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Rocketship X-M
Jun. 13th, 2022 12:41 pmAs mentioned previously, after having seen Destination Moon, I was planning to continue my survey of 1950 sci-fi movies by screening Rocketship X M. Since it's available on Amazon Prime for $1.99 and I had a gap in my entertainment schedule, I tuned it in.
Rocketship is a much more pulpy movie, although also much of it's time. The five white people (one woman - the lead scientist's assistant) are going to the moon. They have a strikingly leisurely press conference, then climb into their rocket with almost zero pre-flight checks. I was struck by how both rocket movies assumed that the launch had to be entirely automatic.
Rocketship's relationship to science was, well, typical Hollywood. Zero gee was kind of there but mostly not, meteors make sound, and it's possible to accidentally go to Mars instead of the moon. The Mars scenes were shot in Death Valley with a red filter over the lens - in part to keep production costs down. I was really surprised by two things - first, the rocket crashes on landing with no survivors and second, the cause of the crash is the male scientist ignoring something his female assistant had pointed out earlier.
Overall, Destination Moon is much the better movie but Rocketship X M isn't bad.
Rocketship is a much more pulpy movie, although also much of it's time. The five white people (one woman - the lead scientist's assistant) are going to the moon. They have a strikingly leisurely press conference, then climb into their rocket with almost zero pre-flight checks. I was struck by how both rocket movies assumed that the launch had to be entirely automatic.
Rocketship's relationship to science was, well, typical Hollywood. Zero gee was kind of there but mostly not, meteors make sound, and it's possible to accidentally go to Mars instead of the moon. The Mars scenes were shot in Death Valley with a red filter over the lens - in part to keep production costs down. I was really surprised by two things - first, the rocket crashes on landing with no survivors and second, the cause of the crash is the male scientist ignoring something his female assistant had pointed out earlier.
Overall, Destination Moon is much the better movie but Rocketship X M isn't bad.
