Runtime: 91 minutes
Directed by: Irving Pichel
Starring: John Archer, Warner Anderson, Tom Powers, Dick Wesson, Erin O'Brien-Moore
From: George Pal Productions
Because every sci-fi movie needs Woody Woodpecker, Robert A. Heinlein contributions and a prediction of Elon Musk.
Easter Sunday my entire day is free so off and on until late in the night I'll be checking out motion pictures on television. Those other reviews will be up Monday and Wednesday evening. I just finished watching this hard sci-fi film (the first American picture of its kind) on TCM; as I've known of Destination Moon for awhile I was happy to see it for free. One of the writers was the legendary author Robert A. Heinlein, which explains the hard science fiction elements. That doesn't mean there isn't a comic relief buffoon, but more on that in a bit.
The plot is that a private company launches a rocket to the moon and they'll let the United States government use their technology later. That's right, the privatization of space travel, and me thinking of Elon Musk today. Tesla automobiles are astounding feats of engineering but there are many reasons not to like him personally, whether it is his behavior on Twitter, allegations of how Tesla workers are treated, his newest kid being named Aeon Flux or whatever the F it is... but yes, the privatization of space travel is perhaps not a good thing.
Anyhow, some elements are rather dated now; for example, someone needing no training for space travel thus said buffoon (who of course has a Brooklyn accent and doesn't want to go on the journey because he doesn't believe they'll literally get off the ground... and he has “a hot date” the next night) joins the expedition and is the audience surrogate along with his “comedy”. Yet some details were actually prescient and for the low budget, the effects are good enough-at least for the time-to win an Oscar. Even with its flaws, it was still a charming good time for me. After all, Woody Woodpecker shows up for a few minutes in order to explain space travel & rocket propulsion to the audience.
No comments:
Post a Comment