Moon Zero Two (1968)

A few thoughts on Moon Zero Two (1969), which I recently saw all the way through for the first time in ages.  Presumably made to capitalise upon the popularity of the recently released 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), but made on a fraction of the budget, Hammer Films' only space opera boasts surprisingly decent special effects.  The space sequences are particularly well handled, with an edge of realism them, boasting reasonably accurate depiction of actual physics with regard to the motions of objects in space. The miniatures for the moonscapes are likewise very effective and realistic looking.  Some of the miniatures work on the moon's surface, particularly the moon buggies, is less effective, although the full size props representing these vehicles are most impressive.  Part of the sense of realism achieved in the film's depictions of space travel and lunar living derives from the fact that the technology shown is a logical extrapolation of the space technology in existence at the time of its making.  Conversely, though, this is also a weakness, as it means that it depicts a future that, in its technical aspects, probably seemed dated in 1969.  It might be set in the then far off future of 2021, but looks more like it is only a few years on from Neil Armstrong's first steps on the moon.  Likewise the fashions sported by the various lunar inhabitants, much of which might have come out of a contemporary Carnaby Street boutique, but with more plastic.  

While the effects work and production values might have been good, plot-wise, however, the film is on less sure ground, with its story of moon-miners, corporate claim jumpers and the villains 'rustling' a valuable asteroid seems to have been lifted from a B-Western rather than the pages of a contemporary science fiction magazine.  Indeed, this western-in-space theme extends to the inclusion of such elements as a bar-room brawl, (in a lunar bar complete with western saloon-style swing doors), a face off between a heavy and the 'sheriff' to see who is quickest on the draw and dancing girls in the saloon doing routines that Wyatt Earp would have recognised.  (The film was actually promoted as the first 'Space Western').  While the cast aren't exactly A-list, they are pretty solid, although James Olsen in the lead, (he also starred in Crescendo (1969) for Hammer), is a somewhat bland hero, giving a very subdued performance, Warren Mitchell's villain is suitably flamboyant.  Bernard Bresslaw is effective as Mitchell's chief heavy, making the character curiously sympathetic, in spite of his villainy, while Adrienne Corri makes for an authoritative local 'sheriff' and Catherine von Schell a likeable heroine.  Veteran director Roy Ward Baker, (who was becoming something of a fixture at Hammer around this time - he'd already directed Quatermass and the Pit (1967) and The Anniversary (1967) for them), moves it along at a reasonable pace, with highlights including the low gravity bar brawl and a shoot-out at a remote mining claim, although the space sequences, with their dedication to realism, tend to slow things down at crucial moments.

Panned by critics at the time of its release and a financial failure, I have to say that Moon Zero Two was actually better than I remembered it being.  It still felt overly slow in places, most of the characters were unmemorable and the script far too simplistic, but the effects were, fort their era and budget, excellent.  Besides, who couldn't like a film that features Hammer stalwart Michael Ripper as a moon prospector and that most prolific of character actors, Sam Kydd, as a space bartender?