Ring Around the Moon: A dusty relic that's surprisingly watchable

Is it worth the 16mm headache?

If you enjoy the scratchy, lived-in feel of movies pulled from 16mm prints, you’ll probably find something to like here. It is definitely not for people who need high-definition polish or a plot that moves at a breakneck speed.

If you prefer your dramas to have a bit of grit and that specific, slightly frantic energy of a low-budget 1930s studio, you'll be fine. If you want something that feels like a polished Hollywood A-picture, steer clear. This is pure Chesterfield through and through.

Donald Cook plays the kind of newspaperman who thinks he’s much smarter than everyone else in the room. He spends half the movie looking like he’s just realized he left the oven on at home. It’s an oddly distracted performance that actually kind of works for the character.

Then there is Ann Doran. This was her first big crack at a lead, and you can see her trying to find the rhythm of the screen. She has this way of holding her head that feels very specific to the era, like she’s constantly waiting for a cue that’s just off-camera.

The dialogue is thick. It’s not quite as sharp as There's Always Tomorrow, but it gets the job done. Sometimes people talk for a full minute about nothing in particular, and you start looking at the background wallpaper instead of their faces.

Odd moments and observations

• There is a scene in the second act where a door stays open a few inches too long, and you can hear the studio crew shuffling around.
• The lighting in the office sequences makes everyone look like they haven't slept since the Great Depression started.
• I kept waiting for a crime to happen, but it just never does. It’s just people being miserable to each other in nice suits.

It’s not as chaotic as Mickey's Northwest Mounted, but it feels just as desperate to keep the lights on. The whole thing has a strange, claustrophobic quality. Like the sets were built in a broom closet and they had to make it look like a high-society parlor.

Is it a masterpiece? Hardly. But there’s a certain charm to watching a story that doesn't feel the need to explain itself to the audience every five minutes. It just happens. It exists. It ends. 📽️