Destination Moon Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

Destination Moon Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 18, 2026

There might be a masters thesis to be written or at least a fertile area for further study in analyzing why in the post World War II era the cynicism of film noir as an era defining genre kind of unexpectedly gave way to seemingly more hopeful premises (in both senses of that word) with the early fifties glut of science fiction "spectaculars" documenting Man's, well, Conquest of Space. Even those efforts often had more than a tinge of noir-esque paranoia about them, with some explicitly mentioning a then nascent "space race" with the Soviet Union (China wasn't even in the conversation), and with many a science fiction adjacent film obviously referencing the "horrors of Communism" ( Invaders from Mars among others too numerous to cite). Film Masters, a label that tends to specialize in restoring public domain titles (though their release of The Crippled Masters evidently ran into fan backlash when an authorized Severin version came out), has aggregated two interesting early science fiction films, including Destination Moon, the film that is often thought of really kickstarting the genre, even if Rocketship X-M by (nefarious?) design made it into theaters first. The "second feature" in this double feature release, Flight to Mars, actually had its own standalone release a few years ago by Film Masters' predecessor, The Film Detective.

For reviews of the films in this set, please click on the following links:

Destination Moon Blu-ray review

Flight to Mars Blu-ray review

The scores above are averages for the two releases; see individual reviews for individual scores.

Destination Moon Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Video quality is assessed in the above linked reviews.

Destination Moon Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Audio quality is assessed in the above linked reviews.

Destination Moon Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

On disc supplements are detailed in the above linked reviews. An insert booklet is devoted to Destination Moon and contains an essay by Sloan De Forest.

Destination Moon Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Destination Moon is probably the bigger calling card for interested consumers with regard to this double feature, and the good news is it looks and sounds surprisingly great for a public domain offering. That may be enough for many who may understandably see Flight to Mars as an expendable bonus disc. With caveats noted, Recommended.