A Marriage in the Moon
About A Marriage in the Moon
Aldovino, an astronomer, finds Mars in his telescope: rocks, mushrooms, and an observatory where a young woman stands with a man. She and Aldovino see each other at the same moment, and she waves. He sends a radiotelegraph, the letters curling through space like a snake, asking to marry her. Her father, Fur, astronomer of Mars, answers that if Aldovino wants the wedding he must come to the Moon in a year. Aldovino and an assistant launch a cannonball spacecraft. Fur and his daughter fly their own ship. They marry on the Moon. Humanoid aliens attack, Aldovino frightens them off, and moon-maids dance for the couple.
Cast & crew
More about A Marriage in the Moon
Enrico Novelli, who published as Yambo, wrote and directed the short for Latium Film and plays Aldovino. The story comes from his 1908 novel La colonia lunare (The Moon Colony). The Italian title is Un matrimonio interplanetario.
Themes
In film history
Film histories treat it as the earliest Italian science-fiction picture that still exists.
Making
Novelli is the only player named in the credits that survive. He is Aldovino on screen and Yambo on the 1908 novel the film adapts.
Technique
The marriage proposal is a radiotelegraph drawn as a snake of letters twisting through space, from Aldovino's observatory to the one on Mars.
Music
Silent, with Italian intertitles. No composer is credited.
Preservation
The short survives, and reference works call it the oldest surviving Italian science-fiction film.
Notes
- It is the oldest surviving Italian science-fiction film.
- The English title card of his message reads: "Mars Daughter, You are fine. I am loving you and I should like very much to marry you. Aldovin, Astronomer.
- Fur's reply, in the English titles: "If you want to marry my daughter come in a year the Moon. Fur, Astronomer of Mars.
- Mars is drawn with rocks, sparse foliage, and giant mushrooms.
- Latium Film both produced the short and distributed it.
Scenes
- Aldovino and the woman on Mars catch each other in their telescopes, and she waves.
- His proposal travels as a snake of letters.
- A cannonball ship leaves Earth. Fur and his daughter launch their own.
- After the ceremony, humanoid aliens rush the couple, and Aldovino drives them off.
- Moon-maids dance while the newlyweds embrace.
Influenced by
- Yambo's 1908 novel La colonia lunare
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (Un matrimonio interplanetario (1910).webm)
Quotes
Mars Daughter, You are fine. I am loving you and I should like very much to marry you.
If you want to marry my daughter come in a year the Moon.
