Believing that the nation which controls the moon will also control the world, four U.S. patriots prepare to take off in a 150-foot rocket ship based in the Mojave Desert. Strapped to their respective crash couches inside the rocket, the four heroes await the final count-off: 30...29...28...27 - each man braces himself; 14...13...12...11 - sweat pours out of every face; 4...3...2...1 - FIRE! A cataclysmic roar! Ablinding flah! Amighty shudder! The ship catapults skywards. Inside, the din is defeaning. Then suddenly there is dead silence as the rocket zooms faster than the speed of sound and the blast-off is complete. Forty-six hours later, after several mid-voyage mishaps (above), the ship settles down in the crater Harpalus, high in the moon's northern latitudes.
Such goings on make Destination Moon, a Technicolor movie to be released this summer (1950 - my annotation), the most authentic attempt so far to picture a lunar expedition. Photographed mostly on a huge Hollywood, the movie met its shief obstacle in the form of important scientific visitors who poked around the painted craters just to get an idea of what a trip to the moon might really be like.
An interplanetary mishap occurs when the crewmen climb out of the flying rocket ship to try to repair their frozen radare antennae. Losing his foothold despite his magnetized shoes, one man falls into space where, free of gravitational pull, he floats helplessly among the stars. To rescue him, a comrade on the rocket ship grabs an oxygen tank, straddles it, releases the oxygen and uses it as a sort of jet assist to propel him to his floating friend and bring them both back to safety (
image above).
After landing on moon, cremwn lleave rocket and look for radioactive matter with geiger counter. Two men in rear are temporarily acted by midgets because their smaller size gives illusion of distance. (image above).
Rescue scene, shown in the first photo, was taken by cameramn perched on crane, using camera installed inside revolving framework. Taken by this camera, actors who were almost stationary looked as if they were revolving in midair. Performers were hung by piano wires with net below in case the wires broke.
Midget actors are helped by stagehands over rough terrain. Actor in front was hung by wire so he could make high leaps as he ran on moon's surface where power of gravity is less. This picture was taken at the same spot as photo 2, but small-scale rocket was put in rear to create different view.
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photos and documentation: LIFE Magazine (US) | Zetu Harrys collection
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