Line #17 Film/WomanInTheMoon


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/frau_im_mond_german_movie_poster.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:That's one large step for a man, woman and child!]]
3
4	After his stunning success with ''Film/{{Metropolis}}'', German studio Ufa gave director Creator/FritzLang free rein on his next project. Excited by the idea of rockets and spaceflight (hugely popular in Germany at the time) he decided to make a film about a [[TripToTheMoonPlot rocket expedition to the Moon]].
5
6	Lang insisted on such technical accuracy that, even though it’s a silent film made in 1929, ''Frau im Mond'' has uncanny similarities to the Apollo program three decades later. Just witness the moment where a giant three-stage rocket is assembled in a cavernous building, then trundled to the launch pad by means of a huge transport platform down a dual-tracked road. Several cliches seen in the sci-fi movies of the 1950's and onwards also originated with this film, such as the portrayal of the crushing pressures of acceleration ([[SpinningClockHands close-ups of dials]] and [[LudicrousSpeed straining facial expressions]]), the comedy of trying to eat and drink [[GravityScrew while weightless]], and a crewmember making a HeroicSacrifice [[ColdEquation so the others will have enough oxygen to survive]]. It was also largely responsible for changing the popular portrayal of a spacecraft from Creator/JulesVerne SteamPunk to [=SciFi=] Golden Age RetroRocket.
7
8	''Frau im Mond'' had interesting historical consequences. In order to promote the film Lang persuaded his technical advisor, Hermann Oberth, to construct and launch an actual rocket as a publicity stunt! As far as they knew ''no-one had ever done this'', as US scientist Robert Goddard had not publicized his experiments. Unfortunately Oberth, more suited to the quiet world of academia, broke down under the strain and failed to meet the deadline. The resulting publicity however provided the funding for amateur rocket enthusiasts to continue Oberth's project. This in turn attracted the attention of the German military, who offered the groups' most promising member -- a young [[ReluctantMadScientist Wernher von Braun]] -- a [[PiggybackingOnHitler contract to work on ballistic missiles]]. The rest, as they say, [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII is history]].
9
10	The movie was released as ''Rocket to the Moon'' in the USA. The UK preferred the literal translation ''Woman in the Moon''.
11	----
12	!! ''Frau im Mond'' contains the following tropes:
13
14	* AbsentMindedProfessor: Professor Georg Mannfeldt (Klaus Pohl), though he is much more rational than most of such characters.
15	* AcePilot: Friede Velten, the title character and heroine of the tale. Although a student of astronomy, she is clearly inspired by real-life female aviators of the era. Impressive when you compare it to the later patronising view of women in science fiction (see ''Film/ProjectMoonbase'').
16	* ArtificialGravity: One of the many ShownTheirWork choices in this film has the ship create gravity through constant acceleration in space. As the log specifically notes, when they finally turn the engines off they are in zero gravity.
17	* AsYouKnow: When Mannfeldt asks why Helius doesn't want to take Windegger along to the moon, he makes sure to say "Windegger? Your colleague and best friend?"
18	* BatmanCanBreatheInSpace: The Moon has a breathable atmosphere, so they don't need spacesuits! Silent film actors depended greatly on facial expressions and body language [[InSpaceEveryoneCanSeeYourFace which would be obscured by bulky spacesuits and helmets]], so Lang was forced to compromise on this point.[[note]]Scientists have known that the Moon had little to no atmosphere since the research of Roger Joseph Boscovich in 1753.[[/note]]
19	* BigElectricSwitch: The control panel resembles something you'd find in a generating station (which would be the most technologically sophisticated installation at the time).
20	* BittersweetEnding: Wolf Helius (Willy Fritsch) [[HeroicSacrifice stays behind on the Moon]], but finds that Friede Velten (Gerda Maurus) has [[TogetherInDeath chosen to stay behind with him]] rather than return to Earth with her fiance and live.
21	* BoldExplorer: Helius and Professor Mannfeldt plan and lead an expedition to the moon.
22	* CaptainsLog: A written version, given that it's a silent movie, but still used for the required exposition.
23	* ColdEquation: The evil Turner gets killed in a shootout, but a bullet pierces an oxygen tank. The [[MenAreTheExpendableGender two remaining men]] end up DrawingStraws to see who will stay behind.
24	** Possibly subverted when Helius leaves a note to Windegger suggesting that Windegger could come back to get him, but the way everybody's acting certainly indicates that staying behind is a death sentence.
25	* ComingInHot: The rocket is heading for the moon too fast. Cue scenes of panic and frantic attempts to slow it down. In the end all they can do is [[SecurityCling hold on tight!]]
26	* CorruptCorporateExecutive: The Finance Group and their representative, Walt Truner (Fritz Rasp, the "Thin Man" in ''Film/{{Metropolis}}''), who want to [[GoldFever mine the Moon for its gold so they can control the world market]].
27	* DieselPunk: A Period version.
28	* DirtyCoward: Hans Windegger (Gustav von Wangenheim), Friede's fiancé, breaks down in fear when he loses the LotteryOfDoom. Helius then decides to stay behind instead, [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy as he thinks Friede still loves Hans]].
29	* DowsingDevice: Once he's landed on the Moon, Mannfeldt uses a divining rod to search for water. And you call yourself a scientist!
30	* DramaticPause: "The only thing we are going to find on the Moon is ... ''[cut to scene, cut back to intertitle]'' Death."
31	* DrawingStraws: Helius and Windegger draw straws to see who will have to stay behind on the Moon--BatmanCanBreatheInSpace, sure, but whoever's left behind will eventually die of hunger or dehydration. Windegger doesn't take it well when he loses.
32	* EqualOpportunityEvil: The [[EvilGenius Five Brains]] include a woman (Tilla Durieux) and an [[YellowPeril Asian man]] (Mahmud Terja Bey).
33	* FeetFirstIntroduction: For the villainous Turner, when Helius is surprised to see Turner waiting for him outside Helius's door.
34	* GoldFever: Turner murders Mannfeldt by backing him off a cliff, fills his pockets with the gold nuggets lying about everywhere, then tries to steal the ship and abandon the others on the Moon.
35	* GravityScrew: Straps are placed all over the floor and roof of the cabin, and there's a sequence involving Friede and Windegger trying to drink from a bottle in zero-G. Once on the Moon, they use [[StickyShoes weighted boots to walk normally]] in the lower gravity.
36	* HerrDoktor: Naturally a large part of the leading characters, who are both Germans and scientists/engineers.
37	* ImpairmentShot: A POV shot from Friede has her vision blur and fade to black as she passes out from the G-forces of the launch.
38	* LittleStowaway: Twelve-year-old Gustav (Gustl Stark-Gstettenbaur) hides on the rocket so he, too, can see the Moon.
39	* LoveTriangle: Engineer Hans Windegger and scientist Wolf Helius are both attracted to the heroine.
40	* ProductPlacement: Mannfeldt drinks from a glass that says "Odol", complete with a closeup with the camera trained on the logo as Helius pours the drink. Odol was a German brand of mouthwash that's still being sold today.
41	* ShownTheirWork:
42	** Along with ''Film/DestinationMoon'' and ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'', this was one of the few sci-fi movies where the creators paid serious attention to their technical advisors -- in this case, science writer Willy Ley and Romanian rocket scientist Hermann Oberth. So accurate was the film that the Gestapo later confiscated the release prints and a large cutaway model of the spacecraft, for fear that it would compromise Germany's secret ballistic rocket program.
43	** Besides the countdown and the attention paid to the problem of acceleration and g-forces, this film also has the launch done via staged rocketry ("Launch rocket exhausted! Full thrust to middle rocket!...Jettison middle rocket!"). This of course was how it was actually done when the Americans and Soviets started putting living beings into space in the 1960s.
44	** The scene where the astronauts watch the "setting" Earth fall behind the Moon looks shockingly similar to the famous "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthrise Earthrise]]" photo taken 39 years later on Apollo 8.
45	* SpaceIsCold: The rocket is painted with one side black so they can turn the dark side to face the sun when they need to heat the rocket, then rotate to the other side when it needs cooling.
46	* SpaceSuitsAreSCUBAGear: Professor Mannfeldt goes out in a diving suit to check that the moon has an atmosphere. After successfully lighting a few matches, he takes off his helmet.
47	* TheSpook: Five Brains' enforcer, Walter Truner, who is a major character of the film. The only thing we know about him is that his name is not Walter Turner.
48	* TeamPet: The pet mouse Josephine.
49	* TheyCalledMeMad: Professor Mannfeldt is laughed out of the room by his fellow scientists when he gives a lecture on sending expeditions to the Moon to exploit its resources. To be fair, we still haven't done the latter.
50	* WireFu: Plainly obvious in the scene where little Gustav floats up through a hatch.

Context Film / WomanInTheMoon