RADAR MEN FROM THE MOON (1952)--colorized

Radar Men from the Moon is a 1952 Republic Pictures' 12-chapter movie serial, the first Commando Cody serial starring newcomer George Wallace as Cody, Aline Towne as his sidekick Joan Gilbert, and serial veteran Roy Barcroft as the evil Retik, the Ruler of the Moon. The director was Fred C. Brannon, with a screenplay by Ronald Davidson, and special effects by the Lydecker brothers. This serial recycles the flying sequences from Republic's earlier 1949 serial King of the Rocket Men. It was later released by Republic in 1966 as the 100-minute television film Retik the Moon Menace.

The odd naming choice of the serial's main hero, "Commando Cody," was possibly an attempt by Republic to make young audiences think they were seeing another adventure of Commander Corry, the hero of the popular ABC TV and radio series Space Patrol (1950–1955). However, there is no surviving evidence that this was a consideration by anyone at Republic.[3]

PLOT
Commando Cody with lunar tank
Commando Cody (George Wallace) is a civilian researcher and inventor with a number of employees. He uses a streamlined helmet and an atomic-powered rocket backpack attached to a leather flying jacket. Cody also uses a rocket ship capable of reaching the Moon. When the U.S. finds itself under attack from a mysterious force that can wipe out entire military bases and industrial complexes, Cody surmises (correctly) that the Earth is coming under attack from our own Moon. He then flies his rocket ship there and confronts the Moon's "ruler", Retik (Roy Barcroft), who boldly announces his plans to both conquer Earth and then move the Moon's entire population here using spaceships and atomic weapons. Their weapons use a power superior to uranium which they call lunarium.[4]

During the next 11 serial chapters, Cody, now back on Earth, and his associates Joan (Aline Towne), Ted (William Bakewell) and Dick (Gayle Kellogg) battle an elusive lunar agent named Krog (Peter Brocco) and his gang of human henchmen led by Graber (Clayton Moore) and Daly (Bob Stevenson), who use lunarium-powered ray cannons to disrupt defense forces and weaken public morale. After a second trip to the Moon, in which he captures a sample ray cannon for duplication in his lab, Cody tracks Retik's minions to their hideout where Krog is killed by one of his own devices, and Graber and Daly subsequently die in an over-the-cliff car chase. Retik flies to Earth to take personal charge of his collapsing operations but is blasted out of the sky by one of his own ray weapons.

CHAPTER TITLES
"Moon Rocket" (20 min)
"Molten Terror" (13min 20s)
"Bridge of Death" (13min 20s)
"Flight to Destruction" (13min 20s)
"Murder Car" (13min 20s)
"Hills of Death" (13min 20s)
"Camouflaged Destruction" (13min 20s)
"The Enemy Planet" (13min 20s)
"Battle in the Stratosphere" (13min 20s)
"Mass Execution" (13min 20s) - a re-cap chapter
"Planned Pursuit" (13min 20s)
"Death of the Moon Man" (13min 20s)

CAST
Duration: 20 minutes and 3 seconds.20:03
Radar Men From the Moon - Chapter 1: Moon Rocket
George Wallace as Commando Cody
Aline Towne as Joan Gilbert
Roy Barcroft as Retik, Ruler of the Moon
William Bakewell as Ted Richards
Clayton Moore as Graber
Peter Brocco as Krog
Bob Stevenson as Daly
Don Walters as Govt. Agent Henderson