THE MAN IN THE MOON
UK, 1960, 95 minutes, Black and white.
Kenneth More, Michael Hordern, Shirley Anne Field, John Phillips, Norman Bird, Charles Gray.
Directed by Basil Dearden.
The Man in the Moon was in production ten years before the first actual moon walk. It is interesting to see how the British film-makers imagined what was to happen at the end of the 60s. While, on the one hand, the preparation for the moon walk and the actual launching of the rocket bears some resemblance to what happened, the rest does not.
The film is really a comedy in what one might call the Ealing comedy tradition. It focuses on an eccentric young man, who spends his career as testing for companies to check on illnesses - and he never has anything wrong with him. He is recruited by the moon walk preparation group and trained along with other potential astronauts. When he finally goes to the moon, he finishes up in the Australian desert near Woomera.
The film is a pleasant vehicle for Kenneth More. Michael Hordern is one of the boffins. Shirley-Ann? Field is a stripper who happens to wander through a meadow where More is testing for the common cold - and, of course, there is a romance. Charles Gray (who was later to play Blofeld, appear in the Rocky Horror Picture Show and substitute for Jack Hawkins' voice when he lost it through cancer) plays a nasty young astronaut.
The film was written by Basil Dearden, a director of repute from small-budget films like The Blue Lamp through to social dramas like Sapphire and Victim and to some spectaculars like Khartoum. The co-writer is Bryan Forbes, writer-director of many films during the 1960s, especially The Angry Silence and Séance on a Wet Afternoon.
1. A period comedy? Re-creating the end of the 50s? The interest in space exploration at the time?
2. The black and white photography, England, the training centre, Woomera, the alleged moonscapes? The musical score?
3. The title, the focus on William: in bed in the field testing for colds, his super good health, his seeing the girl walking through the field? His breezy style, his making his bookings, discussions with Harry? His being recruited by the professor? His agreement, the training, the physical exercises, the jealousy of the other astronauts, the prize money? Pole-vaulting, being in the heat compressor, in the cold? His absolute success? The meeting with the girl and the romance? The discussions with the boffins? His going to Woomera, the preparation for the blast-off? The moon walk - and his discovering the tin, his realising it was Woomera? His being prepared to face it again - but he and the family testing for colds in bed in the meadows?
4. The boffins, out of touch with reality, the professor and his cold, recruiting William? The chief, the speeches, the morale-boosting? The other astronauts, the discussions? Seeing William as expendable, disposable - but not saying it? The training, sending him off, the seeming success of the moon walk? The boffins as characters, comic types?
5. The young woman, walking through the field, the dress, the discussions, the flirtation, her getting a lift, the lorry driver destroying William's car? Her sympathy? The happy finale?
6. Harry, friendship, discussions, the professor getting Harry to help him find William?
7. The astronauts, mean-minded, Leo and his jealousy, fixing the machines - but William being successful?
8. The Australian desert, the old man in the desert, the preparations for the moon launch - and the irony of landing in Woomera?
9. The plausibility and implausibility of the plot? The picture of breezy young Englishmen of the time? The interest in science, the hopes for successful exploration of space?
