Le Voyage Dans la Lune (1902)

As we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing today, don’t forget that Georges and Gaston Méliès filmed a trip to the moon over one hundred years ago! Loosely based on the novels From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne and The First Men in the Moon by H. G. Wells, the imaginative and groundbreaking Le Voyage Dans la Lune (1902) is the first sci-fi movie . Unfortunately, our movie space travelers do not tread as lightly on the moon as Neil Armstrong and company, but the silent short is still an entertaining and visually satisfying creation. The full version of the movie (not posted here) includes a celebratory parade honoring the returning space travelers. This sequence was believed lost until a complete print of the movie was discovered in a French barn in 2003 (it is now also available on DVD). I love the fanciful and extremely descriptive narration in this particular clip.