Rocket moon launches
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Rocket moon launches |
| Original title | Rocketship XM (alternatively: Expedition Moon) |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1950 |
| length | 77 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Kurt Neumann |
| script | Kurt Neumann |
| production | Kurt Neumann |
| music | Ferde Grofé |
| camera | Karl Struss |
| cut | Harry W. Gerstad |
| occupation | |
| |
Rocket moon starts (original title: Rocketship XM ) is an American science fiction film from 1950. In the film, a spaceship that is on its way to the moon gets off course and has to make an emergency landing on Mars . The scenes taking place on Mars were colored pink in the black and white film.
action
A rocket with five astronauts on board takes off for the Earth's moon. I have problems shortly after starting. The rocket drifts off course when it enters the gravitational field of the planet Mars. The astronauts have no choice but to land on Mars.
The occupation finds the ruins of a civilization that has long since vanished there. When the spacemen investigate the remains, they discover that this civilization was destroyed by a devastating nuclear war . As they move on, they are attacked by human-like beings who are armed with clubs, throwing axes and spear throwers and whose skin is apparently burned by ionizing radiation . Eckstrom is shaken: "From the atomic age to the stone age ". It turns out that the Martian beings are the descendants of the former inhabitants. Eckstrom and Corrigan perish in the fighting; the survivors decide to return to earth.
However, the return turns out to be difficult. The crew finds out that the spaceship does not have enough fuel to land. The ground station is notified and the results of the trip are transmitted. The rocket crashes to earth and explodes. Nevertheless, the project manager Dr. Fleming did not consider the expedition to be a failure, as it proved that manned space travel is possible. The RXM 2 is already ready to go.
Production notes
Filming began on February 2nd, 1950. The outdoor location in the Mojave Desert was shot in three days. In addition, footage from Death Valley National Park was assembled .
Lippert sold the film to television early on, making Rocket Moon Starts one of the first high-quality science fiction films to be shown on television. In addition, 16 mm film copies were made for further marketing . Because of its availability in this format, the production was frequently performed at conventions ; less because of its artistic quality than the inexpensive lending options.
According to his daughter's later information, Dalton Trumbo was involved in the script; the author was banned from writing at the time due to the activities of the Committee for Un-American Activities in the USA.
Movie book
Under the pseudonym Bert Koeppen, Walter Spiegl published the book for the film in 1958 under the title Rocket Moon Starts as Utopia Large Volume No. 84.
criticism
- "In the opening scenes the film is rather uninteresting. ... However, when the spaceship landed on Mars, it takes on a completely different mood ... These sequences, filmed by Karl Struss, are among the scariest and most convincing of all - although they are right next to a busy highway. As one of the most eccentric yet best cameramen in Hollywood history, Karl Struss is responsible for the strange atmosphere and feel of these scenes. The planet really seems dead - and so dead that it is runs cold when the half-naked and bald Martians appear ... The fight between the Martians and the Earthlings is treacherous and frightening, and the close-up of a Martian woman ... in which we see that she is blind because her eyes are completely empty, is one of the most shocking scenes an SF movie ever showed: She's just as scared as the others, and she screams it on. (Your painted lips destroy the illusion, however). "
Bill Warren , KEEP WATCHING THE SKIES, quoted from Hahn / Jansen , p. 415
- "Older space film [...]. Naive, unsightly, almost amusing from 14 onwards. ”- 6000 films. Critical notes from the cinema years 1945 to 1958 . Handbook V of the Catholic film criticism, 3rd edition, Verlag Haus Altenberg, Düsseldorf 1963, p. 347.
Remarks
The movie Rocket Moon Launches was produced for $ 94,000 and grossed over $ 1 million. World premieres:
- USA: May 26, 1950
- Germany: January 3, 1958
- Austria: March 21, 1958
Lore
- In June 2016 i-catcher Media GmbH & Co.KG published a DVD edition that also contains the German soundtrack. Text passages that were not synchronized at the time are contained in the original.
See also
literature
- Ronald M. Hahn / Volker Jansen: Lexicon of Science Fiction Films. 720 films from 1902 to 1983 , Munich (Heyne) 1983, p. 414f. ISBN 3-453-01901-6
- Bill Warren : Keep watching the skies! American science fiction movies of the fifties. The 21st Century Edition , Jefferson, NC, etc. a. (McFarland) 2010, pp. 708-711. ISBN 978-0-7864-4230-0
- Heinz J. Galle: How Science Fiction Conquered Germany. Memories of the future past , Lüneburg (Reeken) 2008, p. 166. ISBN 978-3-940679-20-8
Individual evidence
Web links
- Rocket moon starts in the Internet Movie Database (English)