How many great movies came out in the late fifties and  sixties based on the works of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells?  Journey to the Center of the Earth, First Men in the Moon, The Time Machine, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, amongst others, all great films that are fun to watch again and again.  Well, not this one.

     Jules Verne's Rocket to the Moon (aka Blast Off, aka Those Fantastic Flying Fools) really doesn't have much to do with Verne other than a passing similarity to some of his work.  It is also a less distinguished attempt to fit the Victorian-era adventure-comedy that had been well done during the period, but, unfortunately, it doesn't manage to do well as an example of that genre, either.

     P.T. Barnum (Burl Ives), the 'great showman, great optimist,' after hearing a presentation by the crackpot inventor Von Bulow (sp) (Gert Frobe), decides to launch a projectile to the Moon carrying his main attraction, the diminutive Gen. Tom Thumb.  

     We are also introduced to the scoundrel of the piece (Terry-Thomas) and his erstwhile compatriot (Lionel Jeffries), who are out to foil the plan, the female lead (Daliah Lavi), and her spurned suitor (Troy Donahue), who wants to design the Moonship. 

     Even a somewhat amusing conclusion is spoiled by the long meander that the film takes through its story, with no energy, no thrust, lackluster direction and little sense of adventure or outright wackiness to keep things moving.  Far from inventive action sequences or fanciful vistas, time is spent moving the characters around a drab countryside, engaged in minor antics as they all try to play their part in events.

     With a considerable cast for the period, from Lionel Jeffries (who was absolutely wonderful in First Men in the Moon) to Gert Frobe (Goldfinger, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and others) to Terry-Thomas as the kind of cad he was born to play, you could hold high hopes for the production.  But apparently whatever funds went to bring together the cast did not extend to the process of filming--the production has a decided lack of polish.  Almost all of the shooting seemed to be on location, even most interiors, and the resulting sound is sub-par.  Editing is often less than smooth.  Overall the production values are weak, and particularly lack the kind of romantic polish that is a neccessary part to producing the charm of the earlier era.  

     The final irony?  The 'rocket to the moon' isn't even a rocket.  It's a projectile, driven by explosives from a gunbarrel.

     If Verne hadn't been dead already, he would have sued, I'm sure.