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:

the moon | moon | alien | explosion | out of focus | 

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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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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

June 1960 (USA)

Also Known As:

Twelve to the Moon

Box Office

Budget:

$150,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Corporation,Luna Productions Inc.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

74 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The astronauts' acceleration couches were common tube-lined poolside recliners.

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Goofs

The "Oriental picture writing" that the moon people send to the ship is obviously just random shapes and designs, and doesn't resemble Japanese writing in the slightest.

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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

Not Great...but not bad , either !

I remember having seen "12 to the Moon" in theatrical release in the 1960's, the last hurrah of the matinees on Saturdays. While many of the "gen-X-ers" would not truly understand the times and feelings of the era, we "baby-boomers" were there, and shared in the fun and excitement of the times, and the thrill of going into a theater as a young person to see even a not-so-good sci-fi flick. "12 To The Moon" was, as I recall, another one of those "dislocated dramas". By that I mean--it took place on the Moon, but concentrated more on human elements than on actual science. It did not take itself seriously, and was un-ashamedly released strictly for entertainment value, as were 95% of the flicks of that era. The US had not yet conquered space, let alone the moon, in 1960. It was an era of expectation, anticipation, and discovery. The scene that still haunts me from the film is the ill-fated space voyager who dies in a form of "lunar-quicksand". The others are virtually helpless to assist their fellow traveler. There is a warmth and an empathy present in the sci-fi flicks of that era that is not present in to-day's "in your face" media and world. In those days, "attitude on a stick" was equated with a flawed, or even evil character, and required redemption on the part of the

"attitu-dee"..that is to say, the one who has the attitude. I don't remember a lot of the film, not having seen it since I was in third or fourth grade. But audiences then got a lot from a little, and what was unspoken or not shown spoke volumes over that which was more conspicuous.