12 to the Moon

I remember having seen "12 to the Moon" in theatrical release in the 1960's, the last hurrah of the matinees on Saturdays. While many of the "gen-X-ers" would not truly understand the times and feelings of the era, we "baby-boomers" were there, and shared in the fun and excitement of the times, and the thrill of going into a theater as a young person to see even a not-so-good sci-fi flick. "12 To The Moon" was, as I recall, another one of those "dislocated dramas". By that I mean--it took place on the Moon, but concentrated more on human elements than on actual science. It did not take itself seriously, and was un-ashamedly released strictly for entertainment value, as were 95% of the flicks of that era. The US had not yet conquered space, let alone the moon, in 1960. It was an era of expectation, anticipation, and discovery. The scene that still haunts me from the film is the ill-fated space voyager who dies in a form of "lunar-quicksand". The others are virtually helpless to assist their fellow traveler. There is a warmth and an empathy present in the sci-fi flicks of that era that is not present in to-day's "in your face" media and world. In those days, "attitude on a stick" was equated with a flawed, or even evil character, and required redemption on the part of the

"attitu-dee"..that is to say, the one who has the attitude. I don't remember a lot of the film, not having seen it since I was in third or fourth grade. But audiences then got a lot from a little, and what was unspoken or not shown spoke volumes over that which was more conspicuous.

An international team of 12 scientists, along with a menagerie of animals, including a Cocker Spaniel dog, blast off for the unknown satellite. Luckily, the crew has their seatbelt-equipped, foldable, patio lounge chairs for added comfort. Plagued by meteors and nationalistic quibbling, they finally reach their destination.

Upon arrival, the explorers soon realize that the Moon is a cruel mistress indeed.

12 TO THE MOON is a silly, but enjoyable sci-fi yarn from a far more innocent time. Ken Clark is as stiff and stolid as ever in his Commander role. Tom Conway provides a dubious Russian accent. The Cocker Spaniel provides the cuteness. This is all topped off with an utterly absurd finale.

The rocket's interior and some of the equipment may be quite familiar to fans of movies like ANGRY RED PLANET or JOURNEY TO THE 7TH PLANET. This movie is recommended especially for lovers of such harmless, interplanetary fluff...

A slapdash screenplay filled with random emergencies, 15 second solutions, random melodrama and emotional outbursts, and worse than usual unscientific "science" cripple what is nonetheless an optimistic effort.

The ship boasts a pre-Star Trek multicultural crew, but even here the screenwriters can't resist making the African man the superstitious one, and the Japanese woman the one who is capable of on-the-spot translation of hieroglyphics which "resemble Chinese" characters.

Still, it is an interesting effort within the context of the international space race, and worth 75 minutes for fans of that era's matinee science fiction culture.

Let me just say first, that it was a very noble idea for the moon to be explored as a global effort. They had representatives of many nations and even a black man and two women! (Actually pretty bold ideas at the time.) And even in the midst of the Red scare, they had a Russian, who, despite being a jerk, stops another European from sabotaging a mission to save the U.S. Yes, the movie seems to have been made with noble intentions towards world peace. That said, this is one big turkey. First, no one involved with the movie had any idea about what the moon and space were really like. (They have steam coming out of craters, and several clusters of meteors just between earth and the moon.) Second, the SFX are pitiful. (The ship at times has visible strings, and at one point a stick. The moon also appears to have Stage lights at one point.) These ingredients makes it a fairly awful movie. My recommendation? Watch the MST3K version and applaud the good intent but laugh at how awful everything else is.

"12 to the Moon" is certainly not a very good sci-fi film, though with so many terrible sci-fi films made during this same era, at least it cannot be counted among them. Heck, at times the film almost is good...almost.

The film is about an international space flight to the moon with 12 astronauts from 9 different nations. Despite this, all of them sound pretty much like Americans...except for some of the astronauts from enemy nations--they are a bit like cartoon characters. It's especially annoying when the Russian astronaut argues with the three Americans and talks about the joys of communism. It's all a lot of Cold War hooey. Fortunately, this crappy dialog ends when they land on the moon. Unfortunately, the moon is inhabited by super- intelligent creatures that communicate to the crew telepathically and they warn them to get lost...which they promptly do. However, these nasty moon folk aren't very nice and do all sorts of nasty things to prevent them from getting back and telling the rest of the human race about them. Ultimately, a really stupid plan is executed and the day is saved...or is it?

The biggest problem with the movie aren't the silly sets but the dumb dialog...and the film too often sounds as if the film were rushed to completion. According to IMDb, that's exactly what happened and the film was made in a paltry 8 days! Occasionally interesting...but not very.