I Aim at the Stars (1960) User Reviews (15)

Wernher Von Braun: A Space Fantasty

[sprpick · 6/10 · 26 February 2008]

As Michael J. Neufeld's important new biography "Wernher Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War" demonstrates, Columbia Pictures "I Aim For The Stars" has only a passing relationship to reality.

Neufeld says that at first Von Braun was fascinated with the idea of a bio-pic when it was pitched to him by Columbia in the late '50s. He thought it would do a power of good for his ceaseless efforts to promote space travel to the American public. As production advanced, though, he realized the movie was going to draw unhealthy attention to his Nazi past and he was disenchanted by the hostile sub-text inserted by the screen-writers and director: that he was a well-meaning wimp who gave into Nazi evil.

He was no wimp, as the book shows, but he was far more involved with the Nazis than is shown in the movie.

Far from being the reluctant civilian member of the Nazis pressed into the Party late in the war, Von Braun, Neufeld says, was a sometimes uniformed member of the SS who was promoted and decorated several times.

The movie does correctly depict Von Braun being tossed into jail briefly for getting on the wrong side of Heinrich Himmler, but it probably wasn't as traumatic as this film suggests. Von Braun kept going on to bigger and better things in Germany right until the end of the war.

The movie doesn't touch at all on what was the most shameful part of Von Braun's life and career: his complicity in the atrocious treatment of slave labourers in the underground Dora rocket plant in Germany in 1944 and '45.

To this day, documentary film is frequently shown on TV of emaciated prisoners near dead but weeping in relief as they are liberated by Allied soldiers. A surprising amount of this footage was taken at Dora.

Von Braun generally disavowed any knowledge of prisoners being mistreated and executed in his rocket factories, but Neufeld suggests he actually knew quite a bit about it and felt guilty about it until the end if his life.

As Neufeld says, Von Braun loathed the movie (possibly out a guilty conscience) and tried to distance himself from it and forget the whole thing. Fortunately for Von Braun, any controversy that followed the release for "I Aim For The Stars" quickly blew over. It also helped relatively few people saw it because it was box office turkey, except in Germany where he remained a national hero.

The movie survives, although barely as a long undistributed (1992) VHS tape. I managed to see a bad dub on to DVD. And while on the whole, the movie is silly -- especially the bogus love story between the mythical British spy in Von Braun's rocket plant and an equally mythical rocket scientist "colleague" -- it is an interesting historical document that's given new currency by the Neufeld biography.

Hopefully, Columbia will see fit to re-issue it on an official DVD or at least make it available for download as that technology improves and becomes more widely available.

Complicated man

[blanche-2 · 6/10 · 20 September 2009]

"I Aim at the Stars" purports to be the story of Werner von Braun, one of the men responsible for getting the U.S. into space. In many ways, it is, but like many geniuses, von Braun lived a life full of controversy. To the film's credit, that controversy is somewhat handled here, though not enough.

The film covers von Braun's obsession with space travel, his work for Germany during the war, which resulted in rockets being used as war weapons, and he and his teammates handing themselves over to the Americans after the war. One word comes to mind: collaborator, but in von Braun's case, it goes a little deeper. Some people, such as opera star Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, collaborated with the Nazis. von Braun collaborated with anybody who could help him further his work. When that was no longer Germany, he was out of there.

It's foolish to go into all the aspects of von Braun not covered in the film. There are many more objective accounts of his life and work with the Nazis and whether or not he had to join or was a devoted member of the party. Curt Jurgens does an excellent job as von Braun, depicting him as a strong and determined man dedicated to his work first, last, and always.

The beautiful Victoria Shaw has a small role as his wife, Maria; James Daly plays an American soldier violently opposed to von Braun working for the U.S. Herbert Lom plays a member of von Braun's team who refuses to go to America, and he's very good.

There is some great rocket footage; many of the scenes in the film are short, almost like television scenes. It's not a big-budget movie. There is a love story subplot between a spy and one of von Braun's team; in fact, there was a spy, a female dentist, who reported some of his negative comments to the Nazis.

Werner von Braun was an individual of great accomplishments who helped the U.S. win the war in space. In the film, he is depicted as a reluctant Nazi, and it's true that he was, in fact, arrested by the Nazis for saying things against the party privately. In the end he was an opportunist and a survivor who did what had to be done to achieve his goals. Like many biographies, this film is merely one view. As to his efforts to get into space and instead making war weapons, there's always the joke about the movie: "I aim at the stars, but sometimes I hit London."

Fair representation of von Braun's life

[Larryr33323 · 6/10 · 10 December 2006]

As a member of the National Association of Rocketry (hobby group). I enjoyed this movie's historical footage for its value to the scale modeler (model rockets that fly). It also tries to capture some of the internal struggle within the man. With working with the military while fostering his dreams of manned flight after the War.

For a more un-laundered perspective seek out _Man/Moment/Machine_ and the von Braun episode concerning the V-2 on the History Channel.

The only time I've seen this movie on television was about ten years ago on the _Super Station_ (WTBS). I don't recall if his rank as a Colonel in the S/S was indicated in this film. Enjoy it for what it is. A glorification of one of the most important persons responsible in our beating the _Russkies_ in getting to the Moon first.

I aim for the stars, but . . .

[tsmiljan · 21 July 2003]

A passe hagiography of the life of Werner von Braun, a great rocket engineer with a questionable past. It's original title was "I Aim For the Stars." The best line I ever heard about this film was: "I aim for the stars, but sometimes I hit London."

"What is that it always takes a war to see how useful scientists are?"

[richardchatten · 6/10 · 5 November 2023]

As the world turned its attention to the possibilities of manned spaceflight Werner von Braun acquired a sufficiently high profile to be the subject of a movie.

The film that emerged got a hostile reception in a Britain still scarred by wartime bombing (von Braun had himself ruefully admitted "We aim at the stars, but sometimes we hit London").

After playing Ernst Udet in 'The Devil's General' Curt Jurgens was for the next few years Hollywood's favoured personification of The Good German; which is why when a whitewash was required of von Braun Curt was the man they enlisted.

The central part of the film plays like the director's next film 'The Guns of Navarone' from the point of view of the Germans. Physically Jurgens was all wrong for the part (Braun was a much younger man for starters). The Holocaust is briefly alluded to but the film tactfully skirts the issue of his enthusiastic use of slave labour.

The later section when he takes over at White Sands to help the Americans in Korea is far less well known and is therefore more informative. And then it's up and away into the heavens.

Reaching For Outer Space

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 6 September 2009]

It's a pity that this story of Dr. Werhner Von Braun was not made some 20 years later when we could have a full record of the man's achievements. The film would also be the story of the US beating the Soviet Union to the moon. Where it stops in 1960 we were just starting to play catch up.

Let me say that looking at Werhner Von Braun, Curt Jurgens looks absolutely nothing like him. But at the time Curt Jurgens was the best known German name internationally in the cinema. My guess is that one of the reasons he took the role was to give Germans a rehabilitated hero of sorts.

Von Braun was not a hero to Germans as say Max Schmeling or Erwin Rommel, two Germans tainted with Nazism and used for a time, but never really part of the Nazi movement. But Von Braun's achievements in rocket science did gain an admirer in Adolph Hitler who like most other leaders of government look to science to help war making capabilities. Though most aren't quite as brutal.

It was a good thing that Von Braun did get arrested by Himmler's SS towards the end of the war. It made most Americans willing to trust him with our own science during the Cold War.

With a brief prologue showing a teenage Wernher's interest in rocket science, the film is a biographical study of Von Braun from his days in Peenemunde developing the V-2 rocket weapons for the Nazis right up to the US Army's successful launch of the Explorer satellite which gave us an orbiting satellite to match the Russian Sputnik.

When the story sticks to Von Braun's achievements it's fairly accurate, but the producers felt a little espionage sideline involving shapely woman spy Gia Scala was also necessary. She gets fellow Peenemunde scientist Herbert Lom's hormones going and later on she's in a position to put a good word in for Jurgens and the rest of his colleagues. Also Von Braun did not marry Mrs. Von Braun played here by Victoria Shaw until after World War II. As I write this, the widow Von Braun is still alive.

James Daly as an American officer in Army intelligence is loath to use Nazi scientists, he regards anyone connected with Hitler in a minor way as evil. His role is similar to the one Richard Widmark played in Judgment at Nuremberg. Daly comes off as incredibly self righteous, but he does ask disturbing questions.

Werhner Von Braun did not have the biggest of budgets and was shot in black and white to take advantage of newsreel footage. Still the cast does this one in earnest and for those interested in the early days of the space race, this is a film for you.

Jurgens, Von Braun, & "I Aim At The Stars"

[timdalton007 · 6/10 · 9 July 2017]

For those of a certain age or with an interest in the history of space exploration, the name of Wernher Von Braun will be familiar. Von Braun was one of the fathers of NASA's rocket program, the man who helped not only to build the massive Saturn V rocket that took the Apollo missions to the Moon but also helped sell the idea of space exploration to the American public. He was also the man behind Germany's V-2 rocket program, an act which (along with his potential involvement in and definite awareness of the use of slave labor to build said rockets) might also make him something of a war criminal. When Von Braun was at the height of his fame in the late 1950s-early 1960s, the idea of making a film about his life was deemed to be a good idea. The result was I Aim At The Stars, released in 1960 and stands as an interesting historical piece if nothing else.

For one thing, there's the question of how you portray a scientist who once built weapons of war for a former enemy. Much has been said over the years about the whitewashing of not just Von Braun's war record but other Germans brought to the United States as part of Operation: Paperclip. From the point of view of someone interested in that part of the story, the film is interesting. Despite its reputation, the film doesn't quite do a whitewash. Indeed the film's overall portrait would arguably fit in with many modern takes on the man: that he was a scientist who worked for the countryman willing to put up the funds for the research, apparently regardless of who they were. The film does portray the real-life conflicts between Von Braun and more fanatical elements of the Nazi leadership which led to his being arrested. The appearance in the film of a skeptical US Army major turned civilian journalist also gives the film a skeptical edge, never letting the audience forget Von Barun's background. The film then has some shades of gray though not as many as perhaps were needed.

That said, the film does simplify and occasionally fictionalize things. The latter is perhaps more problematic since it involves an entire subplot involving Von Braun's secretary (played by Gia Scala) being an American spy in a move that makes little sense. The simplification of of real-life such as the development of the V-2 is largely to be expected with turning two decades plus worth of events into a film that runs less than two hours. The results can be frustrating and slightly melodramatic at times as a result.

Indeed, there are times when the film feels more like a TV movie than something that was a must-see on the big screen. The script from Jay Dratler (based on a storyline drawn up by George Froeschel, H. W. John, and Udo Wolter) feels like that of a TV movie with occasionally stilted dialogue (a US Army officer telling his British counterpart that "I am just an observer from the US Army," being a prime example) and scenes that seem to exist purely for means of exposition. The script also seems to spend a long time on some issues and glances over others, making it quite uneven at times. The film feels odd at times as a consequence, having the feeling of something akin to Lifetime's ill-received Liz & Dick on the tumultuous relationship of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor in that it covers a lot of ground and not always admirably.

Which extends to the cast as well. Though Curt Jurgens was a fine character actor and a German, he was almost completely miscast as Von Braun. Part of that is due to a lack of physical similarity between them but also because there was only about a three year age gap between them which means that despite make-up, Jurgens simply isn't believable in scenes as the younger Von Braun during the war nor in scenes with Victoria Shaw as Maria Von Braun who was twenty years his junior. Perhaps because of the script, no one in the cast really gets a shine despite occasional moments which extends from Shaw to Scala's secret agent secretary, Herbert Lom as fellow rocket scientist Anton, and James Daly as Army Major and journalist William Taggert who becomes the film's persistent American critic of Von Braun. None of the performances are bad per se but none of them are exactly stellar work either.

The film does have some things going for it. For enthusiasts of the era, there is plenty of stock footage on display from V-2s to missile tests and the climactic launch of America's first satellite Explorer One. Director J. Lee Thompson's direction as well has the occasional flourish such as the cutting in the TV appearances of Von Braun and Taggert arguing over issues regarding space flight (with their arguments mirroring ones we are still having decades later) and during the climactic sequence which nicely portrays the wait on the ground to learn if the satellite had made it into space.

On the whole, I Aim At The Stars stands as a historical document more than anything else. Despite the occasional flourish from Thompson and the presence of an actor like Jurgens, there is little to set the film aside from many others made at the time for the average viewer. It is perhaps no surprise then that it has fallen into a degree of obscurity. Yet for those who lived through the era (and the exciting NASA years of Von Braun's career after the film came out) or are interested in the life of the man who helped open the door to space, it's well worth a watch.

At least until someone else makes a film about Von Braun.

A bit of a whitewash.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 15 August 2022]

"I Aim at the Stars" is a very problematic film. On one hand, Dr. Wernher von Braun was instrumental in the American space program. But on the other, his Nazi past was whitewashed and this film ignored the awful war crimes this man perpetrated during WWII. While head of the German rocket program, its leader, von Braun, was responsible for using slave laborers to build his research station at Peenemünde, Germany. And, in total, about 20,000-25,000 of these slave laborers were worked to death to make von Braun's dream come true! He also was NOT the apolitical guy you see in the story, but was a card-carrying and eager member of the National Socialist Party as well as a member of the SS! The man was a monster...and you get none of this in the movie which is intended to glorify his life. Now I am not saying they shouldn't have done a movie about him...but at least it should have been a more honest one.

The film begins well after WWII had begun. While it showed von Braun and his comrades working on the V-2 rocket, there isn't much apart from that and you learn little about the man's personal life. Then, as the war ended, von Braun and many of his fellow rocket scientists defected to the USA and the film then follows them to New Mexico and their work on the US space program. It ends with the first US satellite in space.

I think about 80-90% of the film is good. Jurgens is good as von Braun and the story is reasonably good despite its HUGE omissions. In other words, technically it's well made but also, as I mentioned above, it's pretty sad what is omitted. It's worth seeing but only if you read up on the man and don't take the entire film as a thorough biography of the man.

entertaining film - don't look for 100% accuracy

[scion777-554-857756 · 7/10 · 15 September 2023]

First off, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf did NOT "collaborate" with the Nazi party, as claimed by blanche-2 ... she kept her politics entirely separate from her art, and although pressured to join the party by her father, never actively supported it, unless singing is a crime. Also, there are not "many other films" on von Braun (other than documentaries.) Sorry, blanche-2, another error.

Well-acted and entertaining and generally historically interesting. The German military officials are all played well, and the character actors do their jobs solidly. This film badly needs a DVD blu-ray remaster.

IMO, the film accurately captures the drive of some men of science who pretend they are 'pure' and above politics and claim they are not responsible of how their discoveries are used. Oppenheimer and a couple of others tried to disavow their responsibility, to their discredit.

Special mention about the great deceased Herbert Lom, who brought class and talent to anything he was in.

Interesting story

[HotToastyRag · 7/10 · 31 March 2023]

This very interesting biopic of Werner von Braun was unfortunately badly received at the time of its release. Americans weren't happy when the brilliant scientist found sanctuary and a new home in America after WWII, and they weren't happy that Hollywood made a movie about him without making him out to be a villain. In fact, in England, rioters cruelly scribbled on promotional posters, "I Aim at the Stars, but Sometimes I Hit London." If you know the life story of von Braun, chances are you followed the space race and will be very anxious to rent this movie. If you're not interested in space at all, you might need a little more to the story - and thankfully, it has more. Friendship conflicts, betrayal, romance that makes you wait, secrets, rebellion, and all under the cloud of Nazi Germany. It really is an interesting story, and with Curd Jurgens at the helm, you can rest assured you're going to see some fine acting. It's not his usual character, since he usually played either soldiers or ladies' men. He's a scientist who thinks of rockets and the stars more than anything - including politics and women. He may have strength, but he puts his usual swagger on the shelf and embodies a different role; after all, that's called acting.

Herbert Lom is also very good, playing Curd's friend and colleague with a different idea of patriotism. There are a couple of women in the cast, even though they're not the focus: Victoria Shaw and Gia Scala, as their love interests. James Daly plays a good villain, making you grit your teeth and root for Curd all the more. I enjoyed this movie, and I'm not interested in space in the slightest!

Don't mention the war

[ianlouisiana · 1/10 · 14 May 2006]

As one of Herr von Braun's erstwhile targets I am conscious of the fact that any film glorifying his achievements in the totally ludicrous so- called "Space Race" (America's captured ex-Nazis vs Russia's captured ex-Nazis)may not get a completely objective review from any Brit old enough to remember his "kinder" the V.1 and V.2s raining down on southern England in the service of his beloved vaterland. The fact that thousands of untermenschen died in slave labour conditions working directly under his command seems to have escaped the makers of "I aim at the stars".Shame on them.Curd Jurgens....well,maybe just a smidgen of pride in his fellow countryman's attainments helped assuage any artistic or moral doubts he may have had about portraying a mass murderer as a man with a social conscience who rather too swiftly embraced the doctrine of Pax Americana. If there are any redeeming features to this movie they passed me by. The overriding impression I got was that on the last day of World War 2 there were 3 million Nazis in Germany and on the first day of peace there weren't enough to start a poker school.

Anyone interested in space travel will enjoy this movie

[rlymzv · 9/10 · 8 December 2007]

This movie starts with the younger years of von Braun's life when he was experimenting with rockets and propulsion.

The film shows the March 1944 arrest of von Braun by the Gestapo. The alleged crime was that Von Braun had declared his main interest in developing the V-2 was for space travel, not as a weapon. Also, since von Braun was a pilot, it was suggested that he was planning to escape with V-2 secrets to the Allies.

After a recording of von Braun referring to Adolf Hitler in an insulting manner is heard, the scientist is told he will be executed, but through Dornberger's influence, Hitler becomes convinced that von Braun's intellect puts him in a class of people too important to be executed.

After surrendering to the Americans, Von Braun refuses to consider himself a war criminal, but Maj. William Taggert, a former newspaperman whose wife and baby were killed in a London bombing raid, argues that because von Braun "invented an infernal device used to support an iniquitous regime," he was a war criminal.

Wernher von Braun was responsible for the space age becoming a reality in the 20th century. Von Braun was named by Life magazine as one of the "100 Most Important Americans of the 20th Century," touting him as the man who "launched the greatest adventure of all, a journey to the Moon".

This interesting film includes some of von Braun's strongest critics but is balanced with von Braun's contributions to the American space program. The film ends in 1958, however von Braun when on to design the Saturn V moon rocket that put a man on the moon (the Saturn V still remains the most powerful rocket ever built, and it never had a critical failure).

Anyone interested in space travel will enjoy this movie.

5 stars

[Richard-156 · 4 September 1999]

This movie describes the life of Wernher Von Braun very well. It also gives relevant historical background on man's early forays into space. It is a good movie for anyone who is interested in the development of the science of rocketry because this man was highly instrumental in developing the Saturn V booster which took man to the moon in the late 1960s. I have been trying to find a VHS version of this movie without success so if anyone knows of where I might obtain it your suggestions would be appreciated.

I Aim At The Stars - Into The Mystery

[krocheav · 8/10 · 9 May 2022]

Producer Chares H Schneer (Jason and the Argonauts '63) assembled a variety of talented people for his space-age story of rocket scientist Wernher Von Braun. It follows portions of Braun's life from his youth in Germany, his war research service with the Nazis - through to his 'capture' and being seconded to the US space research program.

Screenplay writer Jay Dratler (Laura'44) strikes a deft balance in the moral argument between whether or not great scientists, who create technologies used in war, should be held responsible for the deaths of innocent bystanders - or should they simply be regarded as perfecting new technological developments for future progress? In this case, it was Wernher Von Braun's determination to perfect a rocket to eventually carry man into space. Whatever your moral stand, the brilliance of this man's brain cannot be denied.

German-born Curt Jurgens makes for a perfectly cast Von Braun. Jurgens was openly critical of Nazism and was interned in a Nazi Labour Camp for the 'politically unreliable'. He escaped and went into hiding - after the war, he became an Austrian citizen. In a long and distinguished career, he appeared in over a hundred movies and numerous stage plays. Though this film was shot in Munich it features a varied international cast including Australian actress Victoria Shaw, playing Braun's wife.

Director J. Lee Thompson (The Guns of Navarone'60) was blessed to have Wilkie Cooper selected by Schneer to guide principle photography, helping to create the films solid visuals. Cooper, one of Britain's most gifted directors of photography had worked with many of the world's acclaimed directors Including Hitchcock and Cardiff. His visual design excellence gave many of Ray Harryhausen's great animation epics (Jason and The Argonauts '63, etc) their strong images. Respected British composer Laurie Johnson provides an interesting music score.

Actual footage from failed Rocket test launches (both in Germany and the USA) capture the devastatingly destructive power and huge expense of these pioneering days in space exploration.

Antwerp; Von Braun as Faust; V-2 effectiveness

[bmj-05340 · 22 June 2017]

The quip I've heard was "I Aim at the Stars -- but I hit Antwerp and London". More V-2's were targeted at Antwerp than London, it being a major port used by the Allies during the invasion of Europe.

Von Braun's relation with the Nazis was Faustian -- he was obsessed with space travel, and developing liquid-fueled rockets was a first step. The V-2 (A-4 was the military's designation) was actually counterproductive to the Nazi war effort, and von Braun no doubt realized that (as Hitler did not). It was not a practical weapon, being expensive to produce and burdensome to launch. Few actually reached their targets; more tonnage was delivered by one Allied air raid than all the V-2's carried.