Woman in the Moon (1929)

A tenacious scientist blasts off for the moon in hopes of riches that may be found there.

Director:

Fritz Lang

Writers:

Thea von Harbou (manuscript), Thea von Harbou (novel)

Stars:

Willy Fritsch, Gerda Maurus, Klaus Pohl

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Willy Fritsch	...	Wolf Helius
Gerda Maurus	...	Stud. astr. Friede Velten
Klaus Pohl	...	Professor Georg Manfeldt
Fritz Rasp	...	Der Mann, der sich Walter Turner nennt
Gustl Gstettenbaur	...	Gustav (as Gustl Stark-Gstettenbaur)
Gustav von Wangenheim	...	Ingenieur Hans Windegger (as Gustav v. Wangenheim)
Tilla Durieux	...	Fünf Gehirne und Scheckbücher
Margarete Kupfer	...	Frau Hippolt, Haushälterin bei Helius
Alexa von Porembsky	...	Eine Veilchenverkäuferin (as Alexa v. Porembska)
Heinrich Gotho	...	Der Mieter vom II. Stock (as Gotho)
Alfred Loretto	...	Zwei eindeutige Existenzen (as Loretto)
Max Maximilian	...	Grotjan, Chauffeur bei Helius (as Maximilian)
Edgar Pauly	...	Zwei eindeutige Existenzen (as Pauly)
Karl Platen	...	Der Mann am Mikrophon
Gerhard Dammann	...	Der Werkmeister der Helius-Flugwerften (as Dammann)

Storyline

Thirty years ago, at a scientific conference, Prof. Manfeldt presented his theory on the existence of gold on the Moon. It was greeted with laughter by the assembled academics. Today, Herr Helius has ambitious plans to build a spaceship... and take it to the Moon! Windegger, his chief engineer, will be going, and so will Prof. Manfeldt, now living in a cramped garret alone with his theory. But there are disagreements with the financiers who insist that their man Turner also accompany the flight... The unmanned Rocket H 32 brings back valuable information from the dark side of the Moon. Helius is upset by the news of Windegger's engagement to the pretty Friede. And the financiers have a secret agenda: to control the world's gold supply... Finally, the Spaceship "Friede" is ready as it rolls out on its gantry for takeoff. The staged rocket works as planned, but the acceleration is fierce. As they approach the Moon, they discover a stowaway on board, Gustav, a little boy...

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Plot Keywords:

moon | rocket | gold | love triangle | kissing | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Germany

Language:

German

Release Date:

6 February 1931 (USA)

Also Known As:

By Rocket to the Moon

Filming Locations:

Ufa-Atelier, Neubabelsberg, Brandenburg, Germany

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universum Film (UFA), Fritz Lang-Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

156 min 200 min (2000 restoration) 162 min (DVD) 91 min (1970) (edited) 190 min (Cinemateca Portuguesa)

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Gustav's magazines all show stories of Nick Carter. Nick Carter was a popular pulp fiction detective who first appeared in print during the 1880s.

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Goofs

Though many of the mistakes about space and the moon could be excused given our limited knowledge at the time this was filmed, the use of a fountain pen in space should have been known to not work. Fountain pens, or specifically the bladders of ink in them, tend to crack or leak everywhere even in regular air flight. This was known even in the 1920s.

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Quotes

Stud. astr. Friede Velten: Helius is convinced that he'll find water with the divining rod!
Ingenieur Hans Windegger: The only thing we're going to find on the moon is... Death.

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Crazy Credits

Fritz Rasp is billed in the opening credits as "Der Mann, der sich Walter Turner nennt" or "The man who calls himself Walter Turner."

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Alternate Versions

The film was given a release from Kino Internation on DVD, running a length of 169 minutes. The 2000 restoration runs 200 minutes. The original showing in the United States ran 156 minutes and was later cut to 95 minutes.

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Connections

Featured in The Magical World of Disney: Man in Space (1955)

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Soundtracks

Heimlich singt für uns die Liebe
Music by Willy Schmidt-Gentner
Lyrics by Fritz Rotter & Andre Mauprey
Sung by Gerda Maurus and Willy Fritsch

User Reviews

There's a nice little film wandering around…somewhere

It's about 40 years since the last manned flight left the moon, and 40 years before that "Woman in the Moon" hit the silver screen. So we can admire the prescience of Willy and Werner in their multi-stage rocket and their depiction of zero gravity. But I struggled with the most non-ergometric controls ever engineered, the atmosphere of the moon, the presence of bubbling springs of water, and a divining rod(!?) used to find gold. The film also gets into trouble with its many and varied subplots—the two-men-in-love-with-the-same-woman subplot, the speculators-cornering-the-gold-market subplot, the evil-spy-network subplot, the cute-kid-stowaway subplot… It makes for a long film (my DVD comes in at 149 minutes) and a not very interesting one. The expressionist acting style wears after a while, and the slow-moving plot doesn't help matters. I loved the rocket launch (done by Oskar Fischenger, whose short animation films you should check out), and am able to put up with a fair amount of hokum in the name of entertainment. But this isn't one of Lang's best efforts.