Jim Barnes, Dr. Cargraves, General Thayer and Joe Sweeny take a fantastic trip to the moon. After failed attempts to launch a rocket, General Thayer convinces Jim Barnes (head of an airplane manufacture) that the United States must be the first to get to the moon (“The rocket is the absolute necessity. If any other power gets one out into space before we do, we will no longer be the United States, we will be the disunited world.”). With the help of Woody Wood Pecker, Barnes and Thayer convince other industrialist to invest in their adventure.
They build their rocket in White Sands, New Mexico and before anyone can stop them, they launch! After some small mechanical problems and a thrilling space walk the crew almost crashes on the moon. With too much fuel spent on their landing, the adventure begins. How does the heroic crew make it back to Earth?
The special effects aren’t too bad for a movie made in 1950. They simulated G-forces from take off, weightlessness and a spacewalk. The movie did try to keep some scientific facts straight like pauses during communication with Earth, barren airless moon and low gravity on the moon. There are no aliens, Amazon women or rocks with numbers on them.
Co-written by Robert A. Heinlein and loosely based on his novel “Rocketship Galileo”. A fun fact: “Rocketship Galileo” was rejected due to the idea of going to the moon being too far fetched. Other movies based on Heinlein novels are “Puppet Master” and “Starship Troopers”.
This film won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects and nominated for Best Art Direction – Color.
Memorable line: “No beer, no babes, no baseball.“
Recommended!
Director: Irving Pichel (also the narrator for the Woody Wood Pecker cartoon).
Jim Barnes: John Archer (King of the Zombies, Command & Conquer: Red Alert – Voice)
Dr. Charles Cargraves: Warner Anderson (Song of the Thin Man)
General Thayer: Tom Powers (Angel and the Bad Man, Double Indemnity)
Joe Sweeney: Dick Wesson