WELLS, H. G.

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A Screen Adaptation of the Famous Story "The First Men in The Moon". A programme for the lost silent film The First Men in the Moon, the first screen adaptation of any of Wells's works. This copy is inscribed on the front free endpaper, "presented to J. Faulkner, 30-12-19, by 'The Electric Picture Palace', Queen st. Oxford". This little volume remains the main source of stills from the film and information about the plot which varies from Wells's novel.It was directed by J. L. V. Leigh and Bruce Gordon and premiered in May 1919. The screening at the Electric Picture Palace (or "Electra Palace") was part of a "Children's Carnival" that began on 29 December 1919 and ran for nine days over the Christmas holidays. The rear cover states, "with the management's compliments and best wishes for a Happy New Year 1919-1920". The original Electric Picture Palace in Southwold began showing silent films in 1912. The Gaumant-British Picture corporation was founded in 1898 as a subsidiary of the French film studio Gaumont. They had studios in Shepherds Bush, London, where it is likely most of this film was shot. A contemporary review in the Oxford Chronicle and Reading Gazette called the film "a veritable triumph of cinema production... The fascination of Mr. Wells' story lies in the linking together of a wealth of imaginative detail in a manner which is irresistibly convincing. His wonderful pen-pictures are more than fairy tales- they have a basis, or, rather, are represented as having a

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