Our Heavenly Bodies: Indexicality in Astronomical Films I

Three silent films from the 1920s demonstrate the state-of-the-art of the time. Two educational films from 1920, “If We Lived on the Moon” by Max Fleischer, later of Betty Boop and Superman cartoon fame, and “Tides and the Moon” show basic illustrative educational films of the time. By the time of Our Heavenly Bodies, released in 1925, the cinematic possibilities had advanced greatly. Partly a summary of what was known about the solar system, and partly a sci-fi journey on a ship to those planets, Our Heavenly Bodies was a tremendous success in its time.