Watch Destination Moon online, or on DVD (1950)

Destination Moon

1950

Overall rating: 3 out of 5

from 323 members

Available on LOVEFiLM Instant for 42 more days

Enduringly fascinating, Destination Moon takes you back in time to before the Space Age for a trip to the moon the way it should be done. You ll ride in a cigar-shaped rocket, wear a bubble-headed spacesuit, walk in space and worry how you're all going to get home on the remaining fuel. Although accurate to a remarkable degree, actual spaceflight turned out to be much more complex, but much less stylish. Destination Moon holds the honour of being the very first film of the 1950's science fiction craze. With a notable pedigree including George Pal (War of the Worlds, Tom Thumb, The Time Machine), a story by Robert Heinlein and perhaps the real star of the film, astronomical art by noted artist and designer Chelsey Bonestell, Destination Moon remains groundbreaking and hard-core science fiction. Pal consulted scientists and engineers to bring an authentic feel to the picture and there s actually little to no fantasy in it at all. Even 2001 ventures outside the known reality of space to embrace fanciful alien higher intelligences. Luna, Destination Moon s sleekly beautiful spaceship, with its cigar-shape contours and Cadillac fins set the style for how these craft should look and its takeoff cemented the reverse countdown into the public consciousness and later into reality. When man actually did land on the moon 19 years later the parallels were eerie. Not only were the basic flight mechanics similar, but Destination Moon had predicted Apollo 11's last minute adjustments to find a suitable landing site whilst running low on fuel. The Luna voyagers set foot on the moon and claim it in a speech later echoed by Neil Armstrong. Having set the scene, the science fiction films that followed, including Pal's own When Worlds Collide, got straight on with the horror and aliens. Destination Moon had done the job of educating the audiences.

Destination Moon details

Formats:	U DVD, LOVEFiLM Instant
Starring:	John Archer, Tom Powers, Dick Wesson, Erin O'Brien-Moore
Director:	Irving Pichel
Genres:	Action/Adventure - General, Sci-Fi/Fantasy - Fantasy - General
Studio:	CORNERSTONE MEDIA
Collections:	Award Nominees & Winners, Award Winners, Award Winners & Nominees, Oscar Winners, Spaced Out

Title	Runtime	Certificate
Destination Moon	1hr 27 mins	U

LOVEFiLM Instant Information

Run time:	1 hour 27 minutes
Rental release:	To be confirmed

Name	Discs
Destination Moon	U Feature

DVD Information

Run time:	1 hour 31 minutes
Rental release:	26 Jun 2006
Main languages:	English

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Most helpful review Destination Moon

classic sci-fi stuff

By D. Fortin from Edinburgh , 22 Nov 2006

[Highly rated reviewer]

the effects won't thrill, nor will the narrative shock. in fact, it isn't all that entertaining - but - if you are a sf fan, it is a must to see. placing it in it's historical context, this film is as pure as a 'hard' sf as you will find. filled with all the promise of science and futurism and chelsey bonestall's evocative moon renderings, it is definitely worthy of a watch. it is a classic.
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A Heinlein film

By a customer , 10 Jun 2011

This is certainly a film of it's time. But, it is also a film that was essentially written by the American sci-fi writer Robert A. Heinlein. It isn't surprising as a result that the moon shot of the film is not a government programme, but one undertaken by private companies. There are some Cold War aspects that seem just as silly as the effects, but if the eventual NASA moon landing is of interest, or geo-politics in the 1950s, this film says and does a lot to explain it.
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Destination Moon

By standardman (90 reviews) from Littleborough , 18 Aug 2009

Interesting Moon landing film made 19 years before the moon landing. Some parts are startlingly accurate and some - of course - aren't. Some laughable nationalism but a well researched movie, ahead of it's time.
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Way ahead of it's time

By spock140 (74 reviews) from UK , 12 Aug 2009

George Pal's Destination Moon was recommended to me. Boy! am I glad it was.

This film has a typical 1950's look at the American rationale for space - to win the war not yet happening - but it might!

The special effects are by todays standards laughable. However, this film conveys the technical hopes and aspirations of the world in 1950. The Moon was only a short distance. Use Atomic power to get there - easy!

No need for bulky pressure suits with golden sun shields - just put a glorified goldfish bowl on your head with a padded boiler suit and you're away.

I love the science fact that the screenwriters got into the film, most of it correct and even some correct glimses of a future they didn't know.

Watch this film as it should be - ignore the special effects and revel in a truly great piece of sci-fi
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nostalgic

By JGW321 (10 reviews) from Chelmsford , 17 May 2009

Doesn't compare with modern CGI in its impact but, considering when it was made and the techniques they used then, a comendable piece of Sci Fi. I remember seeing this at the cinema nearly 60 years ago. You just have to put your mind set back to that era, when the British Interplanetary Society was better known than NASA.
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Destination Moon

By a customer from Macclesfield , 05 Sep 2008

Not a bad effort at predicting the future. For film buffs only.
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