Industrialist: Now listen, fella, I've known you from way back. Two-engine planes weren't fast enough: you had to go in for four. Then props weren't fast enough: you had to go in for jets. Now you've got a hold of something else, something that'll go higher and faster than anything that ever existed before. You can't
swing it alone, so you're trying to rope us in on it. Well, before we go along with you, you'll have to tell us: what's the payoff?Jim Barnes: Dollars and cents? I don't know. I want to do this job because it's never been done. Because I don't know. It's research, it's pioneering. What's the Moon? Another North Pole - another South Pole - our only satellite, our nearest neighbor in the sky.Industrialist: But why go there, Jim?Jim Barnes: We'll know when we get there; we'll tell you when we get back. It's a venture that I don't want to be left out of.Upon its release, this was the biggest sci-fi adventure of the time. Praised for its realistic tone and use of special effects, today it stands as an enjoyable adventure, even if we now know better about how this would really work.The story involves a group of scientists who design a rocket ship and attempt to land on the moon. They succeed in this, but problems arise when dealing with how to get backToday there is plenty that will seem corny about it, but it features men doing a fine enough job in this feature, with some subtle anti-communism points hit as well.The special effects are all handled well for the time and the score is of course big and appropriate.Its a fun enough flick with some deeper themes that are certainly more apparent now as a reflection of the past.Sweeney: General, how serious are you about this?General Thayer: [very bluntly] Deadly serious.
October 4, 2006
