Von der Erde zum Mond

The first half of this movie was surprisingly close to Jules Verne's novel of the same name. However, once the projectile begins heading to the moon, the plot changes significantly--and you can only assume it was because the studio was broke and keeping everyone in the sabotaged ship was a cost-savings measure. Ultimately, this RKO film was released by Warner Brothers because of the bankruptcy.

The story is set about 1870 in the United States. Mr. Barbicane (Joseph Cotten) is a munitions magnet who announces he's developed a super-explosive. His rival, Styvesant Nicholl (George Sanders) isn't impressed and says his metal plate can withstand anything...and soon after Barbicane blows the plate to pieces. So what is Barbicane going to do with the new formula, Power-X? He intends to use it to blast a projectile to the moon and back! Foolishly, Barbicane brings along his rival...not realizing Nicholl is a bit of a maniac!

For a going out of business film, it is surprising that one was made in color and actually looks good. It also has some decent actors in the script. But the film does suffer a bit here and there due to some lulls and the movie sadly just abandoned Verne's script halfway through the film. Decent and watchable but it could have been much more...especially if they'd geared up for a sequel as Verne had a follow-up book that continued the story.