Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows RT App News Showtimes

Destination Moon

Play trailer Poster for Destination Moon 1950 1h 31m Sci-Fi Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
67% Tomatometer 12 Reviews 49% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
A team composed of an aerospace scientist (Warner Anderson), an ex-Air Force general (Tom Powers) and an industrialist (John Archer) conceive an ambitious plan to land Americans on the moon. From their base in the Mojave Desert, they construct and successfully launch a spacecraft named "Luna" that contains a cargo of four astronauts. But a critical miscalculation of needed power to escape the moon's gravitational pull may put the astronauts' lives in danger.

Where to Watch

Destination Moon

Critics Reviews

View More
Bob Thomas Associated Press 07/29/2019
Destination Moon is good hocus-pocus stuff about interplanetary travel. Go to Full Review
Mark R. Leeper Mark Leeper's Reviews 09/14/2022
6/10
DESTINATION MOON (1950), the film that probably should have led off the Fifties science fiction cycle, actually is still an enjoyable adventure film even if parts are a little dated. Go to Full Review
Fernando F. Croce CinePassion 10/03/2014
Jules Verne by way of Robert A. Heinlein, the staid harbinger of the Space Race Go to Full Review
James O'Ehley Sci-Fi Movie Page 01/25/2008
Heinlein's original novel had Nazis on the moon! Go to Full Review
Scott Weinberg DVDTalk.com 06/17/2006
3/5
Taken as sort of a pre-pre-pre-historic Apollo 13, I suspect the die-hard sci-fi fans might enjoy this one. Go to Full Review
Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com 08/06/2005
2/5
Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View More
Jeff S @jeffstone 02/29/2024 This entertaining film used dialogue effectively to explain certain basics of astrophysics in a simple manner--essential for a film produced before the Space Age and shows like Star Trek. All things considered, it's a remarkable production. See more cato 02/27/2024 This film is very hard to sit through without laughing histarically but it is useful to see what just 75 years ago we thought space travel to the moon would look like. Demonstrates not only the massive leaps in space travel technology we have actually taken, but also the massive improvements made in film making. See more CodyZamboni Z 02/19/2023 I like that a lot of the movie is rooted in science, I liked the impressive matte paintings, and the Woody Woodpecker educational film See more dave s 03/31/2022 Considering when it was made, Destination Moon gets a lot of things right. It also gets a lot of things wrong. For example, as per Destination Moon, what is the most effective way to raise money for a non-government funded flight to the moon? If you guessed that it would be to show a Woody Woodpecker cartoon to a group of wealthy industrialists, you'd be correct. On top of this stunning absurdity, the film is also lacking in technical prowess, most notably the poor framing and blocking of shots and some truly horrible lighting over the first half of the film. As well, the four ‘astronauts' are remarkably dull characters. Despite this, the second half of the movie is actually fairly well executed and much of the science involved seems to be fairly accurate with the whole thing being topped off with an interesting moral dilemma. It's not a great movie, but it's not as bad as one might suspect. See more 04/04/2021 I know the story is a bit dull but the visual sophistication carries the film. A realistic adult science fiction adventure film from George Pal. The space suits, rocket, matte painting Won an Acadany Award for best Visyal. See more 01/25/2020 Foundational to the sci-fi genre as we know it today. Heinlein's writing is brought out wonderfully. It's old, but in the context in which it was made, it's a masterpiece. See more Read all reviews
Destination Moon

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW
When Worlds Collide 81% 64% When Worlds Collide Watchlist The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms 91% 68% The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms Watchlist The War of the Worlds 89% 71% The War of the Worlds Watchlist TRAILER for The War of the Worlds The Man From Planet X 100% 39% The Man From Planet X Watchlist The Day the Earth Stood Still 95% 87% The Day the Earth Stood Still Watchlist Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis A team composed of an aerospace scientist (Warner Anderson), an ex-Air Force general (Tom Powers) and an industrialist (John Archer) conceive an ambitious plan to land Americans on the moon. From their base in the Mojave Desert, they construct and successfully launch a spacecraft named "Luna" that contains a cargo of four astronauts. But a critical miscalculation of needed power to escape the moon's gravitational pull may put the astronauts' lives in danger.
Director
Irving Pichel
Producer
George Pal
Screenwriter
Robert A. Heinlein, Robert A. Heinlein, Alford Van Ronkel, James O'Hanlon
Distributor
Something Weird Video, Cinema Classics, Budd Rogers Releasing Corporation [us], Eagle-Lion Films Inc. [us], Mass Production, Nostalgia Merchant, Image Entertainment Inc., Englewood Entertainment [us], Wade Williams Productions Inc.
Production Co
George Pal Productions
Genre
Sci-Fi
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jun 27, 1950, Wide
Release Date (DVD)
Jan 20, 2009
Runtime
1h 31m
Sound Mix
Mono
Aspect Ratio
Flat (1.37:1)
Most Popular at Home Now