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 Flight to Mars More at IMDbPro »

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11 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
An old favorite, 18 September 2004
Author: Jim from Midland, MI

First saw this film when I rented it on VHS in 1985. Many years later, I purchased it and enjoy watching this film from time to time. It is typical of its era, although this was a honest attempt at a sensible depiction of what 1950 realities would have envisioned such a venture. Its a more positive vision than "Rocketship X-M", although the martian surface scenes are quite limited - and no where near as effective as the Death Valley shots in X-M.

I recommend it, if you appreciate these films for their time capsule value to 50+ years ago.

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11 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
Rockets, miniskirts, and cinecolor!, 3 January 2003
Author: David Newcastle from St. George, Utah

I agree with the all the POSITIVE comments on this unique little blast-from-the-past. "Flight to Mars" is a very enjoyable movie, despite it's limitations.

Beware, however, of the new DVD of "Flight to Mars". It is NOT derived from the same print as the prerecorded videotape that came out several years ago. The DVD print is riddled with scratches, and several scenes are ruined by numerous missing pieces of film!

We can only hope that a new DVD -- transferred from a BETTER print -- is released in the next few years. Meanwhile, please take my advice and watch the videotape. You'll thank me later.

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11 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
A "lost" gem from the 1950s. Don't pass on this one!, 9 November 2001
Author: Bruce Cook (brucemcook@windstream.net) from Fayetteville, GA

Four men and a lady blast off for the red planet Mars in this lean-budgeted but likable little yarn. The explorers find a thriving civilization of completely humanoid Matians. The leaders of the Martian government act friendly, but they secretly plot to kill the Earthlings and steal the secret of their rocket propulsion system.

Scientist Arthur Franz (`Invaders from Mars') is the leader of the expedition, Cameron Mitchell is the wisecracking newspaper man, and Virginia Houston is Franz's jilted fiancé'. Mitchell fall in love with Miss Houston, and Franz falls in love with a gorgeous Martian lady in a minidress, played by Marguerite Chapman, the heroine of `Spy Smasher' -- one of the Republic serials which Lucas and Speilberg patterned `Raiders of the Lost Ark' after.

Director Lesley Selander shot the picture in just 11 days, and admirable accomplishment in view of the results. After all, it was made in 1951 (the same year as `The Thing' and `The Day the Earth Stood Still') in glorious Cinecolor, and the set designs are remarkably similar to those used in `This Island Earth'. I read somewhere (`Starlog' magazine, I think') that the sets and special effects were by the same people.

The costumes are excellent, especially those worn by the attractive female stars (extremely short, `futuristic' dresses). Also noteworthy is the fact that we get to see Morris Ankrum in his second sci-fi role (the first was `Rocketship X-M'). He portrays a general, as he did in so many 1950s sci-fi films -- but this time he's a MARTIAN general who urges his people to invade the Earth!

A lovely irony for 1950s sci-fi fans.

The highly appealing rocket in `Flight to Mars' was reused in at least three other 1950s movies -- `Queen of Outer Space', `World Without End', and `It ! The Terror from Outer Space'. And that makes this rocket the most well-traveled interplanetary vehicle in film history, second only to the Millennium Falcon!

If you've got a soft spot for 1950s films, this one will warm the your heart if you can find it. Lemme' know if you do.

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7 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
Somewhat Silly But I Still Love it, 31 August 2002
7/10
Author: Space_Mafune from Newfoundland, Canada

An exploratory expedition to Mars crashlands on the planet and receive aid from an underground Martian civilization(which no the expedition are not at all surprised to discover living on the planet) but can these Martians be trusted?

Despite its flaws and low budget, I can't help loving the 1950s sci-fi style utilized in the film from the model rocketships to the leggy costumes worn by the Martian women to the predictable film climax. Any fan of films from the era should at least see this film. There are times this film tries to reach above its limitations and it succeeds in doing so just a little.

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9 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
A subversive movie, 3 February 2000
Author: John Costello (bigger@gis.net) from Peabody, MA

I saw this film years ago, Before Starwars, and may I rise to defend it? This film is the American version of Aelita, from the novel by Count Alexei Tolstoy (the less famous of the writing counts Tolstoy) and the first version of the novel is worth reading (he later did many more versions to try to please Stalin, but that's another story.) A Russian Engineer and a Revolutionary fly to Mars, which was colonized by humans from Earth's Atlantis in the past (who inter-married with the natives -- they have blue skin)-- the planet is dying of lack of resources and a revolution is brewing. Aelita is the local princess. In the end, the Earthmen precipitate a doomed uprising and flee. The Russian movie tells much the same tale, but in the end it turns out to have been a dream. The American version is in many ways a faithful retelling of the novel done under a low budget. There is the engineer with the unhappy love-life, the revolutionary has been replaced by the reporter (who was in the book too), and Aelita becomes Alita, a Martian engineer with a slip stick as long as her arm. The movie came out from Monogram and was written and directed by people who specialized in westerns, produced by someone who specialzied in Westerns (of the B variety) and by Water Mirisch, who was the only one to break from the mold (with, oddly enough, a western, 'The Magnificient Seven,' which was also cannibalized from someone else's work. And it isn't that bad. For Monogram it was a high budget production; the special effects (the meteors hitting the rocket, the rocket crashing in snow covered mountains) were re-used again and again and have been seen in many other movies and TV shows. Of course they had to hide the origins. This was 1951 and Tail Gunner Joe was looking for commies under every bed, and while Tolstoy may have been a nobleman, he went out writing propaganda for Uncle Joe.

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4 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
Good DVD, but overpriced for such a poor print, 26 September 2005
Author: BijouBob8mm from United States

Before I start being critical, let me point out that Image has released some excellent transfers of 1950s sci-fi from the Wade Williams/Corinth Films library on DVD. Because of their past track record, I went in with high hopes for this film, only to find that while the color looked pretty good for a Cinecolor film from this time period, the print used for the DVD was full of scratches, dust specks and splices...splices that made sections of conversation inaudible. Adding to the disappointment is that Image is charging about $10 more for this than most of their other Wade Williams titles. Part of the price may stem from the extras, which include two 25 minute interviews with leading man Cameron Mitchell by David Del Valle, which are a welcome addition to the package. But the quality of the overall presentation makes the higher cost seem like a questionable pricing practice.

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5 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
co-author uncredited: story based on Tolstoy book., 26 June 2002
Author: John Costello (bigger@gis.net) from Peabody, MA

Flight to Mars was made in the hey-day of the Cold War, so perhaps it is not unreasonable that Monogram films chose not to advertise that the original story was "Aelita," by the Russian novelist Alexei Tolstoy.

Of course, the main character's name, Alita, does sort of give that away. The basic story line and character line up were retained, with the exception of the professional revolutionary who got dropped. In the book the reporter appears at the beginning and end of the narrative, and does not accompany the characters to Mars. In the book the engineer was married, not afianced. Of course, the Russians also filmed Aelita as a silent. What is interesting is that the American version is more faithful to the original plot.

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8 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
Pedestrian 50s sci-fi soap opera, 25 May 2005
3/10
Author: mstomaso from Vulcan

There's nothing particularly unique or interesting about this run of the mill low budget sci-fi flick. Regardless of its pedigreed origin (the film is loosely based on a novel by Leo Tolstoy), the plot and overall themes of this film are in no way remarkable or original, the science is weak at best, and unfortunately, the film fails to even involve compelling action sequences.

The plot begins with a manned space flight to Mars, and though the main plot doesn't really get rolling until the ship lands, most of the most interesting scenes occur en route. Unfortunately, as soon as our interplanetary travelers touch-down, their previously interesting interpersonal relationships, speculations about cosmology and the meaning of life, and everything interesting about the film all give way to an only remotely coherent plot concerning Martian revolutionaries, environmental problems and not very convincing webs of deceit.

There is nothing very remarkable about the production quality of the film either. It's passable. And most of the acting is, though slow, OK. Cameron Mitchell is actually pretty good and plays a likable character. I guess the best quality of this film, from my perspective, is its fashion sense. The martians have very nice outfits! If this film had a point, it might have been much more interesting. Oh well.

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5 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
Monogram Pictures Finest Hour...and 12 minutes, 22 July 2008
8/10
Author: dbonk from Surrey, B.C.

Actually, the leader of so-called 'poverty studios' was given the highest accolade by French New Wave director Jean Luc-Godard who sited Monogram Pictures as a significant influence in his seminal 1959 film BREATHLESS.

FLIGHT TO MARS certainly has a Saturday afternoon matinée feel to it backed with a popcorn budget with butter. It is filmed in warmly lit Super Cinecolor. The movie was lensed in five days according to Cameron Mitchell who portrays the stalwart lead character. With his trusty Underwood typewriter he is chronicling an on board journal for his newspaper of this intrepid crew's voyage to the red planet.

The crew members on board, including flight commander Arthur Franz, are dressed for a camping trip. The exception is Virginia Huston, introduced as 'the lady scientist', wearing a skirt and heels.

When this movie was released in 1951, remember, there was no NASA, no satellites for that matter, and Flash Gordon was really the closest thing to reality regarding space travel.

Given these parameters, it's relatively simple to suspend belief and be caught up in the moment to which this film takes us.

After a white knuckle landing on Mars surface, one crew member suggests putting on oxygen masks before venturing outside. They have no pressurized space suits or helmets, you see. Oddly enough, the Martians do, hand me downs from the movie DESTINATION MOON.

The Earthlings are given the tour of the Martian's underground city which resembles a paper mache version of H.G. Wells' THINGS TO COME. Upon seeing their living quarters, lady scientist Virginia Huston's first question is "Where's the kitchen?" Terris, the comely Martian hostess,(Lucille Barkley) informs the crew that there are no kitchens, but laboratories and meals are delivered by request. Yes, the Martians speak perfect English. They listen to radio shows. Evidently, that green-eyed monster,television, which has already subjugated Earth has not invaded Martian soil....yet. She then presses a button and a cart of food with drinks emerges from the wall. Terris reminds me of Betty Furness who would always look so comfortable showing off the features of the latest Westinghouse refrigerator on TV. Makes me wonder how many more fridges Betty could have sold if she was wearing the ensemble that Terris is sporting.

Oh yes, the Earth crew's wardrobe have to comport with the typical Martian. That means the men appear in Prince Valiant garb with gray flannel underwear and boots. Virginia, the only female crew member is given what every Martian woman wears, a sleeveless mini-dress with go-go boots. Terris says, "they're very comfortable."

One of the more prominent citizens is leggy Alita,played by Marguerite Chapman. Alita was originally Aelita the Queen of Mars in the classic 1924 Soviet film bearing her name. For FLIGHT TO MARS she appears to have been dethroned to a more subordinate role of administrative assistant to the Council of which her father is a member. Yet, Alita is obviously high up in the Martian fem corporate ladder as she doesn't wear boots, but customized jet black pumps with her mini outfit.

One can imagine Dr. Werner Von Braun and his fellow scientists getting a kick out of this flick in their desert compound at Los Alamos, New Mexico, when they weren't developing their Redstone rocket.

FLIGHT TO MARS is short enough at 72 minutes that there's no chance of boredom to set in. So bring along a B-17 flight jacket and prepare to board ship.

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2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
The Leggy Red Planet, 22 October 2010
7/10
Author: TracyWinters from northern Vermont, U.S.A.

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Five astronauts land on Mars and discover an advanced civilization.

While getting out-fitted with stylish Martian attire and eating the Martian equivalent of vineyard grapes off of the wall decorations, the visiting space crew learns that they are to be captured and killed. Their escape plan amounts to little more than a quick blast-off without saying good-bye. The best thing about this movie is cute Martian chick 'Terris' (Lucille Barkley) and pretty earth-girl 'Carol' (Virginia Huston) showing off their sexy legs while dressed in their red vinyl mini-skirts.

This was the first Mars movie photographed in color.

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