Destination Moon (film)

Destination Moon
Theatrical release poster
Directed byIrving Pichel
Screenplay by
Produced byGeorge Pal
Walter Lantz (uncredited)
Starring
CinematographyLionel Lindon
Edited byDuke Goldstone
Music byLeith Stevens
Animation byWalter Lantz
Color processTechnicolor
Production
companies
George Pal Productions
Walter Lantz Productions
Distributed byEagle-Lion Classics
Release date
  • June 27, 1950 (1950-06-27) (United States)
Running time
91 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$592,000[1]
Box office$5 million[2] or $1.3 million (US)[3]

Destination Moon (a.k.a. Operation Moon) is a 1950 American Technicolor science fiction film, independently produced by George Pal and directed by Irving Pichel, that stars John Archer, Warner Anderson, Tom Powers, and Dick Wesson. The film was distributed in the United States and the United Kingdom by Eagle-Lion Classics.

Destination Moon was the first major U.S. science fiction film to deal with the practical scientific and engineering challenges of space travel and to speculate on what a crewed expedition to the Moon would look like. Noted science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein contributed to the screenplay.

The film's premise is that private industry will mobilize, finance, and manufacture the first spacecraft to the Moon, and that the U.S. government will be forced to purchase or lease the technology to remain the dominant power in space. Different industrialists cooperate to support the private venture.

In the final scene, as the crew approaches the Earth, the traditional "The End" title card heralds the dawn of the coming Space Age: "This is THE END...of the Beginning".[4][page needed]

  1. ^ Scheuer, Philip K. (8 June 1970). "Patience Key to Pal Success". Los Angeles Times. p. e19.
  2. ^ "Destination Moon (1950)". The Numbers. Retrieved June 28, 2015.
  3. ^ "Top Grosses of 1950". Variety. January 3, 1951. p. 58.
  4. ^ Warren 2009.