JLRVancouver Given what we now know about the moon (and knew in 1964), a 'true' film version of Wells' "First Men in the Moon" would be a complete fantasy and likely seem ridiculous to most viewers, with men in tweeds and waistcoats wandering around on a plant-covered lunar surface. While the film keeps the story in the Victorian age, some changes were made to make the images more 'realistic' to mid-20th century viewers, such as 'space suits" (modified diving suits) and references to lunar oxygen-manufacturing technology (so the actors are not always talking from a helmet). The film opens with a 'modern' moon landing, during which a tattered Union flag and a letter claiming the moon in the name of H.R.H. Queen Victoria is found. The letter leads investigators to an old man (Bedford) who recounts how he, his fiancée and a scatterbrained inventor named Cavor traveled to the moon in 1899, and what they encountered there. The first third of the movie is tedious: slapstick humour in Cavor's lab, the introduction of the obligatory female (Bedford's fiancée, whose primary purpose is to be threatened or to have things explained to), an irrelevant backstory concerning Bedford's finances, etc. , but things improve when the Cavorite coated sphere bursts though the roof and heads to the Moon. The special effects are a mixed bag. The opening moon-landing is visually well done but the 'realism' is ruined (IMO) by the sound effects, which would not be heard in the vacuum of space or on the lunar surface. Ray Harryhausen's stop motion work on the 'moon-calfs' and on the Selenites is very good (unfortunately, the few animated Selenites serve to emphasise the less effective 'man-in-a-costume' nature of the rest of their kin). Some of the moon surface scenes are excellent (resembling Chesley Bonestell's classic 'space art'), but the images of the Selenites' underground city are less convincing. Much of the film is played for laugh's (especially Cavor's eccentricities, which are usually punctuated with goofy trombone riffs) and the humour has not aged well. The ending is very different from the book (although similar to another of Well's seminal works of science fiction) and seems to trivialize what is in fact a serious concern in interplanetary exploration. Watchable but dated in a number of ways and likely a disappointment to most H.G. Well's fans.

O2D H.G. Wells and Ray Harryhausen,how can that fail? In more ways than you can imagine. Even if you can buy into the ridiculous scenario that gets them to the moon,the movie quickly falls apart. I was really expecting it to get good when they got there but it got much worse. The bad guys are bugs that are sometimes people in bad bug suits and sometimes dolls that aren't really there.Very disappointing for Harryhausen. And they don't hurry up getting to the moon.It starts with some reporters in present day and then they find an old man who tells a very long story about the past. When it is interesting,it doesn't make much sense. Watch this if you like Harryhausen(that's why I watched) but don't be expecting a mind blowing epic.

Quentin X One of Harryhausen's most undersung productions. This movie is perfect in so many ways, it's a shame the fantastic stop-motion selenites are let down by their mis-matched live action counterparts. The stop-motion is top notch as usual; if there's a disappointment it's that there isn't more of it. But not fatal to the film. It's one of the Harryhausen films that's very well made on its own terms, and not overly dependent on animation sequences strung together with padding in between. Nicely complemented by bookend sequences that tie in to the space race.Loved every minute!

Neil Welch Once Ray Harryhausen hit his stride with Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, he practically never looked back. First Men In The Moon was a bit of a hiccup.It's not an unsuccessful movie as such, but it's not terribly successful as a vehicle for Harryhausen's particular artistry, and this is because there isn't a great deal of opportunity for the type of effects sequence in which he specialised.It is an adaptation of HG Wells' story about an eccentric inventor who invents an anti-gravity substance which he paints on a sphere which becomes the vehicle for his moon trip, framed with a non-Wells (then-)contemporary sequence. Lionel Jeffries plays inventor Cavor very well: it is not his fault that the character, as written, is profoundly irritating. Edward Judd has more luck (but not much) as impetuous everyman Bedford, and Martha Hyer is called upon to stay there where it's safe a lot.Set design is terrific, physical effects are fine, but Harryhausen's work seems a little lacklustre, perhaps due to the technical difficulties encountered in readying effects for the widescreen format used: there are even moments when you notice sub-par registration of different elements in an effects shot.Not a failure, but not wonderful either.