First Men in the Moon (1964)

I've always been fond of this one - not a favorite, but it's got that Victorian charm. They didn't update the story much, except for the bookends of the 'modern' moon expedition, so it's Steampunk. They did try to present the moon as more along the lines of reality; the novel by Wells described the moon with an atmosphere and vegetation. I have a VHS and an LD of this one, but not a DVD:

Lionel Jeffries passed away recently, earlier this year. His character is over-the-top and comical, but also has moments of poignancy - especially towards the end. His best moment is when he decides to tell Edward Judd's character about his secret invention (Cavorite); he just throws caution to the wind, caught up in the exuberance of wild invention. Edward Judd plays a rather irresponsible fellow who latches on to the possibilities of Cavor's amazing invention; his frustrated girlfriend, Martha Hyer, goes along on the abrupt moon expedition by accident.


As for the Moon Cow - yes, not Harryhausen's most impressive work; but, it's a very small part of the picture. This film ended up as an early Steampunk-style sci-fi effort, before that term came into use, like THE GREAT RACE (1965). BoG's Score: 6.5 out of 10
Moon Trivia:
Famed Brit actor Peter Finch has a cameo because he happened to visit the film set one day and a bit actor had not shown up for work. Also, I've always puzzled about the title of this one - not "on" the moon, but "in" - a bit odd. But, I guess technically they were "in" the moon    .