DESTINATION MOON (1950)

Having been impressed with Film Masters’ previous release, Monster Mayhem Collection, I’ve been eager to dive into their latest title, Destination Moon, which is another perfectly curated set with enthusiastic extras, including the bonus feature, Flight to Mars – both newly restored and available now on Blu-ray.

Man’s landing on the moon and the subsequent films it inspired, which strove for a new level of authenticity in the sci-fi genre, such as Apollo 13, often make it hard to look back at earlier titles that pondered our eventual journey into the cosmos. Destination Moon is a fairly grounded exploration of what such a voyage to our natural satellite might’ve looked like for viewers in 1950, and it manages to factor in most of the crucial elements of flight from beyond our orbit.

More colour-coded than The Reservoir Dogs, our crew of four scientists and engineers are chosen for the mission funded by private enterprise to explore the lunar surface. While the viewer can certainly appreciate the sentiment the film is aiming for, which is to inspire, it can get a little dull at times due to its very technical and procedural nature. There is, however, comic relief in the form of the radar and radio operator, Joe Sweeny (Dick Wesson), who is hilariously prone to space sickness, but he’s mostly concerned about whether or not he can see Brooklyn from 384,400 kilometres away. Destination Moon is well made for an independent film of the time, which makes use of a striking miniature as our rocket ship and the viewer is greeted with some beautifully detailed matte painting while approaching and while on the moon.

BONUS FEATURE: FLIGHT TO MARS (1951)

In what is basically a spiritual sequel, Flight to Mars has far less emphasis on realism, which becomes blatantly obvious when the captain starts smoking his pipe mid-flight with no consideration for the limited amount of precious oxygen. Essentially, the film deals with a civilisation that has all but consumed its most valuable resource, and as a result, is slowly dying. It implies that Earth may one day be faced with a similar scenario if we continue on our present course. Released just one year after Destination Moon, the shift to a ‘what if?’ style of storytelling more or less establishes the tone that would largely dominate B-movies produced within the genre for almost the next two decades. Flight to Mars is a tad ridiculous but fun.

SPECIAL FEATURES

DISC 1 – DESTINATION MOON

Full length commentary by Justin Humphreys
Ballyhoo Motion Pictures presents “Man’s Greatest Adventure: The Making of Destination Moon.”
Restored original 35mm trailer for Destination Moon
Digitized Original Pressbook of Destination Moon, courtesy of James Van Hise

DISC 2 – FLIGHT TO MARS

Full length commentary by Justin Humphreys
“Interstellar Travelogues: Extended Edition,” a new featurette.
Walter Mirisch: From Bomba to Body Snatchers,” archival documentary by Ballyhoo Motion Pictures.
Restored original trailer for Flight to Mars

Film Masters have sourced and commissioned some informative extras from Ballyhoo Motion Pictures, which go into detail about both features plus the studio and filmmakers in their orbit so to speak. They’re excellent at giving fans a snapshot of the time, and a greater understanding of what audiences had a taste for when heading to the movies. The inclusion of a small booklet inside the case nicely outlines the films, their influence, and the process behind the restoration leading to this Blu-ray edition.

VIDEO AND AUDIO

Destination Moon – Presented from a 4K scan of original 35mm archival elements, the sharpness and range of vibrant colour give new life to this classic, and it’s especially noticeable through 4K upscaling, if you have the means. Deep blacks help give the 1.37:1 image depth, despite the use of matte paintings, and there are only a few brief moments when the quality dips, which is typically followed by a scene transition.

Unfortunately, the disc’s DTS-HD track fails to measure up to the picture, as each word of dialogue is followed by noticeable hissing, enough for it to be an initial distraction during the film’s earlier scenes. Granted, the sound is clear, and the hiss becomes less of an issue as the scope of sounds increases, masking the anomaly to a degree.

Flight to Mars – Also the impressive result from a 4K scan of original 35mm archival elements, the bonus title is on equal footing with Destination Moon, but with much better sound quality overall, presented in Dolby AC3s. Both discs are Region Free and include English subtitles.

Destination Moon encapsulated the technological and scientific ambitions of the post-war years. While reality may have panned out a little differently, it’s nice that we still have these movies to look back on as a wonderful reminder of when humanity was reaching for the stars.

DESTINATION MOON
(1950, director: Irving Pichel)