Man in the Moon (film)

Plot

William Blood (More) is a man who appears to be immune to all known diseases, and possesses extraordinary resistance to heat and cold – a fact he puts down to his carefree, single life, never being worried by anything. He makes a living working for medical researchers who are trying to find cures for various diseases and conditions (notably the common cold and seasickness).

Blood is offered a job to become the passenger of a high altitude test flight by Dr Davidson (Hordern), but the real job is to become the first man to land on the Moon. The truth is kept from him because of the danger involved. He undertakes training with three other potential astronauts (including Gray), all more qualified for the job but without Blood's extraordinary resistances. Blood never really fits in with the others and, when a £100,000 reward is posted for the first man to land on the Moon, they seek to sabotage his chances and have one of their number selected instead.

When Blood meets and falls in love with an attractive stripper named Polly (Field), he begins to lose his immunity.

Cast

Production

In order to make Man in the Moon appear to use authentic and accurate scientific information, the production company spent months "in scientific research to get authentic background for those scenes in which the space men are trained for their trip to the moon. With the consent of the British Air Ministry, certain top-secret information -including experiments in rocket propulsion, conditions under tests, and the reactions of bodies to extreme pressure – was made available. More data came from America and, strangely, even more from Russian sources."

Reception

Man in the Moon had a Royal Charity Premiere attended by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh on 31 October 1960 at the Odeon Leicester Square and went on general release on the Rank circuit (Odeons and Gaumonts) from mid-January 1961. On its United States release, film reviewer Bosley Crowther described it as "...appropriately wacky illogic". He further considered More the key to the "... utterly slapdash film, which qualifies for attention because of its cheerfulness and Mr. More."

Unexpectedly, considering the talents involved, Man in the Moon performed disappointingly at the box office. It has been called "More's first real flop" since he became a movie star. By 1971, the film was still £37,000 short of breaking even.

DVD release

Man in the Moon is available on Region 2 DVD.

Novelisation

A novelisation of the Man in the Moon screenplay was written by John Foley and published in the UK by Four Square Books, Ltd. The copyright date of 1960 would indicate that it was released slightly in advance of the film, which is typical of the era. The book runs 160 pages and contains a four-page insert of black-and-white movie stills.