Michael O'Keefe An experimental rocket falls back to Earth; but upon examination months of bombardment by cosmic rays, scientists are not satisfied with the lack of info they were wanting. Dr. Don Stanton (Herbert Marshall), Dr. Lockwood (Richard Carlson) and Dr. Richard Stanton (William Lundigan) are seriously wanting to know more about the molecular structure of meteorites and what protects them while entering the Earth's atmosphere. With the encouragement of Dr. Jane Flynn (Martha Hyer), there is a plan to send up special made manned rockets built for short-duration flight to capture some meteors from the upper atmosphere.Whimsical, but serious minded sci-fi directed by Curt Siodmak filmed at Culver City's Hal Roach Studios for Ivan Tor's Productions. This often over looked film might have been reaching for "harder" science fiction than what what was found in the current bombardment of the atomic bomb generated monster movie genre.Rounding out the cast: George Eldredge, King Donovan, Dawn Addams, Robert Karnes, Michael Fox and James Best.

henri sauvage Second in Ivan Tors Productions' "Office of Scientific Investigation" (O.S.I.) trilogy, "Riders to the Stars" belongs to that sf sub-genre of straightforward space exploration epic -- no ray guns and bug-eyed monsters allowed. Which is no doubt why I found it so boring, when I caught it on the afternoon Big Show back in the 1960s.Thanks to TCM, I've had a chance to see it again, and while it's undeniably leisurely-paced in parts and suffers from a tragically inadequate effects budget, it's still a far better film than I remembered. However, much of my appreciation comes from the fact that it tickles my nostalgia nerve and has some nifty stock footage from the early days of America's space program, which at the time mostly consisted of shooting off captured V-2s out at White Sands. So viewers who don't have the fond memories of and/or historical interest in this era of the Space Age will probably find this pretty dull stuff.The writer -- Curt Siodmak -- deserves high marks for doing his research on the subject, thereby making the section of the film depicting the painstaking selection process and rigorous training of our trio of astronauts remarkably prescient at times. The science behind their dangerous mission isn't so well-thought-out, but it provides for some minor thrills as the astronauts attempt to chase down and retrieve a meteor from low Earth orbit.Worth watching, especially if you consider it as a companion film and precursor to "Gog", the third and final entry in the O.S.I. series.

calif drifter (iefbr14-1) Put aside a Dr. House repeat that I had missed, and a Desperate Housewives (new) to watch this one. I don't know exactly what plagued this movie. I never thought I'd say this, but I want my 15 minutes of fame back.Script, Direction, I can't say. I recognized the stable of actors (the usual suspects), but thought Herbert Marshall was a class addition and sat myself down for a good cheesy flick. Boy, was I wrong. Dullsville.My favorite parts: where the "office girl" makes with the 029 keypunch and puts the cards into a 087 sorter. LOL @ "the computer". I'd like someone identify the next device - a 477 ? It's before even this dinosaur's time.And we dinosaurs don't have that much time to waste.

PudgyPandaMan I think this was a real good quality 50's era sci-fi from 1954. I don't usually go for the silly monster version of sci-fi so prevalent from the era - although I still like a few for a good laugh. But this one has more sincerity and genuineness to it. It was actually very believable.Yes, I know the special effects are a little cheesy. But I think for the time period they were pretty good. The title screen on IMDb show this as being a color film - but I kept having the impression that this was a black and white film that had been colorized (which I'm usually not a fan of). But I think it was a good decision to have this be color to appreciate the views from space, all the colored blinking lights from the science equipment (I don't think we could call these computers).I thought the footage of the mice in space was a real gem! It cracked me up with their little rubber ball.Anyways, I have always been fascinated with space travel, and I'm sure the audiences from the 50's must have been mesmerized with the premise of man going to space. I don't think the real space race with the Soviets had heated up yet (Sputnik didn't launch until 1957), but I'm sure it was on people's minds.I liked the casting, especially Herbert Marshall. He makes the perfect egghead scientist type. I love his voice, but who doesn't. I thought Richard Carlson who played Lockwood and also directed, did a great job - especially when he freaks out after Gordon explodes in space and he completely loses it. I wasn't a big fan of the female lead. She wasn't very appealing, but I guess it was important to cast someone not too attractive so as to be able to believe her in a scientist-type role.Overall, I think this was a decent picture with good foresight into the real space race for which our country was on the precipice.