I loved Rocky & Bullwinkle, and I have a fondness for a great many of the minor characters, such as Gidney and Cloyd. These were two short, green moonmen who would freeze anybody into place using their “scrooch” guns. Though equally vertically challenged, the moonmen in 1964’s First Men in the Moon are nowhere near as charming, having eyes and wings that make them most closely resemble flies. They also have more dangerous weapons, those being a staff from which they can shoot something like lightning bolts, which we see them use to collectively take down a giant caterpillar.
All of that takes place in a feature-length flashback to 1899, when Edward Judd, Lionel Jeffries and Martha Hyer undertake a voyage to our sole satellite. We see this after an opening sequence where a contemporaneous mission to the moon is conducted in spacecraft not entirely unlike the Apollo capsules and their landers. I was hoping we would see those on this U.N. mission see tiny fly-men and giant caterpillars but, alas that is not to be. What they do find, however, is a British flag and a note declaring the moon to be property of Queen Victoria. I assume we found a similar thing on the alleged first landing in 1969, but then there was the inevitable coverup.
That a bit of “wind” seems to flutter the flag shows this will not be a stickler for scientific accuracy, though it does make some remarkable steps towards doing so. I already knew something was amiss when the lander flew past the camera, and we hear a whoosh in the vacuum of space. If these are the inaccuracies in the modern-day portion of the film, I can accept that. And that is largely because the gloves will be off for the majority of the runtime when it concerns that mission on the cusp of the 20th century—gloves off so much that I doubt the picture would be willing to adhere to Queensbury Rules.
In that era, all Judd was looking for was somewhere quiet where he can write his play, and so he goes to the country cottage he inherited from his aunt. Fiancée Martha Hyer will show up in an automobile and, as if that wasn’t bold enough for that era, she will stay with Judd in that cottage. Surprisingly, Jeffries doesn’t seem taken aback by this when he arrives to buy the estate, as it is endangered by experiment he is doing nearby at his own property.
This scientist has created an anti-gravity material ala Flubber, which can be brushed like paint onto a surface and, voila, it is floating in the air. We first see this applied to the underside of a wooden chair and, given the stone pot containing the material is red hot, I fail to understand how the furniture didn’t immediately go up in flames. I guess that, in addition to gravity-defying abilities, it also has not-immediately-incinerating-antique-furniture properties. That, or old furniture is simply stronger stuff and, in that case, the time somebody reprimands me for not using a coaster, I’m going to tell them to stuff it.
The capsule for the mission is a sphere that instantly reminded me of that puzzle box from the Hellraiser series, even if that was a cube (and I know the technical name of that thing is the Lament Configuration, thank you very much). It is the kind of vessel which will make steampunk fans spray their shorts. While there is no reason to nitpick the alleged science in their flight to the moon, I was still curious about a moment where they are out of control and flying towards the sun until they abruptly aren’t, and without seemingly have done anything to change their trajectory.
I also found it interesting Judd almost immediately loses his helmet when he and Jeffries explore a passage to a subterranean world, which is when he discovers there is oxygen. Guess the real astronauts who have walked on the moon were too big of pussies to try taking off their helmets. I bet Michael Collins would have tried it, if he hadn’t been stuck in the capsule, as there is a bit in the Apollo 11 documentary where his vitals on launch reveal was so relaxed he might as well have been meditating.
The look of the underground world is interesting, though largely the kind of stuff we have already seen in similar films. But the reason to see this picture is it is in Dynamation, “the miracle of the screen”, which means it has stop-motion work by Ray Harryhausen. Most of that is the moonmen, and the creature animation is a bit less showy than I have come to expect from the man behind such features as Jason and the Argonauts. The best moment is when a high-level moonman is doing a kind of x-ray of Hyer and she becomes an animated skeleton. The creature itself is also distorted by a thick lens through which he’s seeing this.
A non-creature effect which is interesting is the alleged perpetual motion machine which looks remarkably similar to a rubber spikey ball I use to massage my back. I say “alleged”, because it stops when an eclipse occurs, so it is actually solar powered. I liked how everything else, including the moonmen, freezes in place, so I assume they are also powered by the sun. It also amuses me how often a convenient eclipse happens in this kind of fare, whether on the moon or on Earth in prehistoric times. Another unusual area of the moonmen’s operation is giant, glass tanks of various colored fluids, which Jeffries decides must be how they manufacture oxygen. Fascinating, but how did they breathe before they invented that?
Though the story is a bit slight (even when the bookending segments in the present day), the script is fairly solid. Still, I expected more complexity from the man behind the Quatermass series, rather heady sci-fi fare of TV and cinema around that time. I do see a similarity between the ancient alien invaders of Quatermass and the Pit and the fly-like moonmen of this picture.
One idea which I suspect was introduced by Kneale is Jeffries lamenting Judd killing the moonmen left and right, as the scientist wishes there had been the opportunity to communicate with these creatures. When communication is finally established, it turns out the residents of the moon aren’t planning an invasion of our planet, but are only worried we’ll invade theirs. In the end, it will turn out humans accidentally bring an end to their civilization, regardless. That this news is well-received shows where the heart of First Men in the Moon truly lies, on the side of fists over thought, and colonization regardless of the costs.
Dir: Nathan Juran
Starring Edward Judd, Martha Hyer, Lionel Jeffries
Watched on Powerhouse/Indicator blu-ray (region free)