Riders to the Stars (1954)

In an attempt to discover the composition of meteors, three astronauts are sent out into space in three specially designed rockets. Their mission is to capture a meteor and bring it to ... See full summary »

Directors:

Richard Carlson, Herbert L. Strock (uncredited)

Writer:

Curt Siodmak (screenplay)

Stars:

William Lundigan, Herbert Marshall, Richard Carlson

Cast

Complete credited cast:
William Lundigan	...	Dr. Richard Stanton
Herbert Marshall	...	Dr. Don Stanton
Richard Carlson	...	Dr. Jerry Lockwood
Martha Hyer	...	Dr. Jane Flynn
Dawn Addams	...	Susan Manners
Robert Karnes	...	Walter Gordon
Lawrence Dobkin	...	Dr. Delmar
George Eldredge	...	Dr. Paul Dryden
Dan Riss	...	Dr. Frank Werner
Michael Fox	...	Dr. Klinger
King Donovan	...	James O'Herli
Kem Dibbs	...	David Wells
James Best	...	Dr. Sidney K. Fuller (as James K. Best)

Storyline

In an attempt to discover the composition of meteors, three astronauts are sent out into space in three specially designed rockets. Their mission is to capture a meteor and bring it to Earth.

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Plot Keywords:

ambulance | instruction | atmosphere | aerial shot | stars | 

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Taglines:

Space Vikings... Hurtling Toward Distant Suns and Amazing Adventure!

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Genres:

Drama | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 January 1954 (USA)

Also Known As:

150 milhas acima da Terra

Filming Locations:

Hal Roach Studios - 8822 Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Ivan Tors Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

81 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Color Corporation of America)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film features actors who appeared in Ivan Tors' other "OSI" films, Gog and The Magnetic Monster. These included Richard Carlson, King Donovan, Herbert Marshall and Michael Fox; however the actors played different characters in each film.

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Goofs

As Stanton's rocket flies back to Earth, its altitude is reported first as 12,000 feet, and a few moments later as 5000 feet, yet both times it's still shown in outer space. The rocket is finally shown entering the atmosphere at an altitude of 1000 feet - all of these altitudes low, since the outermost edge of space is well in excess of 100,000 feet (about 20 miles) or more above the Earth's surface.

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Quotes

Dr. Paul Dryden: Good afternoon gentlemen. I trust you had a pleasant trip. I'm Dr. Dryden. Unfortunately, the nature of my doctorate will have to remain a secret for a few days.

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Soundtracks

Riders to the Stars
Music by Harry Sukman
Lyrics by Leon Pober
Vocalist: Kitty White

User Reviews

A moderately interesting space program film with only adequate special effects

Considering that the film was made in 1954, I will cut it some slack when it comes to the special effects--though the outer space shots late in the film were pretty lame (I loved how the ships wobbled). However, even with crude special effects, this is an interesting and important sci-fi film because it has to do with the 1950s views of what the first space flights would be like as well as how they would recruit people to this program. Not knowing about the later formation of NASA and how they recruited pilots from the various branches of the military, the film takes a very different view of how people were brought into this ultra-top secret program--and I found this and the selection methods for the program to be very interesting--wrong, but interesting. Also, fortunately, the space travel was not nearly as rough or dangerous as the film portrayed it--otherwise practically none of our manned space flights would have succeeded! Still, it's a nice sci-fi--and nice to see that, for once, there are no bug-eyed aliens! Well worth seeing for sci-fi fans and lovers of history--though some kids will no doubt laugh at much of the film.