Blast Off Into Space!
Click to view exciting scenes from Destination Moon!
In his article for the July, 1950 issue of
Astounding Science Fiction, Robert Heinlein wrote about the difficulty of
designing a control room for the crew of the spaceship Luna. "It contained
four acceleration couches, instruments and controls of many sorts...radar
screens, portholes, and a hatch to the airlock--an incredibly crowded and
complicated set." Heinlein further comments that an additional element of
complication was added by the fact that the actors had to "sometimes read
their lines while hanging upside down in midair in this set, or [while] walking
up one of its vertical walls." His initial concept, when drawn up by
Chesley Bonestell and presented to the film crew, was immediately rejected. They
couldn't find room to position their cameras in such a crowded space! Finally, a
compromise was reached and the control room as seen in the film was designed on
a three-story high steel gimbals device so that it could be turned
on its side to facilitate some of the zero-G special effects employed in the
film. All the instrument panels in the room's walls were made removable in order
to allow cameras to be positioned as needed for the angles required by the
scene's shots.
The famous blastoff sequence, with its suspense-filled
countdown and distorted actor's faces (soon to become clichés in 50's SF films)
required more special effects. "Producing the effect of a ship blasting off
at six gravities requires something more than a soundtrack of a rocket blast, as
the men each weigh over a thousand pounds during the blast," explained
Heinlein. In order to convey the impression of high acceleration, each
acceleration couch was padded with an inflated leather bladder. When the ship's
engines fired, the bladders were deflated, making it appear that the men were
being "crushed" down into their seats by the force of the rocket's
thrust. The contorted faces of Dick Wesson, Werner Anderson, Tom Powers, and
John Archer were produced by fitting "each actor with a thin membrane,
glued to his face, to which a yoke could be rigged back of his neck."
Heinlein explains how these transparent membranes could be slowly pulled back in
order to simulate the face-distorting effects of massive acceleration.
"Part of what you see is acting by some fine actors," Heinlein
comments, "part was a Rube Goldberg trick."
The scene of Dick Wesson floating out of his couch was accomplished
by turning the cabin set on its side and suspending the actor with wires. The
camera was turned to match the angle of the set, thereby masking the fact that
the whole thing had been tilted. If viewers looked for wires in this scene,
their attention would be misdirected to the area immediately above the
actor, and not toward his right where the wires actually were. Other scenes of
Wesson and Archer walking and sitting on the walls of the cabin were made by
revolving the set in synch with the actor's movements, a technique that was
later used in the film That's
Entertainment to show Fred Astaire dancing on the walls and ceiling.
Click below for further details about the
special effects used
in Destination Moon and view more stunning images from the film!