First Men in the Moon

In 1964, the United Nations launches a rocket to the Moon with a multinational crew. They land and begin lunar exploration, believing they are the first human visitors. The mission is presented as a collaborative milestone for humanity.

On the Moon, the explorers find a battered Union Jack and a handwritten note dated about 65 years earlier, claiming the Moon for Queen Victoria. The note is written on the back of a court summons for Katherine Callender from Dymchurch.

Back on Earth, authorities locate Arnold Bedford in a nursing home, where his lunar claims are dismissed as senile until UN representatives question him. He recounts his story in a flashback to 1899.

In 1899, Bedford lives at Cherry Cottage in Dymchurch with Katherine Callender. A neighbor, inventor Joseph Cavor, wants to buy the cottage, and deeds are drawn up to transfer ownership to Cavor, though he does not actually own it.

Cavor reveals Cavorite, a gravity-defying substance, and plans to use it to travel to the Moon. He has built a spherical spaceship as the launch vehicle for their voyage.

An explosion disrupts the project when Gibbs leaves for the pub. Kate arrives with belongings and, after an argument, Bedford and Cavor pull her inside the sphere just before launch.

Bedford, Kate, and Cavor launch toward the Moon in the sphere. They crash-land on the lunar surface, all wearing deep-sea diving suits.

While exploring, Bedford and Cavor descend into a shaft where breathable air is found and encounter the insectoid Selenites living beneath the Moon’s surface.

The trio is chased by a giant Moon Bull and the Selenites dispatch it with their weapons. The sphere containing Kate is dragged into the underground Selenite city.

The Selenites quickly begin to question Cavor, seeking scientific exchange. Bedford believes humanity is on trial and tries to kill the Grand Lunar with an elephant gun, but Cavor’s interference stops him.

Bedford boards the sphere and attempts to leave with Kate; Cavor refuses to go with him for reasons he will not explain.

Bedford and Kate return to Earth, claiming they landed in the sea off the coast of Zanzibar; their sphere sinks and they swim ashore.

In the present, UN observers and reporters watch television as astronauts on the Moon’s surface find the Selenites’ underground city deserted and decaying. The city begins to crumble and is destroyed, with investigators speculating disease as the cause.

Bedford recalls that Cavor had a severe cold during the lunar journey. This detail lingers as the narrative closes.