The Phantom Planet (1961): watch the full film free, legally

A lost crew near Rheton

The Phantom Planet is a black-and-white American science fiction film from 1961, independently made by producer Fred Gebhardt and directed by William Marshall. Dean Fredericks stars as Captain Frank Chapman, with Coleen Gray, Anthony Dexter and Francis X. Bushman. American International Pictures released it in the United States on December 13, 1961, as a double feature with Assignment Outer Space, a 1960 film.

Its story is set in 1980, when the United States Air Force Space Exploration Wing has Moon bases and is preparing a Mars mission. Two-person Pegasus spacecraft have been disappearing, prompting rumours about space monsters and phantom planets. Chapman and navigator Lieutenant Ray Makonnen are sent to investigate. A meteor shower damages their ship, forcing both men outside for repairs. A bullet-sized particle pierces Chapman's air hose, and Makonnen is fatally struck by a similar object while bringing Chapman back through the airlock.

Unable to contact the lunar base, Chapman records that his Pegasus is being drawn toward an asteroid. He makes a forced landing and, after leaving the ship, encounters tiny humanoids. Once his helmet visor is opened, he can breathe the asteroid's atmosphere, but shrinks to the inhabitants' size. They take him beneath the surface of their rocky, seemingly lifeless planetoid, Rheton.

A miniature world in space

Sesom, Rheton's aged ruler, tells Chapman that the inhabitants used a gravitational tractor beam to bring his craft down safely. Earlier Earth spacecraft were not as fortunate: they crashed on Rheton and their crews were killed. Sesom says Chapman cannot leave, though he will have a citizen's rights. While Chapman slept, the Rhetonians sent his ship back into space to protect their world's existence and their gravitational technology, which lets them move Rheton through space.

Chapman meets Sesom's daughter Liara, a blond woman described as smugly spoiled, and Zetha, a gentle, mute, black-haired woman. Liara answers many of his questions, while Sesom suggests Chapman may eventually marry one of the women. Liara declares her love for him, but Chapman quietly turns her down because he wants to return to his own people. Herron, who loves Liara, tells Sesom that Chapman is trying to win both women.

Calling this a crime against Rheton's people, Herron demands a duel to the death. Their contest requires each opponent to push the other onto gravity plates that cause immediate disintegration. Chapman gains the advantage but releases Herron, saying he cannot kill a man for no reason. In time, Chapman and Zetha grow close and fall in love. One night, Herron comes to Chapman with an offer to help him escape.

Before plans can proceed, Chapman learns why Rheton follows an erratic route through space. The Solarites, described as fire people from an unidentified sun satellite, are attacking the planetoid in flaming fighter craft. They seek Rheton's secret of gravitational control. Sessom, Herron and Chapman face the threat as the struggle reaches Rheton's underground corridors.

Marshall, Gebhardt and a Solarite

Marshall had previously made Hello God and Adventures of Captain Fabian with Errol Flynn. A former actor and bandleader, he gave his son Mike Marshall his debut in The Phantom Planet. Gebhardt, the film's screenwriter and co-producer as well as producer, had previously produced and written the screenplay for Columbia Pictures' 1960 science fiction film 12 to the Moon.

Fredericks had just completed the lead role in the NBC television series Steve Canyon, which was cancelled after a first season of 34 episodes. Bushman, who plays the leader of Rheton, had been a major film star during the silent era. Richard Kiel made his first credited film appearance as the captured Solarite, although he is not identifiable in the masked monster costume. Susan Cembrowska, Merissa Mathes, Gloria Moreland, Judy Erickson, Sally Carter-Ihnat, Allyson Ames and Marion Thompson appear as the jury of Rheton women. Marvin Miller and Leon Selznick provide the introductory and normal narration.

The interior spacecraft sets, spacesuit helmets, oxygen backpacks and special effects had first appeared in Men into Space, a Ziv Company science fiction television series broadcast by CBS in 1959. The Monthly Film Bulletin called the film “a corny slice of SF hokum” and said its only interest was Bushman's appearance as Rheton's leader. Boxoffice described Fredericks as a “right handsome, grim-visaged hero” and said Marshall's direction told the story with little frills. The film later appeared as Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode #902.

Film details from the Wikipedia article “The Phantom Planet”. Text adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0.