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Destination Moon

1950, Movie, NR, 91 mins

Destination Moon: Review

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Archer, Anderson, Wesson, and Powers rocket to the moon but find they haven't enough fuel to lift off again. They jettison everything they can but are still too heavy. Wesson decides to sacrifice himself but Archer figures out a way to get along without their heavy pressure suits and so they lift off to safety. Superficially a routine, even dull, science fiction film, this one was actually the most important contribution to the genre of the 1950s. Producer Pal and director Pichel tried to make the film as realistic as possible to distance it from the "Flash Gordon" tradition of the genre. Robert Heinlein co-scripted the screenplay, based on his novel, and Walter Lantz contributed a Woody Woodpecker cartoon that explains rocket theory. A major success, both critical and popular, that won an Oscar for special effects (it was also nominated for Best Art Direction). For the most part, the predictions made in the film were remarkably prophetic, down to the realistically conceived moonscape by astronomical painter Chesley Bonestell and designer Ernst Fegte, which took one hundred men more than two months to build. Unfortunately, the production was marred by script quarrels with backers who were afraid the film would flop unless changes were made. Producer Pal fought against them and won, achieving, if a curiously flat film, an important step in the genre's evolution. leave a comment
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