Man in the Moon ** (1960, Kenneth More, Shirley Anne Field, Michael Hordern, Norman Bird) – Classic Movie Review 8161

Director Basil Dearden’s silly 1960 British black and white satirical comedy Man in the Moon tackles the then topical subject of sending the first astronaut into space. It is occasionally amusing, but mostly it is unfortunately just the sort of thing that harmed the screen careers of its likeable and amiable stars Kenneth More and Shirley Anne Field.

More plays Billy Blood, the silly schmuck whom a trio of soppy scientists (Michael Hordern, John Glyn-Jones, Newton Blick) picks to be sent to the Moon. They are looking for someone pretty much immune to anything, even the common cold.

Apart from Charles Gray’s drily camp turn as Leo and Michael Horden’s straight man Dr Davidson, vapid acting complements an earthbound, flat and generally mainly unfunny script. Surprisingly the screenplay is credited to the normally expert writers Basil Dearden, Michael Relph and Bryan Forbes, based on a novel by John Foley. A bit of actual satire, wit and bite would be so much better. More just about gets by on quite charm, while Field is impressively sultry, but under-used, indeed mis-used. She was even dubbed by Nikki Van der Zyl.

Also in the cast are John Phillips, Norman Bird, Bernard Horsfall, Noel Purcell, Bruce Boa, Ed Devereaux, Lionel Gamlin, Jeremy Lloyd, Richard Pearson, Russell Waters and Danny Green.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8161

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