Un pilote dans la lune

This is the first movie I ever went to see alone at the tender age of 8. It played the Paramount Theater in my hometown of Syracuse, NY. I went over the Easter holiday with money I had received from an uncle. I was so mesmerized by it I sat through it at least six times until my mother came down the aisle @ 9 at night calling for me. My lifelong love of the movies began here and so the picture holds a special place for me. That said, I watched this again recently, and despite its out of date science and themes, it still holds up because of the many solid performances and the sincerity behind its production. I was also amazed to see a very young Sally Field as one of the beatniks in the line up. Still great fun.

I'd missed out on this one as both as a VHS rental and on local TV in the past but which, bafflingly, hasn't been available anywhere else (not even on DVD) until now…or, perhaps, not so strange – since it's considered pretty much an outdated early movie about the space program!

That said, the film has always enjoyed a reputation as one of the better Walt Disney live-action efforts – an opinion I was happy to share after watching it for myself (especially given my recent disappointment with such other popular albeit ultra-juvenile fare as THE GNOME-MOBILE [1967] and the two "Witch Mountain" outings). In fact, this has very few concessions to the typical Disney 'cuteness' (basically extending to the inevitable romance and an over-eager member at the space center breaking into a would-be hip "Go, man, go!" routine with every shuttle launch) and is clearly elevated by the presence of strong actors – Tom Tryon is ideally cast in the lead, though it's Brian Keith as his constantly exasperated superior and Edmond O'Brien as the dogged yet bewildered Federal Security man who dominate much of the proceedings (especially when the two engage in shouting matches between themselves).

Anyway, as can be gleaned from the title, the plot involves attempts by the U.S. to orbit the moon: the first guinea-pig is a chimp which, however, goes berserk on returning home; undeterred, a human volunteer is requested – Tryon, of course (though he's actually air-sick!). Soon after, he begins to be followed by a petite girl of obvious foreign origins (Dany Saval, whose gaucheness starts off by being corny but eventually proves disarming) – who not only knows all about his supposedly top-secret mission but actively wants to impart to him vital information about his safety 'up there'; however, he believes her to be a spy and tries his best to avoid her! Still, she manages to turn up at the most unexpected places (even after O'Brien has him 'kidnapped' to a hotel) and eventually confesses to being an alien – clearly possessing advanced knowledge and who, atypically for the sci-fi genre, intends to extend help to Earth people rather than conquer them!

MOON PILOT, then, resorts agreeably to such well-worn albeit effective suspense/spy movie trappings as the "McGuffin" (in the form of the missing element which would allow humans to adapt to the atmosphere in outer space), chases, impersonation and, it goes without saying, the growing affection between hero and heroine thrown into this unusual situation. Apart from the obvious space gadgetry, the sci-fi aspect of the film is evident in the scene in which, to demonstrate her powers, Saval gives Tryon a foretaste of his/their future. As always with Disney films, however, comedy is as much an intrinsic ingredient of the formula: best of all are the running 'unreliable elevator' gag with Tryon and O'Brien, and the potentially campy suspects' line-up of beatniks (under whose guise Saval has descended to Earth – clearly a sign of the times). Keith's queasy look during the latter sequence is priceless…as is his final flustered off-screen outburst when Tryon and Saval sign off in space courtesy of a Sherman Brothers love song!

Bearing in mind that this was a made-for-TV-movie, Moon Pilot isn't bad. Disney didn't blow their budget on it, but the production and effects were serviceable if spare. The actors try to inject as much into their bland dialogue as they can, but the writing isn't Disney's cleverest.

The genuine highlight of the film is the parade of loony beatnik girls toward the end of the movie, as the military tries to identify their astronaut's supposed space-chick -- Very funny. Dany Saval is adorable. To the best of my knowledge, I've never seen her before. She shows off to advantage the cute outfits designed for her. What a doll.

Underwhelming start to Disney's 1962 live-action offerings.

I didn't enjoy 'Moon Pilot'. It's far too talky for my liking, with pretty much 80/90% of the film filled with build-up to the 'main event' which ends up concluding all too quickly. There's slight mystery there with the secondary premise, but that's unfulfilled in favour of chit-chat.

The cast don't give performances to be remembered. Tom Tryon is alright but mostly dull as Capt. Talbot. Dany Saval is OK as Lyrae, her role is barely developed in fairness - her overall shtick is being female, it seems. Brian Keith (Maj. Vanneman) and Edmond O'Brien (McClosky) standout most, but both overact from start-to-finish; especially the shouty Keith.

The intrigued surrounding Lyrae is all I have to praise, to be honest. There's a potentially good film in there, but James Neilson and crew didn't realise it unfortunately. I'm sure we'll get a remake some day.

As the director of many films for the Disney Studios, both comedic and dramatic, James Neilson never livened up; his name in the credits usually means a picture with a steady, sometimes leaden pace. "Moon Pilot" is no exception, and one can only imagine family audiences from 1962 dozing through the movie's more sluggish sections. Tom Tryon was a good casting choice for the part of an Air Force captain chosen to orbit around the moon, yet his hot-tempered superiors on the ground (Edmond O'Brien and the usually-reliable Brian Keith) do nothing but bark at him and at each other. Dany Saval twinkles like a manic pixie playing a flirtatious young woman who may be a spy--maybe not. For the Disney faithful, there's also a monkey clowning around. Production values solid, theme song "Seven Moons" very sweet, though this is still an awfully slow rocket-ride into space. *1/2 from ****