Jules Verne's Rocket to the Moon (Blu-ray)

Part of the Vintage Classics collection

Based on an original work by the great pre-science-fiction author Jules Verne, Rocket to the Moon is directed by Don Sharp (The Thirty Nine Steps, 1978) and features an all- star ensemble cast of classic film actors including Burl Ives (Cat On A Hit Tin Roof), Troy Donahue (A Summer Place), Graham Stark (The Return of the Pink Panther), Gert Fröbe (Goldfinger), Hermione Gingold (The Music Man), Lionel Jeffries (Chitty, Chitty Bang Bang), Dennis Price (Kind Hearts and Coronets) and the inimitable Terry Thomas (School For Scoundrels).

In Victorian England, the race to build, invent and discover is at its peak, but results in many embarrassing and dangerous failures. Phineas T. Barnum’s (Burl Ives) – creator of “The Greatest Show on Earth” is in London with his star, Tom Thumb (Jimmy Clitheroe) when they are invited to a scientific lecture by Professor Von Bulow (Gert Fröbe), who plans to send a projectile to the Moon using a powerful new explosive he has invented. Barnum sets about finding the money to build a giant cannon to fire the projectile, carrying a reluctant Tom Thumb, however the spaceship designed by Sir Charles Dillworthy (Lionel Jeffries) proves useless since it does not have the capacity to return to earth. Barnum then meets another balloonist, Gaylord Sullivan (Troy Donohue), whose craft appears more promising, that is until a pair of crooks (including Terry-Thomas) start plotting to sabotage the ambitious moonship expedition…