Sadly Over-hyped

Don't Believe the Hype

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Though the title conjures up a great sense of sci-fi wonder and excitement, the effect viewed today is almost entirely comical. Wells was a visionary writer with a keen imagination for other worldly environs, but the technology of the era wasn't yet capable of achieving the kind of special effects we expect in out entertainment today. When the intrepid crew of Professor Cavor's (Lionel Jeffries) home made space sphere lands on the moon, they are quite unprepared to deal with the inhabitants of 'an empire Caesar never dreamed of'.Still, one can have some fun with the elements introduced in the story, chief among them the idea of 'cavorite', a metallic paste invented by it's namesake that negates the force of gravity and propels the professor, Arnold Bedford (Edward Judd) and his fiancée Kate Callender (Martha Hyer) on their fanciful mission. It's always amazed me how much modern day astronauts resemble men in diving suits; one doesn't automatically connect the idea to real life underwater explorers. Quite conveniently, Cavor and Bedford find quick justification for ditching their helmets so they can move around and communicate more freely. The idea that they wore no gloves seemed a little bizarre, but no more so than what was to follow.At least the Martian landscape and subterranean caves were scenic ones. With some poetic license the film makers produced a colorful environment for the moon's inhabitants, a race of ant-like creatures called Selenites, and replete with lunar monster caterpillars requiring the skill of a Harryhausen to create. Cavor is entirely entranced by this race of creatures to the scorn of his traveling companion, who at one point states "I haven't got your boundless confidence in the insects".With the movie's release preceding the Star Trek television show by a scant three years, there was a comment made by Cavor's lab assistant early in the story that might have resonated with that series' writers. Perhaps foreseeing the future role of Enterprise medical officer Dr. McCoy, assistant Gibbs (Erik Chitty), upon his employer's request to fire up the furnace for the cavorite, remarks "I'm a metal worker, not a stoker". If I wasn't paying attention I would have missed it; that was just a great line that no one at the time would have imagined would be repeated in one form or another a dozen more times in a future TV show.In any event, this is probably one of those early sci-fi films one needs to see at least once, if for nothing more than to better appreciate the humble beginnings of the outer space film genre. Why even the opening credits makes mention of the fact that the picture was filmed in 'Luna Color', so if you don't know what that is, you owe yourself the opportunity to discover what it's all about.

A 1964 moon landing discovers they were not the first men to arrive there. Turns out there was an 1899 expedition to the moon. Upon investigating, they find the only living member (Edward Judd) of that voyage. He tells the tale of how he and his fiancée (Martha Hyer) accompanied brilliant scientist Professor Cavor (Lionel Jeffries) to the moon through use of a special gravity-defying substance called Cavorite. Once there, they encounter an insectoid race of creatures known as Selenites. It's a fun old-fashioned sci-fi adventure. Beautiful sets, great Ray Harryhausen special effects and a script by venerable Nigel Kneale, adapted from the story by H.G. Wells. Most of Wells' social commentary is absent from the film. Some of it is still present, particularly in one of the film's best scenes -- Cavor's talk with the leader of the Selenites, the Grand Lunar.

FMITM can't be compared to Ray Harryhausen's best films like Jason And The Argonauts or Mysterious Island, but this version of H.G. Wells' ingenious novel, while simplifying much of the story, is an engaging little sci-fi fantasy in the main: the sort of fantasy movie they used to make before Star Wars came out! It concerns, of course, Lionel Jeffries' eccentric Professor Cavor and his anti-gravity substance Cavorite. Falling in with Edward Judd's rascally Bedford and his accidentally along for the ride fiancée Kate (Martha Hyer), Cavor undertakes a trip to the moon, discovering an alien race of insects named The Selenites, who seem to behave perfectly reasonably towards the invaders considering numbers of them are pushed into caverns or shot!Indeed, the irony of this is surely unintended: we are meant to look upon the intrepid adventurers as heroes! Most of the time the Selenites are played by child actors in insect costumes, slightly reminiscent of screen-writer Nigel Kneale's Martians from Quatermass; however the leader-insects are superbly rendered by Harryhausen's stop-motion genius.In truth, the performances of the actors are irritating, particularly - and surprisingly given his talent - Jeffries. But the movie looks good, provides Disney-style entertainment, and never outstays it's welcome. It's a good family movie, with enough cheese to cover the surface of the moon!

Once Ray Harryhausen hit his stride with Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, he practically never looked back. First Men In The Moon was a bit of a hiccup.It's not an unsuccessful movie as such, but it's not terribly successful as a vehicle for Harryhausen's particular artistry, and this is because there isn't a great deal of opportunity for the type of effects sequence in which he specialised.It is an adaptation of HG Wells' story about an eccentric inventor who invents an anti-gravity substance which he paints on a sphere which becomes the vehicle for his moon trip, framed with a non-Wells (then-)contemporary sequence. Lionel Jeffries plays inventor Cavor very well: it is not his fault that the character, as written, is profoundly irritating. Edward Judd has more luck (but not much) as impetuous everyman Bedford, and Martha Hyer is called upon to stay there where it's safe a lot.Set design is terrific, physical effects are fine, but Harryhausen's work seems a little lacklustre, perhaps due to the technical difficulties encountered in readying effects for the widescreen format used: there are even moments when you notice sub-par registration of different elements in an effects shot.Not a failure, but not wonderful either.