The Purple Monster Strikes

The Purple Monster Strikes (1945)

SEE IT FOR NEW THRILLS! It's out of this world for pulse-pounding adventure!

A Martian invader crashes his spaceship conveniently close to the workshop of a scientist who is developing an interplanetary craft. If the extraterrestrial Purple Monster can complete the rocket ship and return to Mars, he will be able to start a full-scale invasion of Earth. Good thing Craig Foster sets out to thwart the Monster's mission!

Date of release
1945-10-06
TMDB
4.6 / 10 (4)
Runtime
3h 21m
Genres
Action, Science Fiction
Director
Spencer Gordon Bennet, Fred C. Brannon

Casting

Interesting facts

The Purple Monster Strikes is a 1945 Republic Movie serial. It was also released as a Century 66 television film under the title D-Day on Mars (1966).

Production

The Purple Monster Strikes was budgeted at $160,057 although the final negative cost was $183,803 (a $23,746, or 14.8%, overspend). It was the most expensive Republic serial of 1945. It was filmed between 17 April and 19 May 1945 under the working title The Purple Shadow Strikes. The serial's production number was 416. This was the first post-war science fiction serial.

Roy Barcroft lived close (about a mile) to Republic Studios and jogged to work to keep fit for this job. When told that the costume included tights, he decided to lose weight and lost about 30 lb in 30 days. He called the serial "The Jerk in Tights from Boyle Heights".

The Purple Monster costume was re-used in Flying Disc Man from Mars (for Mota), Radar Men from the Moon (for Retik) and Commando Cody (the agent played by Stanley Waxman). Stock footage from The Purple Monster Strikes was also re-used in these serials. The rocket crash footage was re-used for Flying Disc Man from Mars.

This was the last Republic serial with 15 chapters. The remaining serials were either 12 or 13 chapters in length.

The special effects were created by the Lydecker brothers. A problem occurred with the effects sequence of the rocketship crash in the first chapter. In the first attempt, the rocket struck an underground water pipe causing a geyser and forcing a retake.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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