In the opening, the moon arrival of the astronauts is sometimes comically naïve. Its special effects by Ray Harryhausen, if impressive in their time, are embryonic compared with the sophisticated work to come in Star Wars (1977) and, more so, in its successors. Born in Shanghai, China, of British parents, he is thoroughly British, however, and like another Brit of similar demeanor, Michael Craig (in Mysterious Island), he is not particularly well known to American audiences.ĭespite the factual errors, the deviations from the novel and other variants, First Men in the Moon is an enjoyable, even fun movie. Judd never considered himself, as he said, “a leading man type” and preferred playing the heavy. In much the same way, Hyer, the only American in an otherwise British/Canadian/Australian cast, quickly becomes gratingly intrusive.Įdward Judd, the actual top-listed star, the supposed romantic lead, is often irritated, like the audience, by Hyer’s presence, and he doesn’t do much “romancing” or “leading” with her, except to say, “Kate!,” in exasperation, perhaps sensing she’s a script burden. Jeffries, the third-listed player in the credits, is, by far, the star of the film, given that his physical gyrations and repeated-word speech, both effected in rapid, staccato assaults, are sometimes annoying. The eccentric scientist of the book has been turned into a comic figure (Lionel Jeffries), and a woman (Martha Hyer) has been added for romantic interest, a ploy that also weakened Mysterious Island, it with two women, four years earlier.
#Cavorite crystal full
Wells’ 1901 science fiction novel, is full of astronomical errors as well as a ridiculous premise, that a painted-on chemical liquid, when dry, can negate the force of gravity. Found on a rock are a faded British Union Jack and a note: “Claimed for Her Majesty Queen Victoria in the Year of Our Lord, 1899.” Strangely, the declaration is on the back of a legal contract for the sale of a house in Dymchurch, England, signed by a Katherine Callender.įirst Men in the Moon, tenuously based on H. Three international astronauts soon discover they are not the first. In 1964, a rocket launched by the United Nations has landed on the moon. “Cavor, this is not an audience! You’re on trial!” - Arnold Bedford to Joseph Cavor
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