Rocket to the Moon (1967)

Director:

Don Sharp

Writers:

Jules Verne (inspired by the writings of)
Dave Freeman (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

21 June 1967 (USA)

Genre:

Sci-Fi | Comedy

Tagline:

The most fabulous entertainment event of the year!

Plot:

Phineas T Barnum and friends finance the first flight to the moon but find the task a little above them...

Plot Keywords:

Beautiful Woman | Based On Novel | Independent Film

Cast

Burl Ives	...	Phineas T. Barnum
Troy Donahue	...	Gaylord Sullivan
Gert Fröbe	...	Professor Siegfried von Bulow (as Gert Frobe)
Hermione Gingold	...	Angelica
Lionel Jeffries	...	Sir Charles Dillworthy
Dennis Price	...	The Duke of Barset
Daliah Lavi	...	Madelaine
Stratford Johns	...	Warrant Officer
Graham Stark	...	Bertram Grundle
Terry-Thomas	...	Captain Sir Harry Washington-Smythe
Renate von Holt	...	Anna Lindstrom (as Renate Holt)
Jimmy Clitheroe	...	General Tom Thumb
Judy Cornwell	...	Lady Electra
Joachim Teege	...	Joachim Bulgeroff
Edward de Souza	...	Henri (as Edward De Souza)
Joan Sterndale-Bennett	...	Queen Victoria (as Joan Sterndale Bennett)
Allan Cuthbertson	...	Colonel Scuttling - Scotland Yard Man
Derek Francis	...	Puddleby
Anthony Woodruff	...	Announcer
Hugh Walters	...	Carruthers - Soldier
Donald Bisset	...	Jack Flood - Sailor
Cecil Nash	...	Chambers
Vernon Hayden	...	Mr. Brown
John Franklyn	...	Railway Guard
Harry Brogan	...	Professor Dingle
Derek Young	...	French Officer of the Guard
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Maurice Denham	...	Narrator (voice) (uncredited)

Directed by
Don Sharp

Writing credits
Jules Verne		(inspired by the writings of)
Dave Freeman		(screenplay)
Harry Alan Towers		story (as Peter Welbeck)

Produced by
Harry Alan Towers	....	producer
Louis M. Heyward	....	co-producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
John Scott		(as Patrick John Scott)

Cinematography by
Reginald H. Wyer		(lighting cameraman) (as Reg Wyer)

Film Editing by
Ann Chegwidden

Art Direction by
Frank White

Set Decoration by
Frank Graves		(uncredited)

Costume Design by
Carl Toms

Makeup Department
Anne Box	....	hair stylist (as Ann Box)
Michael Morris	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Basil Appleby	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
John Peverall	....	assistant director
Peter Saunders	....	second unit director (uncredited)

Art Department
Richard Rambaut	....	assistant art director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Roy Baker	....	dubbing editor
John Brommage	....	sound mixer

Special Effects by
Les Bowie	....	special effects
Pat Moore	....	special effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Ginger Gemmel	....	camera operator
Ron Pearce	....	gaffer (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Ron Beck	....	wardrobe

Music Department
Ron Goodwin	....	composer: song "We Must Always Trust The Stranger"
John Scott	....	conductor (as Patrick John Scott)

Other crew
Nat Cohen	....	presenter
Beryl Harvey	....	production secretary
Josephine Knowles	....	continuity
Pat O'Donnell	....	continuity: second unit (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Jules Verne Films Ltd.

Distributors

• American International Pictures (AIP) (1967) (USA) (theatrical)
• Anglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors (1967) (UK) (theatrical)
• Warner-Pathé Distributors (1967) (UK) (theatrical)
• Sinister Cinema (2001) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (1992) (UK) (VHS)
• Aquarius TV (2001) (Greece) (TV)
• Momentum Pictures (2001) (UK) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Bermans  costumes
• Lee Lighting  grip and lighting equipment

Also Known As:

Blast Off
Journey That Shook the World
Jules Verne's Rocket to the Moon (UK) (complete title)
P.T. Barnum's Rocket to the Moon
Those Fantastic Flying Fools (USA)
Aqueles Fantásticos Loucos Voadores (Brazil) [pt]
Chiflados del espacio (Spain) [es]
Enas trellos iptamenos kosmos (Greece) [el]
Le grand départ vers la lune (France) [fr]
Quei fantastici pazzi volanti (Italy) [it]
Tolldreiste Kerle in rasselnden Raketen (West Germany) [de]

Runtime:

USA:95 min | UK:119 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:U

Filming Locations:

Ardmore Studios - Herbert Road, Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland

Company:

Jules Verne Films Ltd.

Trivia:

Bing Crosby was attached to this project he was going to play P.T.Barnum but delays and rewrites caused him to drop out.

The Verne Gun Cannon Again and some welcome comedy

In the 1960s there was a new phenomenon in movie comedies: the comedy that included every known comic in the business, usually in some mad plot. America gave us IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD,THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING, THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING!,and THE GREAT RACE. Britain gave us THOSE MAGNIFICENT MEN IN THEIR FLYING MACHINES and MONTE CARLO OR BUST. Both of those films dealt with speed contests (the 1910 London to Paris air contest, and the first Monte Carlo rally). Both had several comic actors in them (Terry-Thomas, Gert Frobe, Tony Hancock, Dudley Moore and Peter Cooke, Tony Curtis, Alberto Sordi). Then, in 1967, came THOSE FANTASTIC, FEARLESS, FLYING FOOLS (also known as ROCKET TO THE MOON). Like the other two films from England, it was a period piece, set in the 1870s. But the story is basically a transposed version of Jules Verne's FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON. The original novel was set in Florida (oddly enough near modern day Cape Kennedy)after the American Civil War. In ROCKET TO THE MOON P.T. Barnum plans to build a "Columbiad" cannon inside a mountain in Wales, and have the moon capsule piloted by General Tom Thumb. Instead it becomes a British national issue, and a committee is formed headed by Dennis Price (the Duke of Barset - another literary borrowing, only from Anthony Trollope). Unfortunately Terry-Thomas and his business partner Lionel Jeffries are also involved in the committee, and they both see a chance to make money on this. Jeffries is the original capsule builder, but Barnum points out that Jeffries design only enables the capsule to go to the moon period. "Hold it laddy," intones Jeffries, "I was told to design a capsule to get a traveller to the moon...nobody said a word about getting him back." Jeffries is replaced. Subsequently Price discovers that Terry-Thomas has been gambling away the committee's money, and he is fired. Facing financial ruin, both men decide to sabotage the project.

Gert Frobe, the inventor of the new explosive to use to send the vehicle to the moon, is a totally mad German scientist. His best moment in the film is a whimsical one. He has designed vocal semaphore devices that you speak through. This enables the two people who are communicating not to be heard and understood by anyone else, for the machines break down the words to syllables that are hard to understand. The other person, using the other semaphore (but winding it backwards)is supposed to reattach the syllables into an understandable set of words. Unfortunately, as Frobe discovers, the device does not quite work. "I can't understand a word he's saying.", a doubtful Frobe says.

Actually Burl Ives and Terry Thomas have choice moments too. Ives accidentally stumbles on the site where some of Frobe's explosive is being tested, and desperately tries to break the fuse with a rock and his cane. Terry Thomas has designed an early automobile that runs on "gas" - meaning "neon" from street-lamps. Jeffries says that the whole nature of the vehicle is immoral - it runs on stolen gas! "That's not the point!", says Terry-Thomas, "It's very economical!"

It is not a bad film, and can be a little enjoyable in its whimsy.