Wordiezett So much average

Ceticultsot Beautiful, moving film.

ActuallyGlimmer The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Nicole I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

oldblackandwhite ...Marguerite Chapman's legs, Lucille Barkley's legs, Virginia Huston's legs. Sexy space tootsies provide the principle interest in slow, talky space opera Flight To Mars. Unfortunately the first half of the running time is spent on the space flight itself before we get to see the shapely Chapman in the sexiest space babe outfit this side of Devil Girl From Mars (1954 -- see my review). She and her fellow Martian honeys seem to be what keeps the dying Red Planet alive, along with a phony element that has a goofy name sounding something like Congoleum.The Rocketship crew, which crash-lands on Mars, is led by the ever earnest Arthur Franz and an embarrassed looking John Litel. Cameron Mitchell plays a reporter along to observe the expedition, but he mostly just observes the comely Ms. Huston. Almost as soon as contact is made with the underground-dwelling Martians, the dull, unromantic Franz surprisingly becomes the love object of hot, hot, hot Marsette Chapman. The Martian leadership headed by the formidable Morris Ankrum, later a Perry Mason judge, helps rebuild the spaceship, supposedly so the earthlings can return home, but the Martians all along plan to seize the rocket when it is finished. But nothing much in the way of action comes of this plot -- just talk, talk, talk. They missed a wonderful opportunity to have what could have been a swell cat fight, when Barkley, suspecting Chapman had joined the earthlings, followed her down he hallway to spy on her. Instead of tackling the leggy Chapman herself, Barkley calls for a couple of burly male Mars henchmen to nab her. Oh, well, Barkley wouldn't have stood much of a chance anyway, as Chapman was much bigger and had showed herself to be one heck of a mean, tough femme fa-tale in Mr. District Attorney (1947). But I'm making this turkey sound like more fun than it is. In fact Flight To Mars is cheap, tacky, prolix, and boring. Only for geeky students of 1950's Si-Fi, fans of the under-appreciated Marguerite Chapman (which obviously includes yours truly), and desperate insomniacs. Others should avoid this picture as if it were a hypochondriac friend wanting to tell you about her latest medical procedure.

drystyx This is a good example, a basic example, of what an Outer Space film should be. It was made during the greatest period of movie making, the Fifties.We have the theme of an isolated group, which is easy to do when you're speaking about a space ship crew. They visit Mars. We can just interject any far off planet or place. The story is what is important.And that's what makes these films superior to the later ones. They told stories. We had basic sets, and actually better effects. Why? Because we weren't inundated with a load of crap that only the biggest dork could care about. We got the story, and that's what the audience wants to see in a movie.If the director wants to make a social or political statement, he does it with the story and characters, as he does here. No preaching, no sermons, no contrivance, just a story.It is a basic story, and it is entertaining. We get camera shots that look good, and we are diverted just enough from place to place to keep it interesting.Modern directors are only now realizing how pathetic the garbage of the late sixties and the seventies were. Few films from that era will be salvaged a few centuries from now.Meanwhile, this basic yarn, with just enough subplots to carry it, will still be enjoyed. What is fascinating is how these "fifties flicks" actually come across more credible than the later ones that strive for credibility. The story was natural. No one cares if the costumes are too clean and sets too clear to be realistic. They have to tell the story first, so visibility to the spectator comes first. Meanwhile, we get what are actually more believable actions, reactions, and motivations in films like this than in modern science fiction. We aren't confused. We see what's going on, and the movie is made for us, with the effort made by the film maker, instead of vice versa, because let me tell those self righteous morons something: most of us aren't going to strain ourselves for your benefit. That's why so many people prefer to watch films like this.

dbonk Actually, the leader of so-called 'poverty studios' was given the highest accolade by French New Wave director Jean Luc-Godard who sited Monogram Pictures as a significant influence in his seminal 1959 film BREATHLESS.FLIGHT TO MARS certainly has a Saturday afternoon matinée feel to it backed with a popcorn budget with butter. It is filmed in warmly lit Super Cinecolor. The movie was lensed in five days according to Cameron Mitchell who portrays the stalwart lead character. With his trusty Underwood typewriter he is chronicling an on board journal for his newspaper of this intrepid crew's voyage to the red planet. The crew members on board, including flight commander Arthur Franz, are dressed for a camping trip. The exception is Virginia Huston, introduced as 'the lady scientist', wearing a skirt and heels.When this movie was released in 1951, remember, there was no NASA, no satellites for that matter, and Flash Gordon was really the closest thing to reality regarding space travel. Given these parameters, it's relatively simple to suspend belief and be caught up in the moment to which this film takes us.After a white knuckle landing on Mars surface, one crew member suggests putting on oxygen masks before venturing outside. They have no pressurized space suits or helmets, you see. Oddly enough, the Martians do, hand me downs from the movie DESTINATION MOON.The Earthlings are given the tour of the Martian's underground city which resembles a paper mache version of H.G. Wells' THINGS TO COME. Upon seeing their living quarters, lady scientist Virginia Huston's first question is "Where's the kitchen?" Terris, the comely Martian hostess,(Lucille Barkley) informs the crew that there are no kitchens, but laboratories and meals are delivered by request. Yes, the Martians speak perfect English. They listen to radio shows. Evidently, that green-eyed monster,television, which has already subjugated Earth has not invaded Martian soil....yet. She then presses a button and a cart of food with drinks emerges from the wall. Terris reminds me of Betty Furness who would always look so comfortable showing off the features of the latest Westinghouse refrigerator on TV. Makes me wonder how many more fridges Betty could have sold if she was wearing the ensemble that Terris is sporting.Oh yes, the Earth crew's wardrobe have to comport with the typical Martian. That means the men appear in Prince Valiant garb with gray flannel underwear and boots. Virginia, the only female crew member is given what every Martian woman wears, a sleeveless mini-dress with go-go boots. Terris says, "they're very comfortable." One of the more prominent citizens is leggy Alita,played by Marguerite Chapman. Alita was originally Aelita the Queen of Mars in the classic 1924 Soviet film bearing her name. For FLIGHT TO MARS she appears to have been dethroned to a more subordinate role of administrative assistant to the Council of which her father is a member. Yet, Alita is obviously high up in the Martian fem corporate ladder as she doesn't wear boots, but customized jet black pumps with her mini outfit.One can imagine Dr. Werner Von Braun and his fellow scientists getting a kick out of this flick in their desert compound at Los Alamos, New Mexico, when they weren't developing their Redstone rocket.FLIGHT TO MARS is short enough at 72 minutes that there's no chance of boredom to set in. So bring along a B-17 flight jacket and prepare to board ship.

ferbs54 Cheesy, shlocky and campy as it is, I suppose that 1951's "Flight to Mars" still has a claim to historical relevance. According to one of my film Bibles, "The Psychotronic Encyclopedia," it was "the first space-flight movie in color." But hey, wait a minute...what about "Destination Moon," made the year before? Better make that "one of the first..." Anyway, in this one, newsman Cameron Mitchell tags along with four scientists (one of them the obligatory hotty female scientist) on the first, uh, flight to Mars. The group's members wear bomber jackets and wide-brimmed hats, more suitable for a fishing expedition, and, during liftoff, strap themselves into blanketed cots. After toughing it out through a meteor storm (that looks like a bunch of orange dots), our Earth band finds the remnants of an underground Martian civilization, whose remaining members attempt to steal the Earth ship so as to evacuate their dying planet. Luckily, for the male Terran viewer, some of these Martians are leggy, miniskirted and babelicious; one of them is even named Aelita, in a not-so-subtle homage to the 1924 Russian sci-fi classic "Aelita, Queen of Mars." The sets and FX on display here, it must be said, range from imaginative and impressive to slapdash and laughable. (It's hard to believe that "Forbidden Planet," one of the real sci-fi champs, with its superb FX, was made a scant five years later!) The film's Cinecolor looks just fine on the DVD that I just watched, but the source print itself has been badly damaged, with many words missing. A somewhat tense finale, unfortunately, is also marred by a too abrupt ending. All in all, a mixed bag that should still be of interest to fans of '50s sci-fi. Oh, by the way: Cameron Mitchell reveals, in one of the DVD's extras, that this movie was filmed in just five days! Maybe they should have taken six.