Destination Moon (1950) – Review

It was back in 1902 when Georges Méliès adapted Jules Verne’s novel “From the Earth to the Moon” to the big screen for his short film A Trip to the Moon that the idea of bringing science fiction works of literary greats had truly begun – though I’m betting the “Man in the Moon” getting hit in the literal eye with a space capsule wasn’t quite what Verne had envisioned – and with advances in cinema technology filmmakers were able to truly explore that Final Frontier. Enter legendary producer George Pal who would team up with sci-fi author Robert A. Heinlein to create the first attempt at a practical and scientifically based journey to the Moon.

Throughout the 30s and 40s when it came to science fiction stories dealing with space travel audiences had to settle for the likes of the Flash Gordon serials for otherworldly adventures, which were a lot of fun but not all that realistic, but in the 1950s the public interest in space travel and new technologies had grown to such heights that Hollywood was quick to take notice and would begin what is known as the golden age of science fiction films. With Destination Moon the filmmakers took an interesting take on the “Space Race” by having a group of patriotic U.S. industrialists step up to fund a space program after government funding collapsed due to sabotage that caused a rocket test to fail, of course, five years after this movie premiered the real Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union would begin in earnest, but what is weird is that in the film space enthusiast General Thayer (Tom Powers) points out to potential investors that “The first country that can use the Moon for the launching of missiles…will control the Earth” and sure, that sounds bad and very scary but in retrospect, we know that the Moon never became a launching point for missiles, at least not that I’m aware of, but beating the Soviets into space was a big deal at the time so the idea of the United States government not wanting to be involved because of the expense was a bit ridiculous.  Even a cartoon bird could understand that.

Trivia: George Pal and animation legend Walter Lantz were good friends and thus Pal tried to include Woody Woodpecker in all his films and with Destination Moon that cameo came in the form of a cartoon that was used to help sell the idea of space travel to investors. Funnily enough, later that very cartoon was updated and used by NASA to explain space travel to the public, how cool is that?

As a science-fiction entry that dealt with space travel Destination Moon was rather unique as it didn’t rely on alien encounters such as giant spiders on the Moon or a lost civilization to capture its viewer’s imagination, instead, it focused on not only the challenges of creating a functional rocket ship but the dangers such a journey into space would actually entail. Who needs Ming the Merciless for drama when stepping outside your ship could kill just as easily? The film isn’t very plot-heavy as it simply follows a small group of men who try and pull off this amazing achievement, first, we have rocket designer Dr. Charles Cargraves (Warner Anderson) and his pal General Thayer, who though worried about the Commies the Soviet Union is never mentioned by name, and then we have aircraft magnate Jim Barnes (John Archer) who becomes the rallying point for all the other U.S. industrialists.

“Just think of all the casinos and hotels we can build on the moon.”

The project is soon threatened by manufactured public opinion over the perceived danger of radiation surrounding the rocket, such negative propaganda the film hints could be originating from a foreign power, and thus our intrepid space travellers must quickly move up their launch date from months away to mere hours. To complicate things even further the expedition’s radar and radio operator (Ted Warde) is suddenly sent to the hospital with appendicitis – there is no mention if this was somehow how also caused by the Commies – and so Barnes and Cargraves have to convince a very skeptical Brooklynn born Joe Sweeney (Dick Wesson), who helped install all that equipment, to make the trip with them. Needless to say, this Brooklynite isn’t too keen on the idea but is eventually convinced to tag along, mostly because he doesn’t believe the rocket will ever lift off at all, and his comic shenanigans provide all of the film’s comedic moments, and I use “comedic” in the broadest sense of the word. What follows is some pretty thrilling stuff and George Pal, along with director Irving Pichel, do a great job at illustrating not only the dangers of space travel but the excitement of such a venture, and as this was the early 50s we can’t expect them to be all that scientifically accurate but it’s clear that they were doing the best to create a somewhat realistic take on space travel with the information they had at the time.

Note: The idea of a single-stage rocket launching from Earth, landing on the Moon and then safely returning to Earth was something aerospace engineers like Wernher von Braun believed for years.

Stray Observations:

• This film began the long-standing tradition of having one comic relief crew member aboard the ship coming from either Brooklyn or Texas.
• They decide to construct the ship out of titanium, due to it being a lighter metal, but this would negate the ability to later use their magnetic boots as titanium is non-magnetic.
• The ship’s propulsion is furnished through a nuclear reactor, which produces extremely high-pressure steam, but then why do we see sparks and flames during lift-off and not steam?
• When they go out to fix the ship’s frozen antennae one of the crewmembers has to be rescued from drifting away off into space but after he’s saved we don’t find out how the antennae got fixed. Did kindly space elves finish the job?
• In Robert Heinlein’s original shorty story three teenage boys find a hidden Nazi base on the Moon but that element was clearly abandoned in the earlier scriptwriting stage. *sigh* Am I wrong for wishing the Brooklyn guy had a chance to punch a Nazi?
• The crew are outfitted with brightly coloured spacesuits so that they won’t get lost on the drab surface of the moon, but how lost could you get on a barren landscape?

“Okay guys, don’t forget where we parked.”

One of the most notable aspects of Destination Moon is the absence of women, aside from the brief appearance of Cargrave’s wife women are not featured in this film and are certainly not part of this mission to the Moon which, sadly, was fairly accurate as NASA didn’t put a woman into space until the mid-80s.  On the plus side, the lack of women in this film is a little better than when women did appear in science fiction films as throughout the 50s and 60s women were mostly around to bring the men coffee or scream hysterically at creepy aliens.  Robert Heinlein’s next feature film Project Moonbase would simply be littered with the kind of sexism that would plague the genre for decades to come, so their absence here is kind of a mixed blessing. Setting aside the film’s lack of a sexual balanced script it should be noted that Destination Moon was also the first Technicolor expedition into space and George Pal and company did a bang-up job in their attempt at making a serious and scientifically accurate film and it looks fantastic, sure, viewed today some elements will seem rather quaint if not outright comical but that shouldn’t negate the importance of this film nor its place in science fiction history, without a film like Destination Moon would he have gotten Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey?

Note: This film used matte paintings by noted astronomical artist Chesley Bonestell and his panoramic views of the lunar landscape are simply gorgeous and for these alone, this is a movie worth checking out.