Destination Moon (film)
1950 film by Irving Pichel / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Destination Moon (a.k.a. Operation Moon) is a 1950 American Technicolor science fiction film, independently produced by George Pal and directed by Irving Pichel, that stars John Archer, Warner Anderson, Tom Powers, and Dick Wesson. The film was distributed in the United States and the United Kingdom by Eagle-Lion Classics.
Destination Moon | |
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Directed by | Irving Pichel |
Screenplay by |
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Produced by | George Pal Walter Lantz (uncredited) |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Lionel Lindon |
Edited by | Duke Goldstone |
Music by | Leith Stevens |
Animation by | Walter Lantz |
Color process | Technicolor |
Production companies | George Pal Productions Walter Lantz Productions |
Distributed by | Eagle-Lion Classics |
Release date |
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Running time | 91 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $592,000[1] |
Box office | $5 million[2] or $1.3 million (US)[3] |
Destination Moon was the first major U.S. science fiction film to deal with the practical scientific and engineering challenges of space travel and to speculate on what a crewed expedition to the Moon would look like. Noted science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein contributed to the screenplay.
The film's premise is that private industry will mobilize, finance, and manufacture the first spacecraft to the Moon, and that the U.S. government will be forced to purchase or lease the technology to remain the dominant power in space. Different industrialists cooperate to support the private venture.
In the final scene, as the crew approaches the Earth, the traditional "The End" title card heralds the dawn of the coming Space Age: "This is THE END...of the Beginning".[4][page needed]