DESTINATION MOON (1950)

Dr. Cargraves (Warner Anderson) and General Thayer (Tom Powers) watch the test launch of a rocket go awry—it crashes immediately—and they suspect sabotage from forces that don't want their space project to succeed. Two years later, with government funding slashed, Thayer, anticipating a "space race" with other countries, gets a private industrialist named Barnes (John Archer) to spearhead development of a manned, nuclear-powered rocket to the moon. Though anti-space research and anti-nuclear forces are still fighting them, they manage to get the rocket built. The government denies them clearance to test the rocket, so they decide to skip that stage (!) and just launch it, with Thayer, Barnes, Cargraves on board. At the last minute, a comic-relief schmoe from Brooklyn named Joe (Dick Wesson) joins them. The blast-off goes well, but in space, they have to leave the vehicle to fix a part and one of them almost floats away before he is saved by the others. The moon landing is a success, but then they are informed from Earth they will have to jettison thousands of pounds from the ship in order get home. The men dump a bunch of equipment but are still too heavy for takeoff—by about the weight of one man. Will someone have to be sacrificed so the others can get home?

This is usually referred to as the first realistic film about space travel—before this, there were pretty much just the Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers fantasies. Most of it won’t seem particularly realistic to 21st century viewers, but it more or less feels right. The trip, the spacewalk, and the return aren't that far off from the reality we've seen reported. There are not bug-eyed monsters, but there's also very little dramatic tension except that derived from wondering if each step of the mission will be carried out safely. I admit I do miss the melodramatics of the earlier sci-fi serials, and some of the later more outlandish space operas, but the mostly calm, near-documentary feel of this one is appealing. The actors are fine, especially Anderson (though Powers is always tainted to me since he was Barbara Stanwyck's nasty husband in DOUBLE INDEMNITY), and the effects, though easy to mock now, work well if you get yourself in the context of the era. It seems strange to raise the possibility of sabotage then do nothing with that plot thread. And, as an added attraction, there’s a cameo by Woody Woodpecker! Pictured from left are Wesson, Archer, Powers and Anderson.[TCM]