Flight to Mars Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		2.5

Flight to Mars Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 18, 2026

Note: This version of this film is available on Blu-ray as part of Film Masters' double feature Destination Moon release.

There might be a masters thesis to be written or at least a fertile area for further study in analyzing why in the post World War II era the cynicism of film noir as an era defining genre kind of unexpectedly gave way to seemingly more hopeful premises (in both senses of that word) with the early fifties glut of science fiction "spectaculars" documenting Man's, well, Conquest of Space. Even those efforts often had more than a tinge of noir-esque paranoia about them, with some explicitly mentioning a then nascent "space race" with the Soviet Union (China wasn't even in the conversation), and with many a science fiction adjacent film obviously referencing the "horrors of Communism" ( Invaders from Mars among others too numerous to cite). Film Masters, a label that tends to specialize in restoring public domain titles (though their release of The Crippled Masters evidently ran into fan backlash when an authorized Severin version came out), has aggregated two interesting early science fiction films, including Destination Moon, the film that is often thought of really kickstarting the genre, even if Rocketship X-M by (nefarious?) design made it into theaters first. The "second feature" in this double feature release, Flight to Mars, actually had its own standalone release a few years ago by Film Masters' predecessor, The Film Detective.

As mentioned above, Flight to Mars had a previous 1080 release by Film Masters' predecessor, The Film Detective. My Flight to Mars Blu-ray review of that edition offers plot information, a list of supplements and my reaction to that version's technical presentation. There are a few differences with this release, which I outline below.

Flight to Mars Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Flight to Mars is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Film Masters with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.37:1. The new encode is probably the biggest attraction for videophiles here, though as I mentioned in my original Flight to Mars Blu-ray review of the Film Detective release, even an MPEG-2 encode on that version didn't offer any substantial compression issues. That review provides a bit more technical information, for those interested. This looks a bit darker than the older release, which may help to increase at least the perception of suffusion. That said, this still shows the variances in color temperature that the original release offered. Interestingly, there seems to be a bit less grain this time around, with the exception of some of the opticals, where grain suddenly spikes dramatically. I've attempted to reproduce some of the screenshots from my original review here so that those interested can do side by side comparisons. Are there differences? Yes, but IMHO they're pretty minor in the long run.

Flight to Mars Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Flight to Mars features a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono track that offers a generally clear accounting of the film's kind of low scale sound design. Even the "blast off" here isn't especially explosive, and sound effects may strike some as being rather sparingly used, at least when compared to modern day sci-fi spectaculars. All of this said, both dialogue and Marlin Skiles' score are presented without any issues. Optional English subtitles are available.

Flight to Mars Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Interstellar Travelogues: Extended Edition (HD; 15:52) features Vincent Di Fate discussing the history of films about space travel. This adds five minutes (more or less) to the original version of this featurette on the first release.


• Walter Mirisch: From Bomba to Body Snatchers (HD; 14:07) is an extremely enjoyable piece with C. Courtney Joyner discussing Mirisch's attempts to get Monogram off of "Poverty Row", at least in the perception of the rest of the film industry.


• Restored original trailer for Flight to Mars (HD; 2:00)


• Commentary with Justin Humphreys is accessible under the Setup Menu.

Flight to Mars Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Flight to Mars can't help but come off as pretty lackluster when stacked up against Destination Moon. Film Masters has at least upgraded this version with an AVC encode, as well as adding a bit to the Interstellar Travelogues supplement, even if it may be the Mirisch supplement that is of most interest to fans. Technical merits are perhaps marginally improved here from the Film Detective release, but probably not in any revelatory way, for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.