FIRST MEN IN THE MOON (1964, UK, 103m, U) ***
Adventure, Sci-Fi
dist. Columbia Pictures; pr co. Columbia Pictures / Charles H. Schneer Productions; d. Nathan Juran; w. Nigel Kneale, Jan Read (from the original story by H.G. Wells); pr. Charles H. Schneer; ph. Wilkie Cooper (LunaColor | 2.35:1; 2.20:1 (70mm prints)); m. Laurie Johnson; ed. Maurice Rootes; ad. John Blezard; vfx. Ray Harryhausen.
cast: Edward Judd (Arnold Bedford), Martha Hyer (Kate Callender), Lionel Jeffries (Prof. Joseph Cavor), Miles Malleson (Dymchurch Registrar), Norman Bird (Stuart), Gladys Henson (Nursing Home Matron), Hugh McDermott (Richard Challis), Betty McDowall (Margaret Hoy), Erik Chitty (Gibbs, Cavor’s Hired Man (uncredited)), Peter Finch (Bailiff’s Man (uncredited)), Laurence Herder (Glushkov, UN Space Agency (uncredited)), Douglas Ives (Sparks (uncredited)), Sean Kelly (Col. Rice, Moon Landing Crew (uncredited)), Marne Maitland (Dr. Tok, UN Space Agency (uncredited)), Terry Marison (Selenite (uncredited)), Mary Maxfield (Nurse (uncredited)), Gordon Robinson (Sgt. Andrew Martin, Moon Landing Crew (uncredited)), John Murray Scott (Cosmonaut Nevsky, Moon Landing Crew (uncredited)), Brook Williams (British Astronaut (uncredited)).
A colourful but frenetic fantasy adventure told in flashback when in 1899, Joseph Cavor (Jeffries), a brilliant and eccentric British scientist, creates his own spacecraft and takes a trip to the moon, accompanied by explorers Arnold Bedford (Judd) and Kate Callender (Hyer). After landing, they encounter an insect-like alien race that lives under the moon’s surface, which has an air-like atmosphere. After glimpsing the extraterrestrial society, the group must soon escape back to Earth. Whilst the film gets stuck narratively in its first half and Harryhausen’s visual effects work is unusually variable, there is still much to enjoy in the spirited performances of the cast and the imaginative art direction. Previously filmed in 1919 and remade for TV in 2010.
