12 to the Moon (1960)

An international team embarks on an expedition to the moon in an uncommonly spacious rocketship. There they encounter a faceless alien intelligence who conclude that the human race is too ... See full summary »

Director:

David Bradley

Writers:

Fred Gebhardt (story), DeWitt Bodeen (screenplay) (as De Witt Bodeen)

Stars:

Ken Clark, Michi Kobi, Tom Conway

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Ken Clark	...	Capt. John Anderson
Michi Kobi	...	Dr. Hideko Murata
Tom Conway	...	Dr. Feodor Orloff
Anthony Dexter	...	Dr. Luis Vargas (as Tony Dexter)
John Wengraf	...	Dr. Erich Heinrich
Robert Montgomery Jr.	...	Roddy Murdock (as Bob Montgomery Jr.)
Phillip Baird	...	Dr. William Rochester
Richard Weber	...	Dr. David Ruskin
Muzaffer Tema	...	Dr. Selim Hamid (as Tema Bey)
Roger Til	...	Dr. Etienne Martel
Cory Devlin	...	Dr. Asmara Markonen
Anna-Lisa	...	Dr. Sigrid Bomark
Francis X. Bushman	...	Secretary General of the International Space Order

Storyline

An international team embarks on an expedition to the moon in an uncommonly spacious rocketship. There they encounter a faceless alien intelligence who conclude that the human race is too immature and dangerous and must be destroyed.

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Plot Keywords:

psychotronic film | man wrapped in a towel | turk | japan | moon | 

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Taglines:

Join the first astronauts in the space-conquering flight to the moon!

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Genres:

Sci-Fi

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Did You Know?

Trivia

This low budget film with limited resources was, rather oddly, paired with Ishirô Honda's elaborate big budget sci-fi spectacle Battle in Outer Space (1959) for its first US release.

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Goofs

The first time the spaceship is seen in space (about 10 minutes in) it crosses a dense patch of stars (about 15) and they can still be seen right through the spaceship as it passes.

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Quotes

Dr. Selim Hamid: Praise Allah.
Dr. Feodor Orloff: Praise this ship, not Allah.

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Crazy Credits

The "starring" cast credits are shown against a background of stars. Each name seems to zoom outward from the center of the screen, like meteors in a shower; but as each one appears it stops and remains onscreen until all 12 names are visible simultaneously. Ken Clark's name is the first shown, followed in order by Michi Kobi, Tom Conway, Tony Dexter, John Wengraf, Bob Montgomery Jr., Phillip Baird, Richard Weber, Tema Bey, Roger Til, Cory Devlin, and "and Anna-Lisa"; but when they have all settled in their places, the first row of names has Clark, Baird, Dexter, Til, Conway; the second row has Devlin, Bey, Montgomery, Wengraf; and the third row has Kobi, Anna-Lisa, Weber. Francis X. Bushman's name appears on a second screen as a "guest star".

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Connections

Featured in Mystery Science Theater 3000: 12 to the Moon (1994)

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Soundtracks

Lynch Fever
(uncredited)
Music by Trevor Duncan

User Reviews

Haven't I seen this before?

Twelve scientists from around the world are selected to be part of the crew that will be the first to land on the moon. Once there, they begin their work, but it doesn't take long before they realize they are not alone. A mysterious underground race of beings kidnaps two of the crew members and demands the others leave at once. In their haste to get away, another scientist is lost in an accident. As they near Earth on their return, they discover the inhabitants of the moon have frozen all of North America. They come up with a plan to use the heat of a volcano to reverse the freezing process. But this will require the sacrifice of two members of their party to fly the ship into a volcanic crater. Will their plan work?

I would be willing to overlook a lot of 12 to the Moon's shortcomings if the movie had any originality. Many of the plot points and set-pieces seem to be almost identical to those found in First Spaceship on Venus. While IMDb lists a release date of 1962 for First Spaceship on Venus, that's the North American release date. The film was released in early 1960 in West Germany. It would have been more than possible for someone to have seen that movie before making 12 to the Moon. I have no idea if I'm right about this, but if you've seen both movies, you undoubtedly noticed the similarities as I did.

Beyond the films lack of originality, 12 to the Moon is pretty much a mess. Visible scaffolding and crew members, cheap looking sets, and an unnecessary Nazi subplot are among the many problems found in the movie. I'm not including the poor special effects in this list because, as bad as they are, I've seen far worse in other movies of this type. And besides, who doesn't expect to find problems with the special effects in a movie like 12 to the Moon - that's part of the charm of sci-fi films from the 50s and early 60s.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

June 1960 (USA)

Also Known As:

Twelve to the Moon

Filming Locations:

California Studios - 5530 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$150,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures, Luna Productions Inc.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

74 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1