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| Lionel Jeffries and Edward Judd |
FIRST MEN IN THE MOON (1965). Director: Nathan Juran.
In 1899 a scientist named Cavor (Lionel Jeffries) creates a substance that cancels out gravity, to which purpose he decides to fly in a sphere to the moon. His companions are greedy, bankrupt playwright, Bedford (Edward Judd), and his fiancee, Kate (Martha Hyer) who is only dragged along to save her life when she comes to confront Bedford over his nefarious financial dealings. On the moon they discover an insect-like civilization of "selenites," but while Cavor approaches these creatures with respect and scientific curiosity, Bedford is more like a bull in a china shop, creating dangerous complications.
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| a gigantic moon calf attacks |
First Men in the Moon is a very loose adaptation of the novel by H. G. Wells. It takes nearly an hour for our trio to actually reach the moon and the first half of the film is full of supposedly comical incident largely centered on Cavor, who is riotously overplayed in very tiresome fashion by a normally dependable Jeffries. Just when you think the film can't get any sillier, our voyagers literally hit the moon and the film becomes much more interesting. A highlight is the appearance of unpleasant and bad-tempered moon calves -- like gigantic caterpillars -- who go on the attack thanks to the stop-motion artistry of Ray Harryhausen. In general the FX of the film are very, very good.  |
| Jeffries and Hyer inside the moon |
There is a sub-text of Cavor's intellectual approach versus the macho meat-headedness of Bedford, but the film, determined to be as stupid as possible, sort of throws this away, dismissing the destruction of an entire civilization with a quip at the end. (Bedford was just as unlikable in Wells' novel as he is in the film). Judd plays his distasteful character adroitly, Hyer is fine as the throwaway gal who never appeared in the book, and the score -- especially the stunning theme music -- by Laurie Johnson is exceptional. Wilkie Cooper's widescreen cinematography is another plus. The story is bookended by a modern-day sequence with sixties astronauts arriving on the moon only to find a Union Jack implanted in the ground! Peter Finch has a cameo as a process server. Verdict: The moon sequences are generally quite well done, but the rest is hash. **3.4,
Have never seen this one, but have enjoyed Hyer in other films, including The Carpetbaggers. When I was a drama student at Northwestern University, our rehearsal room was named The Martha Hyer - endowed by her husband the producer Hal Wallis...
ReplyDelete- Chris
That's funny, as I don't think Hyer ever did stage work, except perhaps very early in her career.
ReplyDeleteStories like this are difficult for producers and screenwriters; the idea is fun and exciting, but like a film about a naval battle most of it is "driving the boats", or filling all the space before the brief excitement takes place. Everything you say about it is true, but the director does do pretty well in maintaining the pace, even if pedestrian, up to the point of getting to the meat of the matter on the Moon.
ReplyDeleteI still find this one more watchable than the very dull "From the Earth to the Moon" with George Sanders and Joseph Cotten. I was once told that film is more "cerebral". Maybe so, but I was just getting a dial tone from my own cerebellum the times I've watched it.
LOL, Neil! I haven't seen it in a few years but I recall "From the Earth to the Moon" was a pretty terrible picture, one of the worst Verne adaptations ever. "First Men on the Moon' is a riveting masterpiece in comparison!
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