First Men in the Moon
                                                                                                                          
Director: Nathan Juran
Year: 1964
Rating: 7.0
Ray Harryhausen had wanted to adapt H. G. Wells 1900 novel The First Men in the Moon to the screen for years, but his long-time producer Charles Schneer had been against the idea. Well's novel is very imaginative if quite fanciful with little scientific merit. But that was not his intention. Wells used his novels such as The Invisible Man, The Time Machine, The Island of Dr. Moreau and The War of the Worlds to both entertain and be critical of certain aspects of society and science. Schneer didn't like the Victorian setting and thought the exploration of space had come too far since 1900, but when Nigel Kneale agreed to write the script and add a modern beginning and end, he relented. Kneale was behind the Quatermass movies. They brought on Nathan Juran to direct. Juran had helmed a few fantasy films; The Deadly Mantis, 20 Million Miles to Earth, The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad.




It is a fun little film that in the first half is basically comedic, but which turns suspenseful and creepy in the second half. There is the usual Harryhausen magic though the set designers also have to be credited. As in many of the fantasy films of Verne, the film brings in a female who was not in the book. She really doesn't add much, but there had to be a romance and the female in peril angle. Lionel Jeffries plays the scientist Cavor with his usual eccentric babbling stream of dialogue. He has invented Cavorite that enables an object when painted with it to defy gravity. His neighbor Bedford played by Edward Judd who is on the verge of going broke sees this as an opportunity to make money. Cavor has built a spherical capsule that he thinks will take them to the moon.




But first, the preamble to all this. In the future men land on the moon and the world breaks into celebration. Then the astronauts discover a British flag and a piece of paper claiming the moon for Queen Victoria. Back on earth, they find a very old Bedford and he tells his tale. The Cavorite works splendidly and the three of them - Bedford's fiancé (Martha Hyer) - all go to the moon. In no time at all. The two men explore, leave the flag and then come upon an underground society. The Selenites, an intelligent regimented insect like population (played by children). And a giant caterpillar creature with claws. Cavor is fascinated and wants to learn more, to communicate with them while Bedford who kills a few of them just wants to go home. They come across solar power and their leader who wants to know more about earth. Well, there is war, destruction, killing. Why? We just do. In the book, Wells spends time writing about the society; everyone has specific tasks to carry out and when that is done, they go to sleep till needed again. Efficiency. The film looks great, wonderful designs and Harryhausen gets to add one more creature to his portfolio. Ah, the way sci-fi films used to be made.