4. Captain Midnight (Dave O'Brien)
5. Captain Video: Master of the Stratosphere (Judd Holdren & I. Stanford Jolley)
6. Dick Tracy's G-Men (Ralph Byrd)
7. Don Winslow of the Navy (Don Terry)
8. Don Winslow of the Coast Guard (Don Terry)
9. Drums of Fu Manchu (Henry Brandon)
10.Fighting Kit Carson (Johnny Mack Brown)
11.Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (Buster Crabbe)
12.The Green Archer (Victory Jory)
13.Jungle Girl (Frances Gifford)
14.Jungle Jim (Grant Withers & Raymond Hatton)
15.Lost City of the Jungle (Russell Hayden & Keye Luke)
16.Mandrake the Magician (Warren Hull & Dick Curtis)
17.Miracle Rider (Tom Mix & Tony Jr)
18.The Painted Stallion (Ray "Crash" Corrigan)
19.The Phantom (Tom Tyler)
20.The Return of Chandu (Bela Lugosi)
21.Riders of Death Valley (Dick Foran, Leo Carrillo & Buck Jones)
22.Secret Agent X-9 (1937) (Scott Kolk & Henry Brandon)
23.Secret Agent X-9 (1945) (Lloyd Bridges & Keye Luke)
24.Sky Raiders (Donald Woods & Billy Halop)
25.Undersea Kingdom (Ray "Crash" Corrigan)
26.Winners of the West (Dick Foran, Harry Woods, Roy Barcroft & Charles Stevens)
27.Zane Greys "King of the Royal Mounted" (Allan "Rocky" Lane)
28.Zorro's Cliffhanger Collection (Reed Hadley, John Carroll & Linda Stirling)

Hats off and thanks to Les Adams (collector/guideslines for character identification), Chuck Anderson (Webmaster: The Old Corral/B-Westerns.Com), Boyd Magers (Western Clippings), Bobby J. Copeland (author of "Trail Talk"), Rhonda Lemons (Empire Publishing Inc) and Bob Nareau (author of "The Real Bob Steele") as they have rekindled my interest once again for B-Westerns and Serials --- looking forward to more high quality releases from the vintage serial era of the '20s, '30s & '40s and B-Westerns ... order your copy now from Amazon where there are plenty of copies available on VHS, stay tuned once again for top notch action mixed with deadly adventure --- if you enjoyed this title, why not check out VCI Entertainment where they are experts in releasing B-Westerns and Serials --- all my heroes have been cowboys!

Total Time: 167 min on VHS ~ Republic Video ~ (5/30/1995)

THIS IS ONE OF THE MORE MEDIOCRE SERIALS. IN A FINAL ATTEMPT BY REPUBLIC STUDIOS TO REGAIN ITS POPULARITY, THEY RELEASED THIS 12 CHAPTER SERIAL ABOUT A MARTIAN [LEONARD NIMOY, IN HIS FIRST ROLE] WHO EMPLOYS TWO GANGSTERS TO BUILD AN ATOMIC BOMB SO HE CAN BLOW UP THE EARTH AND IT'S UP TO AN AGENT WITH A ROCKET SUIT TO FLY IN AND INVESTIGATE BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE. OCCASIONALLY INTERESTING [MAINLY BECAUSE WE GET TO SEE LEONARD NIMOY, PRE-STAR TREK] BUT THE EXCITEMENT WEARS OFF AFTER A WHILE. MOVIE SERIALS HAD ITS TIME [WHICH WAS THE 30'S AND 40'S] AND THEY CAN NEVER BE BOUGHT BACK. AND I'M VERY GRATEFUL THAT THEY'RE ON VIDEO TAPES AND DVDS TODAY FOR YOUNG PEOPLE LIKE ME TO SEE.