First Men in the Moon (1964)
Trivia
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Cameo (1)
This is the only one of Ray Harryhausen's films to be shot in anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) due to the higher cost of anamorphic camera and projection lenses needed for his Dynamation Process.
In the book, the large monster which the Selenites hunt is called a Mooncalf. This is an old English term for idiot, since it was believed that being out under a full moon could cause madness (think also "lunatic"), but is also a clever pun on H.G. Wells' part, as the Selenites also hunt this beast like cattle, the young of which is called a calf.
The character of Katherine Callender does not appear in the original H.G. Wells book. Her being from Boston is possibly an allusion to the Jules Verne Moon stories, where the lunar exploration society was based in that city.
William Rushton was originally supposed to play the bailiff's man in the film, but he was taken ill on the morning he was due to do his one brief scene. Peter Finch, who was working on an adjoining soundstage on The Pumpkin Eater (1964), replaced him at the last minute.
The original H.G. Wells book has an atmosphere on the moon, so the characters required no space suit of any type, making the diving suits worn by the characters an addition of the filmmakers. However, Wells' speculation of a Lunar atmosphere could have been proved wrong in his own time by the fact that it would be visible as a haze around the limbs of the moon's disk.
Composer Bernard Herrmann, who created the music scores for Charles H. Schneer and Ray Harryhausen's previous four films, was originally considered to compose the music score for this film, but he asked for a bigger salary, and because Schneer and Harryhausen's films were low-budget, they, unfortunately, could not meet his price, therefore, Laurie Johnson was chosen instead.
Professor Cavor calls out "SOS" when he becomes stuck between the rocks on the moon's surface. However, SOS did not come into use until 1905, six years later.
Based on the time frames of the story and Edward Judd's age, Arnold Bedford would be 97 years old in the 1964 scenes.
Cavor, around 1h25m, says that the eclipse of the moon is "on the 12th [of May 1899]". Actually, there was no such eclipse in that month, nor even a requisite full moon on or near that date. There was, however, a total eclipse of the moon in the following month, on 23 June 1899.
Although composer Bernard Herrmann was almost as closely associated with Charles Schneer's fantasy films as he was with Hitchcock's, he wasn't employed to do this one because of the expense. Fortunately, Laurie Johnson's score is reminiscent of Herrmann's style.
Cameo
Peter Finch: appears briefly in the uncredited role of the bailiff's man, around 0:43:43. He was reputedly only visiting the set when the original actor assigned to play the part failed to show up.
