Stargazing astronomer Professor Planetaros sets up a Mars mission to be commanded by his daring aviator son Avanti and drums up support for the construction of the spaceship Excelsior, despite the constant mockery and carping of  jealous rival Professor Dubius. The crew of the Excelsior consists of a representative of ‘the East’, who has slicked-back hair and stage Chinaman manners, but isn’t a slit-eyed caricature; and a blustery, big-bellied, big-hatted David Dane, who might be a typical American, but refers to himself as ‘European’ when arguing with the Oriental. Despite Dubius showing up at the launch site with a joke letter to Venus, the Excelsior takes off and takes six months to reach Mars. The major peril of long-haul space flight here comes not from meteorites or cosmic rays, but privation, boredom, men being cooped-up together, and bipolar episodes (Dane reverts to alcoholism and tries to start a mutiny). Disaster is only averted when Mars hovers into view.

The film has hard-encoded Danish and English subtitles. Approx. 80 mins. See film sample for audio and video quality!