STUDIOCANAL are over the moon to announce the upcoming release of a brand-new restoration of the classic adventure comedy JULES VERNE’S ROCKET TO THE MOON, available for the first time on Blu-ray and DVD, Digital from 12th April 2021.
Based on an original work by the great pre-science-fiction author Jules Verne, JULES VERNE’S 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. In the US, meanwhile, when Phineas T. Barnum’s (Burl Ives) “Greatest Show on Earth” burns to the ground, he heads to England with his star, Tom Thumb (Jimmy Clitheroe).
Barnum and Thumb 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 an American balloonist, Gaylord Sullivan (Troy Donohue), who has run off with his girlfriend on her wedding day to a wealthy Frenchman Henri (Edward De Souza). Gaylord claims that he has designed a projectile equipped for a round-trip and Henri offers to finance Gaylord’s missile if he agrees to take Tom Thumb’s place. Meanwhile, Dillworthy and his shady brother-in-law, Harry Washington-Smythe (Terry Thomas), plot to sabotage the moonship expedition but the saboteurs end up on a journey they hadn’t bargained for.
JULES VERNE’S ROCKET TO THE MOON is available to buy on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital from 12th April 2021.
INCLUDED WITH THE FILM:
- New: Interview with journalist and film historian Matthew Sweet
- New: Interview with journalist and film critic Kim Newman
- On the set of Rocket to the Moon – Silent footage from British Pathé
JULES VERNE’S ROCKET TO THE MOON is released as part of the ‘Vintage Classics Collection’ which showcases iconic British films, all fully restored and featuring brand new extra content. The collection includes KIND HEARTS & CORONETS, THE DAM BUSTERS, DON’T LOOK NOW, THE LADYKILLERS, FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD, THE WICKER MAN, THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH and many more.
