Destination Earth (1956)

Sponsor: Oil Industry Information Committee, American Petroleum Institute
Production: John Sutherland Productions
Film Counselors Inc.
Director: Carl Urbano
Writers: Bill Scott, Michel Amestoy, George Gordon
Production Designers: Tom Oreb, Vic Haboush
Animation: George Cannata, Ken O’Brien, Bill Higgins, Tom Ray, Russ von Neida
Resources : Copyright not registered
Holdings : LC/Prelinger, MacDonald

Science-fiction-influenced cartoon sponsored by petroleum producers to lionize their industry and promote free enterprise. “Colonel Cosmic,” an astronaut from the totalitarian planet Mars, flies to Earth, where he discovers cheap oil and the market economy. Returning home, he leads a revolution and frees Martian entrepreneurs to begin oil exploration, start small businesses, and lead the planet out of economic stagnation. note: Destination Earth played at New York’s Paramount Theatre and was later broadcast and distributed nontheatrically.

Produced in Technicolor and released in 35mm and 16mm.

© John Sutherland Productions