"As the longest and most expensive of the early féeries, Le Voyage dans la lune constitutes not only a culmination of Méliès's work but also a significant advance. It mixes theatrical and cinematic devices in both old and new ways, it privileges clous f spectacle by means of extended narrative continuity, and, surprisingly, it experiments with dividing up and reconstituting the autonomous shot-scene."

"Henri Delannoy — the captain of the rocket"

"Subtending this film is a satire of social hierarchy: the interplanetary explorers' stint at the Selenites' court mirrors the hierarchical structure depicted at the scientific congress, as Barbenfouillis presides over his scientific disciples, the power conferred upon him by his intellectual prowess as arbitrary and absurd as that invoked by the crustacean king. Le Voyage dans la lune ultimately shows that, rather than being safely out of this world, the differences encountered by the intrepid explorers were very close to home."

"In its depiction of the exploration of a faraway place and hostile encounter with alien life forms, Le Voyage dans la lune can easily be read as a parable of colonial conflict."

"The film— Méliès's 400th production—cost him an extravagant 10,000 francs, his most erxpensive project to date. It became a hit around the world almost instantly, largely because of its pioneering special effects and innovative filmmaking techniques, which included double exposures, dissolves and fades, and elaborate sets contrived to depict extraterrestrial spaces. Audiences had never seen anything like it before. It was the 'newest' thing in town, playing at some venues for months."

"In one of his greatest films, A TRIP TO THE MOON (Le Voyage dans la lune), the moon harbors a grimacing man in the moon and the stars a bull's-eyes studded with pretty faces of music hall girls."

"Dear Mr. Levy: Your recent letter to Mr. James Beggs asks whether the Apollo (and previous era spacecraft) "splashdown" recovery technique owes anything to George Méliès' film Le Voyage dans la lune. Although the similarities are striking, the recovery technique used for the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo capsules was dictated more by the then-current engineering capabilities than any imaginative interplay between the engineers and Monsieur Méliès."

"The middle section of Le Voyage dans la lune, where the scientists actually explore the moon, may break no new ground in its display of trick effects and spectacular decors, yet that hardly detracts from its achievement. The rocket sinks below the lunar surface, for instance, while the earth seems to rise in the far background sky, a "dream" of celestrial bodies hovers over the sleeping scientists, ending in a shower of snowflakes, and Selenites keep disappearing in puffs of smoke."

"A great number of French, English and American manufacturers of films who are searching for novelties, but lack the ingenuity to produce them, have found it easier and more economical to advertise their poor copies as their own original conceptions. This accounts for the simultaneous appearance in several issues of a well known New York paper of advertisements of the celebrated Trip to the Moonby four or five different concerns, each pretending to be its creator. All these pretensions are false. The Trip to the Moon as well as Gulliver's Travels, The Astronomer's Dream, Cincerella, Red Riding Hood, Blue Beard, Joan of Arc Christmas Dream etc., are the personal creations of Mr. George Melies, who himself conceived the ideas, painted the accessories and acted on the stage.In opening a factory and offices in New York we are prepared and determined energetically to pursue all counterfeiters and pirates. We will not speak twice; we will act."

"François Lallement — the officer of the marines"

"Jules-Eugène Legris — the parade leader"

"Burt Lancaster as Paul Labiche"

"It carried their hopes, their nation's honour!"

"One man's impossible mission - to save his country's priceless treasures!"

"Paul Scofield as Col. Franz von Waldheim"

"Those paintings are part of France. The Germans want to take them away. They've taken our land, our food, they live in our houses, and now they're trying to take our art. This beauty, this vision of life, born out of France, our special vision, our trust. We hold it in trust, don't you see, for everyone? This is our pride, what we create and hold for the world. There are worse things to risk your life for than that."

"You crazy bastard."

"Suzanne Flon as Mademoiselle Villard"

"Jeanne Moreau as Christine"

"Well, hurry it up. We're working on a locomotive, not a pocketwatch."

"Michel Simon as Papa Boule"

"[last words] Labiche! Here's your prize, Labiche. Some of the greatest paintings in the world. Does it please you, Labiche? You feel a sense of excitement at just being near them? A painting means as much to you as a string of pearls to an ape. You won by sheer luck. You stopped me without knowing what you were doing or why. You are nothing, Labiche. A lump of flesh. The paintings are mine. They always will be. Beauty belongs to the man who can appreciate it. They will always belong to me, or a man like me. Now, this minute, you couldn't tell me why you did what you did."

"Juan Diego Botto as Diego Columbus"

"Achero Mañas as Ship's Boy"

"José Luis Ferrer as Alonso de Bolaños"

"Steven Waddington as Bartholomew Columbus, brother of Christopher"

"Fernando García Rimada as King Ferdinand V"

"Fernando Guillén Cuervo as Giacomo Columbus, brother of Christopher"

"Kario Salem as de Arojaz"

"Billy L. Sullivan as Younger Ferdinand Columbus"

"Frank Langella as Luis de Santángel"

"Albert Vidal as Hernando de Talavera"

"Tchéky Karyo as Martín Alonso Pinzón"

"Kevin Dunn as Captain Méndez"

"John Heffernan as Brother Buyl"

"Sigourney Weaver as Queen Isabella I"

"Mark Margolis as Francisco de Bobadilla"

"Loren Dean as Older Ferdinand Columbus"

"Ángela Molina as Beatriz Enriquez de Arana"

"Armand Assante as Gabriel Sanchez, Columbus's archenemy in Castile"

"Arnold Vosloo as Hernando de Guevara"

"Isabel Prinz as Dueña"

"Paradise and Hell both can be earthly."

"Centuries before the exploration of space, there was another voyage into the unknown."

"Bercelio Moya as Utapán"

"Fernando Rey as Antonio de Marchena"

"Gérard Depardieu as Christopher Columbus"

"Ángela Rosal as Pinzón's Wife"

"Is Ambition only a Virtue among nobles, a fault for others?"