Nonureva Really Surprised!

IncaWelCar In truth, any opportunity to see the film on the big screen is welcome.

Joanna Mccarty Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

Kirandeep Yoder The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

Hitchcoc Although there is about an hour of intrigue, leading up to the actual launch, this is a masterwork. To be honest, I had never heard of this film, but, of course, was very aware of the great Fritz Lang. This is a very long film and begins with a visit by a man named Heilius to a wacko old professor who has come up with a way to travel to the moon. He is incredibly poor and his motives are a bit suspect (he is interested in gold on the moon). His colleagues laugh at him and ridicule his ideas. But Helius has faith in him and, being independently wealthy, has a rocket in production. He also loves woman (Thea von Harbaugh) who is engaged to marry his business partner, a self centered jerk named Hans. Soon, a sort of consortium of evil businessmen send a strange man (with the weirdest hair style I've ever seen) to steal the documentation for the flight. He plans on taking the moon trip, also interested in the gold. Soon Helius must get in league with these guys or risk the safety of his rocket and his friends. Eventually, the rocket is launched with the young woman. Someone did a masterful job of anticipating the scientific realities of space flight (remember, this is 1929). What the did not do well was have the people dress the part (they are wearing clothes that look like they are going to the tennis club). They also have made assumptions about the atmosphere on the far side. When they get to the mood, the old guy uses a divining rod to find water (with all the positives, this is real clunker). Couldn't they have come up with a drill or a sensor of some kind? On the way, they find a stowaway. A boy who lives near Helius. He has studied moon travel by reading John Carter stories in tabloids. He turns out to be quite helpful. But the whole gang has trouble from the start. Hans goes along in order to impress his fiancée, but soon regrets his reasoning and demands they turn back. He becomes a really sore point and quite dangerous to all, as is the greedy bad-hair guy. The romance with the young woman wanes and things fall apart. All these negatives aside, this two-and-a-half hour film really grabs one. The music, added later, is wonderful and contributes immensely to the action of the movie. See this if you can.

Michael O'Keefe WOMAN IN THE MOON is director Fritz Lang's film of space travel. And being made in the late 1920's, the special effects are in deed special. A professor(Klaus Pohl)is certain that there is gold on the moon and is convincing enough that an extraterrestrial journey is organized. It is uncanny that there is a countdown before the rocket's lift-off and that the passengers deal with weightlessness aboard the rocket. It is said that the depiction of the rocket in the film made a big impression on one Adolf Hitler. Renewed interest in this subtitled film came to light when excerpts were used in a 1960 TV documentary titled The Race for Space. It is a shame for any science fiction freak to not see and enjoy this.Other players include: Gerda Maurus, Fritz Rasp, Willy Fritsch, Heinrich Gotho, Max Zilzer and Hermann Vallentin.

suchenwi Suspend disbelief, or don't. For me, "Frau im Mond" is the most unbelievably lovely movie. I don't want to repeat what others have written, but there's so much more one could say... so here's some notes of mine. Best read them after seeing this film.It really feels this was silent movie's last stand. White-on-black inter-titles were just so out in 1929, they are often avoided (read their lips :), animated (the count-down), once bombed up, or drawn right into the shots (GOLD!...) as earlier seen in Dr. Mabuse, part 2.The supporting hero role of smart Gustav (14 years old - but able to launch the spaceship after some theoretical training, and avid reader of SciFi pulp) surprised me, but charmingly. In Spione, he only had a short part, but here, his was expanded considerably. Maybe marketing considerations - to attract young spectators? The movie wasn't so successful in its days in Germany, as talkies were already spreading.The professor gets to live his lifetime dream to step on the moon (complete with atmosphere testing by lighting three matches) and strike gold - and disappears soon after. I liked him best in the first act, so hungry and so much enjoying the food (and even sparing some for the mouse)."The person currently called Turner" struck me with his Hitler hairdo, matched in-flight with an army jacket, and in general his uncivil behavior (though he gave the best live mask-change I've ever seen). I wonder about his motivation though - why would he sabotage the starship? He couldn't fly it back alone I suppose, and he was representing the interests of the "brains and checkbooks" trust, no? Hans Windegger (Friede's fiancé) was tolerable while on earth, but away from it he appeared as rather one-dimensional space-sick weakling. I might have wished some more positive impressions of him after take-off.Friede (which is a German first name, but also means "peace") was the opposite, always nice and charming. Two times I felt reminded of the role of modern air hostess: when she takes orders for brandy, and instructs the professor to keep the window-shade shut. But did also good as feminist, camerawoman, and nurse - and ultimate heroine."Captain" Wolf Helius (Willy Fritsch, who is mostly known for smiling sonny-boy roles) had to carry the lost-love sorrow 160 minutes out of 163, but did it heroically, mastering all challenges posed to him, and refraining from wooing Friede though he'd love it so much...After very detailed beginnings, the end is somehow open. Will the spaceship make it back to earth? What will happen to Friede and Wolf? Yet, it's a terrific "happy end", even on repeated viewing.

MartinHafer It's funny that until recently I hadn't heard of this film even though I am a huge fan of silent films and talkies. This is even more surprising because the film was so good--being one of the very best early sci-fi films. In fact, aside from director Lang's more famous METROPOLIS, it is probably the best full-length silent sci-fi film you can find. And in so many ways it is very unlike METROPOLIS because the film seems rather plausible! It seemed that those who made WOMAN IN THE MOON really wanted to make a film that looked like a realistic film about the first moon landing. Considering that the film came out in 1929, I think it did a really good job of trying to get it right. Of course, the details weren't exactly right, but you could sure tell that Lang consulted with astrophysicists and other scientists to get it as close as they could to reality. The actual take-off, for example, was simply breath-taking--looking pretty realistic and using models that looked amazingly real even today!! Seeing the enormous-looking rocket being ferried to the launchpad was spectacular and just plain cool.While this attention to details COULD have made the film very dull and documentary-like, the addition of the subplots really lifted it in mood and made it very engaging. The hero of the story and his mentor are actually threatened by a cartel of five evil robber barons who want to take over this private space program! So, out of a desire not to be killed, they are forced to take along an agent of this cartel--who turns out to be destined to wipe out all those on the ship and take back gobs of gold to his evil masters! As a result, the film was infused with some excellent action and suspense.So my final verdict is that this silent film is simply amazing and worth seeing by anyone who is patient enough to watch a silent film without whining. Plus, historically speaking, this film is a true treasure--see it an be amazed.