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BFI Most Wanted: the hunt for Britain's missing films
The First Men in the Moon
Directed by J.L.V. Leigh, 1919
The first screen adaptation of a novel by the influential British author H.G. Wells, and an early example of British science fiction cinema.
Neil Armstrong's trip was never like this
Credits
|
Director Production Company Screenplay Based on the novel by |
J.L.V. Leigh Gaumont Company F.V. Merrick R. Byron-Webber H.G. Wells |
| Cast: Hector Abbas (Samson Cavor); Heather Thatcher (Susan); Lionel D'Aragon (Rupert Bedford); Bruce Gordon (Hannibal Hogben); Cecil Morton York (the Grand Lunar). | |
| 5,175 feet, silent, black & white. | |
Why are we so keen to find it?
It was the first film to have been adapted directly from a work written by, not only one of the foremost British authors of the period, but arguably the most influential of all science fiction writers. Prior to this, while numerous films may have borne the influence of Wells, none were straight adaptations. His novel, 'The Invisible Man', was in pole position for imitation, the potential of invisibility for humorous effects making it a natural for early trick and comedy films, such as the American The Invisible Fluid (1908) and the British Invisibility (d. Cecil Hepworth/Lewin Fitzhamon, 1909). In the French film, Le Voleur Invisible (1909), the lead character can even be seen reading a book entitled 'L'Homme Invisible' by the author 'G.H. Wells'. The gigantism theme of 'The Food of the Gods' may have been at the heart of Father's Baby Boy (d. Percy Stow, 1909), with that film's baby growing to a gigantic size after eating Bovril, while the prankster in The Professor's Anti-Gravitational Fluid (d. Lewin Fitzhamon, 1908) appears to have borrowed the very invention that makes space travel possible in 'The First Men in the Moon'. Elements from the same novel were also interpolated with those from works by Jules Verne in Georges Méliès' Le Voyage dans la lune (1902). However, despite their undoubted pleasures, such films are still only imitative of Wells.
What's it about?
A contemporary synopsis of the film, taken from The Bioscope of 5 June 1919:
"In the company of Rupert Bedford, a grasping speculator, Samson Cavor, an elderly inventor-scientist, ascends to the moon in a sphere coated with "Cavorite", a substance which has the property of neutralising the law of gravity. After strange adventures with the "Selenites" (the inhabitants of the moon), Bedford villainously deserts the professor and returns to Earth alone in order to make a fortune for himself out of "Cavorite". By means of wireless telegraphy, however, Hogben, a young engineer in love with Cavor's niece, Susan, succeeds in getting in touch with the stranded inventor, who denounces Bedford and states that he has been amicably received by the Grand Lunar, over-lord of the Selenites. Susan thereupon indignantly rejects the proposals of Bedford, who has represented it as Cavor's last wish that she should marry him, and, instead, accepts Hogben as her husband."
Last seen?
The film received its trade show on 29 May 1919 and was reviewed by the British trade press in June. It was clearly being screened in Britain early the following year, as an article in the February 1920 issue of magazine Picture Plays offers the comment that, "in spite of the obstacles which would obviously handicap the screen adaptation of such a story, it has been done, and the public can see it this week."
What else do we know about it?
Wells had originally serialised 'The First Men in the Moon' in the Strand magazine as a series of short stories, before the novel was published in 1901. From the surviving synopsis quoted above, the original story clearly differs markedly from that committed to film, which added both a villain and a romantic sub-plot.
In the novel, Cavor travels to the moon in a steel globe accompanied by his neighbour, Bedford, a budding playwright. Taken captive by the Selenites, the pair endeavour to escape but become separated in the process. Believing that Cavor has been killed, Bedford departs in the sphere alone. Some time later, back on Earth, Bedford learns from a Dutch telegraphist of messages being sent by Cavor from the moon. When the messages cease, it is believed that he has been killed by the Selenites so as to prevent him from divulging the Cavorite formula.
In the film, Bedford has become the story's villain, beating Cavor senseless and robbing him of what he believes to be the Cavorite formula. To introduce some box-office-friendly romantic appeal, the film inserted the characters of Cavor's niece and her eventual beau, Hannibal Hogben, were created for the film, with the latter clearly based on the novel's telegraphist (and whoever dreamed up that character's name clearly had a proclivity for the absurd).
Does anything survive?
The film itself is not known to survive, and, aside from promotional material in the contemporary trade press, including two posters and one still in the 5 and 12 June 1919 issues of The Kinematograph and Lantern Weekly, one still is held the BFI's Stills, Posters and Designs collection, showing a figure, presumably Cavor, cowering at the feet of the rather ludicrous looking Grand Lunar and other Selenites.
Reviews
The Bioscope began its review with recognition of the film's originality:
"This clever adaptation of H.G. Wells' celebrated novel constitutes a welcome change from the ordinary film story of commonplace mundane affairs. The picture has been produced with skill and care", and continued in this laudatory vein with praise for those scenes set on the moon, "which naturally constitute the outstanding feature of the production, (they) have been staged with genuine skill and imagination... In their grotesque beauty and originality, some of these settings are worthy of the fantastic art of the Russian ballet."
The Kinematograph and Lantern Weekly, however, while recognising that "the production is marked by ingenious touches which are of great value", took the opposite view of the film's strengths "The success of the film lies in the Earth pictures. Here the atmosphere is admirably grasped, and the scenes of preparation for the great adventure have a grip and thrill that hurry the interest forward to the ensuing pictures (on the moon). Here results are not so happy... The landscapes of the Moon are too obviously canvas fakes."
From the surviving BFI still, the second review seems the more convincing appraisal, although this in no way undermines the film's importance to the history of British cinema or to the science fiction genre.
John Oliver, Curator (Fiction), BFI National Archive
You can find more about British science fiction films - including entries on surviving films and video clips for users in UK schools, colleges, universities and public libraries, at BFI Screenonline. You can also view similar titles at the BFI Mediatheques.
