The series begins here.
One of the first movies to seriously advance the idea of America conquering space, but surely not one of its best, Rocketship X-M was the braindeadchild of executive producer Robert L. Lippert, who went on to torture Joike and the bots with films like Lost Continent, Radar Secret Service, and Last of the Wild Horses. Lippert had read in Life magazine about a proposed moon expedition, and rushed this turkey into production in order to beat George Pal's Destination Moon to theaters. He didn't quite make it, so, here, Lloyd "my lungs were aching for air" Bridges pilots his annoying crew to the moon, but misses it due to the threat of a George Pal lawsuit and winds up on Mars instead. Total filming time: 18 days.
About that annoying crew. There's the usual lantern-jawed captain, the sketchy foreign scientist guy, the "comic" relief (an agitated Noah Beery, who compares everything he sees to Texas), and, of course, the love interest. Strikingly (but stupidly) everyone on the crew dooms themselves; our boy Lloyd is forced to hold said love interest and fantasize about their entire future imaginary relationship as they turn into a fireball, so at least they don't die alone. And whom does the Dude's dad cling to as he becomes crispy? Why, no other than...
"The reason Miss Van Horn is making this trip is because
of her pioneering research with monatomic hydrogen."
"...and she's cute as a button."
of her pioneering research with monatomic hydrogen."
"...and she's cute as a button."
Born Aase Madsen, the slightly-easier-to-pronounce Osa hailed from wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen and had little interest in stardom as a teen -- her passions were newspaper photography, and, later, film editing. But while studying under Danish director Alice O'Fredericks, she agreed to appear in two of her films, which were released at the exact time Hollywood was prowling Europe for new cheesecake. Osa was snapped up by 20th Century Fox, and by the time she was 20, she'd made a splash in 1939's Honeymoon in Bali (playing a Polynesian, of all things).
Her film career in the 40s was steady, the highlight being her catfight with none other than Joan Crawford in 1941's A Woman's Face, and being multi-lingual, she also found herself doing work as an accent coach on the side. Fox's attempt to turn Osa into the next Betty Grable failed, however, not helped by audiences confusing her with other foreign femme fatales like Ilona Massey and, oddly, older American character actress Ona Munson. Her turn as a cold and angry, then suddenly weepy and emotional, scientist in Rocketship X-M was her last major film role. She appeared steadily on television through the '50s, notably on the old Perry Mason series, and then left the business, returning to her hometown. She died in 2006 at the age of 91.
