[go: up one dir, main page]

    Release calendarTop 250 moviesMost popular moviesBrowse movies by genreTop box officeShowtimes & ticketsMovie newsIndia movie spotlight
    What's on TV & streamingTop 250 TV showsMost popular TV showsBrowse TV shows by genreTV news
    What to watchLatest trailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb SpotlightFamily entertainment guideIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsEmmysSan Diego Comic-ConSummer Watch GuideToronto Int'l Film FestivalIMDb Stars to WatchSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll events
    Born todayMost popular celebsCelebrity news
    Help centerContributor zonePolls
For industry professionals
  • Language
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Watchlist
Sign in
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Use app
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • FAQ
IMDbPro

Destination... Lune!

Original title: Destination Moon
  • 1950
  • Tous publics
  • 1h 32m
IMDb RATING
6.3/10
5K
YOUR RATING
Destination... Lune! (1950)
Trailer for Destination Moon
Play trailer2:06
1 Video
48 Photos
Space Sci-FiAdventureDramaSci-FiThriller

"Destination Moon", tells the tale of when Doctor Charles Cargraves and retired General Thayer approach Jim Barnes, the head of his own aviation construction firms to help build a rocket tha... Read all"Destination Moon", tells the tale of when Doctor Charles Cargraves and retired General Thayer approach Jim Barnes, the head of his own aviation construction firms to help build a rocket that will take them to the moon."Destination Moon", tells the tale of when Doctor Charles Cargraves and retired General Thayer approach Jim Barnes, the head of his own aviation construction firms to help build a rocket that will take them to the moon.

  • Director
    • Irving Pichel
  • Writers
    • Alford Van Ronkel
    • Robert A. Heinlein
    • James O'Hanlon
  • Stars
    • John Archer
    • Warner Anderson
    • Tom Powers
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.3/10
    5K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Irving Pichel
    • Writers
      • Alford Van Ronkel
      • Robert A. Heinlein
      • James O'Hanlon
    • Stars
      • John Archer
      • Warner Anderson
      • Tom Powers
    • 114User reviews
    • 37Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Won 1 Oscar
      • 4 wins & 2 nominations total

    Videos1

    Destination Moon
    Trailer 2:06
    Destination Moon

    Photos48

    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    + 41
    View Poster

    Top cast17

    Edit
    John Archer
    John Archer
    • Jim Barnes
    Warner Anderson
    Warner Anderson
    • Dr. Charles Cargraves
    Tom Powers
    Tom Powers
    • General Thayer
    Dick Wesson
    Dick Wesson
    • Joe Sweeney
    Erin O'Brien-Moore
    Erin O'Brien-Moore
    • Emily Cargraves
    Steve Carruthers
    Steve Carruthers
    • Businessman at Meeting
    • (uncredited)
    Franklyn Farnum
    Franklyn Farnum
    • Factory Worker
    • (uncredited)
    Jack Gargan
    • Businessman at Meeting
    • (uncredited)
    Everett Glass
    Everett Glass
    • Mr. La Porte
    • (uncredited)
    Kenner G. Kemp
    Kenner G. Kemp
    • Businessman at Meeting
    • (uncredited)
    Knox Manning
    Knox Manning
    • Knox Manning
    • (uncredited)
    Mike Miller
    • Undetermined Secondary Role
    • (uncredited)
    Irving Pichel
    Irving Pichel
    • Off Screen Narrator of Woody Woodpecker Cartoon
    • (uncredited)
    Cosmo Sardo
    Cosmo Sardo
    • Businessman at Meeting
    • (uncredited)
    Grace Stafford
    Grace Stafford
    • Woody Woodpecker
    • (voice)
    • (uncredited)
    Bert Stevens
    Bert Stevens
    • Businessman at Meeting
    • (uncredited)
    Ted Warde
    • Brown
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Irving Pichel
    • Writers
      • Alford Van Ronkel
      • Robert A. Heinlein
      • James O'Hanlon
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews114

    6.34.9K
    1
    2
    3
    4
    5
    6
    7
    8
    9
    10

    Featured reviews

    roarshock

    A rare bit of 1950s science-fiction.

    Most science-fiction films are actually raw fantasy, with a disregard for reality that commonly borders on pure contempt. This isn't always a bad thing, since I really like fantasy. But techno-babble and flashy gadgets are too often only gimmicks favored by dumb producers, ignorant directors, and lazy writers who get themselves into of a jam. "Destination Moon" is rare and different. An enormous amount of time and effort were expended to make it as technically accurate as was possible in 1950. Even Kubrick wasn't this consistent in "2001"; he often let gravity appear where it shouldn't be. They never made that mistake in "Destination Moon". So it's unfortunate they didn't spend as much effort on the story and the acting, but both cast and crew were so wrapped up in creating a real moon trip they skimped on these aspects of story telling. The result was surprisingly impressive visuals for the time, but characters who are shallow, trite, and dull, and crises that arise and are solved while leaving us indifferent.

    But there is real drama here, the drama of people trying to imagine what was virtually unimaginable back then -- how to actually get people to the Moon and back -- using real physics and engineering. And if it doesn't measure up to the story of "Apollo 13", another technically accurate film about a REAL trip to the Moon, it still stands out as unique among 1950s films and remains almost as unique among all science-FICTION movies ever made.
    7llltdesq

    Story by Heinlein, astronomical art by Bonestell, Pal produced and Woody Woodpecker to boot!

    I can go for quite a while listing the movie's weaknesses-script, actors, et cetera. But with an idea by Robert Heinlein, Chesley Bonestell handling the astronomical artwork, George Pal as producer and a special bit of animation by Walter Lantz starring Woody Woodpecker done just for the movie, what else matters? Anyone who recognizes all those names and appreciates them understands just what I mean. Since everyone coming here is likely to know Pal and Woody, I won't say any more. For the rest, gather round my children and attend.

    Rober Heinlein was the dean of Science Fiction writers. He spun off enough ideas as throwaways to do another writer proud for two careers! As for Chesley Bonestell, quite simply, he was the greatest artist ever when it came to astronomic art. Paintings he did look so real, you'd swear that they were photographs and so accurate that you'd swear he'd been there. Not only did he have no equal, he lapped the field two or three times over. If I ever strike it rich, the first extravagance would be a Bonestell. Genius strikes rarely. Greatness with only somewhat more frequency. This film, flawed in many ways, is shadowed by greatness and touched by at least one genius.
    Bruce_Cook

    Technicolor prophecy of Things to Come!

    Science fiction gets the deluxe treatment for the first time in history (except for `Things to Come' and `Metropolis'). This is a big-budget, technicolor production from producer George Pal and director Irving Pichel, with Leith Stevens music (`When Worlds Collide', `War of the Worlds' , others), Chesley Bonestell matt paintings, and Oscar-winning special effects supervised by Lee Zavitz. Stop motion animation scenes of the astronauts walking on the hull of the ship were directed by John S. Abbott. The fine script was penned by Rip Van Ronkel, James O'Hanlon, and veteran sci-fi author Robert Heinlein.

    The cast includes John Archer as the millionaire industrialist, Warner Anderson as the designer of the rocket, Dick Wessson as the wise-cracking radio operator, and Tom Powers as the visionary general. (Note: this is not the same Tom Powers who stars in `Unidentified Flying Objects' in 1956).

    Although many reviewers connect `Destination Moon' with Heinlein's novel `Rocketship Galileo', the film's story has much more in common with Heinlein's novelette `The Man Who Sold the Moon', also published in 1950. The novelette, like the film, spotlights private industry as the sponsor of the Moon trip. John Archer's industrialist is an eerie parallel to Howard Hughes, whose company actually did build the Apollo space crafts!

    Heinlein actually published a THIRD Moon-trip story in 1950, a novelette featured in the September issue of `Short Stories Magazine' under the title `Destination Moon'. This version is so similar to the film, it was probably intended as a promotional piece, but it does include one fascinating story element not in the film. The explorers find evidence of previous lunar visitors -- either Russians or aliens, they aren't sure which!

    While planning the famous E.V.A . rescue scene (in which an oxygen bottle is used as a makeshift propulsion unit) the film makers considered using a shotgun as the means by which John Archer retrieves Warner Anderson when he drifts away from the rocket in space. Thankfully they changed their minds; a shotgun seems like an inappropriate piece of equipment to take to a lifeless, airless satellite. However, the shotgun concept was used in the final film during Woody Woodpecker's cartoon demonstration of rocket propulsion, which is shown to the millionaire industrialists who finance the Moon trip.

    Chesley Bonestell, famed artist of the celestial realm, provided matt paintings and designed the lunar surface (which had not been photographed up close at that time, so the film makers had to make some guesses).

    Art director Ernst Fegte added the fractured lava bed feature which resembled a cracked lake bottom. The cracks diminish in scale as they recede from the camera, creating a forced perspective which enhanced the depth of the set.

    This blend of technical accuracy and artistic excellence is the key to the success of `Destination Moon'. No wonder it almost single-handedly started the 1950s sci-fi craze of the 1950s. The film has a strong flavor of `The Right Stuff' (brave men doing a tough job). If you appreciated stories which portray heroism and the nobility of the human spirit, `Destination Moon' is your kind of movie.
    rjgannon

    One of my favorite fifties sci-fi films

    Destination Moon stands out as one of the better sci-fi movies from the fifties, mostly because they approach the idea of travelling to the moon in a very specific and realistic way. Unlike other films such as When Worlds Collide (another George Pal film) which sends the rocket down a giant ramp, Destination Moon relies on many of the same procedures that NASA later used in its actual launches. Of course, it still shares some of the fantasy qualities of others in the sci-fi genre as well as some great special effects (for which it earned an Academy Award). The characters are usual sci-fi fare, and that includes the usual "comedic element", in this case Dick Wesson playing a street-wise technician from Brooklyn who talks of "dames and baseball". By the way, this character was humorously parodied in the classic spoof Amazon Women On The Moon. So if you enjoy cigar shaped rockets, great fifties special effects, and cool retro images, you should check out Destination Moon.
    8bkoganbing

    A Perceptive Look At The Future.

    Destination Moon was our conception in the middle of the last century as to what our first hesitant steps would be towards getting to the Moon. What I was amazed to see was just how accurate they got it in terms of reality.

    Four men, John Archer, Warner Anderson, Tom Powers and Dick Wesson are the chosen astronauts though that term had not come into usage at the time. When you think of the selection process for astronauts that was to come with the formation of NASA this part of the film seems almost a bit silly. Dick Wesson who provides the comic relief is a communications specialist who gets to go at the last minute because the chosen traveler gets appendicitis.

    The best part of the film was the space walk, when they have to do some needed repairs to the ship. Robert Heinlein who wrote Destination Moon was very accurate with that and with the dangers of performing that task when needed.

    As for the very harrowing trip home, the plot was eerily accurate in terms of what happened to some astronauts for real in the early Seventies. I really do marvel at how Robert Heinlein got so much of it right.

    Without any weird alien monsters, Destination Moon still manages to be thoroughly entertaining and incredibly perceptive. The film won an Oscar for Special Effects no mean achievement since it's only competition was Cecil B. DeMille's big budget Samson and Delilah. It also was nominated for Best Art&Set Direction, but in this case it lost to Samson and Delilah.

    When you beat out a DeMille film from Paramount with all the money that studio could throw behind a campaign, you know it has to be good. Even now the Special Effects aren't bad by today's standards.

    More like this

    Le choc des mondes
    6.6
    Le choc des mondes
    La Conquête de l'espace
    5.6
    La Conquête de l'espace
    Les soucoupes volantes attaquent
    6.3
    Les soucoupes volantes attaquent
    Destination Mars
    5.1
    Destination Mars
    Les Survivants de l'infini
    5.9
    Les Survivants de l'infini
    Robinson Crusoé sur Mars
    6.4
    Robinson Crusoé sur Mars
    Les Premiers Hommes dans la Lune
    6.5
    Les Premiers Hommes dans la Lune
    Le Monstre des temps perdus
    6.6
    Le Monstre des temps perdus
    La Fusée de l'épouvante
    6.0
    La Fusée de l'épouvante
    Kronos
    5.7
    Kronos
    Le 27ème jour
    6.1
    Le 27ème jour
    Objectif Terre
    5.5
    Objectif Terre

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The Woody Woodpecker cartoon used in the movie was updated and then used by NASA to explain space travel to the public.
    • Goofs
      It was stated that titanium was being used to construct the ship. The magnet boots would not stick to the hull and walls because titanium is non-magnetic.
    • Quotes

      [after stepping onto the Moon's surface]

      Jim Barnes: Claim it, Doc! I'm your witness - claim it officially.

      Dr. Charles Cargraves: By the grace of God, and the name of the United States of America, I take possession of this planet on behalf of, and for the benefit of, all mankind.

    • Crazy credits
      At the end of the film, a story of the first flight to the Moon, the words THIS IS THE END are displayed first, then OF THE BEGINNING is added.
    • Connections
      Edited into Au coeur du temps: One Way to the Moon (1966)

    Top picks

    Sign in to rate and Watchlist for personalized recommendations
    Sign in

    FAQ18

    • How long is Destination Moon?Powered by Alexa

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • April 20, 1951 (France)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Destination Moon
    • Filming locations
      • White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, USA(archive footage of captured German V-2 rocket launch)
    • Production company
      • George Pal Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $592,000 (estimated)
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 32m(92 min)
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

    Contribute to this page

    Suggest an edit or add missing content
    • Learn more about contributing
    Edit page

    More to explore

    Recently viewed

    Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
    Get the IMDb App
    Sign in for more accessSign in for more access
    Follow IMDb on social
    Get the IMDb App
    For Android and iOS
    Get the IMDb App
    • Help
    • Site Index
    • IMDbPro
    • Box Office Mojo
    • License IMDb Data
    • Press Room
    • Advertising
    • Jobs
    • Conditions of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Your Ads Privacy Choices
    IMDb, an Amazon company

    © 1990-2025 by IMDb.com, Inc.