Okay, this will be my last post regarding the CNN Apollo 11 documentary I first saw earlier this year that I'm so crazy about.
I did a little more research on the "lost" footage. Here's what evidently happened. A film crew shot a lot of film - high quality 70mm film - for a movie they were making called Moonwalk One, about the moon landing.
That film was released the year after the moon landing. It was only shown a short time in select cities. The film was not popular, supposedly because people were sick of hearing about Apollo 11.
If you ask me, it was not popular because it was full of narration intoning about humanity and it opened with Stonehenge and there was just a lot of self-congratulatory puffery. Of course, I'm comparing it with the stripped-down CNN film and its subtext of, "Yeah, we shot a tin can to the moon, walked around, how crazy was that?"
(It strikes me now that this new Apollo 11 documentary is probably the most objective and factual thing I've heard from CNN for years. I don't disagree with their bias, but ah, for the days of objective journalism.)
After its limited release, Moonwalk One and its extra footage went into the archives and the filmmakers were consoled that they had made a time capsule. It was restored and shown again in 2009. You can see it on Amazon Prime, if you are curious.
Or, better yet, you can see the footage integrated into the CNN movie. That’s it! I am off the subject.
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