Footprints on the Moon (1969 film)

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Footprints on the Moon
Directed byBill Gibson
Produced byBarry Coe
Narrated by Wernher von Braun
Cinematography Buzz Aldrin
Neil Armstrong
Michael Collins
Leon Shamroy (prologue)
Edited by John F. Link Jr.
Production
company
Barry Coe Productions
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release dates
  • September 17, 1969 (1969-09-17)(Tucson, Arizona)
Running time
95 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Footprints on the Moon (full title: Footprints on the Moon: Apollo 11) is a 1969 documentary film covering the flight of Apollo 11 from vehicle rollout to Splashdown and recovery. It was directed by Bill Gibson and produced by Barry Coe (neither of whom have any other credits listed on the IMDb), and is narrated by Wernher von Braun, with Pierre Jalbert doing additional voiceover as Jules Verne. [1] It was edited by John F. Link Jr., who would later be nominated for his editing work on the 1988 film Die Hard . [2] It is largely assembled from a variety of NASA and other news footage, with montage scenes assembled from still images standing in where no motion picture footage exists. [3] [4] The score includes Philip Moody's Laguna Concerto, a short work for piano and orchestra. [5]

Contents

Although Footprints on the Moon was the only contemporary theatrically released documentary of Apollo 11, it was almost forgotten (except for an occasional showing on television) for decades, until it was released on DVD in early 2010, [6] missing the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing by less than a year.

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References

  1. "Moon Landing Film Coming to Theaters". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. September 1, 1969. p. 69 via Newspapers.com.
  2. "1989 Oscars, Winners and Nominees: Film Editing". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences . Retrieved May 16, 2017.
  3. Gibson, Bill, director, Footprints on the Moon: Apollo 11, Barry Coe Productions/20th Century Fox, 1969, DVD released by VCI Video, 2010.
  4. IMDb listing.
  5. Gibson, Footprints . . ., end credits.
  6. listing on Barnes & Noble web site.