Moonwalk One

Moonwalk One is a 1971 documentary film that tells the story of the Apollo 11 mission. This amazing mission was the first time humans landed on the Moon. The film shows the huge achievement of technology and science that made this possible.

The movie also gives a glimpse of what life was like on Earth when people everywhere watched this historic event. It tries to show the feelings and excitement that everyone felt when humans first walked on another world. This moment was very important in history and showed what humans can do when they work together.

Original 1970 release

After finishing the film in 1969, not many people were interested because many lunar missions had followed Apollo 11. NASA showed the film in New York City, but it was thought to be too long and wasn’t picked up by distributors. About 15 minutes were cut from the film, but it still didn’t gain interest. However, the film was shown at the Cannes Film Festival in 1971, where it won a special award. The Whitney Museum of American Art in New York included it in their “New American Directors” series, leading to favorable reviews and screenings in theaters across the country.

2009 re-release

In 2009, a special version of the film called the "Director's Cut" was released. This version was supervised by Theo Kamecke and shown for the first time on Monday, July 20, 2009. The DVD included comments from the director, the story of how the film was made, and other special features.

History of the making of Moonwalk One

About a year and a half before the Apollo 11 mission, NASA asked a company called Francis Thompson Inc. to make an exciting film about the Apollo program, ending with the first Moon landing. Francis Thompson and his partner Alexander Hammid were famous filmmakers, known for creating To Be Alive! for the 1964-65 New York World's Fair, which even won an Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject.

However, the big film project lost its support from MGM in early 1969. Even though both Francis Thompson and NASA looked for new funding, they couldn’t find any, so the big project ended. But just six weeks before Apollo 11 launched, NASA called again. They wanted to make sure this important event wasn’t forgotten and asked if Thompson could make a film with a smaller budget of $350,000. Since Francis Thompson was busy with another project, he asked Theo Kamecke, who had worked on To Be Alive!, to take on the task. Bill Johnnes also joined as a producer because he knew many of the right people from the earlier, bigger project.

Stonehenge and Moonwalk One

Director Kamecke faced a tight schedule to prepare for filming the Apollo 11 mission. During a scouting trip to Cape Canaveral, he decided to start the film with scenes from Stonehenge, which he had previously filmed in England. He felt that Apollo and Stonehenge were closely connected.

When Apollo 11 launched, Kamecke asked his camera teams to focus on the reactions of the people watching, rather than the launch itself. He was allowed into Launch Control, a rare permission for a civilian. Later, he was in Mission Control MOCR in Houston, Texas during the moonwalk. The rest of the film was planned and researched after the launch in July.

NASA and Moonwalk One

Before the launch, Theo Kamecke visited Washington D.C. to talk with people at NASA and learn more about making the film. He hoped the film wouldn’t just be a simple list of facts. Julian Shear, who handled public relations for NASA, had worked in television before and understood that by the time the film was done, many people would already know a lot about Apollo. He told Kamecke to focus on creating a special keepsake, like a time capsule, rather than worrying about how much money the film might make.

Elements of the film

Besides the usual clips from NASA, the film used many different types of footage. Researchers looked for old news clips and special scenes from around the world to show what people were thinking and feeling during this big event. They also filmed how the spacecraft and suits were made, as well as tests to see how well astronauts could handle tough situations.

One interesting part of the film shows the rocket launch. The filmmakers found extra clips that were not usually shown. These clips were hidden in boxes in a place called Huntsville, Alabama. After checking them out, the team chose the best parts to use in the movie. They made sure these clips looked just right before adding them to the film.

Opticals

The film Moonwalk One used many special visual effects called "opticals." These included scenes like the Earth rising over the Moon and moving from Earth in space to the Moon’s surface. Since the astronauts didn’t film these scenes, the filmmakers used still photos from earlier missions and turned them into smooth, slow movements.

An animated part explained how the Apollo-Saturn rocket was built and worked, showing how pieces fell away until only the Command Module Columbia returned to Earth. The animation looked simple, like old cartoons such as Mickey Mouse, because real computer animation was too expensive at the time. The 2019 documentary Apollo 11 honored Moonwalk One by using similar designs in its own computer animations.

Music and sound effects

The music for Moonwalk One was created by Charles Morrow, who was known for his unique and moving compositions. In one part of the film called the "Earth Poem," he used sounds like a heartbeat, breathing, and a beautiful cello melody.

The film also used real sounds from spacecraft to create music. These sounds came from Mariner 4, a spacecraft that flew by Mars years before, because the sounds from Apollo were too fast to hear. The launch scene mixed sounds from a V2 rocket and an atom bomb, along with slowed-down metal strikes that sounded like church bells.

Narrator

The director of the film, Theo Kamecke, chose the narrator, Laurence Luckinbill, because he was an actor with the right voice and attitude to capture the spirit of the movie. He spoke about this choice with filmmaker Christopher Riley in a special discussion about the film.

Production of the finished film

The film used footage from many sources, like different film sizes and video. They decided early on to use one format so everything would look smooth. Originally, they planned to use a big film size called 70mm, but after the moonwalk, they realized it was too expensive and hard to work with. So, they switched to a more common size called 35mm, which could fit all the footage from the astronauts and other clips.

The finished film was made by a company in California called Technicolor. They used a special printing method that gave the film very clear and bright colors. Even though newer, cheaper ways existed by then, Moonwalk One was one of the last films made using this older, high-quality method.

Reception

Critics liked the film Moonwalk One. They said it was a great documentary that showed the big achievement of landing humans on the Moon. One news report called it the first documentary that truly captured the importance of the Moon landing. A magazine in 1972 said it was an amazing film that told history in a special way. A writer for the New York Post in 1972 even said it should be shown alongside a famous movie from 1968 called 2001: A Space Odyssey.