12 TO THE MOON (1960) in '60s Horror and Sci-Fi Forum

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12 TO THE MOON (1960)

Author	Comment
Friend of Daniel	12 TO THE MOON (1960)	Lead	[-]
Oct 20 11 4:05 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I couldn't find an existing thread on this very budget-minded expedition to the moon for twelve of earth's most diverse and emotially fragile scientists. The movie's heart is in the right place with all the talk of human cooperation, international friendship, and the ultimate power of love (and kitties?!?) to soften the stoniest of moon man hearts along with the ambitious plot and surpisingly diverse cast - including an African astronomer who saves the day. But the laughable effects and sets (another rocket furnished with lawn furniture and spare factory parts) and the screen writers apparent lack of any basic knowledge about space travel or the moon pretty much undercut all the ambitious elements. Plus, we never get to see any of the moon men. Best psychotronic bit has the moon men asking the astronauts to leave the two house cats on the moon because - well, they don't have cats on the moon.
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clore103051		#1	[-]
Oct 20 11 5:04 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I haven't seen this one since October 1960 when it played on a double-bill with 13 GHOSTS at my local theater. But last night going through the IMDb, I noticed that it was the last credited feature film for cinematographer John Alton. Is there anything to speak of in terms of camerawork?
Monsterpal		#2	[-]
Oct 20 11 5:41 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I saw it with BATTLE IN OUTER SPACE. I don't remember anything good about it, unlike its colorful co-feature. The moon men freeze the earth at one point, but then they have a change of heart and thaw us out, maybe because of the kitties, I don't remember why. Everything's okay, though, with no mention of all the people that must have died and all the destruction. This epic disaster is depicted by a crude painting of the earth from space with ice all over it.
Friend of Daniel		#3	[-]
Oct 20 11 6:03 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	clore103051 wrote: Is there anything to speak of in terms of camerawork? Not really, unfortunately. The sequence where the astronauts are introduced (by Francis X. Bushman!) is filmed with some atmosphere - with smoke and darkness - but since Bushman has to introduce twelve astronauts it becomes comical fairly quickly. More of an editing issue, I suppose.
ometiklon		#4	[-]
Oct 20 11 6:08 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	clore103051 wrote: Is there anything to speak of in terms of camerawork? There are some pretty good shots of the beach chairs they use on the interior of the spaceship.
Friend of Daniel		#5	[-]
Oct 20 11 6:18 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Maybe it's a different John Alton.
clore103051		#6	[-]
Oct 20 11 6:19 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Thanks guys, I guess that there's no need for me to revisit this one anytime soon unless I'm having trouble sleeping.
Friend of Daniel		#7	[-]
Oct 21 11 7:53 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	By the way, for those who have Comcast In Demand, this is featured as one of their 'free movies' this month. I have to hand it to Comcast, they do offer some great obscure titles in this service. Recently I've watched SCREAMING MIMI, OCTAMAN (why isn't it OCTOMAN?), QUEEN OF BLOOD, THE NAKED WITCH, EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN, THE CREEPING TERROR, PLANET OF VAMPIRES, KING OF THE ZOMBIES, CURSE OF THE FACELESS MAN, and the entire two season run of Psychoville through this service. I also watched LEPRECHAUN IN THE HOOD, but I probably shouldn't admit that here...
Monsterpal		#8	[-]
Oct 21 11 5:27 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Comcast should pay their viewers to watch 12 TO THE MOON.
Grant		#9	[-]
Oct 21 11 7:45 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Not if it's the MST version. You don't have to be a cat hater to like some of the jokes about why in heaven's name another world would ASK for cats.
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Friend of Daniel		#10	[-]
Oct 21 11 8:02 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I noticed YouTube has the MST3K version up. I imagine there is some speculation about the poor Cocker Spaniel, the monkeys, and the budgies as well.
ometiklon		#11	[-]
Oct 21 11 8:49 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Ahhh MST3K
LCranston		#12	[-]
Oct 24 11 10:38 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I've only seen the MST version, and really don't see any purpose in seeking it out in it's original form. Fave moment - when the astronauts don their space suits, one of them says "I'm now activating my invisible face shield to protect me from the vacuum of space." He hits some switch on the helmet, and acts as if something has happened, but it hasn't. Really silly. "I live the unknown, I love the unknown... I AM the unknown."
Tom Powers		#13	[-]
Nov 4 11 9:02 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I remember liking this film when I first saw it... But that was a LONG time ago. As I recall, some of the FX shots were pretty good.
gene phillips		#14	[-]
Jan 30 12 6:07 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Monsterpal wrote: I saw it with BATTLE IN OUTER SPACE. I don't remember anything good about it, unlike its colorful co-feature. The moon men freeze the earth at one point, but then they have a change of heart and thaw us out, maybe because of the kitties, I don't remember why. Everything's okay, though, with no mention of all the people that must have died and all the destruction. This epic disaster is depicted by a crude painting of the earth from space with ice all over it. I just saw a rebroadcast of this, and the writer does provide a sort-of way out: he has a broadcast from Earth tell the astronauts that everyone who was frozen simply emerged from "suspended animation." I'm trying to make up my mind about the film. I don't know that I fault it for being cheapjack, but more for not really having any fun with the cheapness, as I'd argue MISSILE TO THE MOON does. It's a peculiar film to have come from DeWitt (CAT PEOPLE) Bodeen, but at times I could see him tossing out wild ideas that didn't quite track. One is a stone the astronauts pick up on the moon, which two of them dub "the jewel of Medea." I listened to a recording a couple times and am pretty sure they used the name of the Greek sorceress, though I don't think the original myth-character has anything to do with jewels. Later the 'nauts take the stone on board their ship and put it in a corner, where for no reason it catches fire. A heroic 'naut picks it up and hurls it into a cabinet, where we're told it won't burn because there's "no air" in there. There's also a weird bit where Tom Conway burns his hands sticking them in some sort of liquid-- I think maybe it was supposed to be molten gold, since they found gold earlier. I guess it was some daffy take on the evil of man seeking venal riches. Oh, and the unseen aliens like cats. Maybe that was Bodeen reminiscing on better days, better projects? NATURALISTIC! UNCANNY! MARVELOUS!
clore103051		#15	[-]
Jan 30 12 6:42 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I saw that it was airing on Antenna TV early this morning but I could not muster up any enthusiasm for watching it. Part of that was the film, but it's also because I just couldn't bear of having to put up with the Cash4Gold and ThreeScoreDotCom ads in every break. Just putting up with them in the Hitchcock reruns for an hour is taxing.
Reegs		#16	[-]
Jan 31 12 1:21 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I time-shift everything so I was able to watch it yesterday evening. Or try to watch it (they ought to award a Nobel prize to the person that invented fast forward). Cheap. Slow. Ridiculous. Pointless. Why was this flick even made? Just because you need something for the bottom of the bill doesn't mean an hour and ten minutes worth of any kind of exposed film. Btw: Those looked like some sort of frame in the background when the crew was climbing out of the ship. Or did I miss an explanation for that?
Zombie Dad		#17	[-]
Jan 31 12 1:38 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Friend of Daniel wrote: Best psychotronic bit has the moon men asking the astronauts to leave the two house cats on the moon because - well, they don't have cats on the moon. Perhaps a prequel explaining the origin of CAT WOMEN OF THE MOON ? ZD Zombie Dad's Online Art Store www.zazzle.com/zombiedad
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12 TO THE MOON (1960)

12 TO THE MOON (1960)