From: mleeper@optonline.net   
      
   DESTINATION MOON (1950), the film that probably should have led off   
   the Fifties science fiction cycle actually is still an enjoyable   
   adventure film even if parts are a little dated.  It is colorful   
   and fairly realistic-certainly taking into account that it was   
   released in 1950.  Not that some of the information known then was   
   handled as well as it might have been.  The acceleration of takeoff   
   is made to look more of a horror than it is in real life.   
   Certainly details of weightless flight look more realistic than   
   they did similar effects in ROCKETSHIP X-M.  The script calls the   
   moon a "planet" not once but twice.  Of course because of its size,   
   very unusual among moons, some astronomers have been tempted to   
   call it that also, and to say it and Earth form a double planet.   
   Somehow this film's color captures a Fifties feel better than the   
   black-and-white Rocketship X-M.  The color shows off better the   
   baggy post-war clothing fashions.  Somehow talk of going to the   
   moon in an early Fifties film still has excitement that NASA   
   footage of the actual moon launch lacks.  It is much the same sort   
   of thrill one gets from Jules Verne, even if he is describing an   
   1866 submarine that has long-since been surpassed by fact.  It is   
   the fact that this submarine is around in 1866 that is exciting.   
      
   What does seem somewhat dated is the Cold War paranoia that is   
   present through most of the film.  The nasties have sabotaged a   
   rocket at the beginning; the main reason given for going to the   
   moon is to beat the enemy; the enemy tries to use political   
   pressure to sabotage the mission, and finally the important reason   
   for returning to Earth is to tell the world how vulnerable it is   
   from the moon.  Meanwhile, when the Americans get to the moon, they   
   claim it for the good of all mankind.  Once they get to the moon it   
   turns out to be a pretty place to look at, but somehow the film   
   makes lunar exploration itself seem dull.  The script writers have   
   no way of engaging the viewer in the actual exploration process.   
   What does save the film is a clever little engineering puzzle that   
   becomes the last treasure of this film.  It is one that would do   
   credit to a Fifties science fiction story and it has a reasonably   
   nifty solution.  What is dramatically lacking is the return to   
   Earth.   
      
   There are some interesting similarities between DESTINATION MOON   
   and ROCKETSHIP X-M.  Both use obnoxious, harmonica-playing comic   
   relief characters, both have Texas humor, and both use stock   
   footage of V-2 launches, though this film uses it more   
   realistically.   
      
   George Pal uses the Chesley Bonestell paintings that he would make   
   use of in later films, especially in the prologue to WAR OF THE   
   WORLDS.  The integration of the paintings and the forced   
   perspective sets really gave the feel of being on another world,   
   where ROCKETSHIP X-M had alien landscapes that did not look at all   
   alien.  Even at the time people knew that showing the surface of   
   the moon as a cracked, dried riverbed was wrong, but it made it   
   much easier to use forced perspective to make the lunar landscape   
   seem much bigger than the set on which the scenes were shot.   
      
   This is a much more enjoyable looking film than most space travel   
   films of the Fifties.  The ship itself is not a V-2, and that in   
   itself is something of a novelty.  Pal designed a nice streamlined   
   ship that looks a lot better than the real thing.  The simple fact   
   is that this is just a nicer film to view, both prettier and less   
   downbeat, than is ROCKETSHIP X-M.  If there are some technical   
   problems with the rescue in space or in how weightlessness is   
   shown, we can forgive them and still find this film good to watch.   
   The biggest complaint most people have with the script is the   
   incredibly dense character of Sweeney.  Perhaps he is overly   
   stupid, but the writers felt the need to explain the science and   
   needed someone to whom people could explain what was going on and   
   could serve as a sounding board.   
      
   Rating: high +1 (-4 to +4) or 6/10   
      
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   What others are saying:    
      
   --   
   Mark R. Leeper   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
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