Radar Men from the Moon (1952) The Enemy Plane

Approved | 13min 20s | Action, Sci-Fi | 1952 (USA)

Radar Men from the Moon was budgeted at $172,840, although the final negative cost was $185,702 (a $12,862, or 7.4%, overspend); it was the most expensive Republic serial of 1952. It was filmed between October 17 and November 6, 1951 under the working title Planet Men from Mars; the serial's production number was 1932.

However those numbers are interpreted, in practice the budget for this serial was so tight that a stunt double was not always used for lead actor George Wallace. His nose was broken by accident while filming an energetic fight scene with actor Clayton Moore. Wallace was also suspended in mid-air, lying on a board with the rocket suit's jacket closed around it, in front of a screen for the in-studio shot flying sequences. Wallace performed his own stunt flying take-offs by jumping onto a springboard that would send him up and over the camera rig set-up.

This serial is heavily padded with rocket-suit effects footage first filmed for the earlier King of the Rocket Men, to which some believe this was a pseudo-sequel. A repainted Juggernaut vehicle from the much-earlier Undersea Kingdom serial is also reused here as Retik's lunar tank. All spaceship footage was filmed new for the serial. Radar Men from the Moon shows outer space as brightly lit and the characters walking on the Moon in normal Earth gravity and daylight without pressure suits. His laboratory building is actually a Republic Pictures office building with a prop "Cody Laboratories" sign.

Two different aerodynamic helmets were used with the Commando Cody rocket backpack, with the lighter weight version being used only in the stunt sequences; the single-hinged visors of both helmets were always getting stuck open or closed.