Cards on the table here, I am a sucker for old black & white movies that depict the future. And the silent movie ‘Frau im Mond’ or ‘Woman in the Moon’ is right up there with the best. The screenplay was written and directed by Fritz Lang who is probably most famous for his previous movie Metropolis, one of the great sci-fi movies. In Women in the Moon, Lang looks at the possibility of traveling to the Moon. The story line is very fanciful and much of the science is way off the mark but it was 1929 but many of the features were surprisingly bang on the money, particularly the launch scene where the rocket is slowly rolled out a large hanger and a gallery of VIPs are viewing it from a distance. And in one of the best examples of life imitating art, Lang used the technique of a countdown – 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… to the launch to add excitement and intensity to the scene. This worked so well that real-life agencies adopted the process of counting out the final seconds to lift off to add impact to the occasion. At 2hr 36min it’s a long watch, especially for a silent movie but definitely one to watch!
Frau im Mond (1929) Directed by Fritz Lang ****