A Message from Mars (1913)

A Message from Mars (UK, 1913)
Directed by Wallett Waller
Starring Charles Hawtrey and E. Holman Clark

Britain's first full-length science fiction feature has been restored by the BFI National Archive and is now accompanied by a new score by composer Matthew Herbert and New Radiophonic Workshop, commissioned by the BFI and the BBC. The plot, which echoes A Christmas Carol, concerns a Martian exiled to Earth with the mission to change the heart of a selfish man.

This movie has never been lost, but none of the three surviving prints are entirely intact. The BFI recently released new restored version of the film combines all three sources into a substantially complete picture. The results are admirable. I will say, though, that the transfer is much too slow. I have a feeling they really wanted it to be at least an hour long and they just kept dropping the frame rate until it was.

Written as a theater play by Richard Ganthony in 1899 (revised in 1923), it is described as "A Fantastic Comedy in Three Acts". The play was novelized by British writer Mable Knowles (under the pseudonym Lester Lurgan) and Ganthony.

"A Message from Mars" was a popular play in the early twentieth century, as evidenced by a 30-year series of productions worldwide. The National Library of Australia's Sharp Collection of Theatre Programs records the Hawtrey Comedy Company performing at the Palace Theatre in Sydney, May 27th, circa 1904. At Thanksgiving 1918, a Bronx newspaper reported "Our Lady of Mercy Dramatic Society offered a play, A Message from Mars, at the parochial school on Marion Avenue south of Fordham Road. Theatergoers were assured it was appropriate to the Thanksgiving holiday and not a war play." We also know that the Pasadena Playhouse (State Theatre of California) staged the play in 1920.

A note on Mabel Winifred Knowles (1875 - 1949); she was an unbelievably prolific British writer (211 books and many short stories) who wrote across several genres and under three pseudonyms. One hundred years ago a female writer in science fiction was almost unheard-of. Knowles was an Anglican Church worker who reportedly used the proceeds from her writing to help the mission.


Sources:
bfi.org.uk
thoseawfulreviews.wordpress.com
scifidimensions.com