Flight to the Moon

A young boy accidently stows away on a rocket flying to the Moon on a rescue mission. The short film, directed by sisters Valentina and Zinaida Brumberg is a well-done, pleasant children's fantasy that attempts to be realistic and scientifically accurate (weightlessness in the rocket, diminished gravity on the moon, the effect of vacuum on the blackness of shadows, lunar weather (or lack of it), and the impact of meteorites on the satellite's surface are all addressed). The animation is excellent and the characters interesting and well voiced (I watched a somewhat garbled subtitled version, which somehow added to the charm). The film reminded me of the great Russian silent space-epic 'Cosmic Journey' (1936), which also featured kids obsessed with astronomy and space travel, a child stowaway, and light-hearted of scenes of the effects of diminished gravity onboard the ship in freefall and on the lunar surface (as well as concerns about going into space without ones boots). Both films also make reference to Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, the revered father of Russian rocketry. The film seems apolitical but interestingly one of the stowaway's space-obsessed friends is a young black boy from America (the other friend is Ukrainian). I can't imagine a similar cartoon made in the U.S. in the mid-fifties featuring a prominent black or Soviet character. Also of note, one of the two cosmonauts on the rescue rocket is a women. All in all, ' Flight to the Moon' is a charming animated science-fiction adventure and an interesting look at the fine animation that was being done behind 'The Iron Curtain' during the 'cold war' era.