12 T0 THE MOON (1960). Colorized.

12 to the Moon is a 1960 independently made American black-and-white science fiction film, produced and written by Fred Gebhardt, directed by David Bradley and starring Ken Clark, Michi Kobi, Tom Conway and Anna-Lisa. The film was distributed in the U.S. by Columbia Pictures as a double feature with either Battle in Outer Space or 13 Ghosts, depending on the local film market.

12 to the Moon was novelized by Fred Gebhardt under the pen name Robert A. Wise and published in 1961. Gebhardt also wrote the film's original story.

PLOT
Earth's International Space Order prepares for its first astronaut landing on the Moon, with the goal of claiming it as "international territory". The crew of Lunar Eagle One comprises 12 people from around the world, 10 men and two women, all scientists with different specialties, accompanied by a small menagerie, including two cats. The spaceship is commanded by American John Anderson.

Historical and international tensions flare up during the flight. Russian Feodor Orloff struts about, annoyingly claiming that all scientific advancements were invented by the Soviets. Israeli David Ruskin warns Feodor that the USSR would be unwise to attempt to dominate Israel, as it has done to his native Poland. David admires fellow astronaut Erich Heinrich, unaware that Erich's father was the Nazi responsible for murdering David's family during the Holocaust.

After a dangerous 27-hour flight, Lunar Eagle 1 lands and the crew begin their exploration of the Moon. Sigrid Bomark and Selim Hamid find an air-filled cave and, after shedding their space helmets, they kiss passionately. As they walk hand-in-hand deeper into the cave, its opening is suddenly sealed by impenetrable ice.

The others discover gold and minerals, but when they fire a mortar into a rock formation, liquid begins bubbling out. An excited Feodor rushes over and sticks his hands into the flow, and he is badly burned. On the way back to their spaceship, a crew member sinks to his death in lunar quicksand. John tries unsuccessfully to save him and is almost pulled under.

Inside Lunar Eagle 1, a machine begins printing logograms. Surprisingly, Hideko Murata can read them. It is a message from "The Great Coordinator of the Moon", who orders the crew to leave at once. The message also states that the emotionless Moon-beings live underground and fear that the Earthlings will "contaminate our perfect form of harmony." Sigrid and Salim are being studied because the Moon-beings are unfamiliar with "love". They and "all your kind" will be destroyed "if love turns to evil." The Moon-beings also demand that the expedition's cats, brought as an experiment to see if they could procreate on the Moon, be left behind. They find the cats as interesting as people.

Erich has a heart attack during Lunar Eagle 1's blastoff. As he babbles on half-conscious, David learns that Erich's father was the Nazi who killed David's family. However, when David learns that Erich has disowned his family and devoted his life to trying to make amends for his father's crimes, they become friends.

Near Earth, the crew witnesses "the big freeze", a gigantic freezing cloud controlled from the Moon, which encases all of Canada, the U.S. and Mexico in thick ice.

Erich produces a plan to drop "atomic bomblets" into the volcano Popocatepetl to trigger a huge eruption to thaw out North America. Etienne Martel sabotages the bomblets, revealing himself to be a French communist. He incorrectly assumes that Feodor would also want to keep America frozen in order to advance international communism's quest for world domination. He and Etienne fight, Feodor calls to John for help and when Etienne unfairly pulls out a knife, John knocks the weapon out of his hand while knocking him down. Feodor repairs the bomblets.

Erich and David fly a suicide mission to drop the bomblets from their spaceship's smaller space taxi. Popocatepetl erupts and North America begins to thaw. Another message from the Moon says that the Moon-beings now realize that Earthlings are honorable and peaceful, and that the North Americans were put into suspended animation before the big freeze, so no one has been harmed. Moreover, Earthlings will be welcomed to the Moon whenever they return.

Following the great thaw, Lunar Eagle 1's triumphant crew prepare to land.

CAST
Ken Clark as Capt. John Anderson
Michi Kobi as Dr. Hideko Murata
Tom Conway as Dr. Feodor Orloff
Anthony Dexter as Dr. Luis Vargas
John Wengraf as Dr. Erich Heinrich
Robert Montgomery Jr. as Dr. Rod Murdock
Phillip Baird as Dr. William Rochester
Richard Weber as Dr. David Ruskin
Muzaffer Tema as Dr. Selim Hamid (as Tema Bey)
Roger Til as Dr. Etienne Martel
Cory Devlin as Dr. Asmara Markonen
Anna-Lisa as Dr. Sigrid Bomark
Francis X. Bushman as Secretary General of the International Space Order

PRODUCTION
12 to the Moon was in production from April through June 1959 at Hollywood's California Studios.[2] The actual filming took seven or eight days, and the entire film was budgeted at $150,000.[3][4] Although the film was not released theatrically for another year, the American Film Institute notes that "According to an Oct 1959 news item, Columbia purchased the independent production in Aug 1959, intending to rush it into release to capitalize on the topicality of a space launch." Director David Bradley fought over the reediting of the film.

RELEASE
12 to the Moon premiered in Los Angeles on June 22, 1960. Columbia Pictures handled the theatrical release in the US and the UK during the same year. It opened in Mexico on February 23, 1961 and was also shown in Australia.

The film was syndicated to American television in September 1963, as part of Screen Gems' "X" package of horror and science fiction films.