DESTINATION MOON
US, 1950, 91 minutes, Colour.
Warner Anderson, John Archer, Tom Powers, Dick Wesson
Directed by Irving Pichel
Destination Moon was made in 1950, produced by George Pal, who was to make such films as The Time Machine and The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm.
The film was B-budget, effectively made at that level. It seemed quite farfetched, along the lines of many other movies of the time with explorations of Mars, invasions of Martians etc. However, in retrospect it seems very effective, and indeed no so fanciful. Within 19 years of the film being released, Americans had set foot on the moon.
The film shows the scientific investigations and experiments of the period, tests and failures, hopes and ambitions. In retrospect, they obviously reflect what was going on at the period with scientists and technologists as well as with business and government agencies supporting the programs. The effective scenes of rocket take-offs seem very familiar but would not have been in 1950.
Of interest, the film uses a Woody Woodpecker cartoon as a way of explaining space to some sceptical business associates.
1. Entertaining science fiction? 1950? B-budget? Prophetic?
2. Colour photography, laboratories, spaceships, rockets, the surface of the moon and the exploration? Musical score?
3. The post-war space programs, their development by 1950, the developments of the '50s and '60s, the arrival on the moon? Comparing the fictionalised anticipation with the real experience?
4. The focus on the experiments, the failures of the rockets? The doctor and his experiment? The general and his concern? The need for finance? The appeal to the business world? Baines and his response? The use of the Woody Woodpecker cartoon to explain space and rockets to the business people - as well as to the audience?
5. The further experiments, the financial support, government interest? The military? The motivation of the military and the background of the Cold War? The technicians?
6. The crisis, the need to go? The decision as to who should go? The take-off, the flight - and the detail of gravity within the spaceship, the fixing of the spaceship in space (later to be seen in 2001: A Space Odyssey and other movies)? The moon landing, walking on the moon? Photographs, samples? Radio connection?
7. The melodrama of lightening the ship, getting rid of excess weight? The four men, the decision as to who should remain behind? The general and his age, the doctor, Baines as the businessman? Sweeney, his not wanting to go, the illness of his co-worker, his being persuaded, the wisecracking remarks, not wanting to stay on the moon - and his tricking the group and his staying? The final arrangements, lightening the machine, all going back to Earth in safety?
8. The character sketches - types for this kind of movie: the concerned general, the sympathetic businessman, the intelligent scientist, the wisecracking radio operator?
9. The contribution of this kind of film to the development and respectability of science fiction movies in the '50s and '60s? An interesting experience looking at this anticipation of moon travel in hindsight?
