Watch A Trip to Mars For Free

Thanks for the memories!

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

I don't know of any other full length science fiction film that was made before The Trip to Mars. So in that sense it's the first. I watched other silent sci-fi films from the beginning of the 20th century but all of them were no longer than 15 minutes, and this one was the first of that era that I took seriously.It held my attention through the movie and it has some very nice and moving scenes. Despite being silent the makers managed to pack it with an interesting and engaging plot, good actors play, science fiction, drama, adventure and a love story. It has an amazing well-built spaceship and special effects are fairly good for the time. The film has very strong religious and Christianity-rooted undertones with a message of hope for humanity plagued with murder, hatred and deceit. Another surprise was that the film was nothing like many other sci-fi movies, most of which came out of Hollywood - just clichés that were about either aliens being vicious monsters, or some oversexed alien women, or an imbecile earth superhero. This one does offer the viewer a chance to engage his brain and heart which is probably more important that the above mentioned infantile and unintelligent consumer rubbish.So it was quite an unexpected surprise to see such an old and yet very good film and I very much recommend it to any lover of science fiction who can be interested in the oldies just as much as the modern cinema and likes to get something out of film.

The view of the world in this movie is clearly dated, but as the movie is from 1918, it's hard to put it against it. What is more impressive is everything it does right. This is not a movie using science fiction as a gimmick - it uses the genre to explore ideas about the time it was made. In the end of the first world war, here's a movie exploring if mankind can live in peace, how we treat our prisoners, how life in a submarine (here: spacecraft) can affect ones mental health, how pushing science forward is a global affair, and can unite different parts of the world, and so on.While I am not sure just how much the general public knew about astronomy - this movie presents the mission to mars in a way that seems realistic. It takes time, people doubt it, and it takes a toll on the members. They point out where mars will be as they leave Earth, and where it will be when they arrive. The spacecraft itself is like a submarine with a propeller and wings. Mars itself I am sure was quite a mystery back then, so the fact that they made it Earth-like is very understandable. It also opened up for them using Mars and Martians in a way that let the film makers comment on the people of Earth.The movie is not subtle in the message it is conveying: people on earth should stop with wars and violence and rather go with love. In the end of the most gruesome war in world history up till that point - that sounds like a good message.The worst part about this movie is the one evil character in it. He serves little purpose, and undermines the underlying message of the film that humans are capable of being good.

I do not know how planet Mars turned into a source of horrors and ugly aliens, after receiving the name of the Roman god of war or being represented in a flattering and intelligent way in this magnificent Danish motion picture. It tells the story of a group of men who follow an inspired pilot who has envisioned his life mission in a sidereal trip to Mars, without imagining what he and his crew were going to find. And what they find up there, by 1918 standards, is amazing: a peaceful community that abstains from killing men or animals of any kind, whose main sources of nourishment are fruits, who have the power to regenerate life, induce healing dreams and aspirational thoughts. After causing havoc with guns and bombs, and after their beverages and canned dead meat are rejected, the men go through a process of adjustment and enlightenment. It doesn't take long for the leader to find his soul mate in Mars, and they all decide to go back to Earth to transmit the Martian philosophy of existence, that is summarized in the verses of the chant the planet's population sing as the travelers leave: space is the mother of life, as it embraces all our globes; we are all equal, we are all steps on the same ladder that leads to eternity; love is the force we humans call God, and only through Love we shall reach flawlessness. The Martians even urges us to get rid of lowly speech, which has become a plague in speech and writing, defiling communication and self expression. All this is done, seen and expressed through handsome images and special effects, in less than 80 minutes. The film even has a bit of humor in the depiction of the evil Professor Dubius (who is obviously dubious of the mission and its success), comically played by Frederik Jacobsen, even when being at his meanest; and the filmmakers also made a bit of social critique, representing irrationality and arrogance through an American character (David Dane, played by Svend Kornbeck), a boisterous, drinking fool, who organizes a mutiny in the spaceship. But while the Professor Dubius is punished, Dane is transformed by the Martian experience. In spite of a few unstable sets or the acting style of the day, this is an excellent film. Just as many may consider outdated the technical aspects of the science-fiction plot, or find ridiculous the tendencies of the cast to stretch out arms as if declaiming an epic poem, and to frequently kneel to suggest reverence, piety of humility, possibly in a hundred years from now the Method acting style of today and our notions of technology would be seen as laughable, so there is no reason why to make a fuss about these aspects and oversize the limitations that surge from the thought and knowledge of the time when "A Trip to Mars" was made. Highly recommended.

The early first days of the last century were times of great human curiosity about new technologies and the marvellous possibilities in the world of science; startling discoveries and new inventions set the world on the path to modernity. Unfortunately, this time of enlightenment also coincided with terrible conflicts and war, mankind at its worst. That human duality is very well reflected in the Danish film "Himmelskibet" (1918), directed by the great director Herr Holger-Madsen. It is a sci-fi film that includes a clear and sincere pacifist claim.The film tells of the eagerness and hardships of the sea captain Herr Avanti Planetaros, now reconverted into a space captain, and his project of a trip to Mars. Before embarking on his particular space odyssey, Captain Planetaros will have to bear the incredulity and the scorn of many conservative astronomers, especially Professor Dubius ( ah, what a proper name… ) . In spite of such indifference and after many troubles and years of work, the spaceship "Excelsior" is finally constructed and Captain Planetaro's trip to Mars goes from dream to reality. Once on Mars, Captain Planetaros and his crew finds an advanced society in which peace is a way of life among its citizens. Filmed during the terrible years of WWI, "Himmelskibet" was obviously influenced by that devastating conflict that destroyed Europe during four miserable years. The message of peace and morality comes from the archaic but advanced Martian society which hopes to influence the Terrestrial civilization and wean it from such bad habits as violence, wine and canned meat. So, Martians will show Terrestrials the way to achieve a better society on Earth with pacifist messages reminiscent of those of religion and pious morality, and in stark contrast to the bad behaviour on earth which has wrought so much unhappiness through the centuries. The Martians hope their philosophy will be spread on Earth once Planetaros and his crew returns home.In these modern times in which the movies are full of technological magic, the special effects in "Himmelskibet" are primitive by comparison but are still full of naive charm. In fairness, longhaired and modernen youngsters should remember that Herr Holger-Madsen was also a very modernen youngster in those olden times, a director who was innovative, imaginative and influential.It must be said too that this Herr Graf thought that instead of journeying through space to Mars, Captain Planetaros may have travelled back in time to ancient Greece since the Martian citizens wear white and classical robes so reminiscent of the Hellene imaginarium ( Martians may look like Greeks but in comparison they are crashing bores… ). However, in spite of its naive ways, the film effectively conveys its important message and one that is no less valid today where mankind still dreams of a world of peace and cooperation. Alas, even after Captain Planetaros' trip to Mars, the world seems not to have grown in wisdom.And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count must make love to one of his Teutonic heiress and war with the other one.