In a classroom filled with students and esteemed scholars, a professor announces his plan: he will fly to the moon. Some scholars voice concerns (reminder: airplanes haven't been invented yet...lol), but the professor soon quells their debate. After supervising its construction, the scholars board a bullet-shaped spacecraft and are fired off to the moon. Soaring through space, the bullet crashes right into the eye of the Man on the Moon. The men disembark onto the moon's surface and rest after their long journey. The heavens above watch as they sleep. It begins to snow on the moon. Seeking shelter, they retreat to a moon-cave where they find strange lifeforms. A moon-alien appears and is easily killed. When others appear, they are taken to the moon-leader until he, too, is easily killed. Having outraged the moon-alien race, the men flee back to their spacecraft where they simply tip it over the side of the moon to escape. It falls back to Earth with an alien in tow. Back on Earth, the men are celebrated as conquering heroes.
In advance of its 120th anniversary next year, “A Trip to the Moon” is easily the oldest film I’ve ever watched. You may not have seen it, but I guarantee you that you’ve seen the incredibly famous shot of a bullet-ship crashing into the moon (or the Smashing Pumpkins homage…lol). Though an exaggeration, the film is a fascinating time capsule for both early film and century-old perceptions of space and the moon. It’s widely considered to be one of the first narrative-films and the first science fiction film. And you can tell—with the exception of a few charming, archaic special effects shots, the film is just a camera rolling on an intricate stage play. That’s not an insult. I found it wonderful how effective the film communicated its plot and ideas without sound or intertitles. I could tell the performances were large and comedic, but I didn’t pick up on the extent to which the film is a satire (of both scientific inquiry and imperialism, and how the two intersect).
It’s really hard to categorize films like this into a modern rating system. There is heaps of historic and cinematic value in this 14 minute picture, and it’s awfully cute. While to some degree, I didn’t have the patience for its long takes and fuzzy images, I still found it to be fun and funny. That’s the amazing thing about film—from across the span of a century-and-more, I was entertained by ghosts. As a fan of history and a fan of film, I can’t deny that it’s an incredibly special thing.