Riders to the Stars

RIDERS TO THE STARS began filming on June 8, 1953 at the Hal Roach Studios in Culver City. It was the first science-fiction film composed for widescreen. The ratio utilized by director Richard Carlson and cinematographer Stanley Cortez was 1.85:1. Cortez had previously lensed his first widescreen film, SHARK RIVER, on location in Florida. Of course, like all other widescreen films from that era, it was protected for 1.37:1 as well. It has not been seen in widescreen since the original theatrical release in early 1954. The elements no longer exist and there are only two known 35mm SuperCinecolor prints. One was utilized for an open matte transfer more than ten years ago and that is the version currently shown on television. If you utilize the zoom feature on your TV, you will get a pretty good approximation of the correct framing, although the existing transfer is zoomed in a bit.Here are frames from an original 35mm Color Corporation of America aka SuperCinecolor trailer. The colors have not been manipulated in these scans. This is the original, vibrant palette.