Customer Reviews
Seminal SF Movie 
2007-12-31
Read the other reviews for the plot. This film was a country mile ahead of anything else up to that point. Heinlein preserved some integrity in the script and some of the techniques (such as the rocket ship cabin mounted on gimbals) are still in use today. There is in fact only one scene where the special effects are poor--no CGI then. You know that most of it was filmed on the sound stage, but you will look past that.
Picture quality is not the best (it may have been a laser disc transfer of a second rate copy of the film). Several of the actors are solid B movie regulars--the face is familiar but I can't recall the name types--competent but not top notch.
The film tries for some accuracy (no bug eyed monsters or flaming meteors.) Set paintings were by Chesley Bonestell who was both a top Hollywood artist and the man whose paintings of objects in space in Life Magazine and in many books space brought the modern age home to many households.
It is not a bad flick or a silly one, your kids and you can watch it together. I kind of liked the Woody Woodpecker cartoon. It might be elementary but in 1950 (and perhaps today) many people had no idea how a rocket differed from an airplane.
A true Sci Fi Classic 
2007-12-18
Considering the era in which it was made the accuracy of the science portrayed in the movie is uncanny. The moon rocket is a classic design from the early days of sci fi movies...somewhat impractical for reality...but this is sci fi. A simple story...great special effects...fun movie to watch.
Historically interesing 2007-06-10
If you are a fan of science history as well as a science fiction fan (like me) you will want to see this movie. It was the first sci-fi film to attempt a scientifically accurate account of a flight to the moon.
Bearing in mind that it was made 40 years ago using special effects and acting styles of that time, this is a well done movie.
If you're looking for something that offers fast action adventure, keep looking, this isn't it. But if you like the more cerebral writings of Robert Heinlein, AC Clarke and Isaac Asimov you'll find this interesting.
Dramatically thin, technically fascinating pioneer Sci-fi film 2006-09-17
This is generally regarded as one of the films that started the modern Sci-fi tradition in Hollywood. There had been previous Sci-fi films made in the previous few decades in Hollywood, but these were all terrestrial in nature. Even METROPOLIS and THINGS TO COME were earth-bound. The one exception had been a number of space opera serials made in the thirties and forties, most famously Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon.
What set DESTINATION MOON apart from the serials was the intent of producer George Pal to make a film that was as scientifically plausible as possible. On one level the film attempts to answer the question, If one were to attempt to go to the moon and back, precisely how would you do it? And the answer the film gives is essentially correct. Obviously, the film gets a few details wrong. The project leaders state that it would be impossible for the government to undertake such a project, whereas in fact only the government was so capable. They also failed to foresee the role that disposable components would play in the moon mission. But roughly speaking what is depicted in the film is roughly what happened. Contrast this with previous efforts to depict moon travel in film, such as in the Melies film in which travelers reach the moon by riding inside a massive cannon shell.
This also a striking movie to look at. Pal attempted to make the design of both the ship and the moon look as beautiful as possible while staying within the realm of how it all was in fact presumed to look. Much attention was paid to rather mundane details, such as how someone would get from the top of a rocket down to the surface of the moon. Unfortunately, most of the films of the fifties and sixties paid only a fraction of the attention to scientific plausibility that this film did, so that this film was probably not surpassed until 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. That serves as a major indictment of the Hollywood Sci-fi film of the fifties and sixties. Instead of DESTINATION MOON, most fifties and sixties Sci-fi was far more influenced by Howard Hawks's THE THING FROM OUTER SPACE. The creature picture dominated the Sci-fi film, with serious film about space travel put aside. In fact, most of the space travel films of the decade were in fact creature films in disguise, since the space travel just seemed to be an excuse to encounter outer space monsters, such as in THE ANGRY RED PLANET.
While the film is quite interesting to look at and the science as solid as was possible at the time, dramatically the film is a huge disappointment. The characters are all stock characters. The four main guys are vaguely familiar, having worked in Hollywood as character actors for years, the best known being Tom Powers, who is perhaps best known for playing the murder victim (and Barbara Stanwyck's husband) in DOUBLE INDEMNITY. There is little in the way of dramatic tension and whenever the film strays from questions about how things are done on a purely practical level it gets a little dull. What dramatic tension there is seems to exist as a way of holding together the practical questions of how space travel would take place. One cares about how the mission will be carries out, but not about the fate of any of the characters.
This was the first of a string important Sci-fi films with which George Pal would be associated. In many ways these remain some of the finest Sci-fi films made before Stanley Kubrick raised the stakes with 2001. After DESTINATION MOON, Pal would produce such classics as WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE, WAR OF THE WORLDS, CONQUEST OF SPACE, and THE TIME MACHINE. Pal was always trying to test and expand the limits of what could be done visually in film. He truly was one of the pioneers of modern Sci-fi.
the genesis of serious science fiction on film 2006-09-06
whoever might be credited as director of this movie, we all know that this was the first feature film directed by the immortal george pal, after years of the puppetoons. with a script by science fiction immortal robert heinlein, this remains one of the most intelligent of the sf films of its era. spectacular art direction too by chesley bonestell. if i ranked the 10 best sci fi movies, this would certainly find a spot.
Destination Moon 2008-04-27
Destination MoonA wonderful look into the imagination of early science fiction writers ideas on how a trip to the moon could be done.Much of it is accurate and some is not ,but the color and special effects are fantastic for 1950.If you can think of yourself as seeing this all for the first time back then it makes it all the more fun to watch and wonder about.
No Beer, No Babes, No Baseball - Whadda Adventcha! 2008-03-09
I like the early fifties films but never got a chance to really look at Destination Moon. Fueled by Communist paranoia, American business bands together to make it to the moon, since the government in peacetime won't bother. Now come up the line a few decades later, where was NASA in the 1990s? No lunar stations, no manned missions to Mars. This film gets the blood boiling in getting going on the American space program and reinvigorating the goals of space exploration. Heinlein helped co-write the script and this is one of George Pals' earliest space films. Brooklyn fan Joe makes for some corny comedic moments; some tense scenes of going adrift in a spacewalk. And personal courage and self-sacrifice. Another Heinlein-inspired film, Project Moonbase Project Moonbase, not as good as Destination Moon. DVD transfer from film not that great, but I was always used to the snap and pop and dust motes of early films, so that's no biggie. I would have liked to see more features though. Only the film trailer is on this DVD by Image. Well worth watching, good job.
SOME REVIEWS ARE MISLEADING 
2008-02-22
I own this DVD and the picture looks perfecfly fine. It's clear and sharp, and rich in color. My only frame of reference is a VHS recording from TCM but this movie looks so much better on the dvd. I did observe the VHS pans to the right. The DVD pans to the left a little. So if a print that is a little more pulled back to get the entire scope is what the issue is then I would agree with the transfer complaints. But if it's only to do with the quality itself then I have to disagree. If by chance you happen to own or have seen the ALPHA VIDEO Gamera dvds you know how bad the picture quality is. Trust me this DVD looks good.
Look out, here comes the law...Blast off! 2008-02-14
I promise youse guies dis much...until youse see dis rocket take off...I tink youse too will be convinced dat it just won't werk! But...just like 'ol joe sweeney...youse will be pleasantly surprised. Ha!
DESTINATION MOON-the 2001 of the 1950's! 2008-02-14
There is no question that this great old movie is revered by the sci-fi fans, hard science buffs and space enthusiasts of the 1950's. George Pal did a very competent job of presenting a technical story plausibly while trying to impart some (very 50's) human interest along with the technical tale. As noted by one of the previous writers, a better quality print should have been used to make this anniversary DVD edition. However, the transfer is more than adequate and very enjoyable for real fans of the film.
The movie had excellent special effects for the 50's, a wonderful musical score by Leith Stevens, beautiful space art by Chesley Bonestell, and of course, a beautiful nuclear powered rocket design which remains a classic beauty to this day. The design of the ship LUNA was based on that of the German V-2 rocket, which was beautifully streamlined and made no aerodynamic compromises for easy producibility.
There is only one scene in which this 50's sci-fi movie special effects continues to excite the "engineer" in me. When the ship, LUNA, is turned round to aim her landing rocket at the surface of the moon this caught my attention as looking very realistic and exciting. Many sci-fi films have tried to represent that maneuver and for my money this was the only one that looked entirely credible.
Definitely not a slice of life movie, DESTINATION MOON portrayed the first flight to the Moon very factually. Stanley Kubrick asked sci-fi writer Arthur Clarke to screen some of the best science fiction films with him while preparing him for the production of 2001. Clarke made a point of showing him DESTINATION MOON, noting that it was one of his all time favorites.
Kubrick was astounded with Clarke's heart felt praise and very emotional response to the movie. As I recall, the article noted that Kubrick felt here was this absolutely brilliant award winning writer (who was also a scientist by training, had won academic honors, been recognized as the father of the communication satellite, and helped work on ground approach radar during WW2) getting very emotional over what Kubrick believed to be just an adequate 50's movie.
We all know what Clarke and Kubrick went on to do in the next decade, and science fiction films have never been the same since. Of course, there is only one Stanley Kubrick, and only one Arthur C. Clarke.
