Destination Moon (1950)

Destination Moon (1950): Dir: Irving Pichel / Cast: John Archer, Warner Anderson, Tom Powers, Dick Wesson, Erin O'Brien-Moore: Landmark science fiction film where three men decide to trek to the moon despite overbearing odds of them taking off. There is much media coverage as these men prepare for a journey that was deemed unimaginable. They awake from hyper-sleep and from there everything goes wrong. Directed by Irving Pichel who breaks new ground in special effects and production. It also features a few seconds of Woody Woodpecker giving voice during a seminar. This is not to render the film to children, although its content is clearly family oriented. This is adult storytelling with a cast that includes John Archer, Warner Anderson, Tom Powers, and Dick Wesson and they employ complete familiarity without a hint outside stereotypical realms. Despite the stereotypes, the cast are introduced to the opportunity to travel to the moon and despite complications they render a successful landing. It is getting home that becomes a problem. They are under threat of leaving someone behind until they decide to lighten the spacecraft. The cast survive wooden dialogue by aiding the suspense. The special effects and production fare okay for the time of release. The result is a thought-provoking theme of space travel and its impact on science fiction filmmaking. Score: 8 / 10

Wonderful movie. I watched it when I was 6 years old and this film impressed me a lot. Then, I had to wait for 40 years before I could see it again. In the meantime Apollo II had landed on the moon and everybody could see that the film had anticipated reality with great accuracy. The famous comic strip "Tintin" was greatly influenced by this film : the space-suits, the magnetic shoes, the extra vehicular activity,the propulsion of the rocket etc...are almost copy-pasted from the film At the end of the film, the astronauts have to leave a lot of stuff on the moon because their rocket is too heavy and in the mission Apollo II we can see the real astronauts do the same but this time to minimize the risks of a possible contamination. The end of the film is a bit frustrating as we don't see the astronauts land safely on the earth,but, anyway this film is exceptional and ranks high in my personal movie hit-parade

Interestingly, the opening title sequence looks vaguely familiar, let's see, could it be that George Lucas could have 'borrowed' the receding prologue sequence in Star Wars from Destination Moon? Certainly this is no coincidence and a testament that there is nothing new under the sun...or moon in this case. Though dated, as so many 50's Sci-Fi films are, this one, with Heinlein's influence, attempted to be as factual as it could and showed some very sophisticated special effects for the time. In fact, the film won a Oscar for that category. The film's very striving for authenticity is the very thing that makes this film so genuinely a period piece...the lack of security at the lift site, the footage of the 'computer', the wise cracking radio man, the zero gravity sequences and, my fave...the obligatory rescue scene. All have become stereotypical features in countless films to follow...yet this is, in many ways, ground zero for films of this genre. If you are a fan of 1950's Sci-Fi, this is a must.

*Spoiler/plot- Destination Moon 1950, Private companies pull together to build a spaceship to go to the moon to advance Man's technology and science knowledge.*Special Stars- Jim Archer, Warner Aderson, Tom Powers, Dick Wesson.*Theme- Taking chances with space travel makes for good drama.*Trivia/location/goofs- woody woodpecker cartoon used to explain space travel by rocket, This expensive G. Pal film confused with low budget film, Rocketship X-M released around the same time purposely. Watch for rocket acceleration facial distortion to be accomplished by small flesh colored adhesive strips placed on actors faces attached to clear fishing line and pulled of camera by film crew members. Watch for obvious studio set lights reflected in spacesuit helmet visors, and film crew shadow near open hatch door to help push cast onto the spaceship's outer surface.*Emotion- One of the earliest expensive classic space travel films made on the 50's. become the prototype for film space travel, ships, and knowledge of the public. George Pal's production tastes and films have been the hallmark of good films for decades. This film is not only a classic but is exciting to view no matter how the science of space travel has changed and become more sophisticated. This film is still a treat.