Obviously, this movie does not have a trailer, so I have included the entire film.
Released: 1902
Cast: Georges Melies, Bleuette Bernon, Francois Lallement, Henri Delannoy
SUMMARY: During a meeting of a group of astronomers, the leader (Georges Melies) proposes a trip to the moon. Although many of the astronomers are opposed to the idea, several others volunteer to go along. To get to the moon, the men order the construction of a giant, hollow bullet, which they will ride inside, as well as a giant cannon to shoot the bullet to the moon. On the day of their departure, with much fanfare, the men climb into the bullet, are pushed into the cannon, and are then launched. The giant bullet crashes directly into the moon (into the right eye of the “Man in the Moon”). The men excitedly climb out and examine their surroundings, and are even able to see the Earth from their position. At this point, they all bring out blankets and go to sleep; many faces appear in the night sky, in both the planets and stars that appear. When a snowstorm starts, the men are awoken and driven into a cave, which looks like an underground jungle. When one of the men sticks his umbrella in the ground, it becomes a plant. Suddenly, some sort of native man appears and begins threatening the astronomers. However, the men quickly realize that if hit, the native will seemingly explode. More and more of the natives arrive, and eventually they capture the astronomers. They are then taken before the native king. One of the astronomers, fed up with things, bodily throws the king off his throne, causing him to explode; the entire group then takes off running for their “ship”. All but one get inside the bullet; the last one hangs on the end of a rope attached to the nose of the bullet. This along, with a push from the natives, forces the bullet off the moon, and it falls back to Earth, where it lands in the ocean. Once rescued, the men become heroes, and the captured native that they bring back with them becomes a major attraction.
MY TAKE: I know why this movie is on the list – it was made in 1902, for pity’s sake. This was only 37 years after the end of the Civil War, and before either World War. The Wright brothers hadn’t flown their airplane yet, and penicillin hadn’t been discovered. Perhaps most notably, men didn’t really land on the moon for another 67 years. Basically, it’s a landmark. It really started the trend of narrative filmmaking, and the special effects that are used were really amazing for the time. From a purely entertainment standpoint, it’s nothing special. It’s only about 13 minutes long, so there’s not enough time for a real story to develop. The plot is rather funny, since they obviously knew next to nothing about the moon – they don’t wear spacesuits but have no problem breathing, don’t experience a loss of gravity, encounter an alien life form, and manage to literally fall off the moon (calling into question that whole gravity thing). Oh, and it snows on the moon. The other thing I really noticed about this movie is that it’s filmed very much like a stage play – the camera is stationary, and never zooms in or out. To compensate, the scenery is sometimes manually shifted, just like in a play. There’s also the typical “chorus” found in plays – the group of girls that keep showing up everywhere. Disregarding the film quality, this made it really clear to me that this is a very early film, and that film styles had really not developed yet. Still, given the time that it was made, and the technology used to make it, it’s pretty incredible.
RATING: Important but not overly interesting.
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