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Show Cork Nimble Mars Flick Flops We had great expectations when Countdown Studios announced an-nounced it would film a Cinerama spectacular of the first manned flight to Mars. Unfortunately, our enthusiasm must be lessened slightly after last night's premiere. PERHAPS THE errors in the picture are due to rushing production in order to have it out for the Academy Awards. Whatever What-ever the reason, we trust Countdown won't mind our mentioning mention-ing a few things that could have been improved. However dull and stagnant the Great Salt Lake may be, we feel it inaccurate and unfair to use that body of water as a crater lake in the motion picture. This is an unbearable insult after the same company used the lake for the Dead Sea in a religious movie last year. THE CASTING is dubious. Arnold Stang is not a very convincing con-vincing President of the United States. His continuous jabbing with the right hand in the Kennedy style would have been more effective had he not poked the astronauts in the eyes while eulogizing them before take-off. Nor do we feel that Dean Martin and Phil Harris typify the American ideal of an explorer of outer space. However, the selection of Dorothy Kilgallen as Queen of the Martians was excellent. The dialogue lacked the power we expected Bertrand Russell Rus-sell to give it. "Better Martian than dead" is not what we would expect an American to say when greeted by a hostile Martian crowd. The only line the audience can fully identify with is the exclamation by one of the bit players: "Let's get the hell out of here." ONE FINAL question: Could no better theme song be found than Vaughn Monroe singing "Racing With the Moon"? The exploration and colonization of outer space is a great epic adventure, but alas, there is at present no Homer to tell the story. |