Le voyage dans la lune (1902)

User Rating:

8.3/10   

Writers:

Release Date:

4 October 1902 (USA)

Genre:

Short | Adventure | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

Plot:

A group of astronomers go on an expedition to the moon.

Plot Keywords:

Moon | Astronomer | Cannon | Escape | Space Travel

Cast

Victor André	...	(uncredited)
Bleuette Bernon	...	Lady in the moon (uncredited)
Brunnet	...	Astronomer (uncredited)
Jeanne d'Alcy	...	(uncredited)
Henri Delannoy	...	Captain of the rocket (uncredited)
Depierre	...	(uncredited)
Farjaut	...	Astronomer (uncredited)
Kelm	...	Astronomer (uncredited)
Georges Méliès	...	Prof. Barbenfouillis (uncredited)

Also Known As:

A Trip to Mars (USA) (copyright title)
A Trip to the Moon
Voyage to the Moon

Runtime:

14 min (16 fps) | 8 min (25 fps)

Country:

France

Color:

Color (hand-colored) | Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

USA:TV-G (TV rating)

Company:

Star Film

Trivia:

After finishing work on the film, Georges Méliès intended to release it in America and thereby make lots of money. Unfortunately, Thomas A. Edison's film technicians had already secretly made copies of the film, which was showed across the USA within weeks. Melies never made any money from the film's American showings, and went broke several years later (while Edison made a fortune on the film.)

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): The President knocks his own hat off when he walks behind the desk.

Movie Connections:

Featured in SPFX: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) (TV)

100 years old, and it still looks great! An achievement in early movie-making!

I saw this short but excellent silent film, when I was little, and it still looks great after a century of age. Despite the very primitve special effects, and the obvious phony description of the moon itself. Heck proably this movie can be made by any eight year-old today, but the overall plot and theme of the movie is well understood.

The movie's director Georges Méliès, knew how to arouse people's imagination's and thought this project would work, and it did!

Too bad, he didn't earn a cent on American expenses of the movie, which he wasn't expected. They even feature this movie on the famous HBO series "From the earth to the Moon" complete with an archieve interview of one of the person involved, I forget his name, but all fans of the wonderful film, should catch the last part of that series, they show how in great detail how the film was made and all the troubles they went through.

In all, anyone can enjoy this, who knows? maybe people will think the same of our movies, 100 years from now!