Pasi Spre Lună
Entry updated 26 July 2024. Tagged: Film.
Romanian film (1963; vt Steps to the Moon). Studioul Cinematografic București. Directed and written by Ion Popescu-Gopo. Cast includes Radu Beligan, George Demetru, Ileann Fira, Ion Manu, Irina Petrescu, Fionn Piersic and Grigore Vasiliu-Birlic. 74 minutes, cut to 57 minutes. Black and white.
Only the opening sequence of this film fully qualifies as sf, as an adult man in a suit (not a boy, as numerous online references indicate) rushes to catch a scheduled Space Flight, presumably to the Moon (given the film's title), in what looks like a conventional airport of the day; however, after he checks in, an attendant is observed handing the boarding passengers spacesuits to wear during the flight. The protagonist then pauses to shave in a restroom, and when he plugs in his electric razor, sparks fly, and the airport is plunged into darkness. What follows must be considered his dream, as he descends into a darkened chamber and begins encountering various figures associated with the history of human aspirations to fly (see Flying): mythological figures like Prometheus, Cupid, Mercury and the Moon goddess Artemis (see Mythology); an Arabian man riding a flying carpet and a winged devil; the scientists Leonardo da Vinci (who paints a Mona Lisa with the mechanical wings he drew in his notebooks), Galileo, and Isaac Newton; and the writers Cyrano de Bergerac, Jules Verne, and H G Wells. After showing images of Sputnik, Yuri Gagarin and John Glenn, the film concludes with the man taking an improbable space flight in a one-man vehicle, casually opening the window to interact with another space traveller.
Like the Czech film Baron Prášil (1961; vt The Fabulous Baron Munchausen; Baron Munchausen), though in a different way, this film endeavours to connect the embryonic space programme to humanity's ancient obsession with flight, although the playful and sometimes bizarre antics of the people the man encounters undermine any effort to convey a serious message. It has been described as a comedy, but few laughs will be inspired by events that do not seem funny, but only strange. [GW]
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