Once in a New Moon

Overview:

When a small English town is dragged out into space by the force of a 'dead star' passing Earth, the populace try to organise a local government based on equal rights for all, but conflicts arise between the local aristocracy and the villagers.

Director:

Anthony Kimmins

Status:

Released

Language:

English

Buget:

$0.00

Revenue:

$0.00

Key words:

socialism

Cast

Eliot Makeham

~ as ~

Harold Drake

Rène Ray

~ as ~

Stella Drake

Derrick De Marney

~ as ~

Bryan Grant

John Clements

~ as ~

Edward Teale

Morton Selten

~ as ~

Lord Bravington

Mary Hinton

~ as ~

Lady Bravington

Wally Patch

~ as ~

Syd Parrott

Thorley Walters

~ as ~

Beamish

Gerald Barry

~ as ~

Col. Fitzgeorge

Richard Goolden

~ as ~

Rev. Benjamin Buffett

View full cast & crew

Reviews (2)

t
tmdb96448014
Written 5 year(s) ago
~~
'Once in a New Moon' is an old English film with the atmosphere of an Ealing comedy. A dead star comes near our planet and its gravity sucks an English village into space so that it orbits Earth as another moon, complete with gravity, atmosphere and a sea. I would class it as a fantasy rather than science-fiction because the circumstances are impossible. That carping aside, it's great fun. Cut off from the rest of humanity, the occupants of Shrimpton-in-Space have to husband their resources and find a way to survive. They form a microcosm of the England of the time including the class system and it's likely that events would unfold this way in real life if the unlikely circumstances came to pass. Given that it was written in 1935, before World War II, socialism is given a reasonably fair hearing though the agitator who tries to set fire to his Lordship's mansion isn't nice. Perhaps English people really were this nice and reasonable once and perhaps they can be again. Don't hold your breath.
CinemaSerf
Written 3 year(s) ago
6
This is a cracking comedy sci-fi that could have only been made in Britain. A tiny little seaside town is dragged off the surface of the earth by a passing dead star and emerges intact circling around in space. Initially, the local grandees take over the administration of the new lunar territory, but as dissatisfaction sets in the natives rebel against their elite. Some "agitators" train up the locals to launch an attack on the toffs in the manor house (who have all the trees needed for fuel, and the guns) - but it rains! A much more substantial role for Morton Selten ("Viscount Bravington") as the principal grandee facing insurrection lead by Wally Patch ("Syd Parrott") and his new model army... Made long before either, but it felt to me like the lovechild of "Mouse on the Moon" and "Passport to Pimlico"....!