Flight to Mars

(Flight to Mars)

 The Story

 Full Story

Around the year 2000, the most fantastic expedition ever conceived by Man in on the point to begin. Four men, the reporter Steve Abbott, Dr. Lane, Dr. Jim Barker, professor Jackson an a woman, the scientist Carol Stafford board rocketship M.A.R.S., a single stage nuclear propelled rocket in destination of the red planet.

After un launch without surprise, the crew has to archive a tiny cap correction while approching the lunar orbit. Unfortunately, two days before the landing on Mars, the rocket encounter a storm of asteroids that damages the craft, priving it from landing gears. Together, they decide to operate a crash landing on the red planet that strands the crew there.

Rocketship MARS enroute for the red planet - Flight to Mars
Rocketship MARS enroute for the red planet

In the crash-landing, nobody is injured but the rocketship is severly damaged. The crew sees on the surface a building from an advanced civilization. They live the rocket and are greeted by a delegate of Martians who welcome them to their fabulous automated underground city.

Martien's welcome - Flight to Mars
Martien's welcome

The Martians are technically far more advanced than Earthlings and they offer help in repairing the rocket. Some of their best ingeneers, like the pretty Alita, who as the majority of the women of the planet wears sexy outfits, go at work. Alita is seeking a way to replace damaged nuclear propulsion by use of Corium, the natural resources availlable on the planet.

But their hospitality masks another much more insidious plan. Alita discovers that her government decided to steal the plans of the rocket and build his own fleet of rocketships to invade Earth. Because the Corium is at its lowest level, the Martian civilization is dying and it is time for it to find another world. In love with Dr. Jim Barker, Alita warns the Humans.

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Simulating an explosion inside the rocket, Jim succeed to spread the false rumor that the problem will not be repaired before a mounth. The joke is a success and the scientists will be able to live the sympathetic Martians in two weeks...

 Spoiler ! the end of the story is revealed below…

The rocket is now operational. Abbott, Lane, Jackson and Carol Stafford climb discretly onboard the rocket. But the suspicious Martians arrest Alita to make her talk. Jim, who has just announced his wedding with the martian woman flies to her rescue. They succeed to escape their ravisseurs and they board the craft before taking off in direction of the Earth, stopping so an imminent Martian invasion.

Jim and Alita escape - Flight to Mars
Jim and Alita escape

DoctorSF's Words

This classic 1951 science fiction drama prefigures the '50s sci-fi boom. It was the first colour motion picture about a journey to Mars. Later, the rocket will be used again in the movie "It, the Terror from Beyond Space.". You may also note that the film’s principal love interest is named Alita in homage to the classic 1924 Russian Mars film called "Aelita".