Destination Moon (1950)

"I know one thing: unless these pills work, space travel isn't going to be popular."


Nineteen years before man would eventually step foot on the moon producer George Pal and director Irving Pichel created a film precisely about such a thing. Destination Moon is one of the earliest attempts at showing space travel in such detail and at such a high level of technicality.

The plot is quite basic; the United States of America wish to build a rocket ship that will send them to the moon in order to gain the upper hand in space strategy (which seems to clearly preempt the Space Race which began in 1957.) Despite getting some things just plain wrong (such as the failure to realise that it would take weeks and not hours to get the moon) the film depicts quite well the build up leading up to sending a rocket ship in to space.

The highlight of the film is without doubt the short animated cartoon featuring Woody Woodpecker who acts as the pessimist, arguing that the moon cannot be reached, whilst constantly being told the contrary by the unseen teacher figure that believes it can, providing reasons for his belief which slowly convert Woody into changing his mind.


In an attempt to make the film have a more engaging plot other than simply a straightforward trip to the moon and back, upon landing on the moon the crew discover that they have used up too much fuel on the outbound journey and must lighten the load in order to make it back. To the modern day viewer it is all a bit cliched but it does add a little bit of substance to an otherwise thin plot.

As a film it felt like a lesson. It felt like I was being taught at. Trouble is, the basic things I was being taught (which would have been unknown to the 1950s viewer) are, in 2009, fairly common knowledge. It is a film in which the idea is terribly dated but this was also going to be the case, it was, in a sense, unavoidable. When you are the first film makers to attempt to show what space travel is like, you will always be outdone in future years. As a science fiction film it is weak purely because so much more has been done since 1950. Even producer George Pal has outdone himself with The War of the Worlds which he produced only three years later.

However, I want to avoid being too downhearted. The film is a landmark in cinema, should be viewed purely for it's place in history and will appeal tenfold to the most die-hard of science fiction fans. It won an Oscar for Visual Effects and this is no surprise at all. Considering they are now 59 years old they still look quite good even if they do not accurately depict what the surface of the moon does actually look like. I only wish that I could have been around to see this as a 1950's, "surely we cannot get man to the moon!?" viewer, a time when even the simple idea of space travel was still supremely novel. I am sure back then I would have been in awe. But there have been so many better, more accurate, more engaging space travel science fiction movies that Destination Moon has simply being surpassed and in many respects forgotten.

Rating: 6/10 - maybe you will, maybe you won't