First Men in the Moon
I don’t have much to say on this one, but a few things struck me as I watched it. Firstly, I was quite surprised to see a film from 1964 begin with a United Nations space team led by the United States and U.S.S.R. astronauts land on the moon. This was right in the midst of the Cold War and during the major space arms race to the moon, and science fiction films of the time preyed on the tensions between the world’s two superpowers. Not here though. It’s an interesting contrast to the film’s peers.
There’s also something interesting in the way the film ends with a gag about the peace-seeking scientist potentially destroying the moon creatures civilization with the cold he had, while the shoot-first-and-ask-questions-never businessman snickers from his retirement home. I’m not sure what, if any, message that’s trying to send, or if the original novel had any form of a moral, but there’s just something about a perceived xenocide being capped off with a gag. It’s more than a little crass, especially considering the aliens were eventually found to be quite friendly.
That’s all I got.
