Destination Moon (1950)

[after stepping onto the Moon's surface]
Jim Barnes: Claim it, Doc! I'm your witness - claim it officially.
Dr. Charles Cargraves: By the grace of God, and the name of the United States of America, I take possession of this planet on behalf of, and for the benefit of, all mankind.

Director:  Irving Pichel
Producer:  George Pal
Main Cast:  John Archer, Warner Anderson, Tom Powers, Dick Wesson, Erin O’Brien-Moore
Runtime:  91 minutes

The year is 1950 and it would be another 7 years before the first manned object entered and orbited earth (Russia’s Sputnik) and a massive 19 years before man landed on the moon (USA Apollo 11).  So when you think of it, a movie about going to the moon was quite an ambitious task!  

Despite the impression the above image will give you, George Pal’s Destination Moon is more about the science of getting to the moon than anything else.  The cartoon of Woody Woodpecker was something prepared by the rocket designers as a kind of sales pitch to those who would fund the building and final expedition.  Interestingly, NASA ended up using an updated version of this to explain space travel to the general public so if you take this scientific point of view on board before watching the movie you will understand why there are no aliens or UFO’s.  This isn’t Ron Howard’s Apollo 13 that was based off proven facts, but rather a movie that put together the facts they knew at the time, almost 20 years before they sent man to the moon.  The basic system that was used to propel the rocket was used and experimented with in real life so again, it’s based off scientific facts.

Interestingly, the rocket in the movie is referred to as the V2 Rocket.  During WW2 the Germans had and used both the V1 and V2 rockets and were working on another that would reach New York.  With what has been said so far, it doesn’t really need to be spelled out as to who got to the German rocket laboratories first to “obtain” the German technologies and scientists!

Back to the movie, I wouldn’t say it was the most engrossing movie I have seen but it is quite a good story of how the US Government’s attempt to build the rocket failed possibly due to sabotage (Cold War stuff??) so it was passed to private enterprise where Jim Barnes (John Archer), the head of his own aviation company, help build a rocket to not just defeat earth’s gravity pull, but propel them to the moon and land.  The problem, as they discover, is that they may not have enough fuel to leave the moon and return to earth.  Can they take off again and return to earth or will they be stuck in space?

I enjoyed the film and it is interesting to see their perspective from a 1950 point of view.  Yes, it will likely be laughed at today by many but we have the benefit of knowledge by experience, they didn’t and that is the big difference.  It’s still a good movie that would have awed many viewers at the time but it can be a little dull to watch if you are expecting a movie with action and nail-biting suspense.  This just tells a good story, adds some suspense and visual effects (advanced for its time) all wrapped up in a scientific based enclosure.  It’s not the best, but quite solid.

The DVD reviewed is an Australian release that was released through Bounty Entertainment but seems to have dropped off their website now which means its only available via remaining eBay stock or an overseas copy.  The image quality is not the best with low sharpness and some colour bleeding (eg. reds don’t have firm edges but the colour seeps past where it should) but that aside its ok and does the job and isn’t too bad considering the film’s age and lack of restoration.  The sound is pretty standard 2 channel Dolby stereo (though it would have been based off a mono soundtrack).  There are no extras.

Overall, it is an interesting watch if you really enjoy 50’s sci-fi, otherwise you might want to skip this one even though it is far from a bad movie.  For 50’s Sci-fi fans only.

Movie Image Disc