In The Shadow Of The Moon - DVD mini review

goober (Doug) · #1 19-03-2008, 12:18 PM

Warning - spoilers

I watched the DVD of In The Shadow Of The Moon last night. The movie got such a limited release in Melbourne, I ordered the DVD off Amazon ($13 US) a couple of weeks ago. It was very enjoyable - basically the story of Apollo told via a combination of archival footage, occasional sub-titles on the screen, and interviews with some of the Apollo astronauts.

The movie itself covers the main story - a quick tour through the space race, recruitment, Gemini, before moving onto Apollo. Apollo's 8 and 11 get the main treatment, although 13 is touched on briefly.

The astronauts are the real stars here. The ones you usually see interviewed are here - Buzz Aldrin, Gene Cernan and Jim Lovell. However, it's great to see Al Bean, Charlie Duke, Mike Collins and Ed Mitchell talking as well - in fact these four seem to get the most "air time", especially Mike Collins. Jack Schmidt and Dave Scott appear, and even John Young pops up for a terse, clipped sentence or two!

I enjoyed the movie, but over the closing credits each of the astronauts gives their take on the moon hoax theories. I don't think they needed to dignify this rubbish by including it in the movie - hide it away on the DVD somewhere, if at all. Still, the astronauts give great responses. Duke's is best - "if we were going to fake going to the moon, why fake it nine times?".

The real gem of the DVD is an extra hour's bonus material drawn from the astronaut's interviews. Apparently the director had two days with each astronaut to draw them out. With this extra hour we get Apollo 9 and 10 covered in more detail (including the near disaster on Apollo 10 with the abort switch), more coverage of Apollo 13, Charlie Duke's terrifying dream, Al Bean's painting, etc.

Space junkies probably won't learn much new here, but it's well presented with great footage accompanying the astronauts voices. It's also interesting to try to see how affected these guys are, 35 years later. Collins and Bean look like normal guys, Mitchell seemed to be profoundly moved by it, the others seem to have media polish rubbed on them.

One thing that struck me was how fit these guys look - John Young and Mike Collins look like they could fly again tomorrow!

fringe_dweller · #2 19-03-2008, 01:19 PM

much appreciate the review Doug, looking forward to seeing this one!

citivolus (Ric) · #3 19-03-2008, 03:12 PM

I concur with the review on most points, however I found myself disappointed while watching it that certain prominent astronaut(s) were left out, so much so that I found myself verifying that they were in fact still alive.

goober (Doug) · #4 19-03-2008, 06:29 PM

I guess so - Tom Stafford and Frank Borman would have been good. Only Collins of the surviving CMP's who went appears. Neil Armstrong would have been a coup, but no real surprises there

sheeny (Al) · #5 19-03-2008, 07:49 PM

Thanks for the review! I have a copy on order, so looking forward to seeing it myself.

Al.

JohnH · #6 24-03-2008, 05:14 PM

This movie is currently on show at Roseville Cinema in Sydney see:

http://www.rosevillecinemas.com.au/m...p?Mov_ID=M1276

OneOfOne (Trevor) · #7 25-03-2008, 12:12 PM

Thanks for that....you cost me about a hundred bucks!

I looked on Amazon and ordered the DVD....then decided to add "Seeing in the Dark"... which then pointed me to "Magnificent Desolation"....then I noticed "Moon Race parts 1 & 2". So now I am about $100 poorer

Supposed to arrive around Anzac day....

goober (Doug) · #8 25-03-2008, 12:20 PM

Golly, if you live in Bentleigh, I could have walked my copy around to you for a loan