JULES VERNE’S ROCKET TO THE MOON [1967 / 2021] [Blu-ray] [UK Release] ‘JULES VERNE’S ROCKET TO THE MOON’ is a genial 1960’s British wacky-space-racers!
A brand new restoration of ‘JULES VERNE'S ROCKET TO THE MOON’ based on an original work by the great pre-science-fiction author Jules Verne, is a British comedy directed by Don Sharp [‘Rasputin: The Mad Monk’] starring Oscar® winner Burl Ives [‘Cat On A Hit Tin Roof’ and ‘The Big Country’], Troy Donahue [‘A Summer Place’] and Gert Fröbe [‘Goldfinger’].
Contestants from all over the world compete in a competition to be the first scientist to construct and launch a rocket to the moon. Phineas T. Barnum, the great American showman, comes to England to escape his creditors. Always on the lookout for an opportunity to make money, he enters the competition in an ambitious attempt to launch a rocket to the moon with the aid of a powerful, new explosive. Money troubles, spies and saboteurs ensure that the plan is doomed before it even starts.
FILM FACT: Harry Alan Towers (as "Peter Welbeck") devised the story, very loosely based on the 1865 novel From the “Earth to the Moon” by Jules Verne, whilst the script was by Dave Freeman, a comedy writer for “The Benny Hill Show” television show. The film was originally announced as going to star Bing Crosby as Phineas T. Barnum and Senta Berger, along with Terry-Thomas, Gert Fröbe and Wilfred Hyde-White. AIP said it would be a "wild adventure laced with comedy." In the end Lionel Jeffries replaced Hyde-White and Burl Ives and Daliah Lavi stood in for Bing Crosby and Berger. The film was almost entirely shot in Ireland and starting on the 6th August, 1966. The rocket launch was shot at the site of a disused copper mine in Avoca in Co. Wicklow, other exterior scenes were shot in the sand dunes of Brittas Bay, and the interior scenes were shot at Ardmore Studios, just south of Dublin. Director Don Sharp who had made several films for the producer Harry Alan Towers recalled that the film was Towers' most expensive. Attempting to obtain more funds for the projected US$3 million budget, Towers approached several international film studios who planned to release the films in their home countries; Constantin Film in West Germany, Associated British Picture Corporation in Great Britain and American International Pictures in the United States of America. In exchange, each of the film studios provided funds with the provisos that their national stars of Gert Fröbe, Terry-Thomas and Troy Donohue received more screen time expanding the originally much tighter screenplay. Although released in some parts of the USA under the title of ‘Those Fantastic Flying Fools,’ in an effort to try and cash in on the popularity of ‘Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines,’ there was also a cut-down version that trimmed nearly 25 minutes from the film; this much shorter edit was put out as ‘Blast-Off’ in other parts of America, but it proved not to be any more successful. It seems an awful shame that this alternate version has not been included here, as it would help to see whether or not the pacing would be improved by trimming away some of the fat.
Cast: Burl Ives, Jimmy Clitheroe, Terry-Thomas, Graham Stark, Gert Fröbe, Lionel Jeffries, Dennis Price, Dennis Price, Daliah Lavi, Edward de Souza, Hermione Gingold, Judy Cornwell, Renate von Holt, Joachim Teege, Stratford Johns, Derek Francis, Anthony Woodruff, Hugh Walters, Allan Cuthbertson Allan Cuthbertson, Donald Bisset, Cecil Nash, Vernon Hayden, John Franklyn, Harry Brogan, Derek Young, Joan Sterndale-Bennett, Jack Arrow (uncredited), Dan Cressey (uncredited), Sinéad Cusack (uncredited), Maurice Denham [Narrator’s voice] (uncredited), Vincent Dowling (uncredited), Eric Erskine (uncredited), Conor Evans (uncredited), Tom Irwin (uncredited), Peadar Lamb (uncredited), Audrey Nicholson (uncredited), Vincent Smith (uncredited), and Ronnie Walsh (uncredited)
Director: Don Sharp
Producers: Harry Alan Towers and Louis M. Heyward (uncredited)
Screenplay: Harry Alan Towers (original story), Dave Freeman (screenplay) and Jules Verne (inspired by the writings)
Composer: John Scott
Costumes: Carl Toms
Cinematography: Reginald H. Wyer, B.S.C. (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p (Eastmancolor)
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 (Panavision)
Audio: English: 2.0 LPCM Stereo Audio
Subtitles: English
Running Time: 119 minutes
Region: Region B/2
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Amalgamated Film Distribution Ltd. / STUDIOCANAL
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: ‘JULES VERNE’S ROCKET TO THE MOON’ [1967] The stories of Jules Verne have been adapted into films from some of the earliest days of cinema, with Georges Méliès’ ‘Le Voyage Dans La Lune’ (or ‘A Trip To The Moon’) being perhaps one of the best known early examples. In the 1950s and 1960s, Verne’s works proved once more to be a source of inspiration for filmmakers, such as Disney’s ‘20,000 Leagues Under The Sea,’ as well as 1958’s ‘From The Earth To The Moon,’ and the 1962 release of ‘Five Weeks In A Balloon,’ which was directed by Irwin Allen.
Around that time came something of a short-lived trend for big name ensemble romps, which began with 1965’s ‘Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines,’ followed up by ‘The Great Race’ and ‘Monte Carlo Or Bust!’ During that same period, the public’s fascination with the ongoing Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union was ending up being reflected in various media, such as the American TV sitcom series like “I Dream Of Jeannie,” which starred Larry Hagman as a member of the US Astronaut corps.
It took canny would-be mogul and entrepreneur Harry Alan Towers to read the public mood and combine all the popular trends of the time into a single project: ‘JULES VERNE’S ROCKET TO THE MOON.’ Released in 1967, it latched onto the push to put a man on the Moon before the decade was out, as well as taking a Verne novel as its basis, and bringing together a raft of movie stars from around the globe, some of whom – such as Terry-Thomas and Gert Fröbe – had already appeared in ‘Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines,’ as well as later turning up in ‘Monte Carlo Or Bust!’.
‘JULES VERNE’S ROCKET TO THE MOON’ is very loosely based on Verne’s 1865 novel From “The Earth To The Moon,” and sees famous showman Phineas T. Barnum [Burl Ives] becoming involved with efforts by scientist Professor Von Bulow [Gert Fröbe] to fire a projectile to the lunar surface, making use of the powerful new explosive Von Bulow has devised. Having had his design for a capsule rejected, Sir Charles Dillworthy [Lionel Jeffries] joins forces with his brother-in-law, Harry Washington-Smythe [Terry-Thomas], in an attempt to try and sabotage the project.
The script is by one of Benny Hill’s writers at the time, Dave Freeman and takes sizeable liberties with the source material, transplanting the launching site from Tampa, Florida, to a rather more budget-friendly setting of Wales and the film was actually shot in Ireland. P.T. Barnum also plays no part in Jules Verne’s original novel, and one might speculate that Harry Alan Towers may have influenced Barnum’s inclusion, seeing something of the showman in himself, and thereby – whether intentionally or not – making ‘JULES VERNE’S ROCKET TO THE MOON’ almost semi-autobiographical.
The film ‘JULES VERNE’S ROCKET TO THE MOON’ is undoubtedly charming, but it moves along at something of a leisurely pace, and feels almost languid or sluggish at times; this lack of pace or urgency is probably not helped by the fact that, as part of Harry Alan Towers’ drive to obtain as much funding as he could for the production from different international sources, he had to expand the script in order to accommodate those countries’ stars, by giving all of them as much screen time as possible, and expanding their parts. As a result, the balance feels uneven throughout, with too many parts and not enough material to sustain them all.
JULES VERNE’S ROCKET TO THE MOON MUSIC TRACK LIST
WE MUST ALWAYS TRUST THE STRANGER (Music by Ron Goodwin) (Lyrics by Ron Goodwin) [Performed by Mike Clifford] (uncredited)
WE MUST ALWAYS TRUST THE STRANGER (Music by Ron Goodwin) (Lyrics by Ron Goodwin) [Performed by Vernon Hayden, Tom Irwin, Ronnie Walsh and Terry-Thomas] (uncredited)
WE MUST ALWAYS TRUST THE STRANGER (Music by Ron Goodwin) (Lyrics by Ron Goodwin)
VOLGA BOATMEN (Written by Mily Alexeyevich Balakirev) (uncredited)
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Blu-ray Image Quality – STUDIOCANAL presents us the film ‘JULES VERNE’S ROCKET TO THE MOON’ with a stunning 1080p Eastmancolor image and is enhanced with a 2.35:1 Panavision aspect ratio. The restoration work done on the picture is really top notch stuff, and with the print looking so sharp and vivid that you would be hard pressed to believe it was filmed nearly six decades ago. Despite it being filmed in Eastmancolor, to me it looked like I was watching a top quality Technicolor film, and it looks that good. On top of all that the detail is just incredible, especially in wide shots and tight close-ups, amazing landscape scenery and the actors' faces. Also amazing is the texture of the very colourful costumes and make-ups on the actors, and what was also great is the imaginative set designs. So all in all, the image presentation is strikingly clean and well balanced. Please Note: Playback Region B/2: This will not play on most Blu-ray players sold in North America, Central America, South America, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Learn more about Blu-ray region specifications.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – STUDIOCANAL brings us the film ‘JULES VERNE’S ROCKET TO THE MOON’ with just one standard 2.0 LPCM Stereo Audio experience, and it is extremely strong and really maximizing the audio experience in every scene. What you also get to hear is the clear a massive explosions throughout the film that really brings out the best in your speakers and especially when the massive bridge collapses that really give your front speakers a good workout, but there are also the quieter moments, especially when you see the gas car driven by Terry-Thomas and you can hear all the mechanical parts working beautiful, but most of all you get the sound across the front speakers that exhibits good directionality especially when it comes to the brilliant composed film score by John Scott. Dialogue is always very clear and concise, which is most important with a film of this calibre. The overall audio experience is really excellent and you will not be at all disappointed, so well STUDIOCANAL and definitely gets a five star rating from me.
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Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Special Feature: Matthew Sweet on ‘JULES VERNE’S ROCKET TO THE MOON’ [2021] [1080p] [2.35:1 / 1.78:1] [24:29] As you view this special feature, we get to see a clip from on ‘JULES VERNE’S ROCKET TO THE MOON’ and Matthew Sweet quotes the famous words of President John F. Kennedy’s about America going to the Moon, where he says, “We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win, and the others, too.” Matthew Sweet also says that if you have not yet watch the film before this special feature, then he feels he is not giving away any “spoiler alerts,” but it will help you to come to terms with what you view, and will help you eventually to appreciate the film, but sadly you will not get to view any lunar landscape, but you have to appreciate the people involved who made the film, especially the notorious producer Harry Alan Towers, who tended to act like a mini mogul and was a British radio and independent film producer and screenwriter. Harry Alan Towers wrote numerous screenplays for the films he produced, often under the pseudonym Peter Welbeck and produced over 80 feature films and continued to write and produce well into his 80s. ‘JULES VERNE’S ROCKET TO THE MOON’ was based on the Jules Verne novel “From EARTH to the MOON,” which of course original was made into a silent film ‘A Trip to the Moon’ [1902] by director Georges Méliès. Matthew Sweet feels the film ‘JULES VERNE’S ROCKET TO THE MOON’ is an absolutely glorious con artist film, by one of the dodgiest figure in the guise of who of course was the main person involved with the film. Matthew Sweet then goes into great detail about Harry Alan Towers, who was the son of a theatrical agent, and was born in Wandsworth and is a district of south London, and became a child actor after attending the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts. Harry Alan Towers then became a prolific radio writer while serving in the Royal Air Force during World War II becoming head of the RAF radio unit on the British Forces Broadcasting Service attaining the rank of Pilot Officer. Harry Alan Towers began producing feature films in 1962, sometimes writing the screenplay. Towers filmed in various countries such as South Africa, Ireland, Hong Kong, Bulgaria and others. A number of his films and scripts were based on the works of Sax Rohmer, such as Sumuru and the popular Fu Manchu series of five films starring Christopher Lee. Harry Alan Towers also adapted the novels of Agatha Christie (And Then There Were None and the Miss Marple series), the Marquis de Sade, and the works of Edgar Wallace. In fact, Harry Alan Towers produced three separate film versions of ‘And Then There Were None,’ each set in a different locale. Harry Alan Towers frequently collaborated with director Jesus Franco during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Harry Alan Towers had a hand in writing and/or producing numerous films directed by Jesus Franco, including ‘99 Women’ [1969], ‘The Girl from Rio a.k.a. Rio 70’ [1969], ‘Venus in Furs’ [1969], ‘Marquis de Sade: Justine’ [1969], ‘Eugenie… The Story of Her Journey into Perversion’ [1970], ‘The Bloody Judge’ [1970], and ‘Count Dracula’ [1970]. Jesus Franco also helmed the last two Fu Manchu films ‘The Blood of Fu Manchu’ [1968] and ‘The Castle of Fu Manchu’ [1969]. Harry Alan Towers was one of the first film producer who worked out complicated international film co-productions, that involved tax shelters, also sometime involving countries with nasty regimes that might end liberal sensibilities that in the end can produce these big complicated production arrangements, that might look away when it came to tax evasions, so that Harry Alan Towers can get these certain films into production, and course the most successful film franchise was the Fu Manchu films starring Christopher Lee. With the film ‘JULES VERNE’S ROCKET TO THE MOON,’ Matthew Sweet feels it is Harry Alan Towers most lavish film so far, and also his most expensive legitimate film production so far in his career, and for the 1960’s period, it all look pretty good, and the most joyous of films and Matthew Sweet feels it is on par with the brilliant film ‘Chitty, Chitty Bang, Bang’ [1968] as well as the film ‘Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines’ [1965]. On top of all that, the film ‘JULES VERNE’S ROCKET TO THE MOON’ had a lot of foreign investors and doing so we got a lot of international actors appear in the film, as well of course a lot of wonderful British comedy actors and especially Lionel Jeffries, who also appeared in another film entitled ‘First Men In The Moon’ [1964] and of course was adapted from the novel by H.G. Wells. Matthew Sweet feels the film ‘JULES VERNE’S ROCKET TO THE MOON’ is totally glorious, as it has loads of dodgy characters who go about doing unscrupulous scams to raise money for the project, that sort of mirrors Harry Alan Towers did in real life in putting into motion to make films. Matthew Sweet goes into great deal about the seedier side of Harry Alan Towers, where he got into some really hot water, and in 1961 Harry Alan Towers, with girlfriend Mariella Novotny, was charged with operating a vice ring at a New York hotel, but he jumped bail and returned to Europe. Mariella Novotny, in her statement to the FBI, claimed Harry Alan Towers was a Soviet agent responsible for providing compromising information on individuals for the benefit of the U.S.S.R. Lobster Magazine ran an article in 1983 citing sources who alleged Harry Alan Towers was linked with, among others, Stephen Ward, Christian Keeler, Peter Lawford, the Soviet Union, and a vice ring at the United Nations. The Hearst Corporation newspapers had already mentioned Harry Alan Towers' name in a 1963 article featuring coded references to a liaison between a pre-White House John F. Kennedy and Mariella Novotny, a known prostitute. The charges against Harry Alan Towers were dropped in 1980 after he paid a £4,200 fine for jumping bail and escaped back to England. Another unscrupulous thing that Harry Alan Towers was good at, and that was he did not like paying taxes and owned money all over the world. Matthew Sweet reckons we should praise harry Alan Towers for the brilliant cast he got for the film ‘JULES VERNE’S ROCKET TO THE MOON,’ like the wonderful German actor Gert Fröbe, as well as Lionel Jefferies, plus we get wonderful physical humour, and Matthew Sweet feels secretly that the film is a bio picture about Harry Alan Towers and admitting what a big crook he was, and Matthew Sweet also thinks it is very ironic that when we see Terry-Thomas and Lionel Jefferies at the end of the film pulling the rocket with the other foreign men, and they think they are on the moon, but instead they are somewhere in Russia and just like Harry Alan Towers was accused of being a Russian spy by the FBI and of course fled America back to England, and I am sure Harry Alan Towers deliberately added that last scene in the film at the end of ‘JULES VERNE’S ROCKET TO THE MOON,’ as an epitaph to his maverick life in doing lots of dodgy deals to get his films made, and so ends this nice little special feature on Harry Alan Towers and the wonderful comedy film ‘JULES VERNE’S ROCKET TO THE MOON,’ and I especially like Matthew Sweet imparting quite interesting information that I have no heard before and is well worth watching. We also get lots of clips from the film ‘JULES VERNE’S ROCKET TO THE MOON.’ This was a STUIOCANAL production.
Special Feature: Kim Newman ‘JULES VERNE’S ROCKET TO THE MOON’ [2021] [1080p] [2.35:1 / 1.78:1] [24:35] Kim Newman informs us that in the 1950’s Jules Verne’s novels had run out of copyright and became a brand name to be used to films from his novels, but of course the other author H.G Wells was another name that was sin ominous to have his novels turned into films, and again the 1950’s was a period where we had a prolific amount of Sci-Fi films released in that decade and also well into the 1960’s. Of course with Jules Verne, the two big film projects was the Walt Disney film ’20,000 Leagues Under The Sea’ [1954] that had an all-star international cast and the best Captain Nemo as played by James Mason. Then a few years later Mike Todd mounted his big production of the film ‘Around The World In 80 Days’ [2004] that was filmed in the Todd-AO format, but had massive amount of stars crammed into the film, which they thought would bring in the cinema audiences in masses to see the film. It also had the great premise of a film set in the nineteenth century and centres on Phileas Fogg [David Niven] who reimagined as an eccentric inventor, and his efforts to circumnavigate the globe in 80 days, due to a bet that he would be back in London inside 80 days, but of course on his journey included a number of anachronistic elements. Of course another Jules Verne novel that was turned into a big budget film production was ‘Journey To The Center Of The Earth’ [1959] and of course starred James Mason. But by we entered the decade of the 1960’s they started to get away from Sci-Fi films and much more into big budget adventurous films like ‘The Great Race’ [1965], ‘Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines’ [1965], ‘The Wrong Box’ [1966], ‘Monte Carlo Or Bust’ [1969], ‘The Best House in London’ [1969], ‘The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes’ [1970] and ‘The Assassination Bureau’ [1969]. Now Kim Newman starts to talk about the film ‘JULES VERNE’S ROCKET TO THE MOON’ and the notorious Harry Alan Towers, and especially the films he was involved with, that he really loved, as it reminded him of boy’s own adventures storytelling, and of course he also loved radio and as you already know he did deals with the BBC and di a Sherlock Holmes series and had the best cast you could ever want, because it had Sir Ralph Richardson as Dr. Watson, Sir John Gielgud as Sherlock Holmes, and to add to the production value, they brought in Orson Wells as Moriarty. Kim Newman feels that Harry Alan Towers was a unique one off person, who was a maverick, controversial, buccaneering, fringe scandalous character and of course was you already know was involved in a notorious sex scandal in America and mixed with a lot of sleazy dubious people, but loved anything British and especially authors, that included Edgar Wallace, Agatha Christie, Oscar Wilde, Jack London and Arthur Conan Doyle. Kim Newman was very disappointed when he first saw the film ‘JULES VERNE’S ROCKET TO THE MOON,’ as he wanted to see them actually go to the moon, but basically the film is about Victorian con artists and on top of all that, they said hey, let’s cram as many comedians in one film, and of course they also felt let’s throw in a token of some American actors. Kim Newman talks about once meeting Christopher Lee at a Harry Alan Towers film festival and asked Christopher Lee about working Harry Alan Towers and told him some very interesting and humorous anecdotes about this movie maverick, and there were some Harry Alan Towers films Christopher Lee turned down, and even said, “I am not doing that film,” even though he had a lot of fun on other Harry Alan Towers films he appeared in. In summing up, Kim Newman always love sitting down to watch all of Harry Alan Towers films and even the weird ones, as he admires this maverick mogul’s career, and so ends this quite interesting Kim Newman special feature, that of course was mainly about Harry Alan Towers, but we also get some interesting information about the film ‘JULES VERNE’S ROCKET TO THE MOON,’ and is well worth viewing. Once again we get a plethora of clips from the film ‘JULES VERNE’S ROCKET TO THE MOON.’ This was again a STUDIOCANAL production.
Special Feature: On the set of ‘JULES VERNE’S ROCKET TO THE MOON’ – Silent footage from British Pathé [1967] [480i] [1.37:1] [1:06] Here we get to view some very grainy black-and-white footage on location in Ireland, that is supposed to look like Wales. We get to view well know people and they were Burl Ives, Cinematographer Reginald H. Wyer, Troy Donahue, Terry-Thomas, Daliah Lavi and other crew members and although it was quite interesting seeing this rare footage, it was a shame it was not longer, as I am sure that filmed a lot more footage, then they could of done an audio commentary informing us what we were viewing, especially as it was a British Pathé production.
Finally, ‘JULES VERNE’S ROCKET TO THE MOON’ is a comedy largely consists of stuff exploding or falling apart, in a somewhat Looney Tunes manner, though there’s also an edge of satire; the great scientists of the British Empire turn out not to be so great, while corruption and capitalist greed cause their fair share of problems. The ensemble cast, including Lionel Jeffries, Gert Fröbe, and Terry-Thomas, make the most of the wacky material, and Daliah Levi, the main female star, gets a more fun and active role than you might expect. This new restoration from STUDIOCANAL provides a chance to watch this oft-forgotten film in HD. The extras aren’t plentiful, but they are interesting – new interviews with Matthew Sweet and Kim Newman, who give good context to the film ‘JULES VERNE’S ROCKET TO THE MOON,’ and some rare archival behind-the-scenes footage. Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
