First Men In The Moon is a 1964 science fiction film adapted from the H.G.Wells novel, written by Nigel Kneale of Quatermass fame with special effects from Ray Harryhausen and directed by Nathan Juran. Since it’s not yet available on Blu-ray (Twilight time have announced a release in March 2015), I thought I’d give the iTunes HD rental a quick review.
First Men In The Moon – The UN. Helpful as always.
When the first astronauts on the moon discover evidence of a British visit in the 1890s, an investigative team on earth tracks down the sole surviving member of the original mission, who tells the tale of their journey to the moon, and the strange creatures they found there.
First Men In The Moon – Our very Victorian spaceship approaches the moon.
Just about every imaginable kind of special effect available in 1964 is deployed to tell the story, and cinematographer, and Harryhausen regular, Wilkie Cooper paints boldy with color to create an exciting lunar landscape, where fantastic machines lurk just around the next corner.
First Men In The Moon – Moonscape.
For a full critical review, I would recommend both DVDSavant’s excellent review and the extensive article from Cinefantastique. I will merely add that it is a fine outing for both Kneale and Harryhausen, and it’s a great shame that Kneale’s 1967 Quatermass film didn’t get the same level of budget and attention in the special effects department.
First Men In The Moon – 1964 – iTunes HD Review
First Men In The Moon – Caves On The Moon
The iTunes 1080p download of ‘First Men In The Moon’ clocks in at 3.12GB, with an average bitrate of 4.17Mbps, and a peak bitrate of 11.6Mbps. The image is presented at an aspect ratio of approximately 2.35:1.
First Men In The Moon – Infinite energy
Audio is provided by a stereo 160 kbps AAC track, likely the same as the earlier anamorphic DVD transfer.
This appears to be a different transfer from the existing DVD: there is consistently a little more information on the left of the frame in the iTunes version, colors are a little different too: flesh-tones are far more accurate in the iTunes version, and a touch cooler, slightly less saturated and less brown in some scenes, though there doesn’t appear to have been any inappropriate tweaking of the color palette. In short the new transfer is a noticeable improvement.
Image quality is fair to good varying on an almost shot-to-shot basis with grain coming and going. The source material is obviously a limiting factor, early Anamorphic lenses and Pathe ‘LunaColor’ film (just regular old Eastmancolor) give a moderately soft look, but I would expect more grain than I see in most shots.
First Men In The Moon – Making Cavorite. Edward Judd as Arnold Bedford and Lionel Jefferies as Joseph Cavor.
Either some DVNR has been applied or more likely: there just aren’t enough bits to go round.
Overall the image is acceptable, but I do notice some slight edginess in static shots that I attribute to bitrate starvation.
First Men on the Moon – iTunes 1080p Screenshots
First Men In The Moon – Edward Judd and Martha Hyer have some doubts.
First Men In The Moon – Lionel Jefferies and Martha Hyer.
First Men In The Moon – Exploding houses !
First Men In The Moon – The great lunar – ruler of the moon.
First Men In The Moon – attack of the Moon Cow.
Conclusion
First Men In The Moon – Edward Judd and Martha Hyer on earth.
Good: four out of five. Once again, the bit rate is a bit too low to support a truly robust transfer, but it blows away the earlier DVD. I look forward Twilight Time’s Blu-ray, which I’m sure will address the bitrate concerns. If you can’t wait, then the iTunes 1080p HD edition of ‘First Men In The Moon’ is worth a rental at least.
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