Le voyage dans la lune (A Trip to the Moon) (1902)

Most people mistakenly believe that it was the Americans who first landed on the moon. This is wrong. It was actually the French all the way back in 1902, and this documentary proves it.  Most people think it was the Americans because our grandparents watched the moon landing on TV, but we know today that that garbage was filmed in New Mexico.  This film, A Trip to the Moon, is the real deal. I have already seen it several times in black and white, but I finally found a copy in color. Each frame was lovingly hand-painted, and I'm very excited to share some stills I saved with you.

First still is a picture of the launch. I have spent most of my life in Florida, so I have seen many launches and I can say this method is much more efficient than ours.
A line of hot chicks load up the "spaceship" into a cannon-like device which is then shot into space.


The next still is the actual landing. The astronauts, or spationautes as they are called in France, had the foresight to attach a camera to the front of their spaceship. We the viewers can see the moon get closer and closer and are even able to see its face!

The spaceship lands on the moon and takes out its right eye in a bloody mess. Wait, if the camera is attached to the spaceship, who's filming this??

The next still is the spationautes getting out of their spaceships and celebrating how great they are.  Notice how everybody's clothes have been painted a different color. The filmmakers had to do this with every single frame. The amount of work is astonishing.



Lastly, the spationautes encounter aliens and beat the crap out of them with umbrellas. This seems highly unnecessary since the aliens pose no threat and the moon is their territory. They just want to live in peace and scooch around on their butts.

This alien, scooching around on his butt,
has no idea he's about to be bopped on the head with an umbrella.

The spationautes run back to their spaceship and return to Earth, where they receive a hero's welcome.  This movie, however short, was amazing in its effects for the time period.  It is hard to believe people could make a film like this over 100 years ago.  And the fact that they included space aliens on the moon when our government is always trying to deny their existence is commendable.  The realism of the moon's geography is breathtaking (Lol- cause it's the moon and there's no atmosphere? Fine. I tried.) and I have been convinced that the whole area is a tropical mushroom garden with waterfalls. Part of me is starting to think that maybe this isn't a real documentary, but I'll still give it a 10/10.