A somewhat laughably entertaining sci-fi film with ordinary special effects, acting and direction while a variety of plot devices at least keeps the action going.
Directed by David Bradley
Written by Fred Gebhardt, DeWitt Boden
Produced by Fred Gebhardt
Cinematography: John Alton
Edited by Edward Mann
Music by Michael Andersen
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Running time: 74 minutes
Budget: $150,000
Cast
Michi Kobi as Dr. Hideko Murata
Tom Conway as Dr. Feodor Orloff
Anthony Dexter as Dr. Luis Vargas
John Wengraf as Dr. Erich Heinrich
Robert Montgomery Jr. as Dr. Rod Murdock
Phillip Baird as Dr. William Rochester
Richard Weber as Dr. David Ruskin
Muzaffer Tema as Dr. Selim Hamid (as Tema Bey)
Roger Til as Dr. Etienne Martel
Cory Devlin as Dr. Asmara Markonen
Anna-Lisa as Dr. Sigrid Bomark
Francis X. Bushman as Secretary General of the International Space Order
Trailer
(Spoilers follow below.....)
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“Hello the world”
12 To The Moon opens with shots of the launch of a rocket and rocket plane missiles from different cities around the world. Suddenly a gavel bangs down before we cut to the title and credits.
Any self-respecting science fiction movie from that era and beyond would as expected begin with a serious and authoritative-sounding narration either admonishing humankind for its careless disregard of itself and its planet or extolling the virtues of human technological progress and the necessity of exploring the unknown. In the film, the Secretary General of the International Space Order delivers the latter type of narration as he begins to explain that a program to launch a rocket to the moon is presently underway:
“I am speaking for the International Space Order in the first worldwide radio and telecast in history. At this moment over two billion people in every part of the world are focusing their attention on this program. Every nation of the earth in a magnificent effort is contributing of its people and resources in an attempt to reach the moon and proclaim it international territory. The rocket ship Lunar Eagle Number One represents the culminating achievement of the world's leading scientists. The men and women who will fly her have been hand-picked from the world's leading specialists.”
Read on for more......
We learn from the Secretary General that Rocket Ship Lunar Eagle 1 will be crewed by twelve crew members from around the world. The crew will consist of Dr. Erich Heinrich (the oldest) who designed and supervised the construction of the rocket; The youngest member of the crew, Rod Murdock; Medical doctor, Dr. Selim Hamid from Turkey; Dr. Hamid’s assistant, physician and physicist Dr. Sigrid Bomark from Sweden. French engineer and technician, Dr. Etienne Martel; British Geophysicist Sir William Rochester; Dr. Hideko Murata, astro-photographer and pharmacist; Russian Geologist and Cartographer, Dr. Feodor Orloff; Dr. Asmara Markonen, Nigerian Muslim Astronomer acting as chief navigator; Aeronautic engineer, Dr. David Ruskin who will also keep the official log; Brazilian pilot, Dr. Luis Vargas; and last but not least, the mission leader, Captain John Anderson from the USA.
The Secretary General goes on to explain that…..
“Within the next few minutes we expect to make world-shattering history. The dual-powered lunar eagle will take off for the liquid fuel method and outside the earth's atmosphere will convert to atomic power. When the moon's orbit is reached by retropower, the first landing on the moon will be attempted. If all goes as planned, touch down on lunar soil should be 27 hours from x minus zero. During the entire flight earth control will try to keep in communication with the ship. This worldwide network will bring you bulletins on the flight and the news of the landing. God be with them.”
The crew take a freight elevator up to where they enter the ship to begin taking up their stations. Also on board with the human crew is a small menagerie consisting of a dog, a pair of cats, a couple of monkeys, and a cage with two birds. A veritable little Noah’s ark!
The crew seem to be wearing what looks like flight pressure suits and helmets without visors. They also appear to be getting ready for take off by lying on what are obviously banana lounges doubling as acceleration couches. After Ruskin records the first log entry, Anderson uses the control switch to launch the ship into the great unknown……..
“1500 miles above earth. Present speed 16000 miles per hour”
At 1500 miles above the Earth, the ship is switched to operate using atomic power. While Doctors Bomark and Hamid perform post-launch medical examinations on the crew, it becomes apparent that Dr. Heinrich is adversely affected by the stresses of space travel due to (what else?) his age. Former astronaut John Glenn will go on to blow that recurring ageist chestnut out of the water when he went back into space aboard the Space Shuttle when he was in his ‘80s!
Get any group of people of any gender, colour and creed together and you’ll be sure they’ll eventually be at one another’s throats. Almost immediately on board Lunar Eagle 1 historical, political and international tensions and conflict erupt between the crew members that involve World War II and the Cold War.
First, there’s the big elephant in the cabin in the form of the Cold War as exemplified by Soviet Russian Feodor Orloff who arrogantly stomps about proclaiming that all scientific advancements were invented (most likely stolen) by the Soviets. David Ruskin takes umbrage at this and warns Feodor that the USSR would be unwise to attempt to dominate Israel, as was the case with his native Poland.
You might be forgiven thinking that history has a tendency of repeating itself considering recent events involving Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as well as ironically a certain country’s domination and treatment of its Palestinian neighbors! Just saying…..
It also seems that someone (Faulty Towers style) forgot to warn the crew about NOT MENTIONING THE WAR! After all, the Second World War ended almost fifteen years prior to the making the film and was still vivid in the minds of many in the audience. One point that is being made in the film is that yesterday’s enemies can in fact be today’s friends (ie., Japan & Germany.)
In the film, David Ruskin obviously admires Erich Heinrich who is like a father-figure mentor to him. Ruskin unfortunately makes reference to the Nazi involvement by a man who did the early work on the mathematics of rocketry. Unknown to Ruskin is the fact that Erich's father was the Nazi responsible for murdering his own family during the Holocaust. Being so ashamed at who his father was and what he had done, Heinrich changed his name.
“Meteor clusters ahead…. you're on a collision course - a collision course!”
Dr. Asmara Markonen loudly and forcibly (on more than one occasion!) announces that radar has detected a meteor cluster approaching the ship. Once again another staple of sci-fi films of that era was to have a swarm of noisy angry threatening meteors menacing a space ship. In the case of our intrepid crew, they manage to avoid the meteor swarm without mishap.
Just to show that Anderson has the physique to go with his US of A hairdo and square-jawed masculinity (all requirements for mission leadership, no doubt) we have the brief shower scene where one may be "cleaned by ultrasound and massaged by air spray jets." Dr. Bomark and Dr. Hideko Murata have not yet finished in the bathroom when Anderson barges in (what, no locks?) wearing only a towel. In sci-fi films these days male and female crew members would be sharing facilities and pretending not to notice each other’s nakedness.
Now, why have one meteor shower when you can have two? As the ship nears the moon, the crew runs into yet another meteor shower, which this time is in the form of a cloud. The cloud, however is soon punctured by means of a rocket launched from the ship allowing them to pass through unimpeded.
“Reporting successful landing on moon”
After the 27-hour flight to the moon, Lunar Eagle 1 lands and the crew is soon ready to begin their exploration of the lunar surface. Anderson contacts Earth Control to inform them that they've landed safely on the moon. Everyone will disembark except Martel who will stay behind on the ship.
Have you noticed that Martel seems to have that one favorite spot in the ship from where he supposedly addresses the other crew members? You can tell he’s not really looking at or speaking to anybody in particular at the time of filming.
“The planting of this flag symbolises the internationalization of the moon to prevent individual nations from any further dispute”
With “no air detected” and “no sound,” it isn’t long before the explorers are “bombarded by meteors” but luckily their magnets are strong enough to protect them. Interestingly enough the meteor impacts were in fact quite noisy! Furthermore, what happened to the one sixth gravity on the moon? Any gizmo to counteract that they weren’t telling us about?
In the film at least, it seems that the moon is quite an active place complete with river channels and steaming volcanic cones.
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After the brief flag-planting ceremony, the crew set about performing their scientific exploration involving establishing a magnetic perimeter and searching for rock specimens.
Doctors Sigrid Bomark and Selim Hamid, while searching for signs of air and life, come across a cave in which they detect a breathable atmosphere. There are also strange cactus-like plants with fungus or mushroom-like growths on them. One of the growths explodes into flames in Bomark’s hands which would suggest the presence of oxygen in the cave.
“We are the first people to set eyes on a stone like this”
Meanwhile the other nine crew members manage to locate various rocks and minerals. The first specimen examined by Orloff is gold which he dismissively casts aside as not having any worth or value. What does grab his attention though is a large illuminated stone which to Orloff is “like fire, like liquid fire." Suddenly Dr. Asmara Markonen turns all weird and warns the others, "it's beautiful, but evil. Evil and sharp like the jewel of Medea." And so on that note the new find is christened by Orloff, the “Medea Stone.
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As they walk hand-in-hand further into the cave, they pass through an opening that is suddenly sealed by an impenetrable covering of ice. A strange whirling entity briefly moves into view as this takes place suggesting the existence of a mysterious alien life-form on the moon. What you can’t see may be more frightening than what you can see…..and a whole lot cheaper in the movie-making business.
We next switch to the other nine crew members who have decided to fire a mortar into a rock formation. Just like human beings to visit a foreign land and set about blowing stuff up and leaving their trash all over the place! Liquid suddenly begins bubbling out of the rock. Feodor Orloff like a gleeful little schoolboy immediately rushes over and plunges his hands into the flowing liquid. As a result of his rash act, Feodor’s hand is badly burned. This means his glove has been breached and one might be forgiven for thinking that there might be a problem considering the lack of atmosphere on the moon!
With their air supply running low, Hideko takes Orloff back to the ship while the others search for Bomark and Hamid.
The group eventually find clues that Bomark and Hamid had entered the cave. First they locate their helmets and then discover the wall of ice. Try as they might they are unable to chip away the ice wall and have no choice but to return later.
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As the group makes its way back to the spaceship, Dr. William Rochester begins to sink into “pumice dust” that acts like quicksand. Captain John Anderson tries to save him but to no avail and he too is nearly pulled under. Thanks to the magnetic meteor deflector (of course!) the others manage to pull him out as Rochester disappears into the sandy bowels of the moon. With three crew members either dead or missing and one injured, the surviving crew make their way back to the ship.
With the onset of the long lunar night, the crew manage to return to the ship. As the outside temperature drops to 202 degrees below zero, Anderson reports that “all contact with earth control has been broken off.”
We next switch to the other nine crew members who have decided to fire a mortar into a rock formation. Just like human beings to visit a foreign land and set about blowing stuff up and leaving their trash all over the place! Liquid suddenly begins bubbling out of the rock. Feodor Orloff like a gleeful little schoolboy immediately rushes over and plunges his hands into the flowing liquid. As a result of his rash act, Feodor’s hand is badly burned. This means his glove has been breached and one might be forgiven for thinking that there might be a problem considering the lack of atmosphere on the moon!
“We've only got about an hour's supply of oxygen left”
With their air supply running low, Hideko takes Orloff back to the ship while the others search for Bomark and Hamid.
The group eventually find clues that Bomark and Hamid had entered the cave. First they locate their helmets and then discover the wall of ice. Try as they might they are unable to chip away the ice wall and have no choice but to return later.
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“Return to earth at once. You have done enough damage”
With the onset of the long lunar night, the crew manage to return to the ship. As the outside temperature drops to 202 degrees below zero, Anderson reports that “all contact with earth control has been broken off.”
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Suddenly the lights in Lunar Eagle 1 dim and an unearthly humming sound can be heard. A machine then begins displaying hieroglyphics in the form of a message in a strange foreign script that is oddly enough similar to Chinese then, oops...Japanese in appearance. Of course, who else but Hideko Murata would be the one able to read and translate it? Well, any reference to things Japanese and Asian would have appeared to be suitably foreign, alien and exotic to American audiences back in the day.
The message is from "The Great Coordinator of the Moon:"
“I speak for the Great Coordinator of the Moon. We advise and warn you return to earth at once. You have done enough damage. You have been bombarding us for years incessantly. Leave us in peace. We read your mind; we know your every thought. We cannot speak as you do. We communicate by thought waves. We live in a great sealed city below. We are not enslaved by your earthly emotions: greed, lust, passions of conquest. We cannot allow you to stay here for you would only contaminate our perfect form of harmony.”
The message goes on to state that the lunar beings are studying the missing pair, Sigrid and Salim because they are are unfamiliar with the concept or emotion of "love." They then warn the crew that “if we find that love turns to evil, we will destroy them, you and your kind. Remember, we have the power to immobilize you at will.”
The crew of Lunar Eagle 1 promptly switch to unworthy human being mode by indulging in a bit of good old Geo-political paranoia and denial by declaring that the message “must be a hoax” and that the “symbols could have been sent by an earth power already secretly here on the moon; a power that wishes to scare us away.” In the context of the Cold War period, it’s pretty obvious who is being referred to.
Meanwhile, Dr. Heinrich suffers a heart attack. While semi-conscious and in a delirious state, David Ruskin learns from Heinrich that he is son of Bernauer, the very same Nazi who had killed David's family. On the point of a violent emotional outburst, David learns that Heinrich has disowned his family and has devoted his life to trying to make amends for his father's crimes. It appears that their friendship will remain intact.
In another message, the Lunar beings demand that the expedition's cats be left behind. They were brought along as part of an experiment to see if they can procreate on the Moon. Imagine the moon in years' time being infested by feral moggies leaping about in one sixth gravity!
As soon as Vargas and Murdock take the two cats outside and leave them on the lunar surface nearby, a shadowy entity approaches to retrieve the cats.
“Three hours and 10 minutes on flight. We're right on the button”
After a successful take off from the moon’s surface, the ever so cute spaniel begins to bark warning the crew of a fire on board. The Medea Stone has ignited and started burning. A fire extinguisher is quickly put to use and the stone is picked up with a fire blanket and placed in an airlock where it can’t burn as there’s no oxygen.
Well, it’s time for yet another….you guessed it….meteor shower! But this time they are “clusters!” Anyway, after a bit of fancy maneuvering and mental calculations from wunder kinder and electronic brain ass-kicker Rod Murdock, the crew manage to avoid disaster.
“Outside temperature rating is 245 degrees below and still falling. It's no wonder it's cold in here. It's 55 degrees!”
Ah, oh….at 500 miles above the Earth, the temperature on board Lunar Eagle 1 has dropped to 55 degrees while on the surface of the Earth, North America is starting to undergo a big freeze. A massive freezing cloud which is being controlled from the Moon, covers all of Canada, the US and Mexico in thick ice.
“The North American continent remains in an isolation of silence. No contact can be established by any means of communication with either Canada, the United States or Mexico. In spite of the intense cold gripping the world, the governing bodies of every other nation are at this moment in extraordinary session determining measures to be taken…...”(Broadcast)
With city after city being snap frozen, Heinrich concludes that the process is somewhat like an implosion bomb or the H-bomb in reverse. The proposed solution? To build a bomb and pilot their space taxi ship over a volcano. In this case, Popocatepetl (‘Poppacopperkettle’ is how I remember to say it!) Next step: drop the bomb (“atomic bomblets”) into the volcano. Result: The triggering of a huge eruption that will thaw out the affected areas on Earth. The catch: It will probably amount to being a suicide mission. What is there not like about it?
Remember the guy with the stupid accent who likes to stand in the same spot and pretend to be speaking to his crew mates or just staring at nothing in particular? Yes, it’s none other than Etienne Martel and guess what he’s up to? He’s busily sabotaging the bomblets. Why, you didn’t ask? It turns out he’s a French commie bastard. When Feodor catches him out, Martel assumes that the Ruskie would also wish to keep America frozen in order to further international communism's pursuance for world domination.
Hey wait a minute! I just thought of something. Where are the Chinese all this time? They are conspicuous by their absence. Perhaps they’re already on the moon! Just saying…...
Anyway, Feodor and Martel get stuck into a bitch fight-slapping-and-rolling-around-on-the-floor contest. Feodor tries to deliver a few chops to his opponent with his bandaged hands but only manages to cause himself more pain. He yells out to John for help and when Martel pulls out a knife, Anderson goes John Wayne all over his ass. Looks like we’re back to ‘Freedom Fries’ instead of ‘French Fries’ folks.
Lots are drawn, using tongue depressors (hopefully not used ones) to select the crew for the bomblet dropping mission. The two chosen are (as fate and script writers would have it) doctors Ruskin and Heinrich. Ruskin leaves a final log entry explaining what he and Heinrich will attempt:
“Our space log as recorded by Dr David Ruskin at 0.600 universal time: a space taxi piloted by Dr Eric Heinrich and myself will leave the Lunar Eagle to drop atomic bomblets into the crater of the volcano Popocatepetl in an attempt to break the big freeze. This is Dr Ruskin signing off.”
On board the space taxi, Heinrich and Ruskin manage to break through the atmosphere and successfully drop their bomblets into the volcano. Popocatepetl erupts and North America begins to thaw. Unfortunately, the two occupants of the space taxi are unable to pull out and are killed in an explosion.
As Lunar Eagle 1 is now caught in the freeze, we see the cabin beginning to freeze over. Fog and frost start to accumulate and the lighting begins to dim. The crew huddle closer to each other for warmth (most of the guys gathering somewhat uncomfortably close to little Hideko!) Suddenly, another message comes through:
“Now you have seen our strength, but we have seen your human strength; the way your people have sacrificed themselves to save the others for those you left behind. We have also learned that all your earthy emotions are not evil….. that you have come to us in peace. Your people on earth have been in suspended animation and have not been harmed. Return to earth at once and someday when you come back you will be welcome.”
Communication with Earth is then restored and Anderson tells the crew, "Prepare for landing." The film closes with a view of Earth at sunrise.
Points of Interest
12 to the Moon was distributed in the U.S. by Columbia Pictures as a double feature with either Battle in Outer Space or 13 Ghosts, depending on the local film market.
The film was novelized by Fred Gebhardt under the pen name Robert A. Wise and published in 1961. Gebhardt also wrote the film's original story.
12 to the Moon was made in just 8 days on a budget of $150,000 and in many ways it shows through. What also shows through is the speculative nature of our view of space and space flight at the time the film was made. Many still believed that there might be life, even intelligent life on Mars and Venus. Such films as 12 to the Moon ought to be viewed as both harmless entertaining film fun and as a snapshot of the values, attitudes, concerns and ideas of the time.
The spaceship which lands on the moon is called the Lunar Eagle One. Nine years after this movie was released, the first human landing on the moon was accomplished in a lunar lander called the Eagle.
Coincidentally, the six NASA manned moon missions had a total of twelve astronauts who walked on the lunar surface.
For real-life lunar missions, it was originally conceived that a mission to the moon might involve the launching of a complete rocket, sending it to the moon, landing it on the surface and taking off again for return to earth. As we know, by the time of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions that idea had been ditched in favor of using a multi-staged rocket and employing command and lunar modules to undertake the moon landing mission. Instead of continuous acceleration using main engines or employing nuclear power as shown in the film, timed targeted burns, use of thrusters for maneuvering, course corrections, inertia and gravity assist would be employed for lunar missions.
Instead of having a cast of thousands going on a mission to the moon along with the associated problems of weight to fuel ratios, as well as oxygen, food and water supplies, the Apollo missions had a crew of three with two to land on the lunar surface and one to remain in the orbiting command module.
This 1960 release was the first U.S. science fiction film to have a spaceship with a multi-racial crew, six months after the East German/Polish production of "The Silent Star"/"First Spaceship on Venus" (1960) with its multi-racial crew.
In relation to the Secretary General of the ISO’s speech at the start of the film, many people today might recall the global telecast of the first manned moon landing in 1969, along with the name of the lunar lander (“Eagle.”) Despite it being a US mission, the landing was proclaimed as a “giant leap for all mankind.”
As for the moon in the film being proclaimed as international territory, well we’ll see in our own near future how that pans out as various countries and corporate entities vie with each other for prime bits of strategic, military, political and economic lunar real estate.
Considering the era in which the film was made, the composition of the crew should keep even wokey-dokey, PC & inclusive obsessed modern audiences reasonably happy. Gosh (some may wonder), if only they could have exercised a bit more 'positive' discrimination by bumping up the number of females. Well, one might hope that rather than considerations of virtue-signaling and ‘optics,’ that perhaps technical ability, aptitude as well medical, psychological and physical suitability would have been the guiding criteria for personnel selection! Obviously compatibility and emotional stability weren’t factors in the selection process considering how some of the crew in the film fly off at the handle over nationalistic and ideological differences.
At any rate, it wasn’t until the mid 1960s that the first female was sent into space by the former Soviet Union. It wasn’t until the 1980s for the USA during their Shuttle program.
No doubt in this day and age NASA will fall over itself competing with every other opportunistic corporate and public entity to institute quotas, league ladder tables, discrimination (of the ‘positive’ variety, of course), rankings and achieving “firsts” in this and that in its efforts to demonstrate that it too has the required inclusive credentials!
©Chris Christopoulos 2022
In the film, having 12 crew members is an interesting number. It kind of reminds me of the 12 knights of the round table sallying forth on a quest for the holy grail! The international make-up of the crew was quite an innovative idea for the time considering that such a notion hadn’t really become a reality on such a scale until the development of the International Space Station program
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