Jules Verne's Rocket to the Moon

From exploitation writer-producer Harry Alan Towers comes this curiously upmarket but essentially lowbrow comic adaptation of the Jules Verne adventure "From The Earth To The Moon" – already filmed straight under that title in 1958, and which I also own recorded off TCM U.K. For what it's worth, both versions managed to attract notable actors to the fold: in this case, it's Burl Ives (as real-life showman P.T. Barnum – apparently, the role had first been offered to Bing Crosby!), Gert Frobe (amusing as a German explosives expert), Dennis Price, Lionel Jeffries (as a flustered engineer – basically a variation on his role in the superior FIRST MEN IN THE MOON [1964]), Terry-Thomas (as a vindictive financier and Jeffries' shady partner), not forgetting Troy Donahue (unconvincing as an American scientist and made to don a silly astro-nautical outfit more attuned to dystopian allegories!), Daliah Lavi and Edward de Souza who supply the obligatory (and bland) romantic triangle.

Whilst readily conceding that it doesn't have much of a reputation to begin with, the film itself proved a bit of a let-down for me – especially since, unlike the earlier version, we never even get to go in outer-space!! Besides, the pace is inordinately slow for this type of film; director Sharp was clearly more adept at deploying atmosphere and suspense than at he was at comedy timing. That said, the first half is undeniably pleasant with the amusing trial-and-error experiments of the various people involved (often witnessed by a perpetually unperturbed Queen Victoria) and, later, Frobe's disastrous attempts to find the correct amount of Bulovite (his own invention) to fire the rocket (Donahue's design of which is favored over that of the more experienced, and consequently inflamed, Jeffries) all the way to the moon! Alas, the film's latter stages – involving Jeffries and Terry-Thomas' attempts to sabotage the launching, Lavi's determination (after being abducted by them and escaping) to reach Donahue and alert him of their nefarious plan, and which also needlessly throw in a number of other characters (including even more romantic complications!) – tend to fall flat; the finale, though, as the rocket actually does go off with Jeffries, Terry-Tomas and, unbeknownst to them, a Russian spy inside (and which rather than land on the moon as intended takes them all the way to Siberia!), is quite nicely done.

A measure of the film's overall failure can be gleaned from the fact that it was released in several quarters under a multitude of different titles, including THOSE FANTASTIC FLYING FOOLS in the U.S. where it was marketed as a would-be follow-up to the highly successful epic spoof THOSE MAGNIFICENT MEN IN THEIR FLYING MACHINES (1965) which had also starred Terry-Thomas and Gert Frobe. Unfortunately, my viewing of the film was somewhat compromised by the faulty copy I acquired, with the audio being ever so slightly off, while the picture froze – though not the soundtrack! – for about 10 seconds half-way through!!

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.

"Rocket to the Moon" is a film that boasts some great actors and a fantastically whimsical central concept - yes, it's another of those "Victorians try to reach the Moon" stories, though this one's based on something by Jules Verne anyway, so hurrah for that. I've never read the original, so I haven't a clue which bits of the film are faithful to the book, though I'm sure comedy pratfalling wasn't high on Verne's list of priorities for narrative-inclusion. I've always loved Victoriana, and films set in the period always look sumptuous. The entire concept of the Victorian scientists trying to expand the horizons of humanity has always fascinated me. The 60's version of "The Time Machine" remains my favourite film after what must be over fifteen viewings, and even the dismal Ray Harryhausen venture "First Men in the Moon" dregs up some respectability for its early Victorian scenes with a rather excitable Lionel Jeffries (who's in this film too).

"Rocket to the Moon" sometimes contains the same levels of charm and enjoyment of similar "epics", but to use a whoary old clichéd reviewer's line, the whole is less than the sum of its parts. The whole inventors bit is still terribly entertaining, and an early scene where a bridge is held together only by the initiation ceremony ribbon, which then gets cut by Queen Victoria, is good for a giggle. However, though every so often there are such delights as debating how a rocket could be propelled to the Moon ("You would need a big cannon!"), and what to do should they meet any alien life ("Chloroform!"), in between there are some long stretches of not very much happening at all, and there are one too many misfired gags. The plot goes for a complete Burton during the last twenty five minutes or so, which descends into a drawn out and utterly pointless chase scene between a vintage car and a penny-farthing. The inclusion of what is suggested to be some kind of brothel to which Deliah Lavi's character is forcibly sent also seems terribly out of place with the playful innocence of the action surrounding it ("Why are there bars on the windows?" "Oh, that's not to keep you girls in. It's to keep the gentlemen out.") There is some top-notch comedy talent on display to keep the viewer periodically entertained. Terry-Thomas, as always, gives it his best shot, playing one of his most caddish characters - in fact, at times he actually does seem quite dangerous, which can make for one or two rather disturbing scenes. Lionel Jeffries is always good value for money, and even Graham Stark succeeds at being amusing here. For me, however, a quiet and understated performance from Dennis Price steals the picture, even if he doesn't actually have any jokes per se. The scene in which he slowly discovers that Terry-Thomas has a rigged pool table is probably the best of the film, and there's a rather electric bit soon after where he attacks T-T at a club, complete with shouting and copious stick waving.

However, the young leading man, Troy Donahue, is utterly wooden, and kills quite a few potentially funny lines. Comedy German eccentric Gert Frobe veers alarmingly between being hilarious ("What do we do now?" "I don't know, we've never got this far before,") and being tremendously irritating. And the less said about Deliah Lavi, the better. No, in fact, let's talk about her anyway. Maybe it's just the character she's forced to play, a bimbo who leaps into the arms of whatever young man may be nearest to her at the time. But Deliah doesn't try to give her much of a personality, and so just resembles a walking personality vacuum. The writer doesn't even seem to have bothered in giving her character any logical sense, as she appears to teleport from place to place for no reason at all except plot expediency (why the hell is she in the rocket at night for any reason other than to be discovered by T-T and Lionel Jeffries?) In the chase scene at the end she seems to acquire a penny-farthing from nowhere, and frankly just looks ridiculous - and it's painfully obvious when a double has been used in the long shots.

The plot groans with the attempts to include a bit of jeopardy, and so T-T, starting off as a harmless cad, embezzling the project money, suddenly turns into a bit of a leering psycho, determined to make sure the rocket never leaves the Earth, even if to do so means killing off Troy Donahue (then again, maybe that's not such a bad idea). There's also a running gag about a Russian spy that doesn't appear to really lead anywhere, and after the first use of it (which is actually funny) should really have been dropped.

I really wanted to like this film more than I did, and, indeed, on first viewing I found it a great, if a touch gentle, little feature. However, on subsequent viewings, the meandering nature of the story becomes more and more obvious, as do the number of jokes that just plain don't work. Fantastic actors appear wasted in roles that require them to change their character's personality practically every other scene - Lionel Jeffries' Sir Charles Dillworthy seems to harbour a loathing of T-T's Washington-Smythe at the beginning, then appears terrified of him, then angry, and then just willingly teams up with him by the end anyway.

Overall, though the concept of the film still remains a huge attraction, and actors like Dennis Price and Terry-Thomas still make it well worth watching on a Sunday afternoon, I can't help but feel a bit disappointed with "Rocket to the Moon", which would have been better having it's plot tightened up and getting rid of a few of the longer set pieces (Gert Frobe's cannon experiments, for example). Or maybe it just needed to be a bit funnier.

6/10

JULES VERNE'S ROCKET TO THE MOON is a clear rip-off of the British ensemble comedy THOSE MAGNIFICENT MEN IN THEIR FLYING MACHINES, employing much of the same cast in a second attempted bite of the apple. Despite the best efforts of the actors involved, this is second rate stuff indeed, badly written and deeply disjointed throughout.

First off: the title is a misnomer as this isn't based on a Verne story, instead simply "inspired" by his work. Secondly, the narrative is just very poor. There are too many characters spoiling the broth and the story just kind of meanders all over the place. There's no real consistency in tone and the characters veer from good to bad to in-between. Thirdly, the laboured humour just feels forced and unfunny.

It's a shame, because there are some great stars here, including Burl Ives making a decent stab of the larger-than-life P. T. Barnum. Gert Frobe is an eccentric oddball as always, Terry-Thomas is reliably Terry-Thomas, and Jimmy Clitheroe is good value for money, although underused. Lionel Jeffries and Dennis Price bag the best roles as two driven Empirical men but too much screen time is given to the wooden Troy Donahue; Hammer star Edward De Souza (KISS OF THE VAMPIRE) is much better but barely seen.

JULES VERNE'S ROCKET TO THE MOON is immediately misleading on two out of three points. Firstly, as the opening credits swiftly admit, while the plot is inspired by the general writings of Verne, it is not in fact based on any particular story that he actually wrote, which makes the attribution somewhat spurious. Secondly, while there is a rocket in the film, it becomes increasingly apparent as the movie progresses that it is in no actual danger of going anywhere near the moon.

Having cleared up the situation with the misleading title, one can sit back and enjoy an amusing romp that, despite its Victorian setting, is unique to the films produced in the swinging sixties. The typically contrived plot concerns a suddenly bankrupt Phineas T. Barnum (Burl Ives) making an escape from his creditors to England, where he becomes the prime mover in a plan to launch a rocket to the moon. On the side of the angels are a German explosives expert (Gert Fröbe), an idealistic young American (Troy Donahue) with a revolutionary rocket design and the well intentioned Duke of Barset (Dennis Price). Up to no good are an unscrupulous financier (Terry Thomas), an egotistical engineer (Lionel Jeffries) and a Russian spy (Joachim Teege). In characteristic fashion, it is around the central framework of the plot that all the amusing vignettes of the film are built. Terry Thomas' "economical" motor car, and Gert Fröbe's explosive experiments to find the right amount of lift to get the rocket into space are two humorous recurring bits.

The film boasts another trademark of films of this era: a large cast filled with familiar faces. Gert Fröbe is great fun in his role as the fireproof Professor Von Bulow. Burl Ives, Terry Thomas and Lionel Jeffries also deliver the goods with their performances, though to be fair, their roles really require them to do little more than play upon already well established screen personas. The gorgeous Daliah Lavi is, well, gorgeous, as the female lead, which is pretty much all her part really calls for. Hermione Gingold, who amazingly is billed fourth in the credits, barely has time to deliver a performance in her five minutes on screen.

Dennis Price is fine in a part that has a fair amount of screen time, but really doesn't require him to do much. Seeing Price in such undemanding roles is always a little sad when one remembers his brilliant turn in KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS. However Price's performance in ROCKET TO THE MOON is positively dynamic when compared to that of his American co-star, and supposedly the film's leading man, Troy Donahue. Donahue is one of the many handsome Hollywood hunks of the era, who looked great, but couldn't act their way out of a paper bag and he brings exactly that level of skill to his performance here. When surrounded by such a colourful cast it becomes painfully apparent just how out of his depth Donahue is.

JULES VERNE'S ROCKET TO THE MOON is occasionally laugh out loud funny, but mainly delivers grins, smirks and guffaws. Unlike such similar and overlong fare as THE GREAT RACE, THOSE MAGNIFICENT MEN IN THEIR FLYING MACHINES or AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS, it keeps itself brief, does not wear out its welcome and makes for an ideal film to watch on a Sunday afternoon.

Unfortunately, ROCKET TO THE MOON has been released in America on home video in only in pan and scan in a long out of print VHS release (under the ridiculous title THOSE FANTASTIC FLYING FOOLS). It is available in the UK in a quite acceptable 2.35:1 widescreen DVD release.