Film Review | First Men In The Moon

Released: 1964
Starring: Edward Judd, Martha Hyer, Lionel Jeffries
Director: Nathan H. Juran
Distributed by: Columbia Pictures

“H.G. Wells’ Astounding Adventure in Dynamation!”

Based on H.G. Wells’ novel, First Men In The Moon follows the adventure of a down on his luck businessman, Arnold Bedford (Edward Judd; The Day The Earth Caught Fire, Island of Terror), as he befriends a neighboring inventor, Joseph Cavor (Lionel Jeffries; Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang, Murder Ahoy!). Cavor has created a new substance that has the ability to block the force of gravity. Bedford cons his way into becoming Cavor’s partner, seeing the invention as a potential pot of gold. Bedford’s fiance, Katherine Callender (Martha Hyer; Some Came Running, Houseboat), lives with Bedford and eventually is tricked into becoming an accomplice of the con. When Cavor and Bedford decide to travel to the moon to test out Cavor’s invention (called Cavorite), Kate becomes an unwilling passenger on their ship and all three are launched to the moon and a wild adventure.

First Men In The Moon is good old-fashion fun. You get to experience a world where the moon is inhabited by lifeforms completely alien to us. A mere 5 years after this movie came out, the U.S.A. launched their Apollo 11 mission and mankind actually made it to the moon. Even with our knowledge of a lifeless moon, this movie is still fun to watch and may even give some viewers a sense of wishful thinking. How different would our world be with the discovery of intelligent life on the moon?

Unfortunately, the effects have not aged that well, but they are still surprisingly good compared to films that were released around this time. The moon is inhabited by only a few different creatures with the main ones being Selenites. They are insectoid beings that form the main society of the planet. These aliens are represented by a combination of stop-motion animation and people in costumes. Guess which one looks better? That’s right. The people in costume look particularly bad in this movie and break you right out of the moment. The Ray Harryhausen stop-motion animated creatures, while still not good compared to some of Harryhausen’s other films or what has been achieved in more recent time, are much better visually than the suits. Their thin insect design would never have been possible at that time without this special effect style (hence the ridiculous people in costumes). Another creature of the moon that is worth mentioning is the mooncalf (a giant caterpillar-like creature). When this creature is introduced, it quickly chases after the main characters before being killed by the Selenites. All this action is done through the use of stop-motion animation and Harryhausen’s Dynamation (a process of splitting the film to have live action mix with stop-motion animation) and it probably is the best looking thing in First Men In The Moon.

I also love the all the landscapes and settings for this movie. From the quaint English countryside setting on Earth all the way to the moon’s surface and underground world. It all looks straight out of someone’s imagination. The moon settings are never just hinted at or shown in quick shots so you can’t tell that they are paintings or models. They are held in decently long shots. This really gives a great picture of the alien world that the characters are stumbling through. It would have been a detriment to First Men In The Moon if all you saw were tight shots that looked like they were filmed at a rock quarry instead of the moon.

On to the actors! Lionel Jeffries (who seems to constantly play characters older than he actually was) being cast to portray the eccentric inventor Joseph Cavor was perfect. He gives the audience a great balance of intelligence and humor, but still pulls out the dramatic chops when he has an audience with the leader of the Selenites. For him alone the film is worth a watch. However, Edward Judd and Martha Hyer both deliver strong performances and they have good chemistry on screen.

Modern audiences who have seen the caliber of effects at levels of Alien, The Avengers, Jurassic Park, and other modern movies may have a hard time getting into this movie. But, if they can get past that, they should give First Men In The Moon a watch. The story is fun and even exciting at some points. And, without innovators like Harryhausen, we wouldn’t have the animatronics of Jurassic Park, the C.G.I. of the Hulk in The Avengers, or the even the magic of A Nightmare Before Christmas.

Rating:

Jack Savage:

While not Harryhausen’s best work, this is still a fun film for a science-fiction or a stop-motion fan. However, a lot of viewers may find the plot a little on the boring side, the effects very dated and it’s only redeeming quality being Lionel Jeffries’ acting.