ROCKETSHIP X-M (1950). Colorized.

ROCKETSHIP X-M (a.k.a. Expedition Moon and originally Rocketship Expedition Moon) is a 1950 American black-and-white science fiction film from Lippert Pictures, the first outer space adventure of the post-World War II era. 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.

Rocketship X-M tells the story of a Moon expedition gone awry. Through a series of unforeseen events, the expedition's crew find themselves on the infamous red planet, Mars. 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.

PLOT
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. Halfway there, after surviving their jettisoned and runaway first stage and a meteoroid storm, their engines suddenly quit. Recalculating fuel ratios and swapping around their multiple, different fuels corrects the problem, supposedly allowing continuing to the Moon. When the engines are reignited, the RX-M careens out of control on a rapid heading beyond the Moon. The increased acceleration causes the crew pass out. Reviving days later, they quickly discover that they have traveled some 50,000,000 miles; the RX-M is now just 50,000 miles away from Mars. Dr. Karl Eckstrom is forced to "pause and observe respectfully while something infinitely greater assumes control".
The RX-M safely passes through the Martian atmosphere and lands. The next morning the crew, clad in aviation oxygen masks due to the low oxygen levels, begin exploring the desolate surface. 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. Their Geiger counter registers dangerous radiation levels, keeping them well away. These dangerous levels make it clear that there was once an atomic war on Mars in the distant past.
Finding cave refuge, the crew notice in the distance the primitive human descendants of that civilization emerging from behind boulders and creeping toward them. Amazed, Dr. Eckstrom comments "From Atomic Age to Stone Age". 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. She screams upon hearing their oxygen mask-distorted voices. The radiation burned tribesmen attack, throwing large rocks and stone axes. Armed with only a revolver and a bolt-action rifle, the explorers defend themselves, purposely missing the primitives. Major Corrigan is killed by a large rock thrown by the primitives. Moments later, Dr. Eckstrom is killed by a stone axe. Navigator Chamberlain is badly injured by a large thrown rock. Colonel Graham, Dr. Van Horn, and Chamberlain finally make their way back to the ship.
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. Col. Graham contacts their base and reports their dire status to Dr. Fleming, who listens intently and wordlessly over headphones. Col. Graham's report is not heard, but Fleming's subtle reactions tells of the crew's odyssey, their discovery of a once advanced civilization destroyed long ago by atomic war, and of the crew fatalities at the hands of Martian descendants reverted to barbarism.
Col. Graham and Dr. Van Horn embrace as the RX-M begins its uncontrolled descent, consoling one another in the moments left to them. Through a porthole, they bravely watch their rapid descent into the wilds of Nova Scotia. The press is later informed by a shaken Dr. Fleming that the entire crew has perished. When they ask if the mission was a failure, he confidently responds with conviction, stating that all theories about crewed spaceflight and exploration have now been proven. 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". The pioneering exploration continues.

CAST
Lloyd Bridges as Col. Floyd Graham (Pilot)
Osa Massen as Dr. Lisa Van Horn (Ph.D. in Chemistry and developer of the unique "mon-atomic hydrogen" fuels which power RX-M)
John Emery as Dr. Karl Eckstrom (Physicist and RX-M designer)
Noah Beery, Jr. as Maj. William Corrigan (Flight engineer)
Hugh O'Brian as Harry Chamberlain (Astronomer and navigator)
Morris Ankrum as Dr. Ralph Fleming (Project Director)
Sherry Moreland as blind Martian woman
Judd Holdren as Reporter (Uncredited)
Stuart Holmes as Reporter (Uncredited)
Bert Stevens as Reporter (Uncredited)
Cosmo Sardo as Reporter (Uncredited)
Barry Norton as Reporter (Uncredited)