The countdown to 'Frau im Mond,' the movie that introduced the pre-launch countdown

The backwards 3-2-1 countdown to a rocket launch is a common practice. But where did it start?

Look no further than the world of silent film, where German director Fritz Lang chose to use it to increase the drama of mankind's first-ever lunar voyage.

That voyage was depicted in 'Frau im Mond,' or 'Woman in the Moon' (1929), Lang's final silent, a bizarre film that imagines a Weimar-era German space program that was never meant to be.

In the film, the countdown looks pretty much as we've always known it: 10, 9, 8, and so forth. The only difference is that at zero, instead of saying "Blast off!" or something like that, in 'Frau im Mond' it's "Jetzt!", the German word for "Now!"

On the lunar surface: a hiking expedition in search of—what else?—gold!

And NOW a different sort of countdown is underway: as of noon today (Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019), we've passed the four-day mark in terms of the time remaining before the launch of this year's Boston 24-Hour Sci-Fi Marathon.

The annual marathon, which includes a screening of 'Frau im Mond' this year, begins on Sunday, Feb. 17 at noon at its long-time home, the Somerville (Mass.) Theatre in Davis Square.

As tradition demands, the marathon starts with a 35mm print of the 1952 Warner Bros. cartoon 'Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century.'

And it then runs for 24 hours, all through the night and straight through to noon on Monday, Feb. 18. And a countdown is appropriate because the marathon constitutes an epic voyage all its own: about 500 fanatics join together for 24 hours filled with cinematic visions of other worlds gone by or yet to come. Strap yourself in!

On this year's program are a dozen feature films, with most shown via 35mm vault prints: titles such as 'Dr. Cyclops' (1940); 'Andromeda Strain' (1991); Escape from New York (1987); 'Roller Ball' (1975), and a clutch of others, highlighted by a 70mm print of 'Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country' (1991).

And then there's 'Frau,' countdown and all. Ever since I discovered it, I've thought of it as the forgotten companion to Lang's 'Metropolis' (1927), its famous predecessor.

And for a long time I've wanted to accompany it at the 'Thon, as it's called by long-time devotees. And sometime early on Sunday evening (when it's slotted to run), I'll get my wish.

Why the 'Thon? Because I think it's the perfect audience for this flick, in which Lang merged his appetite for pulp sci-fi stories of the era with what was then cutting-edge scientific know-how.

In the 1920s, German scientists were in the forefront of rocket propulsion. In making 'Frau im Mond,' Lang tapped noted rocketry experts such as Hermann Oberth, who received equal billing to the film's stars in the credits.

After World War II, many German rocket experts contributed to the U.S. space program, most notably Werner von Braun (a big fan of 'Frau im Mond') but scores and scores of others.

So what we see in 'Frau im Mond' isn't total fantasy, but a draft of NASA's Apollo moon program 40 years before it became reality.

The Eagle has landed, about 40 years early.

And in this year of the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11's moon landing, it's only fitting that the 'Thon include 'Frau im Mond' on the program.

Tickets for the Sci-Fi Marathon are $90 and cover admission to the whole event; you can buy online at www.bostonscifi.com.

Alas, it's not possible to get tickets for each individual film. But if you'd like to catch 'Frau im Mond' another time, I'm accompanying it at several other venues later this year.

For more info, check out the "Upcoming Screenings" page on this site.

But if you can make it to the 'Thon, I can promise you it will be a 'Frau im Mond' like none other.

Plus you get 'Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century' in 35mm!