Riders to the Stars ** (1954, William Lundigan, Herbert Marshall, Richard Carlson, Dawn Addams, Martha Hyer) – Classic Movie Review 9557

‘SEE! men and equipment float in air, trapped where there is no gravity – no up or down!’

A scientist sends a three-man team into space to retrieve an asteroid, in this entertainingly bizarre, ‘realistic’ look at space flight 15 years before the first space-shot.

Director Richard Carlson’s likeable 1954 low-budget colour sci-fi film Riders to the Stars has its quaint and quirky charms, though of course it is terribly dated, and with a ‘serious’ plot that avoids the appearance of monsters, robots and so on, which does lead to some tedious, melodramatic patches. Carlson directs himself as Dr Jerry Lockwood. It also stars Herbert Marshall, William Lundigan, Dawn Addams and Martha Hyer.

Also in the cast are Robert Karnes, Lawrence Dobkin, George Eldredge, Dan Riss, Michael Fox, King Donovan, Ken Dibbs, James K Best and John Hedloe.

It is perhaps primarily of interest because of what turned out to be its historical inaccuracy, and it is consequently filled with amusing details.

It is the second film in producer Ivan Tors’s Office of Scientific Investigation trilogy, following The Magnetic Monster (1953) and preceding Gog (1954).

Riders to the Stars is directed by Richard Carlson, runs 81 minutes, is made by Ivan Tors Productions [A-Men], is released by United Artists, is written by Curt Siodmak, is shot in Color Corporation of America colour by Stanley Cortez, is produced by Ivan Tors and Herbert L Strock, is scored by Harry Sukman, with production designs by Jerome Pycha Jr and special effects by Harry Redmond Jr.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9557

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