Destination Moon Movie Review

Starring: John Archer, Warner Anderson, Tom Powers, Dick Wesson

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Review Summary

This 1950 sci-fi classic produced by George Pal is notable for its attempt to be scientifically accurate (for its time), and a striking early use of Technicolor. Four adventurers (or rather, three adventurers and a Brooklyn mechanic snagged at the last minute) take off in an experimental rocket, not sufficiently tested but in a hurry to avoid a court order that would prevent its takeoff as well as to beat the Russians. They nearly lose a guy on the way, and almost lose one or all on the moon, but everything turns out all right. The plot (based on a novel and cowritten by Robert Heinlein) is pedestrian and drags a bit -- there are long sections with no dialogue but brooding and bombastic music -- and the characters are pretty colorless and cliched. But Walter Lantz contributed a nifty Woody Woodpecker cartoon that is included early on to raise support from financiers, and Chestley Bonestell rendered a gorgeous 13-foot painting to depict the surface of the moon.
David Loftus, Resident Scholar

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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Movie
Actual chase scenes or violence - 10%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzle - 60%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30%

**Fantasy or Science Fiction?** - science fiction story
Explore/1st contact Yes
Explore plotlet: - "primitive"/present day space travel

Main Character
Identity: - Male
Profession/status: - pilot, civilian
Age: - 40's-50's
Body type - muscular (man)
Events of movie makes character more... - introspective
Ethnicity/Nationality - White (American)
How sensitive is this character? - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor? - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - average physique

Secondary Main Character
Identity: - Male
Body type - average build (man)
How much in movie? - 80%
Ethnicity/Nationality - White (American)

Main Adversary
Identity: - a deadline

Setting
Which planet? - Earth's Moon
Earth setting: - 20th Century (1950-1970)
Spaceship setting: - primative (present, near future) human spaceship
Takes place on Earth? Yes
Takes place in spaceship? Yes
Not Earth, but in Solar System? Yes
In Space? - in spacesuit

Style
Accounts of torture and death? - no torture/death
Tone of movie - upbeat
Any profanity? - None
Kinds of F/X - exotic alien landscape
If Soundtrack VERY NOTICEABLE... - Orchestra/classical
Is this movie based on a - book

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