Moon Zero Two *** (1969, James Olson, Catherine Schell, Warren Mitchell, Adrienne Corri) – Classic Movie Review 10,713

Hammer Films studios abandon horror for director Roy Ward Baker’s brave and ambitious 1969 British sci-fi movie Moon Zero Two, a hybrid Western set in a future-world outer space on the Moon in the year 2021, with the good guys and the bad guys shooting it out over an asteroid. It stars James Olson, Catherine Schell, Warren Mitchell, and Adrienne Corri.

Exciting action sequences, realistic special effects, expensive sets and props and a fabulous theme-tune battle against a ridiculous plot. The acting is variable, but the unusually cast, none-too-heroic-looking James Olson makes a useful, downbeat hero as former astronaut, now salvager Bill Kemp, who helps the notorious millionaire space industrialist J J Hubbard (Warren Mitchell) to capture a 6000-tonne sapphire asteroid. Kemp also helps a woman, Clem Taplin (billed as Catherina von Schell), to try to find her missing miner and prospector brother.

The film’s impact at the box office was undermined by the success of the US Apollo 11 space mission shortly before its release as the public preferred to watch the real thing on TV. So, this bold attempt was a commercial failure for Hammer after negative reviews. Hammer decided to avoid further sci-fi films and sold off the expensive sets and props.

It was billed as ‘the first moon Western’, though space Westerns are a definite sub-genre.

British TV comedy treasures Warren Mitchell and Bernard Bresslaw appear as bad guys.

It was released in a double bill with When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (1970).

Also in the cast are Catherine Schell, Warren Mitchell, Ori Levy as Korminski, Adrienne Corri, Dudley Foster, Neil McCallum, Bernard Bresslaw, Joby Blanshard, Michael Ripper as 1st Card Player, Robert Tayman as 2nd Card Player, Sam Kydd, Keith Bonnard, Leo Britt and Carol Cleveland.

Moon Zero Two is produced by Michael Carreras, who also wrote the screenplay, based on an original story by Gavin Lyall, Frank Hardman and Martin Davidson.

The game Moonopoly is based on the property trading game marketed by John Waddington Limited under their registered trade name Monopoly.

Julie Driscoll sings the title song ‘Moon Zero Two’. The score is by Philip Martell and American jazz musician Don Ellis, his first film score.

Special visual effects are created by a team headed by visual effects artist Les Bowie, Spencer Reeve is the film editor and Carl Toms is costume designer.

Production began on 8 March 1969 and wrapped on 10 June 1969.

Dance group The Go-Jos appear. The Go-Jos were a British TV dance troupe, created for the BBC1 TV music chart show Top of the Pops in late 1964, appearing regularly on the show until mid-1968.

Ori Levy (as Korminski) described wearing the moonsuits as ‘sheer hell’, causing blisters and back problems. Catherine Schell lost 13 pounds from wearing her moonsuit, leading her to be put on a diet of malted milk and chocolate to maintain her weight.

It was made at the Elstree Studios of Associated British Productions, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England.

Roy Ward Baker recalled: ‘Moon Zero Two was a bad picture. It was hopeless, and never got off the ground. We didn’t have enough money to do it properly. It was crazy – a complete muddle. And it was undercut by the fact that you could turn on the television and see Neil Armstrong jumping about on the real Moon.’

James Olson died at his home in Malibu, California, on 17 April 2022, aged 91.

Robert Tayman was born on 6 June 1942 in London, England, UK. He was known for The Devil’s Crown (1978), The Visitors (1972) and Moon Zero Two (1969), the S&M shocker House of Whipcord and the Joan Collins soft-porn extravaganza The Stud, and as Count Mitterhaus in Vampire Circus. He died in December 2022.

The cast are James Olson as Bill Kemp, Catherine Schell as Clementine ‘Clem’ Taplin, Warren Mitchell as J. J. Hubbard, Adrienne Corri as Elizabeth Murphy, Ori Levy as Korminski, Dudley Foster as Whitsun, Bernard Bresslaw as Harry, Neil McCallum as Space Captain, Joby Blanshard as Smith, Michael Ripper as 1st Card Player, Robert Tayman as 2nd Card Player, Sam Kydd as Barman, Keith Bonnard as Junior Customs Officer, Leo Britt as Senior Customs Officer, Carol Cleveland as Hostess, Roy Evans as Workman, Tom Kempinski as 2nd Officer, Lew Luton as Immigration Officer, Claire Shenstone as Female Hotel Clerk, Chrissie Shrimpton as Boutique Attendant, Amber Dean Smith as Hubbard’s Girlfriend, Simone Silvera as Hubbard’s Girlfriend, and The Go-Jos as Hilton Bar Dancing Girls.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,713

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com