Lack of good storyline.

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Despite the title, for most of it's running time 'Riders to the Stars' is less science fiction than a sober Cold War air force drama in colour detailing the recruitment and training of a team of white American males chosen by computer for the virtual suicide mission of going into space in order to capture a meteorite.There's an absurd romantic title song and a perfunctory romance between Martha Hyer and William Lundigan to sugar the pill, and as Dr. Jane Flynn Hyer delivers a token speech about the wonder of space travel. But the film makes no bones about the military rather than scientific imperative behind all this trouble and expense; and that Uncle Sam has to establish a foothold in space before the usual unspecified Unfriendly Foreign Power gets there first ("a space platform operated by a dictatorship would make slaves of all free people").First-time director Richard Carlson was left free to concentrate on the talk by placing the visual side of the film in the more than capable hands of veteran Hollywood cameraman Stanley Cortez, who heightens the already baleful mood with plenty of Gothic lighting. When the film finally takes off into space, colour is extremely effectively used in the rather improbably spacious cabins of the three ships that go up; which goes some way towards compensating for the unimpressive model rockets which in no way resemble the V-2s seen in the previous stock footage.

'Riders To The Stars" was directed by one of the actors Richard Carlson and an uncredited Herbert L. Strock and mainly concerns a space mission to catch a meteorite before it burns up in the atmosphere. Most of the film though is about the recruiting and training of astronauts to go on that rather far fetched space mission and though it is not boring it isn't exciting either. They don't go into space until nearly an hour into the film, cue some stock footage.The main cast of William Lundigan, Richard Carlson and Martha Hyer are adequate but they are fortunately supported by the veteran actor with the unique voice Herbert Marshall who gives a solid performance as usual. King Donovan has a small role which is a shame as he is always watchable and Dawn Addams has an even smaller role.It is filmed in colour but it doesn't add much to the movie and Harry Sukman's music is not one of his best. In fact it was his first score in a long career. The line of dialogue "the nature of my doctorate will have to remain a secret for a few days" has always charmed me for some reason. Perhaps because it has the ring of poetry about it.

This is a really great film whether or not you are a sci fi fan. Unlike many poorer films of this era this one does not concentrate on 'girls in tight sweaters from outer space' or green bug eyed silly monsters; instead we are treated to a very rational and thought provoking dialogue in which people have to examine themselves and are examined for their suitability for the mission.CGI was non-existent then so there are no silly explosions with people running out of burning buildings that aren't there – also a refreshing absence of major stars so it is possible to really get into the characters.Watch it if you can get it.

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.