H.G. Wells really hit his stride with his book First Men In the Moon. Of all his science fiction work, it's the most readable and fleshed-out. Told from Bedford's point of view, it flows as a semi-surreal fever dream, with Bedford trying its best to accurately describe one incredible situation after another.

Savant was just old enough to be critical about movies when this matinee favorite first hit the theaters, and you can bet he was the first kid in line. The book (and the excellent Classics Illustrated comic) had been one of my favorites, and I looked with trepidation at the poster that showed they had changed the story to include a girl on the voyage.

There was nothing to fear. Overall it had a much lighter tone than the book, but Martha Hyer was a welcome stowaway who did not interfere with the classic situations in the story. The book's strange (and almost drug-like) depiction of lunar weightlessness was missing, but from the moment that humans meet spear-carrying Selenites on the underground cliffsides, I knew the show was on the right track.

Unlike many of Harryhausen's earlier films, First Men IN the Moon doesn't withhold its effects for episodic vignettes. Once in space, the effects are constant. The moon calf (which turns out to be a rather disappointing caterpillar creature) is the only standard monster; instead we are given a horde of insect-like Selenite creatures. Some are animated with stop-motion and the majority are not. The subterranean moon-world is imaginative, colorful and well designed: the only real failed illusion, a very minor point, are the rows of stalactite crystals on the stairway to the Grand Lunar, that are too clearly flat paintings. For some reason they stick out every time.

Although there's relatively little of Harryhausen's standard animation techniques, the design and creation of the wall-to-wall effects is clearly his. His wavy-glass tricks with the Grand Lunar are mesmerising, and his bottomless wells, galleries of caves, and self-mummifying ant creatures are fascinating creations. In a way, this is actually Ray's finest film overall. As a showcase for his effects, it's not top-rank, but as a movie, it's way out front. Kneale was the perfect collaborator for Harryhausen, who was a childhood fantasy fan along with Forrest Ackerman and Ray Bradbury. One can imagine them sharing ideas with a budding sense of wonder. Kneale rarely saw his work brought to life with such technical artistry: even the effects of the superior Quatermass and the Pit are barely adequate. But Kneale gave Ray an even greater gift, a script that modestly added up to something more than a string of monster encounters.

All of Harryhausen's Dynamation tricks needed to be adapted for anamorphic Panavision, a challenge for which Ray proved completely capable. Proportion and perspective look good in most shots, and the miniature rear-projection behind the animation doesn't look terrible, as in the previous Beast of Hollow Mountain. Harryhausen never worked in 'scope before or since. In Germany, First Men IN the Moon was blown up to 70mm and marketed as a one-film Cinerama attraction ... we wonder if it was in stereophonic sound there.

Edward Judd (The Day the Earth Caught Fire) makes a nicely brash hero, and Martha Hyer is both sensible and sympathetic as the girl written into a boy's adventure. The irresponsible Bedford becomes a take-charge guy on the moon, making for a nice change of tone. Also sobering up with the changing mood is Jeffries' wonderful Cavor, who begins as a silly twit and by the end is the conscience of the human race. He has the boyish fervor we associate with English hobbyists - Michael Powell was said to be this kind of impulsive, bouyant man. Cavor's character has its own built-in nostalgia for another time, and I think it's a personal style that should make a comeback.

First Men IN the Moon is not a classic science fiction film, and it doesn't quite fit in with the earlier vogue for family films based on Verne and Wells stories, a subgenre that A.I.P and Irwin Allen had cheapened. Classic '50s sci fi films had flourished in their own slightly more innocent world of wonder, and it was not only the space race that made ordinary escapist stories no longer seem vital. The alarming assassinations and wars of the early '60s forced fantasy to grow up, at least a little bit. From then on, most serious Sci Fi pix would only be about real threats and conspiracies, usually with an ecological or political basis. The poetic paranoia of the '50s became a given state of affairs. First Men IN the Moon is all the more endearing for its success in being resolutely retro.

Since everyone else points it out, Savant will too: the unctious bailiff who serves a writ on Martha Hyer is none other than Peter Finch, clearly doing a favor for the producers, or perhaps having fun with Lionel Jeffries. Jeffries may have had more creative input than just acting; several years later he made his directorial debut with the rarely seen The Railway Children. Savant remembers it as having very sensitive performances from some teenaged girls, who take charge when their father is - (kidnapped?). It would be nice to see it again.

The disc has a nice pack of extras. There are trailers, and an unimpressive photo gallery. The 'This is Dynamation' featurette is the oft-seen one from The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad. The big goodie is the entire 60-minute Richard Shickel docu on Ray Harryhausen, 'The Harryhausen Chronicles', an excellent critical appreciation of the beloved Ray containing nice glimpses of his early amateur work and his fairy tale short subjects. It also has a great many new video closeups of his classic monster models. The artwork on the cover is attractive but a bit cluttered.

There's only one moment where the movie drew unintentional laughter, back in 1964 and in every subsequent group viewing. After smiling indulgently at the strained credibility of Cavor's capsule, and their oxygen supply, etcetera, we're treated to the spectacle of the iron sphere striking the surface of the moon at what must be over 100 miles an hour, with the astronauts inside basically unprotected. The railroad shock absorbers don't fool anyone - most audiences laugh reflexively, as the impact is so violent, you'd expect Hyer, Jeffries and Judd to be emulsified into Lunar Jelly. It's all part of the fun.

On a scale of Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor,
First Men IN the Moon rates:
Movie: Excellent
Video: Excellent
Sound: Excellent
Supplements: Trailers, stills, featurette, 60 min Richard Shickel Documentary
Packaging: Amaray case
Reviewed: March 21, 2002