Flight to Mars (1951) – Nostalgia Central

Newspaper reporter Steve Abbott (Cameron Mitchell), senior physicist Dr Lane (John Litel),  Professor Jackson (Richard Gaines), engineer Jim Barker (Arthur Franz), and assistant engineer Carol Stafford (Virginia Huston) fly a rocket to Mars – only to find out that Martians look exactly like us and speak with American accents (they have apparently been monitoring our broadcast transmissions for years).

The Martians live in an advanced underground city, but are running out of one of their essential natural resources (a gas called “Corium”).

The villainous Martian leader, Ikron (Morris Ankrum), plans to replicate the Earth astronauts’ atom-powered rocket many times and use the fleet of ships to evacuate his people and transport the Martian population to conquer the Earth.

A gorgeous, long-legged, satin-clad Martian scientist named Alita (Marguerite Chapman) falls for Steve, and she and the Martian underground help the Earthmen stop Ikron’s insidious plan.

Needless to say, the villain is thwarted and love triumphs.

The film was shot in five days. Two weeks were set aside for editing and post-production work, and the film was released about six weeks after filming commenced.

Model rocket ships on strings, matte paintings and miniatures abound, and the suits that the Martians wear were leftovers from Destination Moon (1950).

Alita
Marguerite Chapman
Steve Abbott
Cameron Mitchell
Dr Jim Barker
Arthur Franz
Carol Stafford
Virginia Huston
Dr Lane
John Litel
Ikron
Morris Ankrum
Prof. Jackson
Richard Gaines
Terris
Lucille Barkley
Tillamar
Robert Barrat

Director
Lesley Selander