Frequently Bought Together
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Product details
|
Reviews
DVD Description
One small step. That had been taken before . . .
The year is 1909. Bankrupt businessman Julius Bedford is going nowhere – until he meets the eccentric scientist Professor Cavor. Because Cavor has invented an extraordinary substance. Anything it touches becomes lighter than air! Together, the two men devise a wild scheme. Why not go to the Moon?
But the lifeless world isn't quite as dead as it seems. Soon Bedford and Cavor are pitched into a thrilling struggle deep beneath the Moon's surface and an encounter with its terrifying alien masters – the Selenites!
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
On the 20th of July 1969, a boy loses his dad on a fairground and steps into a booth promising kinematic marvels. The actual very first trip to the Moon.
On a TV budget, Mark Gatiss adapts Wells' novel, and adds for good measure two other first trips to the Moon: the actual one, in 1969, and the first filmed one, by Méliès. Money considerations may have guided the exclusion of some bits from the novel, but the story bears these losses quite well, and the whole is rather faithful to its source, even to the sense of tragic waste at the end. Gatiss cleverly manages to use the novel in order to connect the American landing to the English one; the very last scene may be going a bit far, though the visual juxtaposition has quite poetic a strength.
Still, the result is a funny and nostalgic film, which shouldn't blush from the comparison with its cinematic predecessor, First Men In The Moon [DVD] [1964]
On a TV budget, Mark Gatiss adapts Wells' novel, and adds for good measure two other first trips to the Moon: the actual one, in 1969, and the first filmed one, by Méliès. Money considerations may have guided the exclusion of some bits from the novel, but the story bears these losses quite well, and the whole is rather faithful to its source, even to the sense of tragic waste at the end. Gatiss cleverly manages to use the novel in order to connect the American landing to the English one; the very last scene may be going a bit far, though the visual juxtaposition has quite poetic a strength.
Still, the result is a funny and nostalgic film, which shouldn't blush from the comparison with its cinematic predecessor, First Men In The Moon [DVD] [1964]
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
"I claim this satellite in the name of King Edward the Seventh, Emperor of India, king of the British Dominions, and for all mankind. What is this for us but a tiny footfall?"
Mark Gatiss' 2010 BBC version of The First Men in the Moon manages the twin feats of being a charming adaptation that's a little closer to H.G. Wells' intentions than the Ray Harryhausen film but still feeling a little thin at 87 minutes. Like the Harryhausen version, this uses NASA's first Moon shot as a framing device, with Rory Kinnear's ridiculed old man showing a wide-eyed young boy his kinematographic films and telling, for the thousandth time, the story that no-one believes: of how he and the eccentric Professor Cavor were not only the first men on the Moon, but the first IN it as well (albeit arriving in what Cavor takes for "some desolate outlying district - like Wales") almost a lifetime earlier. And, naturally, they soon found out they were far from alone...
It's very much a period piece, the low budget giving it a less than naturalistic look and feel that compliments it surprisingly well, the film at times reaching back to silent cinema, whether it's using the same means of testing whether the Moon has an atmosphere as Fritz Lang's Frau im Mond/Woman on the Moon or throwing in a gorgeously delirious dream scene in the style of Melies' Trip to the Moon. Even the computer-generated Selenites have a bit of the feel of Harryhausen's stop-motion creations while the film is dedicated to Lionel Jeffries, who played Cavor in that 1964 version and died eight months before this first aired.
Good as Kinnear is, he doesn't stand much of a chance against Gatiss, who makes a marvellous Cavor, whether he's ermming away and adding a belated `probably' to his every scientific pronouncement or exploring the surface of the Moon in his cricket cap. More than that, he manages to make Cavor's final decision genuinely sad, a defeat not just for the Moon's inhabitants but for everything that he stands for. Not everything works quite as well - there's not enough interaction with the Selenites while much of the Grand Lunar's dialogue is inaudible, losing a couple of important plot points in the process, the less said about Kinnear's false beard the better and the final shot is a bit of a mistake - but there's enough genuine charm and enthusiasm to carry it over the rough spots. Not quite Imperial, but certainly a jolly noble effort.
Mark Gatiss' 2010 BBC version of The First Men in the Moon manages the twin feats of being a charming adaptation that's a little closer to H.G. Wells' intentions than the Ray Harryhausen film but still feeling a little thin at 87 minutes. Like the Harryhausen version, this uses NASA's first Moon shot as a framing device, with Rory Kinnear's ridiculed old man showing a wide-eyed young boy his kinematographic films and telling, for the thousandth time, the story that no-one believes: of how he and the eccentric Professor Cavor were not only the first men on the Moon, but the first IN it as well (albeit arriving in what Cavor takes for "some desolate outlying district - like Wales") almost a lifetime earlier. And, naturally, they soon found out they were far from alone...
It's very much a period piece, the low budget giving it a less than naturalistic look and feel that compliments it surprisingly well, the film at times reaching back to silent cinema, whether it's using the same means of testing whether the Moon has an atmosphere as Fritz Lang's Frau im Mond/Woman on the Moon or throwing in a gorgeously delirious dream scene in the style of Melies' Trip to the Moon. Even the computer-generated Selenites have a bit of the feel of Harryhausen's stop-motion creations while the film is dedicated to Lionel Jeffries, who played Cavor in that 1964 version and died eight months before this first aired.
Good as Kinnear is, he doesn't stand much of a chance against Gatiss, who makes a marvellous Cavor, whether he's ermming away and adding a belated `probably' to his every scientific pronouncement or exploring the surface of the Moon in his cricket cap. More than that, he manages to make Cavor's final decision genuinely sad, a defeat not just for the Moon's inhabitants but for everything that he stands for. Not everything works quite as well - there's not enough interaction with the Selenites while much of the Grand Lunar's dialogue is inaudible, losing a couple of important plot points in the process, the less said about Kinnear's false beard the better and the final shot is a bit of a mistake - but there's enough genuine charm and enthusiasm to carry it over the rough spots. Not quite Imperial, but certainly a jolly noble effort.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
HG Well's The First Men In The Moon, publish in the late 1890's/1900's (somewhere around then) is my favourite novel of all time. I fell in love with this story after hearing Radio 4's dramatic radio play of the story starring William Rushton and Hywel Bennett, when I was a young child. How I wish I could get a copy of that radio play but I have never been able to).
I watched the earlier cinematic rendition of the movie but, apart from Lionel Jefferies awesome acting, I didn't care much for the movie. However, I saw a part of this new version on BBC and loved it. It is vary close indeed to the original including much of the dialogue. Like the previous movie it opens up on the real events of man landing on the moon, which, of course, never happened in the book, and I didn't really see the need for the movie to open up in such a way, however, we can't have it all. :-)
I loved the acting, the moon scenery (though the external shots were a bit lame, but this was due to budget constraints), and the selenites. The storyline does not stray too far from the book at all.
If you like the book then I would suggest you watch this version of the movie.
I watched the earlier cinematic rendition of the movie but, apart from Lionel Jefferies awesome acting, I didn't care much for the movie. However, I saw a part of this new version on BBC and loved it. It is vary close indeed to the original including much of the dialogue. Like the previous movie it opens up on the real events of man landing on the moon, which, of course, never happened in the book, and I didn't really see the need for the movie to open up in such a way, however, we can't have it all. :-)
I loved the acting, the moon scenery (though the external shots were a bit lame, but this was due to budget constraints), and the selenites. The storyline does not stray too far from the book at all.
If you like the book then I would suggest you watch this version of the movie.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Updating a classic?
19th/20th Century classics have often received rather shoddy treatment at the hands of modern (?) producers, who tend to Americanize everything with lots of effects and reduce the... Read more
Published 2 months ago by RIJU GANGULY
Sadly rubbish
This is probably the worst of the bunch of films about men going to the moon. The moon (apparently) now has a breathable atmosphere, which I guess saves money for the props... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Stephen Bloom
"A Nice Try, But Falls Short"
As a science fiction fan, I was intrigued to see a re-boot of H.G. Wells' classic by the BBC. I highly admired Mark Gatiss' work on "SHERLOCK" and figured it was worth a look. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Perry_USA
BUY IT!
Absolutely love this film - Mark Gatiss and Rory Kinnear are both absolutely brilliant and it's fantastically written. A must see.
Published 15 months ago by Toni
Early Si Fi story Idea
This was an interseting original early SiFi story with a few twists this was first filmed in the 60's still a good story but tyhis one has some good computer graphics
Published 15 months ago by MR J L HAYHOW of JEZarts
Greata version of classic science fiction story
I am not a science fiction fan but I picked this up on BBC4.
It was a low budget version but the story is so good that it does not need top of the range special... Read more
It was a low budget version but the story is so good that it does not need top of the range special... Read more
Published 19 months ago by Peter Wade
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
