A Trip to the Moon

Screenshot from Le Voyage dans la lune (A Trip to the Moon) (1902)

A Trip to the Moon is a 1902 French silent movie. It is based loosely on Jules Verne's From the Earth to the Moon and H. G. Wells' The First Men in the Moon. In French, the title of the movie is Le Voyage dans la lune. The movie was written and directed by Georges Méliès. He had some some help from his brother Gaston. The movie runs about 14 minutes. It was very popular when it was shown for the first time. It is the best-known of the many movies made by Méliès. A Trip to the Moon is the first science fiction movie. The movie has many new twists on animation and special effects. One of the most well known images is the one showing a spaceship landing in the Moon's eye. A Trip to the Moon was named one of the 100 greatest movies of the 20th century by The Village Voice. It was ranked at #84.

Story

Six astronomers agree to take a trip to the moon. They build a space capsule in the shape of a bullet. A huge cannon shoots it into space with the help of "marines". These marine are mostly pretty girls in sailor outfits. Some of the marines are men though. The Man in the Moon watches the capsule as it moves toward the moon. He gets hit in the eye.

The astronomers get out of the capsule. They are tired. They unroll their blankets and sleep. A comet passes. The Big Dipper appears with human faces looking out of each star. Snowfall wakes the astronomers. They go into a cavern and find giant mushrooms. One astronomer opens his umbrella. It turns into a giant mushroom.

Selenites appear. They are insectoids that live on the moon. The astronomers fight them. They are captured. They are taken to the Selenite Palace. One astronomer destroys the Chief Selenite. The astronomers run to their space capsule. They take off. They land in an ocean on Earth. A ship rescues them. A celebration is held in honor of the brave men.

A Trip To The Moon Media

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  Opening title card for the 1902 Georges Méliès film Le voyage dans la lune.

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  Georges Méliès (1861-1938), French filmmaker and cinematographer

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  Stereoscope card showing a scene from Jacques Offenbach's Le voyage dans la lune

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  Méliès (at left) in the studio where A Trip to the Moon was filmed

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  The workshop set includes a glass roof, evoking the actual studio.

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  Preliminary sketch by Méliès for a poster of the film

• The incomplete LeRoy print of A Trip to the Moon; runtime 00:11:10

• The restored black-and-white print of A Trip to the Moon; runtime 00:12:47

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  A frame from the restored hand-colored print of A Trip to the Moon

• Segundo de Chomón's Excursion to the Moon, a remake of the film; runtime 00:06:46

Other websites

• Le Voyage dans la lune (A Trip to the Moon) on IMDb
• Le Voyage dans la lune (A Trip to the Moon) at Rotten Tomatoes
• Le Voyage dans la lune (A Trip to the Moon) on YouTube (hand-colored with narrated stills of missing final scene)
• Filmsquish Archived 2012-03-02 at the Wayback Machine — Blog-A-Thon of critics celebrating the film
• Was the Nasa splash down inspired by Georges Méliès? Archived 2012-03-13 at the Wayback Machine — A letter to NASA
• A 192 page book about the film and its color version by the Technicolor Foundation