The film was produced and directed by Kurt Neumann and stars Lloyd Bridges, Osa Massen, John Emery, Noah Beery Jr., Hugh O'Brian, and Morris Ankrum.
During their time on the planet they go on to discover the remnants of a Martian civilization destroyed long ago by atomic war and now reverted to barbarism.
[2] Four men and a woman blast into outer space from the White Sands Proving Ground aboard the RX-M (Rocketship Expedition-Moon) on humanity's first expedition to the Moon.
They come across physical evidence of a now dead advanced Martian civilization: a partially buried-in-the-sand, stylized, Art Deco (or Tiki culture) like metal face sculpture and in the distance Moderne architecture-like ruins.
Finding cave refuge, the crew notice in the distance the primitive human descendants of that civilization emerging from behind boulders and creeping toward them.
Soon after leaving, two of the explorers encounter a dark-haired woman who has lost her footing and rolled down a hill toward them; she is blind, with thick, milky cataracts on both eyes.
[ At this point the film changes from tinted red to black and white ] As the RX-M nears Earth, the three survivors (Graham, Van Horn, with the unconscious Chamberlain) calculate that they have no fuel to make a landing.
He continues, underscoring the point that a dire warning has been received from the crew that could very well mean the salvation of humanity, "A new spaceship, the RX-M-2, begins construction tomorrow".
Because production issues had delayed the release of George Pal's high-profile Destination Moon, Rocketship X-M was quickly shot in just 18 days on a $94,000 budget; it was then rushed into theaters 25 days before the Pal film, while taking full advantage of Destination Moon's high-profile national publicity.
[4] Various scientific curiosities and errors are seen during the film: With less than 15 minutes to go until launch, the RX-M's crew are still in the midst of a leisurely press conference being held at a base building.
[3] The RX-M's jettisoned first stage, with its engine still firing, and a later meteoroid storm (inaccurately referred to in dialog as meteorites) both make audible roaring sounds in the soundless vacuum of space that can be heard inside the crew compartment.
One notable scene involves Van Horn and expedition leader (and fellow scientist) Dr. Karl Eckstrom rushing to recalculate fuel mixtures after their initial propulsion problems.
[5][citation needed] Rocketship X-M was rushed to market to be in theaters before the more lavishly produced but delayed Destination Moon that was finally released 25 days later.
Costumes were re-made that closely replicated those worn by the film's explorers, and a new, screen accurate Rocketship X-M effects miniature was built.
(Unlike the DVD release, the earlier LaserdDisc of Rocketship X-M contains extra bonus material documenting the making of the film and the creation of this new footage.)
Prints of the original theatrical release version of RX-M are still stored in Williams' Kansas City film vaults.
A new bridging scene, set at the end of the Mars sequence, showing the surviving explorers hurriedly returning to the RX-M, is also missing from Image's DVD.
The film was featured in the second cable season premiere episode of the cult film-lampooning television series Mystery Science Theater 3000.