Once in a New Moon

“'Once in a New Moon' is an old English film with the atmosphere of an Ealing comedy. A dead star comes near our planet and its gravity sucks an English village into space so that it orbits Earth as another moon, complete with gravity, atmosphere and a sea. I would class it as a fantasy rather than science-fiction because the circumstances are impossible. That carping aside, it's great fun. Cut off from the rest of humanity, the occupants of Shrimpton-in-Space have to husband their resources and find a way to survive. They form a microcosm of the England of the time including the class system and it's likely that events would unfold this way in real life if the unlikely circumstances came to pass. Given that it was written in 1935, before World War II, socialism is given a reasonably fair hearing though the agitator who tries to set fire to his Lordship's mansion isn't nice. Perhaps English people really were this nice and reasonable once and perhaps they can be again. Don't hold your breath.”

“This is a cracking comedy sci-fi that could have only been made in Britain. A tiny little seaside town is dragged off the surface of the earth by a passing dead star and emerges intact circling around in space. Initially, the local grandees take over the administration of the new lunar territory, but as dissatisfaction sets in the natives rebel against their elite. Some "agitators" train up the locals to launch an attack on the toffs in the manor house (who have all the trees needed for fuel, and the guns) - but it rains! A much more substantial role for Morton Selten ("Viscount Bravington") as the principal grandee facing insurrection lead by Wally Patch ("Syd Parrott") and his new model army... Made long before either, but it felt to me like the lovechild of "Mouse on the Moon" and "Passport to Pimlico"....!”