Rent First Men in the Moon (1964)

Far Out. - First Men in the Moon review by Steve

A quick glance at the credits promises so much. This is based on the 1901 novel by UK sci-fi pioneer, HG Wells, and scripted by Nigel Kneale, who created Quatermass for the BBC. There's Hollywood money on board, and a cast of popular stars. Plus SFX by stop-motion legend Ray Harryhausen. And it's in Technicolor. The score is by Laurie Johnson who composed the Avengers theme!

But it's a disappointment; while this is competently made, it's a child friendly blockbuster and that audience no longer exists for a film with pre-CGI effects. If this was a sincere adaptation of Wells' space dystopia, then it might still appeal to genre buffs. But sci-fi nerds aren't likely to sit still for Lionel Jeffries doing his comical schtick as the madcap inventor of a Victorian spaceship.

And though Edward Judd is in many sci-fi classics, this isn't one of them. He plays the business partner who floats to the moon with the Prof while his reproachful fiancée (Martha Hyer) comes along by accident, with her chickens. In the lunar caverns they are taken captive by giant insects, which aren't among Harryhausen's best animations and otherwise are kids in rubber suits.

It was made soon after JFK announced the Apollo project, but it squanders any topicality by being staged in the time period of the novel. Director Nathan Juran was a set designer by trade, and there's some interest in the steampunk spaceship, and lunar backgrounds, which may have influenced artwork for '70s prog rock albums. So perhaps its appeal now is to fans of psychedelia...