First Men In Moon Stills By HG Wells

Mr. Laurie Johnson scores the spacey music. Here's a few of his composing feats: DR. STRANGELOVE, THE AVENGERS episodes, CAPTAIN KRONOS - VAMPIRE HUNTER, THRILLER episodes, 57 episodes of THE PROFESSIONALS, just to start with!

Here's tonight's very spacey special... FIRST MEN IN THE MOON!

SOUNDCLIP NOT AVAILABLE

It starts with an international team of astronauts landing on the Moon, then discovering a British flag and a written letter proclaiming rights to the Moon go to Queen Victoria!! Of course, this starts a frenzy back on Earth where they try to figure the big mystery out...

The movie stars Edward Judd, Martha Hyer and Lionel Jeffries. Hey, Edward Judd starred in last night's posting!! Oh yeah, it has geese and chickens, too!

Arnold Bedford, who's name is on the letter, is finally located in England, still alive. He tells the story about the flag and document found on the Moon. It started in 1899, when Arnold met the nutty professor Cavor. The professor had made a pod that could travel to the Moon and back! So, Arnold, Kate, professor Cavor and a chicken head into space and somehow make a safe landing there.

There's adventure after adventure as the gang gets separated. Kate is then attacked by a horde of Moon sprites!

Arnold watches in horror as a rampaging giant worm is toasted by one of the alien's ominous weapons!

One of the alien insect leaders watches Kate through a lens that shows her without her skin! Of course, they can transform into caccoons!

Professor Cavor is totally fascinated with the aliens, so, he decides to stay on the Moon, and, not go back to Earth with Arnold and Kate.

Kate waits as Arnold tries to get back to her, then, Arnold and Kate barely get the pod activated to make their escape!

After the story is told, the world watches as the door to the alien city is opened. They discover a decayed and crumbling world instead.

Arnold goes over to the window and looks up at the Moon with his telescope and wonders if the aliens' demise could have had anything to do with the cold the professor had? H. G. Wells loved germs, you know!!

Island Of Lost Souls Stills By HG Wells With Bela Lugosi

Some teriffic poster art from The Thirties!

We have a soundclip from this film that includes a line borrowed by DEVO, so, push the big red 'GO' button located near or next to the revolving book shelf, now, Ralphie The Tarantula! Here's some sounds from... ISLAND OF LOST SOULS!

Stanley Fields plays our hero's nemesis, Captain Davies, still added for Douglas.

Charles Laughton and Richard Arlen star as Dr. Moreau and Edward Parker. Parker has ended up in the hands of Moreau as a result of a string of bad luck incidents, and, is now helplessly headed to the doctor's island... I swear, I love those white suits!

The doctor has a little surprise for Edward, Lota! You know, to help him kill some time while he's stuck there.

Then, Edward gets to meet the rest of the inhabitants on the island, the Manimals! Bela Lugosi gets second poster billing as head Manimal, Sayer Of The Law.

Eegah!! and Tabonga! learned about vivisection in FAMOUS MONSTERS when they reviewed this movie!

I think those two stills compliment each other rather nicely! In 1939, Laughton played Quasimodo in THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME, and, there's a colorized version of that one available on VHS.

Edward puts 2 + 2 together and figures out that Lota is actually a Panther Woman and that Moreau also wants him to mate with her!

Moreau's having a spot of tea when Edward comes in and decks him!

Edward's fiancee figures out where he is and shows up unannounced with her travelling partner. The Manimals like to watch her at night through the window. Leila Hyams plays Ruth Thomas, Leila was also in another classic film, FREAKS!

Moreau finally crosses the line with his creations and the freak show unleashes itself on their overlord!

Moreau tries to fend off the vengeful creatures with his trusty whip, but, it doesn't work this time!

The Manimals grab the doctor and then grab some of his medical tools from the case. Next stop... The House Of Pain!!

Here's a nice British 'Cert. X' poster.

Trip To Moon Stills By Jules Verne & HG Wells

Our feature was written and directed by Georges Méliès, and, plays Prof. Barbenfouillis in this early sci-fi short from France. Estimated budget was 30,000 Francs. The story is based on the books "From the Earth to the Moon" by Jules Verne and "The First Men in the Moon" by H. G. Wells.

Georges had, get this, 553 short movie directing credits from 1896 to 1913!! A few titles are A TERRIBLE NIGHT, CONJURING, THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL, A NIGHTMARE, SEA BATHING, THE HALLUCINATED ALCHEMIST, THE DEVIL'S CASTLE, THE DEVIL'S LABORATORY, FOUR HEADS ARE BETTER THAN ONE, A TRIP TO THE MOON (1898), BLACK ART, A NOVICE AT X-RAYS, THE CAVE OF THE DEMONS, FANTASTICAL ILLUSIONS, THE DEVIL'S ISLAND, THE SNOW MAN, THE CLOWN AND THE AUTOMOBILE, THE DOCTOR AND THE MONKEY, THE DANGEROUS LUNATIC, THE HOUSE OF MYSTERY, THE CLOWN vs SATAN, THE HUMAN FLY, THE MAGICIAN AND THE IMP, BEWITCHED DUNGEON, ARTIST AND THE DUMMY, BEELZEBUB'S DAUGHTERS, THE MONSTER, FAUST IN HELL, THE CRAZY COMPOSER, SOAP BUBBLES, THE WITCH, TWO CRAZY BUGS, SEEIN' THINGS and THE GHOST OF SULFER MOUNTAIN! Wow, I'll bet those are some tough titles to come by!!..

Little Rufus The Gnat is here to start the show, so, push the big red 'GO' button there by the toaster oven, now, Rufus! Here's some silent music for... A TRIP TO THE MOON!

When you decide to go to the Moon, well, you have to build a spaceship first... In this case, a big bullet!

Hey, looks like something interesting's going on over there!

These Reubenesque beauties have the official duty of seeing the brave expolrers off!

After the colossal cannon shoots the capsule into space, it finally comes to rest on the iconic face of The Man In The Moon! Even in the great British comedy, THE MIGHTY BOOSH, The Man In The Moon is a regular character.

The explorers exit the capsule, then, are amazed when they watch the Earth rise into the sky.

Ballet girls from the Theatre du Chatelet were used in these scenes.

The explorers have to make their way through this amazing underground fungus garden!

Here are the leaders of the Moon with their army of skeletal warriors, the Selenites. The creatures were played by acrobats from the Folies-Bergere.

The explorers escape and make their way to the capsule, followed in hot pursuit by the Selenites. One of the men jumps onto the rope tied to the ship and pulls it off its rocky perch...

The capsule falls back to Earth and crashes into the ocean!

Georges Méliès used miniatures, matte paintings, animation, double exposure and other camera and stage tricks to achieve his images. Director D.W. Griffith said, "I owe him everything" and Charles Chaplin called him "the alchemist of light!"