''Flight to Mars'' is a 1951 American Cinecolor science fiction film drama, produced by

Walter Mirisch Walter Mortimer Mirisch (born November 8, 1921) is an American film producer. He is president and executive head of production of The Mirisch Corporation, an independent film production company, which he formed in 1957 with his brother Marvin ...

for Monogram Pictures, directed by

Lesley Selander Lesley Selander (May 26, 1900 – December 5, 1979) was an American film director of Westerns and adventure movies. His career as director, spanning 127 feature films and dozens of TV episodes, lasted from 1936 to 1968. Before that, Selander was ...

, that stars

Marguerite Chapman Marguerite Chapman (March 9, 1918 – August 31, 1999) was an American film and television actress. Biography Born in Chatham, New York, Chapman was working as a telephone switchboard operator in White Plains, New York when her good looks br ...

, Cameron Mitchell, and Arthur Franz. The film's storyline involves the arrival on the Red Planet of an American scientific expedition team, who discover that Mars is inhabited by an underground-dwelling but dying civilization that appears to be humanoid. The Martians are suspicious of the Earthmen's motives. A majority of their governing body finally decides to keep their visitors prisoner, never allowing them to return home with the information they have discovered. But the Earthmen have sympathizers among the Martians. Soon a plan is set in motion to smuggle the scientists and their Martian allies aboard the guarded spaceship and to make an escape for Earth.

Plot

The first expedition to Mars, led by physicist Dr. Lane, includes Professor Jackson, engineer and spaceship designer Jim Barker, and his assistant Carol Stadwick, who earned her degree in "spaceship engineering" in only three years. Journalist Steve Abbott, a decorated (Korean) war correspondent, is also aboard to cover the historic mission. They lose contact with Earth when a meteor storm disables both their landing gear and radio. The crew are forced to decide whether to crash-land on Mars or turn back for Earth. They decide to proceed with the mission, knowing they may never return. After they safely crash-land, the crew are met by five Martians at one of their above-ground structures. Looking human and being able to communicate in English, Ikron, the president of their planetary council, explains that they learned Earth languages from broadcasts. Their own efforts, however, to transmit messages to Earth have only resulted in faint, unintelligible signals being received. The Earth crew are taken to a vast underground city, which is being sustained by life-support systems fueled by a (fictional) mineral called Corium. There the crew meet Tillamar, a past president and now a trusted council advisor. Terris, a young female Martian, shows them to their room and serves the group automated meals. The expedition members are amazed at the high level of Martian technology around them and soon ask the council for help with repairing their spaceship. Discreetly, Ikron reveals that their Corium supply is nearly depleted. He recommends that the Earthmen's spaceship be reproduced, once repaired, creating a fleet that can evacuate the Martians to Earth. The council votes to adopt Ikron's plan, while also deciding to hold the Earthmen captive during the repair process. Alita, a leading Martian scientist, is placed in charge of the spaceship. Ikorn uses Terris as a spy to keep himself informed of the progress. Jim begins to suspect the Martians' motives and fakes an explosion aboard, slowing the repairs. When Jim later announces their blast-off for Earth is set for the next day, he surprises everyone with the news that Tillamar and Alita will be joining them. Terris reports their suspicious behavior, leading to Alita and Tillimar being held, but Jim foils Ikron's plan to seize the repaired ship after freeing both. After a brief confrontation with Martian guards at the spaceship's

gangway Broadly speaking, a gangway is a passageway through which to enter or leave. Gangway may refer specifically refer to: Passageways * Gangway (nautical), a passage between the quarterdeck and the forecastle of a ship, and by extension, a passage th ...

, the three make it aboard safely, and the expedition departs for Earth.

Cast

as Alita * Cameron Mitchell as Steve Abbott * Arthur Franz as Dr. Jim Barker *

Virginia Huston Virginia Huston (April 24, 1925 – February 28, 1981) was an American actress. Early years Huston was born in Wisner, Nebraska, the daughter of Marcus and Mary Agnes Houston, and she had two brothers. Once she began her acting career, she cha ...

as Carol Stafford *

John Litel John Beach Litel (December 30, 1892 – February 3, 1972) was an American film and television actor. Early life Litel was born in Albany, Wisconsin. During World War I, he enlisted in the French Army and was twice decorated for bravery. Ba ...

as Dr. Lane *

Morris Ankrum Morris Ankrum (born Morris Nussbaum; August 28, 1897 – September 2, 1964) was an American radio, television, and film character actor. Early life Born in Danville in Vermilion County in eastern Illinois, Ankrum originally began a career in ...

as Ikron *

Richard Gaines Richard Houston Gaines (July 23, 1904 – July 20, 1975) was an American actor. He appeared in over 75 film and television productions between 1940 and 1962. Early years Gaines was born in Indian Territory and grew up in Texas, learning "to h ...

as Professor Jackson *

Lucille Barkley Lucille Barkley (born Lucille Oshinski, November 3, 1924 – March 19, 1979) was an American film actress. Early years The daughter of Florian and Verna Oshinski, Barkley was born in Pennsylvania but considered Rochester, New York, her hometow ...

as Terris *

Robert Barrat Robert Harriot Barrat (July 10, 1891 – January 7, 1970) was an American stage, motion picture, and television character actor. Early years Barratt was born on July 10, 1891, in New York City and was educated in the public schools there. He ...

as Tillamar * Wilbur Back as Councilman * William Bailey as Councilman *

Trevor Bardette Trevor Bardette (born Terva Gaston Hubbard; November 19, 1902 – November 28, 1977) was an American film and television actor. Among many other roles in his long and prolific career, Bardette appeared in several episodes of '' Adventures of S ...

as Alzar * Stanley Blystone as Councilman * David Bond as Ramay * Raymond Bond as Astronomer No. Two

Production

''Flight to Mars'' has some plot similarities to the Russian

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized Sound recording and reproduction, recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) ...

Aelita ''Aelita'' (russian: Аэли́та, ), also known as ''Aelita: Queen of Mars'', is a 1924 Soviet silent science fiction film directed by Yakov Protazanov and produced at the Mezhrabpom-Rus film studio. It was based on Alexei Tolstoy's 1923 ...

'', but unlike that earlier film it is a

low-budget A low-budget film or low-budget movie is a motion picture shot with little to no funding from a major film studio or private investor. Many independent films are made on low budgets, but films made on the mainstream circuit with inexperienced or ...

"quickie" shot in just five days. The film's on location principal photography took place in

Death Valley Death Valley is a desert valley in Eastern California, in the northern Mojave Desert, bordering the Great Basin Desert. During summer, it is the Highest temperature recorded on Earth, hottest place on Earth. Death Valley's Badwater Basin is the ...

, California from May 11 through late May 1951. Except for some of the flight instruments, ''Flight to Mars'' reuses the interior flight deck sets, somewhat redressed, and other interior props from

Lippert Pictures Lippert Pictures was an American film production and distribution company controlled by Robert L. Lippert. History Robert L. Lippert (1909-1976) was a successful exhibitor, owning a chain of movie theaters in California and Oregon. He was frustrate ...

' 1950 science fiction feature ''

Rocketship X-M ''Rocketship X-M'' (a.k.a. ''Expedition Moon'' and originally ''Rocketship Expedition Moon'') is a 1950 American black-and-white science fiction film from Lippert Pictures, the first outer space adventure of the post-World War II era. The film wa ...

''. Even that earlier film's spaceflight sound effects are reused, as are the concepts of space flight outlined in ''RX-M'' screenplay. The main difference is this film was shot in color, not

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

, and the flight to Mars was planned; the earlier Lippert film concerns an ''accidental'' journey to the Red Planet, which happens during a planned expedition to the Moon. Additionally, ''Flight to Mars'' postulates a humanoid species which is superior, in many ways, to humanity, and could possibly pose a long-term, strategic threat. In the Lippert film, however, the Martians are a throw-back, a consequence of a long ago

nuclear holocaust A nuclear holocaust, also known as a nuclear apocalypse, nuclear Armageddon, or atomic holocaust, is a theoretical scenario where the mass detonation of nuclear weapons causes globally widespread destruction and radioactive fallout. Such a scenar ...

, which occurred millennia earlier; those Martians pose only an immediate, tactical threat to the RX-M's crew. A sequel, ''Voyage to Venus'' was proposed but never made. ''Flight to Mars'' is not in the public domain. The copyright was renewed under Certificate # RE-26-731/RE-37-81 from the Copyright Office, Library of Congress. Rights were assigned to Wade Williams.

Reception

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' film review notes: "''Flight to Mars'' is the second American film of the postwar era (after the previous year's ''Rocketship X-M'') to depict a manned space trip to the Red Planet".Erickson, Hal
"Flight to Mars."
''The New York Times''. Retrieved: January 7, 2015.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Miller, Thomas Kent. ''Mars in the Movies: A History''. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2016. . * Muirhead, Brian, Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens. ''Going to Mars: The Stories of the People Behind NASA's Mars Missions Past, Present, and Future''. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2004. . * Warren, Bill. ''Keep Watching the Skies: American Science Fiction Films of the Fifties'', 21st Century Edition. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2009 (First Edition 1982). . * Weaver, Tom. "Cameron Mitchell Interview". ''Double Feature Creature Attack: A Monster Merger of Two More Volumes of Classic Interviews''. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2003. .

External links

* * * * {{Lesley Selander 1951 films 1950s science fiction films Allied Artists films American science fiction films Cinecolor films 1950s English-language films Films about astronauts Films about extraterrestrial life Films directed by Lesley Selander Films produced by Walter Mirisch American independent films Mars in film Monogram Pictures films 1950s independent films 1950s American films