American science fiction films from the 1950s today generally have a deservedly bad reputation. They were notorious for their low budgets, melodramatic plots, poor standards of acting and, above all, for their feeble special effects. Some of them, most notoriously "Plan 9 from Outer Space", are regularly ranked among the worst films ever made.
That was, of course, not the whole story. Hollywood was on occasions able to come up with intelligent, literate sci-fi films with decent scripts and acting; for me, "Forbidden Planet" stands out as a particularly fine example. "Destination Moon" is another example of fifties sci-fi which remains watchable today. As its title suggests, it tells the story of a manned expedition to the moon, something which of course would be accomplished in 1969, nineteen years after the film was made. No attempt is made to give a futuristic look to the scenes set on Earth, implying that the action takes place in the early fifties, but this may have been because the film-makers did not want to waste time and money creating a vision of an imaginary 1975 or 2000; they wanted to save their special effects for the moonshot itself.
The film was made during the Cold War, and as might be imagined the opportunity was not lost to make patriotic propaganda. Unlike the actual Apollo missions, the expedition is not funded by the U.S. government but by private industry, allowing the scriptwriters to sing the praises of American capitalism. It is emphasised that America must remain the dominant power in space in order to prevent a rival power from using the Moon as a military base. (This "rival power" is never named, but audiences in 1950 would have associated it with the Soviet Union). The failure of an earlier rocket launch is blamed upon sabotage; the saboteurs are never caught or identified, although again the implication is that they were working for the Soviets. After the rocket is launched, however, the political propaganda is largely dropped. The astronauts have to cope with a number of hazards during their journey, but Russian sabotage is not one of them.
Some of the film's predictions about space travel have been borne out, others have not. The spaceship shown in the film is a single-stage-to-orbit atomic powered rocket. The Apollo moonshots used chemical propulsion and multi-stage rockets, and even today, more than fifty years on, nuclear propulsion and single-stage rockets remain possibilities for the future rather than something actually accomplished. The film did. however, correctly predict the possibility of astronauts walking in space.
Ever since 1969, it has been impossible to avoid seeing this film in terms of "what did they get right and what did they get wrong?" That, of course, was not in the spirit in which it was made. It was made to inspire people with the idea that space travel was a real possibility which lay just around the corner, not just some wild idea dreamed up so that pulp novelists and hack screenwriters could pen exciting but implausible tales of adventure. And "Destination Moon" certainly is exciting, particularly towards the end when it seems that the crew will not have enough fuel to bring them all safely back to Earth. But, unlike most of the sci-fi movies that had preceded it, and unlike many of those that would come after it, this one is far from implausible. It does not quite have the depth and complexity of "Forbidden Planet", but it is certainly one of the better science fiction films of its time. 7/10
That was, of course, not the whole story. Hollywood was on occasions able to come up with intelligent, literate sci-fi films with decent scripts and acting; for me, "Forbidden Planet" stands out as a particularly fine example. "Destination Moon" is another example of fifties sci-fi which remains watchable today. As its title suggests, it tells the story of a manned expedition to the moon, something which of course would be accomplished in 1969, nineteen years after the film was made. No attempt is made to give a futuristic look to the scenes set on Earth, implying that the action takes place in the early fifties, but this may have been because the film-makers did not want to waste time and money creating a vision of an imaginary 1975 or 2000; they wanted to save their special effects for the moonshot itself.
The film was made during the Cold War, and as might be imagined the opportunity was not lost to make patriotic propaganda. Unlike the actual Apollo missions, the expedition is not funded by the U.S. government but by private industry, allowing the scriptwriters to sing the praises of American capitalism. It is emphasised that America must remain the dominant power in space in order to prevent a rival power from using the Moon as a military base. (This "rival power" is never named, but audiences in 1950 would have associated it with the Soviet Union). The failure of an earlier rocket launch is blamed upon sabotage; the saboteurs are never caught or identified, although again the implication is that they were working for the Soviets. After the rocket is launched, however, the political propaganda is largely dropped. The astronauts have to cope with a number of hazards during their journey, but Russian sabotage is not one of them.
Some of the film's predictions about space travel have been borne out, others have not. The spaceship shown in the film is a single-stage-to-orbit atomic powered rocket. The Apollo moonshots used chemical propulsion and multi-stage rockets, and even today, more than fifty years on, nuclear propulsion and single-stage rockets remain possibilities for the future rather than something actually accomplished. The film did. however, correctly predict the possibility of astronauts walking in space.
Ever since 1969, it has been impossible to avoid seeing this film in terms of "what did they get right and what did they get wrong?" That, of course, was not in the spirit in which it was made. It was made to inspire people with the idea that space travel was a real possibility which lay just around the corner, not just some wild idea dreamed up so that pulp novelists and hack screenwriters could pen exciting but implausible tales of adventure. And "Destination Moon" certainly is exciting, particularly towards the end when it seems that the crew will not have enough fuel to bring them all safely back to Earth. But, unlike most of the sci-fi movies that had preceded it, and unlike many of those that would come after it, this one is far from implausible. It does not quite have the depth and complexity of "Forbidden Planet", but it is certainly one of the better science fiction films of its time. 7/10