In Victorian England, an American showman uses a wealthy Frenchman's finances to build a German explosives expert's giant cannon designed to fire a people-filled projectile to the Moon, but ... Read allIn Victorian England, an American showman uses a wealthy Frenchman's finances to build a German explosives expert's giant cannon designed to fire a people-filled projectile to the Moon, but spies and saboteurs endanger the project.In Victorian England, an American showman uses a wealthy Frenchman's finances to build a German explosives expert's giant cannon designed to fire a people-filled projectile to the Moon, but spies and saboteurs endanger the project.
- Director
- Writers
- Stars
- Professor von Bulow
- (as Gert Frobe)
- Henri
- (as Edward De Souza)
- Anna
- (as Renata Holt)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
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Featured reviews
However, this 'comedy fantasy' has a huge amount going for it. Although it is rarely hilarious, it is often funny and it is usually fun. The cast is terrific. The costumes and cinematography are also excellent, and the period feel is surprisingly good: we really feel that we are in the late 19th century. This is impressive given that many films with bigger budgets than this are not as successful in recreating a period atmosphere.
Maybe the title misled people into thinking that it was going to be an exciting science-fiction adventure, and so their expectations were raised too high. However, with slightly lower expectations, it can be enjoyed rather a lot.
"Rocket to the Moon" sometimes contains the same levels of charm and enjoyment of similar "epics", but to use a whoary old clichéd reviewer's line, the whole is less than the sum of its parts. The whole inventors bit is still terribly entertaining, and an early scene where a bridge is held together only by the initiation ceremony ribbon, which then gets cut by Queen Victoria, is good for a giggle. However, though every so often there are such delights as debating how a rocket could be propelled to the Moon ("You would need a big cannon!"), and what to do should they meet any alien life ("Chloroform!"), in between there are some long stretches of not very much happening at all, and there are one too many misfired gags. The plot goes for a complete Burton during the last twenty five minutes or so, which descends into a drawn out and utterly pointless chase scene between a vintage car and a penny-farthing. The inclusion of what is suggested to be some kind of brothel to which Deliah Lavi's character is forcibly sent also seems terribly out of place with the playful innocence of the action surrounding it ("Why are there bars on the windows?" "Oh, that's not to keep you girls in. It's to keep the gentlemen out.") There is some top-notch comedy talent on display to keep the viewer periodically entertained. Terry-Thomas, as always, gives it his best shot, playing one of his most caddish characters - in fact, at times he actually does seem quite dangerous, which can make for one or two rather disturbing scenes. Lionel Jeffries is always good value for money, and even Graham Stark succeeds at being amusing here. For me, however, a quiet and understated performance from Dennis Price steals the picture, even if he doesn't actually have any jokes per se. The scene in which he slowly discovers that Terry-Thomas has a rigged pool table is probably the best of the film, and there's a rather electric bit soon after where he attacks T-T at a club, complete with shouting and copious stick waving.
However, the young leading man, Troy Donahue, is utterly wooden, and kills quite a few potentially funny lines. Comedy German eccentric Gert Frobe veers alarmingly between being hilarious ("What do we do now?" "I don't know, we've never got this far before,") and being tremendously irritating. And the less said about Deliah Lavi, the better. No, in fact, let's talk about her anyway. Maybe it's just the character she's forced to play, a bimbo who leaps into the arms of whatever young man may be nearest to her at the time. But Deliah doesn't try to give her much of a personality, and so just resembles a walking personality vacuum. The writer doesn't even seem to have bothered in giving her character any logical sense, as she appears to teleport from place to place for no reason at all except plot expediency (why the hell is she in the rocket at night for any reason other than to be discovered by T-T and Lionel Jeffries?) In the chase scene at the end she seems to acquire a penny-farthing from nowhere, and frankly just looks ridiculous - and it's painfully obvious when a double has been used in the long shots.
The plot groans with the attempts to include a bit of jeopardy, and so T-T, starting off as a harmless cad, embezzling the project money, suddenly turns into a bit of a leering psycho, determined to make sure the rocket never leaves the Earth, even if to do so means killing off Troy Donahue (then again, maybe that's not such a bad idea). There's also a running gag about a Russian spy that doesn't appear to really lead anywhere, and after the first use of it (which is actually funny) should really have been dropped.
I really wanted to like this film more than I did, and, indeed, on first viewing I found it a great, if a touch gentle, little feature. However, on subsequent viewings, the meandering nature of the story becomes more and more obvious, as do the number of jokes that just plain don't work. Fantastic actors appear wasted in roles that require them to change their character's personality practically every other scene - Lionel Jeffries' Sir Charles Dillworthy seems to harbour a loathing of T-T's Washington-Smythe at the beginning, then appears terrified of him, then angry, and then just willingly teams up with him by the end anyway.
Overall, though the concept of the film still remains a huge attraction, and actors like Dennis Price and Terry-Thomas still make it well worth watching on a Sunday afternoon, I can't help but feel a bit disappointed with "Rocket to the Moon", which would have been better having it's plot tightened up and getting rid of a few of the longer set pieces (Gert Frobe's cannon experiments, for example). Or maybe it just needed to be a bit funnier.
6/10
Whilst readily conceding that it doesn't have much of a reputation to begin with, the film itself proved a bit of a let-down for me especially since, unlike the earlier version, we never even get to go in outer-space!! Besides, the pace is inordinately slow for this type of film; director Sharp was clearly more adept at deploying atmosphere and suspense than at he was at comedy timing. That said, the first half is undeniably pleasant with the amusing trial-and-error experiments of the various people involved (often witnessed by a perpetually unperturbed Queen Victoria) and, later, Frobe's disastrous attempts to find the correct amount of Bulovite (his own invention) to fire the rocket (Donahue's design of which is favored over that of the more experienced, and consequently inflamed, Jeffries) all the way to the moon! Alas, the film's latter stages involving Jeffries and Terry-Thomas' attempts to sabotage the launching, Lavi's determination (after being abducted by them and escaping) to reach Donahue and alert him of their nefarious plan, and which also needlessly throw in a number of other characters (including even more romantic complications!) tend to fall flat; the finale, though, as the rocket actually does go off with Jeffries, Terry-Tomas and, unbeknownst to them, a Russian spy inside (and which rather than land on the moon as intended takes them all the way to Siberia!), is quite nicely done.
A measure of the film's overall failure can be gleaned from the fact that it was released in several quarters under a multitude of different titles, including THOSE FANTASTIC FLYING FOOLS in the U.S. where it was marketed as a would-be follow-up to the highly successful epic spoof THOSE MAGNIFICENT MEN IN THEIR FLYING MACHINES (1965) which had also starred Terry-Thomas and Gert Frobe. Unfortunately, my viewing of the film was somewhat compromised by the faulty copy I acquired, with the audio being ever so slightly off, while the picture froze though not the soundtrack! for about 10 seconds half-way through!!
"Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" and "Time Machine" are great 1960s films that remain watchable classics today. This one doesn't fall into that category at all.
We see from the start that this is not just a send-up of Victorian science and engineering, but a parody of Victorian society in general. In the turbulent 1960s, the British Empire was in its death throes, and traditional British values and mannerisms were seen as fair game by movie makers.
Some of the great lines: "By Jove, what a corker", "You're a cad and a bounder", "It's because of the colonies!" "Oh Grundle, what beastly hard luck" and "By George, this is splendid" (said by Burl Ives, no less). These lines were all delivered with great relish.
However, the loving detail paid to these Victorian trappings adds a poignant air to it all. In the various elaborate scenes, they went to a lot of trouble to depict many different aspects of this British world in the 1890s. A British club, a Welsh village home, a picnic spread, local parades, and so on. The filmmakers seem to be saying, "Surely, it was a good thing while it lasted, even though we laugh at it now".
In addition to the British self-mockery, foreigners are treated with disdain. The Americans are hucksters and pretty-boy astronauts. The French are flighty and unfaithful (but look good). The Russian is an inept spy lurking in the bushes who tries to ruin everything. The German is a mad scientist. All this is pure 1960s.
Miscast Burl Ives isn't convincing as a fraudster; he plays himself: portly, amiable and handsome. Troy Donohue (at this point well into his personal and professional decline) delivers his lines with earnest woodenness. He wasn't gay, but it's hard not to snicker when Madeline cries out, "I love you, Gaylord I love you, Henri". At points like this, the film becomes a "Carry On" farce.
British comedians Terry-Thomas and Lionel Jeffries were an amusing pair. Jeffries in particular -- playing a bitter, eccentric engineer -- gets to sink his teeth into some juicy lines. By the second half they had become the villains, and played it to the hilt.
It is somewhat of a rambling, disjointed movie that revolves around set-piece scenes rather than a coherent plot. There are quite a few scenes that add nothing to plot development. We spend a full five minutes, for example, watching a nervous 19th century British artillery crew prepare to fire a dangerous cannon. (Explosions gone wrong are an important theme in the movie.) Another five minutes was devoted to a chase scene involving a Frenchwoman on a penny farthing bicycle. (The filmmakers had a genuine "gas carriage" as a prop, so they made full use of it.)
"Rocket to the Moon" is a silly movie that has not stood the test of time. However, it is witty and fun at times. If you like this sort of thing, you might enjoy this one.
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaBing Crosby was attached to this project; he was going to play P.T. Barnum, but delays and rewrites caused him to drop out.
- Quotes
The Duke of Barset: A common device for swindling! In my day you'd be led to a room with a gun on the table. The door would be closed. A shot would ring out. A woman would scream.
Captain Sir Harry Washington Smythe: I say, I did so like the part about the woman screaming!
- Crazy creditsClosing credits: and Queen Victoria JOAN STERNDALE BENNETT God Bless her !
- ConnectionsFeatured in The Kid from a Kibbutz (2021)
- SoundtracksWe Must Always Trust the Stranger
Music and Lyrics by Ron Goodwin
Performed by Mike Clifford (uncredited)
- How long is Those Fantastic Flying Fools?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Tolldreiste Kerle in rasselnden Raketen
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $3,000,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 35 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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