The Mouse on the Moon is a 1963 British
comedy filmComedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. Also, films in this style typically have a happy ending . One of the oldest genres in film, some of the very first silent movies were comedies...
, an adaptation of the novel
The Mouse on the MoonThe Mouse on the Moon is a novel by Irish author Leonard Wibberley. It was released in 1962 as the sequel to The Mouse That Roared. In it, the people of the Duchy of Grand Fenwick, an isolated mountain microstate, attempt space flight using wine as a propellant. It satirises the space race,...
by
IrishThe Irish people are a Western European ethnic group who originate in Ireland, in north western Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolgs, Tuatha Dé Danann and the Milesians The Irish...
author
Leonard WibberleyLeonard Patrick O'Connor Wibberley was a prolific and versatile Irish-American author, who also wrote under three pen-names...
. It was directed by
Richard LesterRichard Lester is an American-born British-based film director possibly most notable for his work with The Beatles in the 1960s.-Early years and television:Lester was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...
and served as the sequel to
The Mouse That RoaredThe Mouse That Roared is a 1955 novel by Irish American writer Leonard Wibberley, which launched a series of satirical books about an imaginary country in Europe called the Duchy of Grand Fenwick...
. In it, the people of the
DuchyA duchy is a territory, fief, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess.Some duchies were sovereign in areas that would become unified realms only during the Modern era...
of
Grand FenwickThe Duchy of Grand Fenwick is a tiny fictional country created by Leonard Wibberley in a series of comedic novels beginning with The Mouse That Roared , which was later made into a film.-History and Topography:...
, a
microstateA microstate or ministate is a sovereign state having a very small population or very small land area, but usually both. Some examples include: Nauru, Singapore, Liechtenstein, Monaco, and Vatican City...
, attempt space flight using wine as a propellant. It satirises the
space raceThe Space Race was an informal competition between the United States and the Soviet Union, as each side tried to match or better the other's accomplishments in exploring outer space...
,
Cold WarThe Cold War was the continuing state of political conflict, military tension, and economic competition existing after World War II , primarily between the USSR and its satellite states, and the powers of the Western world, including the United States...
and
politicsPolitics is a process by which groups of people make decisions. The term is generally applied to behavior within civil governments, but politics has been observed in all human group interactions, including corporate, academic and religious institutions...
.
It starred
Margaret RutherfordDame Margaret Rutherford DBE was an English character actress, who first came to prominence following World War II in the film adaptations of Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit, and Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest...
,
Ron MoodyRon Moody is a British actor.- Life and work :Moody was born in London, England, the son of Kate and Bernard Moodnick, a studio executive. He is the cousin of the popular director Laurence Moody and actress Clare Lawrence Moody. His surname was legally changed to "Moody" in 1930...
,
June RitchieJune Ritchie is a British actress. She is perhaps best known for starring opposite Alan Bates in the 1962 film adaptation of A Kind of Loving ....
,
Bernard CribbinsBernard Cribbins is an English character actor and musical comedian.-Career:Born in Derker, Oldham, he served an apprenticeship at the Oldham Repertory Theatre, taking a break during his years of study to undertake National Service with the Parachute Regiment in his late teens.Cribbins made his...
, and
Terry-ThomasThomas Terry Hoar-Stevens was a distinctive English comic actor, known as Terry-Thomas. He was famous for his portrayal of disreputable members of the upper classes, especially cads, with a "toothbrush" moustache, the trademark gap in his front teeth, cigarette holder, smoking jacket, and...
instead of
Peter SellersRichard Henry Sellers, CBE, commonly known as Peter Sellers was a British comedian and actor best known for his roles in Dr...
, who refused to do the film.
David KossoffDavid Kossoff was a British actor. Following the death of his son Paul, a rock musician, he became an anti-drug campaigner...
reprised his role as Professor Kokintz.
Financial disaster looms for Grand Fenwick when the current vintage of its only export, wine, starts exploding in would-be consumers' faces.
The Mouse on the Moon is a 1963 British
comedy filmComedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. Also, films in this style typically have a happy ending . One of the oldest genres in film, some of the very first silent movies were comedies...
, an adaptation of the novel
The Mouse on the MoonThe Mouse on the Moon is a novel by Irish author Leonard Wibberley. It was released in 1962 as the sequel to The Mouse That Roared. In it, the people of the Duchy of Grand Fenwick, an isolated mountain microstate, attempt space flight using wine as a propellant. It satirises the space race,...
by
IrishThe Irish people are a Western European ethnic group who originate in Ireland, in north western Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolgs, Tuatha Dé Danann and the Milesians The Irish...
author
Leonard WibberleyLeonard Patrick O'Connor Wibberley was a prolific and versatile Irish-American author, who also wrote under three pen-names...
. It was directed by
Richard LesterRichard Lester is an American-born British-based film director possibly most notable for his work with The Beatles in the 1960s.-Early years and television:Lester was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...
and served as the sequel to
The Mouse That RoaredThe Mouse That Roared is a 1955 novel by Irish American writer Leonard Wibberley, which launched a series of satirical books about an imaginary country in Europe called the Duchy of Grand Fenwick...
. In it, the people of the
DuchyA duchy is a territory, fief, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess.Some duchies were sovereign in areas that would become unified realms only during the Modern era...
of
Grand FenwickThe Duchy of Grand Fenwick is a tiny fictional country created by Leonard Wibberley in a series of comedic novels beginning with The Mouse That Roared , which was later made into a film.-History and Topography:...
, a
microstateA microstate or ministate is a sovereign state having a very small population or very small land area, but usually both. Some examples include: Nauru, Singapore, Liechtenstein, Monaco, and Vatican City...
, attempt space flight using wine as a propellant. It satirises the
space raceThe Space Race was an informal competition between the United States and the Soviet Union, as each side tried to match or better the other's accomplishments in exploring outer space...
,
Cold WarThe Cold War was the continuing state of political conflict, military tension, and economic competition existing after World War II , primarily between the USSR and its satellite states, and the powers of the Western world, including the United States...
and
politicsPolitics is a process by which groups of people make decisions. The term is generally applied to behavior within civil governments, but politics has been observed in all human group interactions, including corporate, academic and religious institutions...
.
It starred
Margaret RutherfordDame Margaret Rutherford DBE was an English character actress, who first came to prominence following World War II in the film adaptations of Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit, and Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest...
,
Ron MoodyRon Moody is a British actor.- Life and work :Moody was born in London, England, the son of Kate and Bernard Moodnick, a studio executive. He is the cousin of the popular director Laurence Moody and actress Clare Lawrence Moody. His surname was legally changed to "Moody" in 1930...
,
June RitchieJune Ritchie is a British actress. She is perhaps best known for starring opposite Alan Bates in the 1962 film adaptation of A Kind of Loving ....
,
Bernard CribbinsBernard Cribbins is an English character actor and musical comedian.-Career:Born in Derker, Oldham, he served an apprenticeship at the Oldham Repertory Theatre, taking a break during his years of study to undertake National Service with the Parachute Regiment in his late teens.Cribbins made his...
, and
Terry-ThomasThomas Terry Hoar-Stevens was a distinctive English comic actor, known as Terry-Thomas. He was famous for his portrayal of disreputable members of the upper classes, especially cads, with a "toothbrush" moustache, the trademark gap in his front teeth, cigarette holder, smoking jacket, and...
instead of
Peter SellersRichard Henry Sellers, CBE, commonly known as Peter Sellers was a British comedian and actor best known for his roles in Dr...
, who refused to do the film.
David KossoffDavid Kossoff was a British actor. Following the death of his son Paul, a rock musician, he became an anti-drug campaigner...
reprised his role as Professor Kokintz.
Plot
Financial disaster looms for Grand Fenwick when the current vintage of its only export, wine, starts exploding in would-be consumers' faces. Prime Minister Mountjoy (Ron Moody) decides to ask the United States for a loan, ostensibly to fund its entry in the race to the Moon, but actually to save the duchy (and install modern plumbing so he can have a hot bath). The devious politician knows that the Americans will not believe him, but will consider the half million dollars he is asking for to be cheap propaganda supporting their hollow call for international cooperation in space. He is delighted when they send him double the amount as an outright gift. The Soviets, not wishing to be one-upped by their Cold War rivals, deliver an obsolete rocket. Mountjoy asks resident scientist Professor Kokintz (David Kosoff) to arrange a small explosion during the "launch" of their lunar rocket to make it look like they have actually spent the money as intended.
Meanwhile, Mountjoy's son Vincent (Bernard Cribbins) returns after being educated in England. Mountjoy is disappointed to find that Vincent has picked up the British sense of fair play and the ambition to be an
astronautAn astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....
. Professor Kokintz has pleasant news for Vincent: he has discovered that the wine makes excellent rocket fuel. Together, they secretly begin preparing the rocket for flight. Maurice Spender (Terry-Thomas), a bumbling spy sent by the suspicious British, is given a tour of the ship, including the shower heads converted into
attitude jetsA vernier thruster is a thruster used on a spacecraft for attitude control. It is a smaller thrust motor than main attitude control motors and is used for fine adjustments to the attitude or velocity of a spacecraft...
, and reports back to his bosses that it is all a hoax.
Mountjoy invites the Americans, Soviets, and British to the launching. To everyone's surprise, the rocket leisurely takes off with Kokintz and Vincent aboard. Kokintz calculates it will take three weeks to reach the Moon. Humiliated, the Americans and Soviets decide to risk sending their own manned rockets, timing it so they will land at the same time as (or a little before) Grand Fenwick's ship. However, Vincent accidentally hits a switch, speeding up the vessel, and he and Kokintz become the first to set foot on the Moon. The latecomers are greatly disappointed. When the Americans and Soviets try to race home to salvage some sort of propaganda coup, their ships sink into the deep lunar dust, and they have to hitch a ride with Kokintz and Vincent.
They return to Grand Fenwick during a memorial ceremony (they had been out of radio contact for weeks and presumed lost). The diplomats immediately begin squabbling about who reached the Moon first.
Cast
- Margaret Rutherford as Grand Duchess Gloriana XIII
- Ron Moody as Prime Minister Rupert Mountjoy
- Bernard Cribbins as Vincent Mountjoy
- David Kossoff as Professor Kokintz
- Terry-Thomas as Maurice Spender (as Terry Thomas)
- June Ritchie
June Ritchie is a British actress. She is perhaps best known for starring opposite Alan Bates in the 1962 film adaptation of A Kind of Loving ....
as Cynthia, Mountjoy's protester niece and Vincent's love interest
- John Le Mesurier
John Le Mesurier was a BAFTA Award-winning English actor...
as British delegate
- John Phillips
William John Phillips MC, was a British actor. He is best remembered for the role of Chief Superintendent Robins, in the television series Z-Cars and for his work as a Shakespearean stage actor.-Early life:...
as Bracewell, the American delegate
- Eric Barker
Eric Leslie Barker was an English comedy actor. He is most remembered for his roles in the popular British Carry On films.-Career:...
as MI5The Security Service commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of the intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service , Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence Intelligence Staff...
man
- Roddy McMillan
Roddy McMillan was a Scottish actor and playwright, possibly most famous for his comedy role as Para Handy for BBC Scotland television. He also played the lead role in Edward Boyd's private eye series The View from Daniel Pike.The Glasgow-born McMillan's earliest theatre work began in the...
as Benter
- Tom Aldredge
Tom Aldredge is an American actor.Aldredge was born in Dayton, Ohio, the son of Lucienne Juliet and W. J. Aldredge, a colonel in the United States Army Air Corps. His most notable roles have been on the stage...
as Wendover
- Michael Trubshawe as British aide
- Peter Sallis
Peter Sallis OBE is an Annie Award-winning English actor and entertainer, well-known for his work on British television...
as Russian delegate
- Clive Dunn
Clive Robert Benjamin Dunn OBE is a retired English actor, singer and entertainer best known for his role as Lance-Corporal Jack Jones in the BBC sitcom Dad's Army, and Sam Cobbett in the Yorkshire Television sitcom My Old Man....
as Bandleader
- Hugh Lloyd
Hugh Lewis Lloyd, MBE was an English actor who made his name in television. He was best known for appearances in Hugh and I and other sitcoms of the 1960s.-Life:...
as Plumber
Production
The film was made on sets left over from
Cornel WildeCornelius Louis Wilde was an American actor and film director.-Early life:Wilde was born in 1915 in Manhattan. His parents were the Hungarian Jews Béla Weisz and Renée Vojtech. A talented linguist, and an astute mimic, he had an ear for languages which became apparent later in his acting career...
's film
Sword of Lancelot. Sellers recommended Lester, who he knew from his direction of
The Running, Jumping and Standing Still Film, as director. Producer Walter Shenson and director Lester next made
The BeatlesThe Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960 who became one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed bands in the history of popular music...
film
A Hard Day's NightA Hard Day's Night may refer to:*A Hard Day's Night , a movie starring The Beatles*A Hard Day's Night , an album that serves as the soundtrack to the movie**"A Hard Day's Night" , a song on the album...
.
The film had its American premiere at
Cape CanaveralCape Canaveral, from the Spanish Cabo Cañaveral, is a headland in Brevard County, Florida, United States, near the center of that state's Atlantic coast 45 minutes East of Orlando by car. Known as Cape Kennedy from 1963 to 1973, it sits due east of Merritt Island, separated from it by the Banana...
, where the attending cast members met American astronauts.
Dell PublishingDell Publishing was an American publisher of books, magazines, and comic books. It was founded in 1921 by George T. Delacorte Jr.. During the 1920s, 30s, and 40s, Dell was one of the largest publishers of magazines, including pulp magazines. From 1929 to 1974, they published comics under the Dell...
issued a comic book of the film.