FIRST MEN IN THE MOON

FIRST MEN IN THE MOON. Nathan Juran, dir. UK: Columbia (dist.), 1964. Charles Schneer, prod. Ray Harryhausen, associate prod. and SpFx. Nigel Kneale and Jan Read, script. From the novel The First Men in the Moon, by H. G. Wells.

Eliminates the satire of the H. G. Wells novel, but images nicely the cozy interior of the Victorian spacecraft and does a decent job showing a sublunar mechanized hive. Provides as frame a late 20th-c. moon landing, providing nice contrast of modern spacecraft with Wells's visions. N.B. the dome to the Selenite's hive: it's very similar to the (unjustified) dome in S. Kubrick's 2001 — a dome not found in A. C. Clarke's novel.

(RDE, 26/09/93), RDE, Title, 22Aug19