Review of Woman in the Moon

"Woman On The Moon" is undeniably a visionary epic, but it doesn't fully meet the expectations it itself sets. The earthbound first half is more than a bit a draggy; the moon sets are impressive but what happens in them in the final section is little more than a cautionary greed-does-not-pay tale that could have taken place in just about any desert on Earth. It's the trip to the moon itself that is the best part of this movie. There are startling, even amusing moments throughout (including exploding interitles!), but maybe not enough for a movie that goes on for nearly three hours (my copy ran 169 minutes). The well-built Gerda Maurus, who was also in Fritz Lang's "Spies", returns and is even better here, subtler; some of the men overact. **1/2 out of 4.