Destination Moon 1950 (1 Viewer)

[Mysto]

I'm probably the only one that doesn't know this but... A friend just directed me to a very nice Destination Moon clip on YouTube. Destination Moon:On the Set with George Pal 1949. Real live TV (what production value?) but a chance to see George Pal - Robert Heinlein - Director Irving Pichel and others. Fun to see the real people as bad as the quality in both picture and interview is. I don't know if this was an xtra on a release but my copy doesn't have it.

Destination Moon is among my favorite films and I saw it in re-release at a Saturday Matinee when I was a kid. Already watching Space Rangers - Tom Corbit on TV - this was a chance to see real (1950) science.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Destination Moon is a fantastic film, which deserves to be seen in better quality than the existing (and now out of print) DVD from Image.

Sadly, the film is controlled by Wade Williams, which means that it is not likely to be preserved properly, much less restored and released in its original glory.

 

[Mark McSherry]

That extra is included on the DVD of THE FANTASY FILM WORLDS OF GEORGE PAL from Image Entertainment. And it was a real treat to meet Robert A. Heinlein.

Mr Heinlein paid tribute to Irving Pichel and George Pal in 1969 at Rio de Janeiro. He was invited to give a speech prior to a showing of DESTINATION MOON---

"...in making Destination Moon George Pal elected to exercise his genius in another way: He hired as director an artist of great integrity, then stepped back and let him work, did not joggle his elbow or engage in back-seat driving. Instead he protected Irving Pichel from such art-destroying distractions while taking on his own shoulders all the other horrible problems of making a motion picture.

"In Irving Pichel George had made a wise choice. Mr. Pichel was near the end of his life then—and a busy life it had been—legitimate stage actor—Irving knew all of Shakespeare so well that he could play any male Shakespearean role with only a brief refresher. But he was not limited to Shakespearean roles; some of the older ones of you here may remember Irving Pichel as a great Caesar in George Bernard Shaw’s Caesar and Cleopatra. Then he was a film actor—director—producer. And a cultured, gallant, and generous gentleman—a good husband, a loving father, an indulgent grandfather—a gourmet, a judge of fine wines, a discriminating critic of music, an omnivorous reader in almost every branch of human knowledge—a true Renaissance Man, Irving would have been right at home in Florence in its great years—indeed, he could even handle a sword with skill and grace."


Robinson, Spider. Requiem: New Collected Works by Robert A. Heinlein and Tributes to the Grand Master (Kindle Locations 4448-4457). Kindle Edition.

 

[Mysto]

That extra is included on the DVD of THE FANTASY FILM WORLDS OF GEORGE PAL from Image Entertainment. And it was a real treat to meet Robert A. Heinlein.

Mr Heinlein paid tribute to Irving Pichel and George Pal in 1969 at Rio de Janeiro. He was invited to give a speech prior to a showing of DESTINATION MOON---

"...in making Destination Moon George Pal elected to exercise his genius in another way: He hired as director an artist of great integrity, then stepped back and let him work, did not joggle his elbow or engage in back-seat driving. Instead he protected Irving Pichel from such art-destroying distractions while taking on his own shoulders all the other horrible problems of making a motion picture.

"In Irving Pichel George had made a wise choice. Mr. Pichel was near the end of his life then—and a busy life it had been—legitimate stage actor—Irving knew all of Shakespeare so well that he could play any male Shakespearean role with only a brief refresher. But he was not limited to Shakespearean roles; some of the older ones of you here may remember Irving Pichel as a great Caesar in George Bernard Shaw’s Caesar and Cleopatra. Then he was a film actor—director—producer. And a cultured, gallant, and generous gentleman—a good husband, a loving father, an indulgent grandfather—a gourmet, a judge of fine wines, a discriminating critic of music, an omnivorous reader in almost every branch of human knowledge—a true Renaissance Man, Irving would have been right at home in Florence in its great years—indeed, he could even handle a sword with skill and grace."


Robinson, Spider. Requiem: New Collected Works by Robert A. Heinlein and Tributes to the Grand Master (Kindle Locations 4448-4457). Kindle Edition.

Thanks - now I know the source. Of course that means I don't own it so now I gotta get it.

 

[Mark McSherry]

Thanks - now I know the source. Of course that means I don't own it so now I gotta get it.

The Kindle book I quoted from not only includes that Rio de Janeiro speech from RAH, but also his short story, "Destination Moon." Plus an article that appeared in the July 1950 issue of ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION, "Shooting Destination Moon."

EDIT: The YouTube video runs some 47 minutes. The clip on the DVD lasts only 20-odd minutes. At that time, it was thought that that was all that existed. Thanks for proving otherwise, Marv!

 

[John Sparks]

Years back I went to the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood to see a beautiful print of DESTINATION MOON and ROBINSON CRUSOE ON MARS.

Before DM, they showed film from a KTLA film crew on the set at Paramount, could have been around '49/'50. It was one of KTLAs first ever interviews done live. There were a few scientists on set that day watching filming. One of the newspersons (man and a woman) asked one of them if we could actually go to the moon. His response was, "With what we know today, we could put a man on the moon tomorrow!"

 

[RobertR]

Years back I went to the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood to see a beautiful print of DESTINATION MOON and ROBINSON CRUSOE ON MARS.

Before DM, they showed film from a KTLA film crew on the set at Paramount, could have been around '49/'50. It was one of KTLAs first ever interviews done live. There were a few scientists on set that day watching filming. One of the newspersons (man and a woman) asked one of them if we could actually go to the moon. His response was, "With what we know today, we could put a man on the moon tomorrow!"

I was at that same showing, John! I remember that Paul Mantee and Victor Lundin were present for the RCOM showing. It's nice to see that the Heinlein segment that was shown is now available on Youtube.

 

[John Sparks]

What a small world...and Robert, I remember turning to my friend and saying, It's 9 PM now, the movies are about ready to start and that's the time I'm usually in bed. I didn't get home unit after 2 AM.

What was really fun, we introduced our selves as off duty LAFD Fire Inspectors to the projectionist and he showed us around the projection booth, we watched the tail end of the animated feature of GULLIVER'S TRAVELS thru the glass in the wall and then went down to watch the movies...a grand evening!

I had Paul Mantee autograph my LD cover at that showing, which is hanging on my wall next to the HT.

Thanks again for everything today!

Sparky

 

[Johnny Angell]

Years back I went to the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood to see a beautiful print of DESTINATION MOON and ROBINSON CRUSOE ON MARS.

Before DM, they showed film from a KTLA film crew on the set at Paramount, could have been around '49/'50. It was one of KTLAs first ever interviews done live. There were a few scientists on set that day watching filming. One of the newspersons (man and a woman) asked one of them if we could actually go to the moon. His response was, "With what we know today, we could put a man on the moon tomorrow!"

I’d say that back then what we knew wouldn’t get us to the moon. It was a heady time but the current concept of lunar travel was one vehicle to launch from the earth, land on the moon, launch from the moon, land on the earth. Which is not what eventually got us there. However, this movie did try to be realistic for the time. I just wished they had dropped the not-so-funny radio man.

 

[RobertR]

I’d say that back then what we knew wouldn’t get us to the moon. It was a heady time but the current concept of lunar travel was one vehicle to launch from the earth, land on the moon, launch from the moon, land on the earth. Which is not what eventually got us there. However, this movie did try to be realistic for the time. I just wished they had dropped the not-so-funny radio man.

The radio man actually served a useful story purpose. He was the "everyman", ie the audience surrogate who wasn't knowledgeable about space travel. Since the other characters had to keep explaining to him what was going on, they were also explaining it to the audience.

 

[Johnny Angell]

The radio man actually served a useful story purpose. He was the "everyman", ie the audience surrogate who wasn't knowledgeable about space travel. Since the other characters had to keep explaining to him what was going on, they were also explaining it to the audience.

You're right. I should have said I wished they used a different actor. I never thought he was funny and find him quite irritating.