The 1953 film "Abbott and Costello Go to Mars" is a comedy about two Americans who accidently launch a spaceship which first takes them to New Orleans and then to the planet Venus.
They never get to the planet Mars.
Bud Abbott and Lou Costello were a comedy team which had been making films since 1940. This film was made to parody the science fiction space travel films of the early 1950's including "Destination Moon" and "Rocketship XM." The pair meet at a factory building a spaceship. They go on board and push some buttons which launch the ship. The ship lands in New Orleans during the Mardi Gras period where people wear outlandish costumes. The boys believe that they have landed on the planet Mars. Two escaped convicts find the ship, steal two space suits, and head to town to rob a bank.
At the bank coin rolls and coins in trays are shown.

Abbott and Costello are not together at the beginning of the film which was unusual for them.

Lester delivers a box marked "Experimental Laboratories Coshocton, Ohio." Dr. Wilson is in charge of the company's space program and has built a rocketship.

The lads report to Dr. Wilson's assistant Janie.

Janie sends them to deliver packages to the rocketship.

Dr. Wilson explains space travel to his board. An astrolabe sits in the rear to the right.

The rocketship is similar to the one in the 1950 film "Destination Moon." Orville and Lester deliver some supplies to the rocketship and start goofing off.

Orville pushes the wrong button and launches the ship.

The ship flies around New York City and then further away and lands in New Orleans during the city's Mardi Gras celebration when people wear ornate and sometimes homemade costumes.

The pair believe that they have landed on Mars, put space suits on, and start exploring. Harry and Mugsy are two convicts who have escaped from prison.

They see the rocketship, enter it, find two (more) space suits, and put them. They also take a gun which looks like a science-fiction "ray-gun." The gun is real and causes anyone in front of it to "freeze."

The locals assume that their spacesuits are costumes.

Harry and Mugsy, now wearing space suits, visit a bank.

A tray of coins sits on a table to the right of the bank teller.

Having "frozen" the teller the two men put the money into a cloth bag.

Stacks of bills and rolls of coins sit on the bank's marble table.

Back on Earth the company scientists search for their ship. The four "astronauts" return to the ship.

The ship "blasts off" and heads into deep space, this time to the planet Venus. Lester and Orville attempt to return to Earth but land on Venus.

The Venusian landscape is depicted as weird shaped rocks and plants. Then the Venusians appear.

The Venusian's are all women with most of the actresses having been recruited from beauty contests. A Venusian girl sees the spaceship and reports to the queen.

Queen Allura explains that the men were banished long ago. Allura takes a liking to Orville and recruits him as her consort.

She seats him on a special throne which gives him an electrical shock if he thinks of another woman.

The remaining men are brought to the main room.

Queen Allura is tired of Orville and sends the four men back to their spaceship. This time it does return to Earth and becomes a big news story.

Lester and Orville have become celebrities.

Bud Abbott as Lester
Lou Costello as Orville
Mari Blanchard as Queen Allura
Robert Paige as Dr. Wilson
Martha Hyer as Janie
Director: Charles Lamont
Writers: D.D. Beauchamp, Howard Christie, John Grant