Destination Moon

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Destination Moon

1950

1h 31m

Sci-Fi

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Popcornmeter

69%

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13 Reviews

49%

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1,000+ Ratings

A team composed of an aerospace scientist (Warner Anderson), an ex-Air Force general (Tom Powers) and an industrialist (John Archer) conceive an ambitious plan to land Americans on the moon. From their base in the Mojave Desert, they construct and successfully launch a spacecraft named "Luna" that contains a cargo of four astronauts. But a critical miscalculation of needed power to escape the moon's gravitational pull may put the astronauts' lives in danger.

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Bob Thomas

Associated Press

Jul 29, 2019

Destination Moon is good hocus-pocus stuff about interplanetary travel.

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Jul 27, 2026

3/4

A landmark of science fiction cinema as well as the movie that jumpstarted George Pal’s career as a producer (and later director).

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Mark R. Leeper

Mark Leeper's Reviews

Sep 14, 2022

6/10

DESTINATION MOON (1950), the film that probably should have led off the Fifties science fiction cycle, actually is still an enjoyable adventure film even if parts are a little dated.

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Fernando F. Croce

CinePassion

Oct 3, 2014

Jules Verne by way of Robert A. Heinlein, the staid harbinger of the Space Race

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James O'Ehley

Sci-Fi Movie Page

Jan 25, 2008

Heinlein's original novel had Nazis on the moon!

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Scott Weinberg

DVDTalk.com

Jun 17, 2006

3/5

Taken as sort of a pre-pre-pre-historic Apollo 13, I suspect the die-hard sci-fi fans might enjoy this one.

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Jeff S

@jeffstone Feb 29, 2024

This entertaining film used dialogue effectively to explain certain basics of astrophysics in a simple manner--essential for a film produced before the Space Age and shows like Star Trek. All things considered, it's a remarkable production.

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cato

@Gilligan Feb 27, 2024

This film is very hard to sit through without laughing histarically but it is useful to see what just 75 years ago we thought space travel to the moon would look like. Demonstrates not only the massive leaps in space travel technology we have actually taken, but also the massive improvements made in film making.

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CodyZamboni Z

@CodyZamboni Feb 19, 2023

I like that a lot of the movie is rooted in science, I liked the impressive matte paintings, and the Woody Woodpecker educational film

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dave s

@RT68722908 Mar 31, 2022

Considering when it was made, Destination Moon gets a lot of things right. It also gets a lot of things wrong. For example, as per Destination Moon, what is the most effective way to raise money for a non-government funded flight to the moon? If you guessed that it would be to show a Woody Woodpecker cartoon to a group of wealthy industrialists, you'd be correct. On top of this stunning absurdity, the film is also lacking in technical prowess, most notably the poor framing and blocking of shots and some truly horrible lighting over the first half of the film. As well, the four ‘astronauts' are remarkably dull characters. Despite this, the second half of the movie is actually fairly well executed and much of the science involved seems to be fairly accurate with the whole thing being topped off with an interesting moral dilemma. It's not a great movie, but it's not as bad as one might suspect.

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Apr 4, 2021

I know the story is a bit dull but the visual sophistication carries the film. A realistic adult science fiction adventure film from George Pal. The space suits, rocket, matte painting Won an Acadany Award for best Visyal.

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Jan 25, 2020

Foundational to the sci-fi genre as we know it today. Heinlein's writing is brought out wonderfully. It's old, but in the context in which it was made, it's a masterpiece.

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Irving Pichel

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Synopsis

A team composed of an aerospace scientist (Warner Anderson), an ex-Air Force general (Tom Powers) and an industrialist (John Archer) conceive an ambitious plan to land Americans on the moon. From their base in the Mojave Desert, they construct and successfully launch a spacecraft named "Luna" that contains a cargo of four astronauts. But a critical miscalculation of needed power to escape the moon's gravitational pull may put the astronauts' lives in danger.

Director: Irving Pichel
Producer: George Pal
Screenwriter: Robert A. Heinlein, Robert A. Heinlein, Alford Van Ronkel, James O'Hanlon
Distributor: Something Weird Video, Cinema Classics, Budd Rogers Releasing Corporation [us], Eagle-Lion Films Inc. [us], Mass Production, Nostalgia Merchant, Image Entertainment Inc., Englewood Entertainment [us], Wade Williams Productions Inc.
Production Co: George Pal Productions
Genre: Sci-Fi
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jun 27, 1950, Wide
Release Date (DVD): Jan 20, 2009
Runtime: 1h 31m
Sound Mix: Mono
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.37:1)

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