Frau im Mond
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Frau im Mond is a science fiction silent movie released in 1929, and is often considered to be one of the first "serious" science fiction films. The title Frau im Mond translates to "Woman in the Moon". It was written and directed by Fritz Lang, based on the novel Die Frau im Mond (1928, translated as The Rocket to the Moon in 1930) by his then-wife and collaborator Thea von Harbou. It was released in the USA as By Rocket to the Moon, and in the UK as Woman in the Moon.
The film is a strange mixture of accurate science and bad guesses. The basics of rocket travel are presented to a mass audience for the first time. The idea that the moon rocket Friede would be submerged in water before launch was a bad guess. And, the first thing our space travelers do upon reaching the moon is use a dousing rod to search for water.
Though the special effects used in the movie were innovative for their time, the movie was not a financial success, and also since most of the public began considering silent movies a thing of the past in 1929.
Influence
This film is often cited as the first movie containing a rocket-launching sequence that has long since become a motion picture cliche: the "countdown to zero". The launch crew counts down the seconds from ten to zero, and the rocket ship then blasts off into space.
Since rocket scientist Hermann Oberth worked as an advisor on this movie (he had originally intended to build a working rocket for use in the film; time and technology kept this from happening), it was very popular among the rocket scientists in Wernher von Braun's circle at the Verein für Raumschiffahrt (VfR). The first successfully launched V-2 rocket at the rocket development facility in Peenemünde had the Frau im Mond logo painted on its base.
External links
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