First Men in the Moon

The Schneer/Harryhausen team’s follow-up to the Jules Verne adventure MYSTERIOUS ISLAND (1961) is this similarly colorful turn-of-the-century spectacle adapted from an H.G. Wells novel. While not as popular or as exhilarating as the earlier film perhaps, it’s nonetheless a delightful... Full review

One of Ray Harryhausen's best movies. As big a fan as I am of the Master Animator, one of the things that makes this film great is that it's one of his few films that works just fine without his... Full review

WARNING: POTENTIAL SPOILERS!!!Of all of the animation genius Ray Harryhausen's films, this is my favourite, partly because I am a huge H G Wells fan, and also because I think the characterisation and acting are better than pretty well any... Full review

This is movie number ten for the great Ray Harryhausen, who provides his usual stunning animation, although the plot is a bit cynical for some taste, lacking the cheerful charm of such movies as "Journey to the Center of the... Full review

This recent DVD re-release (May, 2003) now has Dolby 4.0 stereo along with a remarkable color restoration. While not up to today's Dolby (THX) standards the soundtrack and musical score are quite good for a vintage 1964 classic. The color... Full review

The heart and spirit of H. G. Wells's novel remains intact in this Ray Harryhausen/Nathan Juran vehicle. A 20th century frame story about American led international crew landing on moon and finding an old Union Jack flag and a letter... Full review

I watched this film for the first time recently and as a 22 year old brought up with E.T. and Star Wars I have to say I was still impressed and thoroughly enjoyed the whole film. The effects are great,... Full review

Warning: spoilers!!This is a charming and very entertaining piece of science-fiction/fantasy. It has a literate screenplay (by Nigel Kneale, author of the Quatermass stories) which manages to combine fun with the more serious ideas of Wells's novel.There are some sly... Full review

Someone who had read H. G. Wells' "First Men in the Moon" and then sat down to watch this adaptation may well be aghast at the opening sequences, which deal with a "modern-day" mission to the moon, as opposed to... Full review

The effects may be dated, and the love interest a bit tedious at times, but Lionel(pre-Chitty Bang)Jeffries' whacky professor enthuses enough to keep the kids happy. Actually, the story-line isn't that bad at all (compared to more recent Sci-Fi offerings)... Full review

He was particularly successful, because of his art director's background, at integrating action and special effects sequences, and Juran went on to direct The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad and The First Men in the Moon, also produced and designed by Harryhausen, and, as Nathan Hertz, made the low budget sci-fi outings Attack of the 50 Foot Woman and The Brain from Planet Arous. ... Full Review

Some of the special effects shots show bits of debris, but they would appear to be printed into the opticals, and not a flaw in the actual film element used for the transfer. Although nearly forty years old, Columbia has provided FIRST MEN IN THE MOON with a very nice transfer that makes the film seem a lot newer. ... Full Review

You won't find an innocent, enjoyable little movie like this at any point in the past fifteen to twenty years. There are a couple of scenes that don't work so well, like when Cavor jumps around on the moon, showing the low gravity, and we can clearly see the strings holding him up, but as a time capsule showing man's first leaps and bounds into ground-breaking special effects, First Men in the Moon works very well. ... Full Review

Mark Gatiss will star in his own adaptation of HG Wells's sci-fi romance The First Men In The Moon , it has been announced. The one-off 90-minute BBC Four drama will see the League Of Gentlemen star play alongside Rory... ... Full Article

May 2nd marked the 105th anniversary of the release of what is generally considered to be the first science fiction film. George Melies' Le Voyage Dans le Lune ("A Trip to the Moon") was a French black and white silent... ... Full Article

This isn't so much a b-movie, but it's hardly well-known. It's my duty as a horror/sci-fi archeologist to ferret out the forgotten and the arcane. ... Full Article

Picture Quality: 10/10 Columbia remastered this picture in high definition.Superbit is the only thing that could make this picture better.No artifacts, pixilation or delineation problems. ... Full Article

Based on the HG Wells story.The world is delighted when a space craft containing a crew made up of the world's astronauts lands on the moon, they think for the first time. ... Full Article