In
1970, producer Charles Schneer acquired the film
rights to the classic Martian tales of Edgar Rice Burroughs. After the sucesses of his films "One Million Years BC" and
then the slightly less sucessful "
Harryhausen was excited
by the idea of doing a film with an interplanetary setting, particularly one
with a sort of neo-Victorian feel not unlike "First Men in the Moon"
had been. As a result, the film with the working title of "Sinbad at the
World's end" was put on the shelf.
The script was based on the first three of
the Martian novels and included many bizarre characters and exotic settings.
The same Spanish locations were able to be
used for much of the principal photography and many members of the same cast
originally recruited for Sinbad were employed for the project now titled
"Warlord of Mars".
The lead role of the Earthman, John Carter
of
The giant green warrior Tars Tarkas was to be stop-motion animated by Mr. Harryhausen and his crew, with the voice talent provided by character actor Ted Cassidy. Cassidy, who was best known for his role as “Lurch” the butler on the popular “Addams Family” sitcom, was noted for his impressive basso voice, and was a perfect choice for this role.
All of the creatures of the remarkable planet, know to its natives as Barsoom, were created in stop-motion animation by the talented hands of Mr. Harryhausen, from the huge beasts known as zitidars down to fierce banths and calots all the way to the much smaller ulsios. Of all of the films to come out of the Schneer/Harryhausen partnership, this one called for the most minutes of special effects.
Because Schneer's
production company had its offices in
Post production started smoothly, but fell
further and further behind schedule. Finally, production came to a standstill
as the technical staff had to be dismissed including director Gordon Hessler. Schneer, had Harryhausen
put together a trailer from the completed footage and brought it to film
festivals around the world, hopeing to generate some
good buzz about the project and hopefully to attract investors. The ploy
worked, but the release date still had to be moved far ahead. Harryhausen personally stepped into the director’s chair to
complete the film.
In the early summer of 1977, Warlord of Mars
was released. No one could have predicted the wild enthusiasm that the film
would generate with the public. Somewhat later that same summer, an expensive
experiment titled "Star Wars" was released, directed by a fellow who
had had moderate success with a movie called American Graffiti. The film was
perceived to be derivative of Warlord, and Marlon Brando,
cast for his star power alone, gave a lackadaisical performance as the retired
Jedi knight. Most critics saw the movie as too “film-buffish”,
with over sixty scenes noticeably borrowed from other films. That movie has
since been relegated to the realm of late night television. I most recently saw
it on “Mystery Science Theater 3000”.
Warlord of Mars, on the other hand became
recognized as an enduring classic. In 1981, a sequel was released, “Under the
Moons of Mars” , which was an amalgam of story ideas from
several other of the Martian novels, including “Thuvia,
Maid of Mars”, “The Chesmen of Mars” and “the
Mastermind of Mars”. One surprise was Peter Cook’s nomination for a supporting