Afouotos
Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.
Aiden Melton
The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.
Kaelan Mccaffrey
Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.
wes-connors
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
bkoganbing
This low budget science fiction film from the Middle Fifties is illustrative of just how far we've come in space travel. Now folks like United States Senators like Jake Garn and pop stars like Lance Bass vie for the privilege of space travel. It's proved to be quite a money maker for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.But back in 1954 there was no NASA. The Army, Navy, and Air Force all had rival space programs if you can believe that. It took Sputnik for the Eisenhower administration and Congress to create NASA in 1958.A group of competent B players bring us Riders to the Stars and the object here is just a quick trip up in space to capture a meteor before it burns up in our atmosphere. One thing is certain, they somehow survive the Van Allen radiation belt that surrounds the Earth, a recent discovery that Riders to the Stars was capitalizing on.Herbert Marshall heads the scientific team who are looking for a few good men and among those gathered are William Lundigan and Richard Carlson. Martha Hyer is around to be decorative as Marshall's girl Friday and to provide a little romance.The best part of Riders to the Stars was the intensive physical training that is shown for these astronauts to be. Not unlike what was done in NASA for the original Mercury astronauts. You had to be one peak physical specimen to qualify back in the day. Not that you can have health issues now, but a 60 something US Senator Jake Garn has gone in space and pop star Lance Bass aspires to.Riders to the Stars is educational, but a bit on the dull side. It really peaks in the last 25 minutes or so with the actual flight. Still it's an earnest film and worth a look.
PudgyPandaMan
I think this was a real good quality 50's era sci-fi from 1954. I don't usually go for the silly monster version of sci-fi so prevalent from the era - although I still like a few for a good laugh. But this one has more sincerity and genuineness to it. It was actually very believable.Yes, I know the special effects are a little cheesy. But I think for the time period they were pretty good. The title screen on IMDb show this as being a color film - but I kept having the impression that this was a black and white film that had been colorized (which I'm usually not a fan of). But I think it was a good decision to have this be color to appreciate the views from space, all the colored blinking lights from the science equipment (I don't think we could call these computers).I thought the footage of the mice in space was a real gem! It cracked me up with their little rubber ball.Anyways, I have always been fascinated with space travel, and I'm sure the audiences from the 50's must have been mesmerized with the premise of man going to space. I don't think the real space race with the Soviets had heated up yet (Sputnik didn't launch until 1957), but I'm sure it was on people's minds.I liked the casting, especially Herbert Marshall. He makes the perfect egghead scientist type. I love his voice, but who doesn't. I thought Richard Carlson who played Lockwood and also directed, did a great job - especially when he freaks out after Gordon explodes in space and he completely loses it. I wasn't a big fan of the female lead. She wasn't very appealing, but I guess it was important to cast someone not too attractive so as to be able to believe her in a scientist-type role.Overall, I think this was a decent picture with good foresight into the real space race for which our country was on the precipice.
skoyles
I was only nine or ten years old when my Mother, a science fiction fan, took me to see "Riders To The Stars", although I may well have begged to see this "space movie", probably expecting something like "Space Patrol" of "Flash Gordon". I may have seen it once since but I remember it vividly: the front of the V-2-style rocket ships opening to capture a meteor, the tension of the dangerous mission, and being haunted for many years by the ******************SPOILER WARNING************************************* gruesome end of Richard Carlson's character. By today's standards this is surely a cheap, schlocky rocket ship "procedural"; to a young boy in 1955 it was magical, a window into the exciting future just around the corner. My Mother expected to be on a space ship to the moon by 1966; somehow things did not work out quite a readers of Popular Mechanics and other futurist publications told us. In many ways "Riders To The Stars" is unusual: a fictionalized exploration of meteor catching. As far as I know, up until this movie the only role played by meteors was as storms threatening space ships or crashing into planets, not as celestial objects to be captured and returned to earth for study. I wonder how many youngsters were attracted to an interest in science by this motion picture?Addendum: Thanks to Turner Classic Movies I have recently seen "Riders to the Stars" again. The grisly death was not of Carlson's character after all; how odd one's memory is! However, it remains a grim picture both in the mind and on the screen. Noticeable now is the use of gliding to return to earth - just as the Space Shuttle today if with unlikely tiny wings. The distinctive voice of Herbert Marshall, radio's "The Man Called X", and his playing Lundigan's father, makes for an odd balance. Nartha Hyer is certainly attractive in her coveralls! Apart from the real cyclotron, the special effects are only a little better than "Flash Gordon" two decades before. All the seemingly negative comments notwithstanding, this is a fine "nuts-and-bolts sci-fi" motion picture and the hero did bring her back a star.
