First Men in the Moon
Encyclopedia
First Men in the Moon, also known as H.G. Wells' First Men in the Moon, is a 1964 science fiction
film directed by Nathan Juran
. It is an adaptation by the noted science-fiction scriptwriter Nigel Kneale
of the H. G. Wells
novel The First Men in the Moon
.
Ray Harryhausen
provided stop-motion effects, animated Selenites, giant caterpillar
-like "Moon Cows", and a big-brained Prime Lunar.
(UN) has launched a rocket
flight to the Moon
. A multi-national group of astronauts in the UN spacecraft land on the Moon
, believing themselves to be the first lunar explorers. They discover a British flag on the surface and a note naming Katherine Callender, claiming the Moon for Queen Victoria. Attempting to trace Callender, UN authorities find she has died, but find her husband Arnold Bedford now an old man in an old people's home
. The nursing home staff do not let him watch the television reports of the expedition because, according to the matron, it "excites him", dismissing his claims to have been on the Moon as an insane delusion. The UN representatives question him about the Moon and he tells them his story. The rest of the film, as a flashback
, shows what Bedford and Professor Cavor did in the 1890s.
In 1899, Arnold Bedford and his fiancée Katherine Callender – known as Kate – meet an inventor, Joseph Cavor, who has invented Cavorite, a substance that will let anything it is applied to or made of deflect the force of gravity
and which he plans to use to travel to the Moon. Cavor has already built a spherical spaceship
for this purpose, taking Arnold and (accidentally) Kate with him. Whilst exploring the Moon, Bedford and Cavor fall down a vertical shaft and discover to their amazement an insectoid
population, the Selenites, living beneath the surface. (Cavor coins this name for the creatures after the Greek goddess of the moon, Selene
). After escaping from the Selenites back to the surface, they discover that their ship, still containing Kate (who stayed behind because Cavor had brought only two spacesuits), has been dragged into their underground city.
The two, following the drag trail, find and enter the city. The city holds a breathable atmosphere, so (unwisely) they take off and leave their spacesuit helmets. They see the city's power station
, powered by sunlight. In the end they reach their ship underground. The Selenites quickly learn English
and interrogate Cavor, who believes they wish to exchange scientific
knowledge. The more practical Bedford eventually manages to persuade Cavor that the Selenites are interested in conquering Earth using Cavorite. Cavor helps Bedford and Kate to escape, but stays voluntarily on the Moon.
Bedford, along with Kate (who only leaves the ship once, to help repair the damage caused by the Selenites), flies the ship up a vertical shaft, shattering the window cover at the top, and back to Earth. The aged Bedford concludes his story by mentioning that the ship came down in the sea off Zanzibar
, and sank, but he and Kate managed to swim ashore. There is no later radio message from Cavor, and his ultimate fate remains unknown.
Back in the present day, Bedford, the UN party and newspaper reporters watch on television the latest events on the Moon, where the American astronauts have broken into the Selenite city and find it deserted and decaying. Moments later, the ruined city starts to crumble and collapse, forcing the landing crew to retreat hastily, and seconds later the city is completely destroyed. Bedford realizes that the Selenites must have been killed off by Cavor's common cold
virus
es to which they had no immunity
.
* Not credited on-screen.
Two types of spacesuits are featured. During the events of the story, which take place in the 1890s
, standard diving dress
es, each fitted with a 1960s-type aqualung
cylinder-worn backpack
instead of a NASA
-type life support
backpack, and no lifeline or airline from outside, are used as spacesuits. No provision is made to heat the suit, prevent suit ballooning in space vacuum, or to protect the hands from space vacuum. Volatile organics in the diving suit's gutta percha/rubber would boil away rapidly in a space vacuum.
The 1960s spacesuit in the film was identical to or the same as the Windak 1962 spacesuit prototype for the Royal Air Force
space program.
Cavor and Bedford have no radio
and must make their helmets touch each other to talk in the vacuum (although the filmmakers violate this rule several times). It is not clear whether the Selenites have radio. The history of radio
was only just starting when the 1890s events were set. Wireless communication from Cavor in the Moon appears in H.G. Wells's novel.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
film directed by Nathan Juran
Nathan Juran
Naftuli "Nathan" Hertz Juran was an American film art director and film director who is most noted for winning the Academy Award for Best Art Direction for How Green Was My Valley and for directing science fiction and fantasy films such as Attack of the 50 Foot Woman. He was also the brother of...
. It is an adaptation by the noted science-fiction scriptwriter Nigel Kneale
Nigel Kneale
Nigel Kneale was a British screenwriter from the Isle of Man. Active in television, film, radio drama and prose fiction, he wrote professionally for over fifty years, was a winner of the Somerset Maugham Award and was twice nominated for the British Film Award for Best Screenplay...
of the H. G. Wells
H. G. Wells
Herbert George Wells was an English author, now best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics and social commentary, even writing text books and rules for war games...
novel The First Men in the Moon
The First Men in the Moon
The First Men in the Moon is a 1901 scientific romance novel by the English author H. G. Wells. The novel tells the story of a journey to the moon undertaken by the two protagonists, the impoverished businessman Mr Bedford and the brilliant but eccentric scientist Dr. Cavor...
.
Ray Harryhausen
Ray Harryhausen
Ray Harryhausen is an American film producer and special effects creator...
provided stop-motion effects, animated Selenites, giant caterpillar
Caterpillar
Caterpillars are the larval form of members of the order Lepidoptera . They are mostly herbivorous in food habit, although some species are insectivorous. Caterpillars are voracious feeders and many of them are considered to be pests in agriculture...
-like "Moon Cows", and a big-brained Prime Lunar.
Plot
In 1964, the United NationsUnited Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
(UN) has launched a rocket
Rocket
A rocket is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle which obtains thrust from a rocket engine. In all rockets, the exhaust is formed entirely from propellants carried within the rocket before use. Rocket engines work by action and reaction...
flight to the Moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
. A multi-national group of astronauts in the UN spacecraft land on the Moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
, believing themselves to be the first lunar explorers. They discover a British flag on the surface and a note naming Katherine Callender, claiming the Moon for Queen Victoria. Attempting to trace Callender, UN authorities find she has died, but find her husband Arnold Bedford now an old man in an old people's home
Old people's home
The term old people's home can refer to one of the following:* nursing home* retirement home...
. The nursing home staff do not let him watch the television reports of the expedition because, according to the matron, it "excites him", dismissing his claims to have been on the Moon as an insane delusion. The UN representatives question him about the Moon and he tells them his story. The rest of the film, as a flashback
Flashback (narrative)
Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
, shows what Bedford and Professor Cavor did in the 1890s.
Anti-gravity
Anti-gravity is the idea of creating a place or object that is free from the force of gravity. It does not refer to the lack of weight under gravity experienced in free fall or orbit, or to balancing the force of gravity with some other force, such as electromagnetism or aerodynamic lift...
and which he plans to use to travel to the Moon. Cavor has already built a spherical spaceship
Spacecraft
A spacecraft or spaceship is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and transportation of humans and cargo....
for this purpose, taking Arnold and (accidentally) Kate with him. Whilst exploring the Moon, Bedford and Cavor fall down a vertical shaft and discover to their amazement an insectoid
Insectoid
Insectoid denotes any creature or object that shares a similar body or traits with common earth insects and arachnids. The term is a combination of "insect" and "-oid" . Compare "humanoid"....
population, the Selenites, living beneath the surface. (Cavor coins this name for the creatures after the Greek goddess of the moon, Selene
Selene
In Greek mythology, Selene was an archaic lunar deity and the daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Theia. In Roman mythology, the moon goddess is called Luna, Latin for "moon"....
). After escaping from the Selenites back to the surface, they discover that their ship, still containing Kate (who stayed behind because Cavor had brought only two spacesuits), has been dragged into their underground city.
The two, following the drag trail, find and enter the city. The city holds a breathable atmosphere, so (unwisely) they take off and leave their spacesuit helmets. They see the city's power station
Power station
A power station is an industrial facility for the generation of electric energy....
, powered by sunlight. In the end they reach their ship underground. The Selenites quickly learn English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and interrogate Cavor, who believes they wish to exchange scientific
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
knowledge. The more practical Bedford eventually manages to persuade Cavor that the Selenites are interested in conquering Earth using Cavorite. Cavor helps Bedford and Kate to escape, but stays voluntarily on the Moon.
Bedford, along with Kate (who only leaves the ship once, to help repair the damage caused by the Selenites), flies the ship up a vertical shaft, shattering the window cover at the top, and back to Earth. The aged Bedford concludes his story by mentioning that the ship came down in the sea off Zanzibar
Zanzibar
Zanzibar ,Persian: زنگبار, from suffix bār: "coast" and Zangi: "bruin" ; is a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania, in East Africa. It comprises the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of numerous small islands and two large ones: Unguja , and Pemba...
, and sank, but he and Kate managed to swim ashore. There is no later radio message from Cavor, and his ultimate fate remains unknown.
Back in the present day, Bedford, the UN party and newspaper reporters watch on television the latest events on the Moon, where the American astronauts have broken into the Selenite city and find it deserted and decaying. Moments later, the ruined city starts to crumble and collapse, forcing the landing crew to retreat hastily, and seconds later the city is completely destroyed. Bedford realizes that the Selenites must have been killed off by Cavor's common cold
Common cold
The common cold is a viral infectious disease of the upper respiratory system, caused primarily by rhinoviruses and coronaviruses. Common symptoms include a cough, sore throat, runny nose, and fever...
virus
Virus
A virus is a small infectious agent that can replicate only inside the living cells of organisms. Viruses infect all types of organisms, from animals and plants to bacteria and archaea...
es to which they had no immunity
Immune system
An immune system is a system of biological structures and processes within an organism that protects against disease by identifying and killing pathogens and tumor cells. It detects a wide variety of agents, from viruses to parasitic worms, and needs to distinguish them from the organism's own...
.
Cast
- Edward JuddEdward JuddEdward Judd was a British actor.Born in Shanghai, China, he and his English father and Russian mother fled when the Japanese attacked China five years later....
as Bedford - Martha HyerMartha HyerMartha Hyer is an American actress.She attended Northwestern University and was a member of Pi Beta Phi fraternity. After completing her education, she next appeared in The Locket in 1946...
as Kate - Lionel JeffriesLionel JeffriesLionel Charles Jeffries was an English actor, screenwriter and film director.-Early life and career:Jeffries attended the Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wimborne Minster, Dorset. In 1945, he received a commission in the Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry...
as Cavor - Miles MallesonMiles MallesonWilliam Miles Malleson was an English actor and dramatist, particularly known for his appearances in British comedy films of the 1930s to 1960s. Towards the end of his career he also appeared in cameo roles in several Hammer horror films, with a fairly large role in The Brides of Dracula as the...
as Dymchurch registrar - Norman BirdNorman BirdNorman Bird was a British character actor. Often sporting a moustache and an air of worried resignation, he seemed to specialise in downtrodden roles...
as Stuart, Moon landing crew - Gladys HensonGladys HensonGladys Henson was a British actress whose career lasted from 1932 to 1976 and included roles on stage, radio, films and television series...
as Mental hospital matron - Hugh McDermottHugh McDermott (actor)Hugh McDermott was a British actor who made a number of film and television appearances between 1936 and 1972. He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1908 and made his screen debut in Well Done, Henry and followed it up with an appearance as HM Stanley in David Livingstone...
as Richard Challis, UN Space Agency - Betty McDowallBetty McDowallBetty McDowall is an Australian film and television actress. She was born in Sydney, New South Wales in 1933.Her television appearances include episodes of Z-Cars, The Saint and The Prisoner.-Partial filmography:* The Shiralee...
as Margaret Hoy, UN Space Agency - Hugh Thomas* as Announcer
- Erik ChittyErik ChittyErik Chitty , was an English film and television actor.-Early life:Chitty was the son of a flour miller. He attended Dover College and Jesus College, Cambridge where he was one of the founders of the Cambridge University Mummers, before training at RADA and becoming a professional actor...
* as Gibbs - Peter FinchPeter FinchPeter Finch was a British-born Australian actor. He is best remembered for his role as "crazed" television anchorman Howard Beale in the film Network, which earned him a posthumous Academy Award for Best Actor, his fifth Best Actor award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, and a...
* as Bailiff's man
* Not credited on-screen.
Spacesuits used
Two types of spacesuits are featured. During the events of the story, which take place in the 1890s
1890s
The 1890s were sometimes referred to as the "Mauve Decade" - because William Henry Perkin's aniline dye allowed the widespread use of that colour in fashion - and also as the "Gay Nineties", under the then-current usage of the word "gay" which referred simply to merriment and frivolity, with no...
, standard diving dress
Standard diving dress
A standard diving dress consists of a metallic diving helmet, an airline or hose from a surface supplied diving air pump, a canvas diving suit, diving knife and boots...
es, each fitted with a 1960s-type aqualung
Aqua-lung
Aqua-Lung was the original name of the first open-circuit free-swimming underwater breathing set in reaching worldwide popularity and commercial success...
cylinder-worn backpack
Backpack
A backpack is, in its simplest form, a cloth sack carried on one's back and secured with two straps that go over the shoulders, but there can be exceptions...
instead of a NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
-type life support
Life support
Life support, in medicine is a broad term that applies to any therapy used to sustain a patient's life while they are critically ill or injured. There are many therapies and techniques that may be used by clinicians to achieve the goal of sustaining life...
backpack, and no lifeline or airline from outside, are used as spacesuits. No provision is made to heat the suit, prevent suit ballooning in space vacuum, or to protect the hands from space vacuum. Volatile organics in the diving suit's gutta percha/rubber would boil away rapidly in a space vacuum.
The 1960s spacesuit in the film was identical to or the same as the Windak 1962 spacesuit prototype for the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
space program.
Cavor and Bedford have no radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
and must make their helmets touch each other to talk in the vacuum (although the filmmakers violate this rule several times). It is not clear whether the Selenites have radio. The history of radio
History of radio
The early history of radio is the history of technology that produced radio instruments that use radio waves. Within the timeline of radio, many people contributed theory and inventions in what became radio. Radio development began as "wireless telegraphy"...
was only just starting when the 1890s events were set. Wireless communication from Cavor in the Moon appears in H.G. Wells's novel.
External links
- TCM http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/196954%7C196957/First-Men-in-the-Moon.html