TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film

Nonureva Really Surprised!

Griff Lees Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

MartinHafer "12 to the Moon" is certainly not a very good sci-fi film, though with so many terrible sci-fi films made during this same era, at least it cannot be counted among them. Heck, at times the film almost is good...almost. The film is about an international space flight to the moon with 12 astronauts from 9 different nations. Despite this, all of them sound pretty much like Americans...except for some of the astronauts from enemy nations--they are a bit like cartoon characters. It's especially annoying when the Russian astronaut argues with the three Americans and talks about the joys of communism. It's all a lot of Cold War hooey. Fortunately, this crappy dialog ends when they land on the moon. Unfortunately, the moon is inhabited by super- intelligent creatures that communicate to the crew telepathically and they warn them to get lost...which they promptly do. However, these nasty moon folk aren't very nice and do all sorts of nasty things to prevent them from getting back and telling the rest of the human race about them. Ultimately, a really stupid plan is executed and the day is saved...or is it?The biggest problem with the movie aren't the silly sets but the dumb dialog...and the film too often sounds as if the film were rushed to completion. According to IMDb, that's exactly what happened and the film was made in a paltry 8 days! Occasionally interesting...but not very.

rob12357 This movie has been misunderstood and slammed by some of the reviewers. At the time of the production in 1959, we still didn't even know exactly what the Earth looked like from space! All we had were a pitiful few almost useless "trophy" satellites careening around the Earth... Martians and intelligent life on Venus were still open topics for scientific discussion! It was a great time for speculation and open-minded thought. And on the other hand, the Cold War era movies always had to have a political morality issue thrown in... they actually still tried to put values into their work. Todays audiences should be proud to stand on the shoulders of the people who built the world they have the luxury of spitting on. It's actually pretty cool to watch the maker's conception of future space exploration. It's a shame we are too prejudiced to share their dream for an hour or so. The rocket may resemble a butane lighter and the meteors may not be real, but hey... it's an old movie!!! Get a grip on yourself and a bowl of popcorn and enjoy this piece of pre-spaceflight speculation for what it is.

drystyx This is entertainment. It tells a story. The science is off, but that's because it is science fiction. There really has never been a film which had "great" science, and even fewer famous science fiction writers really gave us great science, or entertainment for that matter.This is about a united world expedition to the Moon, meaning 12 people of various nationalities with different qualifications.The film is well directed, following the story in a logical progression. While the actions aren't exactly understandable, they are coherent in the progression of the plot. The story is told. And the subplots meld well together.The atmosphere is what really works here. We get the isolated feeling of space travel. A big budget isn't needed, and indeed a film like this keeps a person's interest perked because of looking basic.This is because the film of the Golden Age of Hollywood, which pretty well ended in the sixties, were interesting in the look and technique. Directors knew how to stage a play. With a very few exceptions, modern science fiction puts people to sleep.Is the film cheesy? Yes. But it is deservedly so. It does entertain. It doesn't throw a stupid looking video arcade look at you, the sort of look that merely annoys you. This film astounds you with the basics.This is an exciting film. True entertainment.

bensonmum2 Twelve scientists from around the world are selected to be part of the crew that will be the first to land on the moon. Once there, they begin their work, but it doesn't take long before they realize they are not alone. A mysterious underground race of beings kidnaps two of the crew members and demands the others leave at once. In their haste to get away, another scientist is lost in an accident. As they near Earth on their return, they discover the inhabitants of the moon have frozen all of North America. They come up with a plan to use the heat of a volcano to reverse the freezing process. But this will require the sacrifice of two members of their party to fly the ship into a volcanic crater. Will their plan work? I would be willing to overlook a lot of 12 to the Moon's shortcomings if the movie had any originality. Many of the plot points and set-pieces seem to be almost identical to those found in First Spaceship on Venus. While IMDb lists a release date of 1962 for First Spaceship on Venus, that's the North American release date. The film was released in early 1960 in West Germany. It would have been more than possible for someone to have seen that movie before making 12 to the Moon. I have no idea if I'm right about this, but if you've seen both movies, you undoubtedly noticed the similarities as I did.Beyond the films lack of originality, 12 to the Moon is pretty much a mess. Visible scaffolding and crew members, cheap looking sets, and an unnecessary Nazi subplot are among the many problems found in the movie. I'm not including the poor special effects in this list because, as bad as they are, I've seen far worse in other movies of this type. And besides, who doesn't expect to find problems with the special effects in a movie like 12 to the Moon – that's part of the charm of sci-fi films from the 50s and early 60s.