A Major Disappointment

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

It's clear that some liberties have been taken with authenticity in parts - e.g. near the end there's beautiful collage of space images which, from that time, could only have been highly informed artistic renderings. But with a 75 minute film possessing a title "The Space Movie" you get exactly what you would expect - an overview of some aspects of space. Tony Palmer gives us a romantic, informative and highly rewatchable account of the USA's 1969 Apollo 11 mission.It's full of passion and spectacle and the dramatic impact of Mike Oldfield's music is about the most complementary soundtrack work I've heard anywhere - including 2001 A Space Oddysey.I've watched my VHS of The Space Movie dozens of times in the last 20 years. And in the quarter century since it was made, this film has particular relevance in recording how we felt about the potential for space exploration - before NASA budget cuts, system failures and great tragedy made it quite clear that we're Earth-bound creatures.I also praise the excellent and uncredited narrator - whom I must assume to be Ed Bishop (of "UFO" fame as Cmmdr Straker).

Compiled mostly of NASA film footage of the Apollo missions, 'The Space Movie' is actually much more than that. It is both uplifting and inspiring in documenting the achievement of the US aerospace industry when given a seemingly impossible goal.The NASA footage combines not just the Apollo 11 flight, but other Apollo missions, Gemini missions, Mercury capsule testing, Skylab and the Apollo-Soyuz mission as well. It's frustrating that so much footage, although visually stunning, is disjointed, from different missions, and at one point even run backwards to follow the plot of the first moon landing. That being said, the launch sequence alone is incredible, both in the majesty of the Saturn V slowly leaving the pad to the many connectors, swing arms, latches and ice shards seemingly interconnected in a technological slow-motion dance. Just incredible.Accompanying the visuals is an stunning soundtrack by Mike Oldfield. Although never released as a stand-alone CD, some of the tracks are well known. The choice by Tony Palmer, the director, to use Mr. Oldfield's works is a masterstroke, and perfectly fits the action.Somewhat surprisingly, this film does suffer from some obviously cheesy special effects. Why the director ever felt the need to produce crude backdrops for still photos, with so much beautiful film footage available, is puzzling.This film could have been astronomically (pun intended) better, because all the elements were there. A great story, fantastic photography and inspired soundtrack. It just doesn't fully take advantage of what it had to offer.

This is the ultimate documentary on space flight. The views are stunning- they perfectly match the narrative, the sounds, and above all- the music. It is both memorable and timeless. The music was written by Mike Oldfield, and no other space documentary is quite the same without his style..Could any distributor *please* release this on VHS or DVD- I must own a copy!

The word, "supernal," is one of those very rare and specialwords that one saves up to use only for describing somethingtruly wondrous. This film, with its spectacular scenes and itshaunting music is one of life's greatest treats. If you everget the chance to see it, don't miss it! And if you ever learnhow a VHS video of it may be obtained... PLEASE tell ME!