The Studio MADE IT FAIL - The First Men in the Moon (1964) – 16 WEIRD Facts!
Just Iconic Rewinds
33,398 views
The First Men in the Moon (1964) is one of the strangest and most inventive sci-fi fantasies of its decade, and this video uncovers the 16 weird facts behind the movie that combined Victorian imagination with 1960s space-race ambition. From the only anamorphic widescreen production in Ray Harryhausen’s career to a Moon landing sequence that eerily foreshadowed Apollo 11, the film hides far more history and experimentation than most viewers ever realized.
In this breakdown, you’ll learn how the filmmakers reshaped H.G. Wells’ 1901 novel into a modern Cold War narrative, why entire alien sequences were shot and then discarded, and how its stop-motion creatures—Selenites, moon-calves, and the Grand Lunar—pushed Harryhausen’s techniques into uncharted territory. The video also dives into surprising cameos, abandoned concepts like a giant mushroom forest, and the unusual production choices that changed the film’s identity.
Whether you’re a Harryhausen fan or exploring classic sci-fi for the first time, this deep dive offers a clear, engaging look at a film that straddled two eras and accidentally predicted pieces of real history.
Here’s what we cover:
The film’s unique widescreen effects work
Lost and altered scenes from the lunar world
How the movie intersected with NASA’s early training materials
Just Iconic Rewinds celebrates forgotten gems, classic cinema, and the stories behind the films that shaped entire genres.
Contact: ignacio.miguel.a@gmail.com
© Just Iconic Rewinds 2025
20 Comments
On your Commentary,
One MISTAKE: Peter Finch appears not as a U.N. official in the "modern" 60s era but rather in the Victorian era as a lawyer.
1) Not all the Selenites were animated. In fact, any time there's more than two on the screen at a time, they're short actors (sometimes children) in rubber suits. Harryhausen hated that since he had spent an entire career trying to avoid that look, but the studio wanted more than a handful.
2) A forest of giant mushrooms would be a reference to the 1902 Georges Méliès film "From the Earth to the Moon." Also, 5 years earlier, another Verne adaptation of "Journey to the Center of the Earth" had a major mushroom forest scene.
This is the first SciFi movie to show separate command and lander spaceships as used in the actual Apollo missions.
The Studio MADE IT FAIL - The First Men in the Moon (1964) – 16 WEIRD Facts!
Just Iconic Rewinds
33,398 views
The First Men in the Moon (1964) is one of the strangest and most inventive sci-fi fantasies of its decade, and this video uncovers the 16 weird facts behind the movie that combined Victorian imagination with 1960s space-race ambition. From the only anamorphic widescreen production in Ray Harryhausen’s career to a Moon landing sequence that eerily foreshadowed Apollo 11, the film hides far more history and experimentation than most viewers ever realized.
In this breakdown, you’ll learn how the filmmakers reshaped H.G. Wells’ 1901 novel into a modern Cold War narrative, why entire alien sequences were shot and then discarded, and how its stop-motion creatures—Selenites, moon-calves, and the Grand Lunar—pushed Harryhausen’s techniques into uncharted territory. The video also dives into surprising cameos, abandoned concepts like a giant mushroom forest, and the unusual production choices that changed the film’s identity.
Whether you’re a Harryhausen fan or exploring classic sci-fi for the first time, this deep dive offers a clear, engaging look at a film that straddled two eras and accidentally predicted pieces of real history.
Here’s what we cover:
The film’s unique widescreen effects work
Lost and altered scenes from the lunar world
How the movie intersected with NASA’s early training materials
Just Iconic Rewinds celebrates forgotten gems, classic cinema, and the stories behind the films that shaped entire genres.
Contact: ignacio.miguel.a@gmail.com
© Just Iconic Rewinds 2025
PS: What other classics should i cover? Leave your picks here!