"Excursion to the Moon" is Segundo de Chomon's version of the better known Melies film from 1902. As many other reviewers have stated, this film is a complete remake of the Melies film and Chomon obviously didn't take as much effort to make this as Melies did. There are a few changes (the rocket goes into the moons' mouth instead of it's eye, instead of the professor falling into a tub he is caught by a hook, one of the professors bring home a moon-girl and there's a dance too in the scene with the king of the moon-men). However, it is pretty much an imitation all the way through (although there are some additional scenes earlier on).What makes this film so good is the color. Pathe specialized in coloring their films and this one's no exception. A lot of scenes are tinted blue while some are in color. It's also a bit funny too because the scientists here don't make much preparation for the trip; they treat it more like a joyride and there's hardly any build-up. In the end, however, I would agree with framptonhollis. It may be a rip-off, but it's very nice to watch and holds up just as well as the Melies classic.

Depending on who you are and what your perspective is, "Excursion to the Moon" can be seen as one of two things; either it is among the earliest examples of the movie remake, or it is the 1908 equivalent to many of today's B-movie ripoffs (ex: "Transmorphers", "American Warships", etc.), a film whose sole purpose is to capitalize off of a popular cine-product. My outlook on the matter is that it is a little bit of both of these. It is important to note that the man behind the camera wasn't just some early 20th century hackjob trying to make a quick buck; instead, he was Segundo de Chomón, a respectable filmmaker in his own right, although he often imitated Georges Méliès with his works. So, I am stuck on this issue; but no matter what the truth of the matter is, this was still just a damn fun movie to watch. It's barely seven minutes of your time and offers a wild, colorful journey through a fantastical vision of outer space. It's lighthearted, comic glee that may please or enrage depending upon your perspective whilst watching it.

This film, "Excursion to the Moon", by Segundo de Chomón, was included in the three DVD set "Saved From the Flames"--a collection of mostly ephemeral movies that have managed to avoid turning to powder, catching fire or melting--something that usually happened with the nitrate film stock used up through the 1950s.While today this might shock you, back in the early days of cinema, film makers stole each other's work with abandon. So, if a studio came out with a film, a competitor would often re-film the entire movie once again and slap their name on it! It got so bad, that American Biograph (where D.W. Griffith worked) slapped an 'A-B' symbol right onto the sets to prove it was an original! And, in the case of the French genius Georges Méliès, MANY of his films were blatantly ripped off--so many that it makes it hard for film historians to know what is his and what is phony. In the case of "An Excursion to the Moon", Segundo de Chomón steals Méliès "A Trip to the Moon" and gives it a very similar title--hoping folks would mistake it for the original! What a jerk! Sometimes imitation is NOT the most sincere sort of flattery!I've seen the original movie about a dozen times and was amazed at just how close a copy this was and no attempt was made to create a new product! There were a few MINOR changes--but that is all (such as the ship landing in the Moon's mouth and not its eye). As I said, these folks were real jerks and I consider this film an outright theft--as any rational person would! So, technically it's very nice--but why not just watch the original?!By the way, this film was hand-colored using the Pathé-Frères colored stenciling technique. This made it a bit easier than hand-coloring the cells and produced a color that is pretty impressive for the era. However, it was so time-consuming and difficult that portions of films were colored--not the entire product.

Excursion dans la lune (1908)** 1/2 (out of 4) French film from de Chomon is a big(ger) budgeted remake of Georges Melies' A TRIP TO THE MOON. Once again a group of men build a spaceship and shoot for the moon where they find that they're unwelcome. The original Melies film has rightfully become a truly legendary film and this remake is certainly watered-down and weaker. For starters, the Melies film was truly an epic for its day but this thing here pretty much cuts out all the story and instead just goes for the better known moments. These include the building of the ship, the rocket launch and of course the scene where they land but instead of going into the moon's eye we're greeted with the ship landing in its mouth. The only minor advantage to any of these sequences is that they're obviously working with a larger budget but in the end this means very little as the imagination simply isn't here. This thing clocks in at just over 7-minutes and I must admit that there were times where I found myself yawning. Towards the end of the film we get a mini-dance sequence that really adds very little to the movie. EXCURSION TO THE MOON isn't a bad film by any stretch of the imagination and I'm sure sci-fi fans will want to watch it but be sure you check out the original version first.