Riders to the Stars (1954)

Experimental rockets are having trouble breaking Earth's atmosphere safely, due to cosmic rays and radiation. The best scientific brains in the United States decide to pick a team of men for manned missions into space. They hope to bring back meteors. Scientists want to find out what helps meteors survive space travel. Of course, we don't have to go out to look for them, since meteorites do arrive on their own. However, the goal, herein, is to study meteors before they are altered by Earth's atmosphere..."Riders to the Stars" features inaccuracy in details, but the main idea is plausible. The blast offs and ending are highlights, but there is not much action or adventure, overall...Director/co-star Richard Carlson (as Jerome "Jerry" Lockwood), producer Ivan Tors and writer Curt Siodmak would seem a team capable of more excitement. William Lundigan (as Richard Stanton) performs heroically for fatherly Herbert Marshall (as Donald Stanton). Females are not considered suitable for space travel, but it's nice to see well-positioned blonde Martha Hyer (as Jane Flynn) and beautifully-proportioned brunette Dawn Addams (as Susan Manners) decorate many dull stretches.**** Riders to the Stars (1/14/54) Richard Carlson ~ William Lundigan, Richard Carlson, Martha Hyer, Herbert Marshall

Second in Ivan Tors Productions' "Office of Scientific Investigation" (O.S.I.) trilogy, "Riders to the Stars" belongs to that sf sub-genre of straightforward space exploration epic -- no ray guns and bug-eyed monsters allowed. Which is no doubt why I found it so boring, when I caught it on the afternoon Big Show back in the 1960s.Thanks to TCM, I've had a chance to see it again, and while it's undeniably leisurely-paced in parts and suffers from a tragically inadequate effects budget, it's still a far better film than I remembered. However, much of my appreciation comes from the fact that it tickles my nostalgia nerve and has some nifty stock footage from the early days of America's space program, which at the time mostly consisted of shooting off captured V-2s out at White Sands. So viewers who don't have the fond memories of and/or historical interest in this era of the Space Age will probably find this pretty dull stuff.The writer -- Curt Siodmak -- deserves high marks for doing his research on the subject, thereby making the section of the film depicting the painstaking selection process and rigorous training of our trio of astronauts remarkably prescient at times. The science behind their dangerous mission isn't so well-thought-out, but it provides for some minor thrills as the astronauts attempt to chase down and retrieve a meteor from low Earth orbit.Worth watching, especially if you consider it as a companion film and precursor to "Gog", the third and final entry in the O.S.I. series.

I looked for this hard-to-find movie for years in vain until last week when I found it on eBay. I really wanted it to add to my collection of '50's sci-fi films, although the joy was in the memory and not the actual re-viewing after so many years. Beginning with a rather odd female vocal of the title song, unique in itself, the story is basically about one space mission and the training and personal drama that leads up to three manned rockets being launched to try to capture a meteor in a scoop built into the nose of the rocket. If this mission sounds kind of suicidal, it actually is, in one explosive incident. The usual sci-fi characters are in this one, and although the electronic equipment is hopelessly dated and stock footage is used throughout, this rather rare movie is good enough to add to the sci-fi collectibles list. I gave it an "8" rating largely out of sentiment. It is closer to a seven because of its slow beginning, despite the talents of a pretty fair cast. ~~

As a long time classic sci fi fanatic, I must admit I'd never even heard of this film before. This comes as no surprise as it seems to have had essentially no significant release to VHS or DVD yet. For the fan of classic black and white '50s sci fi, this is essential viewing. Though the model effects are primitive and the "science" is rather dubious, the cast is first rate. Reasonably effective use of stock footage of U.S. military V-2 rocket tests helps overcome some of the budgetary limitations.