Riders to the Stars

Last updated

Riders to the Stars
Poster of the movie Riders to the Stars.jpg
Directed by
Written by
Produced by
Starring
Cinematography
Edited by Herbert L. Strock
Music by Harry Sukman
Production
company
Distributed by United Artists
Release date
  • January 14, 1954 (1954-01-14)((U.S. release))
Running time
81 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Riders to the Stars is a 1954 independently made American science fiction film produced by Ivan Tors Productions and released by United Artists. The film was directed by Richard Carlson (who also stars) and Herbert L. Strock (uncredited) and also stars William Lundigan, Martha Hyer, and Herbert Marshall. [1]

Contents

Riders to the Stars is the second film in Ivan Tors' "Office of Scientific Investigation" (OSI) trilogy, which was preceded by The Magnetic Monster (1953) and followed by Gog (1954). [2]

Plot

A group of highly qualified single men, including Dr. Richard Stanton (William Lundigan) and Dr. Jerry Lockwood (Richard Carlson), are recruited for a top secret project. They undergo a series of rigorous physical and psychological tests, during which Stanton becomes attracted to the beautiful Dr. Jane Flynn (Martha Hyer), one of the scientists testing the candidates. After most of the candidates have been eliminated from consideration, the four remaining are told about the purpose of the project.

Stanton's father, Dr. Donald Stanton (Herbert Marshall), is the man in charge. He and his colleagues are working on crewed space travel. They have found, however, that even the best quality metal alloys available eventually turn brittle in the harsh environment of outer space. Since metal-based meteors are not subject to these metal fatigue stresses, the scientists want to recover samples before they enter the Earth's atmosphere to discover how the meteors' "outer shell" protects them. To accomplish this, they need to send men into space, something that has never been done before. Stanton, Lockwood, and Walter Gordon (Robert Karnes) accept the dangerous assignment, while the fourth candidate quits.

Three one-man rockets are launched a couple of hundred miles into space in order to intercept an incoming meteor swarm. Gordon makes the first run to capture a meteor; it turns out to be too large for his spaceship's nose scoop, and the ship is destroyed in the collision that follows. Lockwood suffers a mental breakdown when his view screen shows Gordon's still space-suited but now skeletal and weightless body floating toward him. Panicked and delusional, he fires his rocket engines and blasts away from Earth, heading into deep space to his doom. Stanton then misses the main swarm, but a stray meteor crosses his orbital path. He decides to pursue it, despite a warning from ground control that he may use too much fuel in the attempt and burn up upon re-entry. Stanton snags the meteor in time and manages to survive a crash landing with the now captured meteor safely intact. He is rewarded for his heroism with a kiss from Dr. Flynn.

When the meteor is examined, it is discovered to have an outer coating of crystalline pure carbon. With this discovery, the U. S. can now build safer rockets and space stations.

Cast

Production

Riders to the Stars was Richard Carlson's first film as both director and star. [3] In order to create a more authentic feel for the story, contemporary newsreel footage was used of United States' launches of German V-2 rockets captured by the United States Army at the end of World War II . [Note 1] Additionally, one authentic sequence shows "two white rats in a rocket beyond the force of gravity ... one of the most startling series of photographs ever made". [4]

Five years later, actor William Lundigan would go on to star in the syndicated space science fiction television series Men Into Space (1959), which could be considered a sequel to or at least a continuation of the ideas explored in Riders to the Stars. [5]

Riders to the Stars was filmed and released theatrically in SuperCinecolor provided by Color Corporation of America, but prints struck for television syndication were in black-and-white. [6] Turner Classic Movies airs the color version.

Reception

The New York Times was critical of Riders to the Stars, calling it lackluster and gimmicky. "Spliced in to give all the idiotic, pseudo-scientific mumbo-jumbo a precarious footing in fact are newsreel shots ..." [4] Later reviews, however, noted that the filmmakers had created a "near-documentary" by using rocket footage and scientific equipment as a precursor to the coming space age, all within an "unremarkable film". [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hard science fiction</span> Science fiction with concern for scientific accuracy

Hard science fiction is a category of science fiction characterized by concern for scientific accuracy and logic. The term was first used in print in 1957 by P. Schuyler Miller in a review of John W. Campbell's Islands of Space in the November issue of Astounding Science Fiction. The complementary term soft science fiction, formed by analogy to the popular distinction between the "hard" (natural) and "soft" (social) sciences, first appeared in the late 1970s. Though there are examples generally considered as "hard" science fiction such as Isaac Asimov's Foundation series, built on mathematical sociology, science fiction critic Gary Westfahl argues that while neither term is part of a rigorous taxonomy, they are approximate ways of characterizing stories that reviewers and commentators have found useful.

<i>Flash Gordon</i> (serial) 1936 film serial

Flash Gordon is a 1936 superhero serial film. Presented in 13 chapters, it is the first screen adventure for Flash Gordon, the comic-strip character created by Alex Raymond in 1934. It presents the story of Gordon's visit to the planet Mongo and his encounters with the evil Emperor Ming the Merciless. Buster Crabbe, Jean Rogers, Charles Middleton, Priscilla Lawson and Frank Shannon portray the film's central characters. In 1996, Flash Gordon was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hal B. Wallis</span> American film producer

Harold Brent Wallis was an American film producer. He is best known for producing Casablanca (1942), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), and True Grit (1969), along with many other major films for Warner Bros. featuring such film stars as Humphrey Bogart, John Wayne, Bette Davis, and Errol Flynn. As a producer, he received 19 nominations for the Academy Award for Best Picture.

<i>Men into Space</i> American TV series or program

Men Into Space is an American black-and-white science fiction television series, produced by Ziv Television Programs, Inc., that was first broadcast by CBS from September 30, 1959, to September 7, 1960. The series depicts future efforts by the United States Air Force to explore and develop outer space. The series' star, William Lundigan, played Col. Edward McCauley.

A meteor or "shooting star" is the visible streak of light from a heated and glowing object falling through the Earth's atmosphere.

<i>It Came from Outer Space</i> 1953 US science fiction film directed by Jack Arnold

It Came from Outer Space is a 1953 American science fiction horror film, the first in the 3D process from Universal-International. It was produced by William Alland and directed by Jack Arnold. The film stars Richard Carlson and Barbara Rush, and features Charles Drake, Joe Sawyer, and Russell Johnson. The script is based on Ray Bradbury's original film treatment "The Meteor" and not, as sometimes claimed, a published short story.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Carlson (actor)</span> American actor, director, and screenwriter (1912–77)

Richard Dutoit Carlson was an American actor, television and film director, and screenwriter.

Ziv Television Programs, Inc. was an American production company that specialized in productions for first-run television syndication in the 1950s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saturn in fiction</span> Depictions of the planet

Saturn has made appearances in fiction since the 1752 novel Micromégas by Voltaire. In the earliest depictions, it was portrayed as having a solid surface rather than its actual gaseous composition. In many of these works, the planet is inhabited by aliens that are usually portrayed as being more advanced than humans. In modern science fiction, the Saturnian atmosphere sometimes hosts floating settlements. The planet is occasionally visited by humans and its rings are sometimes mined for resources.

<i>Science Fiction Theatre</i> American TV series or program

Science Fiction Theatre was an American science fiction anthology television series that was produced by Ivan Tors and Maurice Ziv and originally aired in syndication. It premiered on April 9, 1955, and ended on April 6, 1957, with a total of 78 episodes over the course of two seasons.

<i>Gog</i> (film) 1954 film by Herbert L. Strock

Gog is a 1954 independently made American science fiction film produced by Ivan Tors, directed by Herbert L. Strock, and starring Richard Egan, Constance Dowling, and Herbert Marshall. Gog was produced by Ivan Tors Productions and was filmed in Natural Vision 3D. The color process is credited to Color Corporation of America. The film was distributed by United Artists.

<i>Abbott and Costello Go to Mars</i> 1953 American science fiction comedy film directed by Charles Lamont

Abbott and Costello Go to Mars is a 1953 American science fiction comedy film starring the comedy team of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello and directed by Charles Lamont. It was produced by Howard Christie and made by Universal-International. Despite the film's title, no character in the film actually travels to the planet Mars The film marks the debut of Harry Shearer.

<i>First Man into Space</i> 1959 British-American film by Robert Day

First Man into Space is a 1959 independently made British-American black-and-white science fiction-horror film directed by Robert Day and starring Marshall Thompson, Marla Landi, Bill Edwards, and Robert Ayres. It was produced by John Croydon, Charles F. Vetter, and Richard Gordon for Amalgamated Films and was distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

<i>The Magnetic Monster</i> 1953 film by Herbert L. Strock, Curt Siodmak

The Magnetic Monster is a 1953 independently made American black-and-white science fiction film, produced by Ivan Tors and George Van Marter, directed by Curt Siodmak and (uncredited) Herbert L. Strock. The film stars Richard Carlson, King Donovan, and Jean Byron. Strother Martin appears briefly in one scene as an airliner co-pilot. The film was released by United Artists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Lundigan</span> American actor (1914–1975)

William Paul Lundigan was an American film actor. His more than 125 films include Dodge City (1939), The Fighting 69th (1940), The Sea Hawk (1940), Santa Fe Trail (1940), Dishonored Lady (1947), Pinky (1949), Love Nest (1951) with Marilyn Monroe, The House on Telegraph Hill (1951), I'd Climb the Highest Mountain (1951) and Inferno (1953).

<i>I Aim at the Stars</i> 1960 film by J. Lee Thompson

I Aim at the Stars is a 1960 West German-American biographical film which tells the story of the life of Wernher von Braun. The film covers his life from his early days in Germany, through Peenemünde, until his work with the U.S. Army, NASA, and the American space program.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Space opera</span> Subgenre of science fiction

Space opera is a subgenre of science fiction that emphasizes space warfare, with use of melodramatic, risk-taking space adventures, relationships, and chivalric romance. Set mainly or entirely in outer space, it features technological and social advancements in faster-than-light travel, futuristic weapons, and sophisticated technology, on a backdrop of galactic empires and interstellar wars with fictional aliens, often in fictional galaxies. The term does not refer to opera music, but instead originally referred to the melodrama, scope, and formulaic stories of operas, much as used in "horse opera", a 1930s phrase for a clichéd and formulaic Western film, and "soap opera", a melodramatic domestic drama. Space operas emerged in the 1930s and continue to be produced in literature, film, comics, television, video games and board games.

<i>Mutiny in Outer Space</i> 1965 film

Mutiny in Outer Space is a 1965 black-and-white independent American science fiction film, written, produced, and directed by Hugo Grimaldi and Arthur C. Pierce, although Pierce was not credited as directing. It stars William Leslie, Dolores Faith, Pamela Curran, and Richard Garland.

References

Notes

  1. The WAC Corporal was a sounding stratospheric rocket that flew as a second stage on a similar rocket booster developed from the German wartime V-2 rocket.
  1. German V-2 rockets captured by the United States Army at the end of World War II were used as sounding rockets to carry scientific instruments into the Earth's upper atmosphere at White Sands Missile Range (WSMR). V-2 sounding rocket

Citations

  1. Roog (May 2, 2000). "Riders to the Stars (1954)". Moria. Richard Scheib. Retrieved March 29, 2023.
  2. Warren 1982. [ page needed ]
  3. Fristoe, Roger and Jeff Stafford. "Articles: 'Riders to the Stars' (1954)." Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved: July 20, 2015.
  4. 1 2 O. A. G. (Goudbout, Oscar A.) (March 20, 1954). "Movie review: 'Riders to the Stars' (1954); At the Globe". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331. Archived from the original on March 7, 2016.
  5. Westfahl 2012, p. 53.
  6. Carlson, Richard; Strock, Herbert L. (January 14, 1954), Riders to the Stars , retrieved September 9, 2016
  7. Ashlin, Scott. "Review: Riders to the Stars (1954)." 1000 Misspent Hours and Counting. Retrieved: July 20, 2015.

Bibliography

  • Warren, Bill. Keep Watching The Skies Vol I: 1950–1957. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 1982. ISBN   0-89950-032-3.
  • Westfahl, Gary. The Spacesuit Film: A History, 1918-1969. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2012. ISBN   978-0-7864-4267-6.