Jules Verne's Rocket to the Moon
| Jules Verne's Rocket to the Moon | |
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UK cinema poster
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| Directed by | Don Sharp |
| Produced by | Harry Alan Towers |
| Written by | Dave Freeman |
| Based on | original story by Harry Alan Towers (as "Peter Welbeck") "inspired by the writings of Jules Verne |
| Starring |
Burl Ives Terry-Thomas Troy Donahue Gert Fröbe Hermione Gingold Lionel Jeffries Dennis Price |
| Narrated by | Maurice Denham |
| Music by | John Scott |
| Cinematography | Reginald H. Wyer |
| Edited by | Ann Chegwidden |
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Production
company |
Jules Verne Films
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| Distributed by |
AIP (US) Warner-Pathé (UK) |
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Release date
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Running time
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117 min |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $3 million |
Jules Verne's Rocket to the Moon is a 1967 Eastman color British science fiction comedy film directed by Don Sharp and starring Burl Ives, Troy Donahue, Gert Fröbe and Terry-Thomas.
It was released in the US as Those Fantastic Flying Fools, in order to capitalise on the success of Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines two years earlier.
In Victorian England, everyone is trying to make new scientific discoveries. In the USA, Phineas T. Barnum's "Greatest Show on Earth" burns to the ground, so he heads for England with his star, Tom Thumb.
He is invited to a lecture by German explosives expert Siegfried Von Bulow who proposes the idea of sending a projectile to the moon using a powerful new explosive. Von Bulow is ridiculed but Barnum thinks the idea has the potential to make him money. He sets about finding the financial backing in order to build a giant cannon to fire the projectile, carrying a reluctant Tom Thumb.
The project attracts spies from all over the world. However the spaceship designed by Sir Charles Dillworthy proves useless since it does not provide a means for returning to the earth.
Barnum then meets an American balloon enthusiast, Gaylord Sullivan, who has run off with his girlfriend, Madelaine, on her wedding day to another man, the wealthy Frenchman Henri. Gaylord claims that he has designed a projectile equipped with round-trip rockets. Henri offers to finance Gaylord's missile if he agrees to take Tom Thumb's place.
Dillworthy and his shady brother-in-law, Harry Washington-Smythe, who have already embezzled most of Barnum's funds, immediately plot to sabotage Gaylord's flight.
When Madelaine discovers their plan, she is kidnapped and taken off to Angelica's Home for Wayward Girls. She escapes, however, and arrives back at the launching pad, located on a mountain in Wales, just as Gaylord is being removed from the sabotaged moonship.
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Wikipedia