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Woman in the Moon

1. Original Title: Die Frau im Mond
2. Director: Fritz Lang
3. Screenplay: Fritz Lang, Thea von Harbou, Hermann Oberth
4. Photography: Curt Courant, Oskar Fischinger, Konstantin Irmen-Tschet, Otto Kanturek
5. Scenography: Joseph Danilowitz, Emil Hasler, Otto Hunte, Karl Vollbrecht, Gustav Wolff
6. Basato sulla novella/Based on the Novel
   Die Frau im Mond, by Thea von Harbou,1928
   
   Effetti speciali/Special Effects
   Oskar Fischinger, Konstantin Irmen-Tschet
7. Starring:
   Willy Fritsch, Gerda Maurus, Klaus Pohl, Gustav von Wangenheim
8. Germany
9. 120 min.
10. 1929

Helius, a visionary and enlightened businessman, decides to give credit to the theories of Professor Mannfeldt, a scientist who has been ridiculed by his peers, and funds an expedition to the Moon on board a rocket designed by himself. According to Mannfeldt’s studies, the underground of the Moon is supposed to be extremely rich in gold deposits. This attracts the interest of assistants Friede (whom Helius secretly loves) and Windegger (Frieda’s ‘official’ fiancée) as well as the greed of a gang of unscrupulous adventurers one of whom is Mr. Turner, an ambiguous businessman who succeeds in joining the team by threatening to sabotage the operation. Helius, Mannfeldt and the others are forced to take him on board but, once the destination is reached, moon-landing and some sensational discoveries upset the space pioneers’ plans.
Woman in the Moon was directed by Fritz Lang in 1929. Based on a novel by his wife Thea von Harbou, it combines a sure-fire plot (a mingling of melodrama and adventurous quest) with a knowledgeable and sometimes prophetic focus on the world of science. This is perhaps to the credit of Hermann Oberth, a renowned scientist in Weimar Germany who was called upon as a consultant for the aerospace sequences of the movie. Thus, for the first time after so much burlesque sci-fi, the movie heralded themes that were to become staples of the whole sci-fi repertoire: countdown sequences, the take-off of a three-stage rocket, and – less scientific but just as seminal - a vague fear of celestial solitudes and of a looming space odyssey. Does it ring a bell?