Cat-Women of the Moon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Cat Women of the Moon | |
|---|---|
 Film Lobby Card |
|
| Directed by | Arthur Hilton |
| Produced by | Jack Rabin Al Zimbalist |
| Written by | Roy Hamilton |
| Starring | Sonny Tufts Victory Jory Marie Windsor |
| Music by | Elmer Bernstein |
| Distributed by | Astor Pictures |
| Release date(s) |  September 3, 1953 |
| Running time | 64 min. |
| IMDb profile | |
Cat-Women of the Moon is a 1953 Science fiction 3-D film directed by Arthur Hilton. It stars Sonny Tufts, Victor Jory and Marie Windsor. The musical score was composed by Elmer Bernstein.
This is one of several low budget films from the 1950s-1960s that share the same premise of a typically all-male expedition to a remote and isolated location were they discover a race of women without men:
- "Untamed Women (1952)
- "Mesa of Lost Women" (1952)
- "Cat-Women of the Moon" (1953)
- "Fire Maidens from Outer Space" (1956)
- "Queen of Outer Space" (1958)
- "Missile to the Moon" (1958)
- (This film has enough similarities, including the catsuits, that it could be considered a sequel).
- "She Gods of Shark Reef" (1958)
- "The Wild Women of Wongo" (1959)
- "Nude on the Moon" (1961)
Contents |
[edit] Plot
An expedition to the Moon encounters a race of "Cat-women", the last eight survivors of a 2-million-year-old civilization deep within a cave where they have managed to maintain the remnants of a breathable atmosphere that once covered the Moon. The remaining air will soon be gone and they must escape if they are to survive. They plan to steal the expedition's space ship and return to Earth.
Through the use of their telepathic ability the Cat-women have been subliminally controlling Helen Salinger (Marie Windsor) so she can win the navigator slot on the expedition and lead the crew to their location. Once Helen and the male members of the crew arrive on the moon the Cat-women take complete control of her mind. Unable to control the men's minds they work around this obstacle with Helen's help and the use of their superior abilities and feminine wiles. "Show us their weak points," one says to Helen. "We'll take care of the rest."
Along with telepathy, the Cat-women have the ability to transport themselves unseen from place to place within the cave. They use this ability to steal the crew's spacesuits where they were left at the mouth of the cave.
Using Helen to smooth things over after an earlier failed attack on the crew the Cat-women approach the men openly. Food and drink are brought out and a party ensues. Kip (Victor Jory) is suspicious after discovering the spacesuits are missing and confronts the Cat-women's leader Alpha (Carol Brewster) who promises to return the suits in the morning. Kip sits alone, unable to intervene while the Cat-women exploit the "weak points" of expedition commander Laird (Sonny Tufts) and the other men.
Soon the Cat-women have learned how to operate the space ship and are well on their way to success. But Lambda (Susan Morrow) falls in love with crew member Doug (William Phipps) and tells him of the plot. Carrying three spacesuits, Alpha, Beta and Helen make a break for the ship. Lambda teleports ahead to delay them and is killed by Beta (Suzanne Alexander). Kip catches up and fires several shots; Alpha and Beta are killed; Helen is uninjured. The expedition escapes and begins their return to earth.
[edit] Production
The film was made on a tight budget and schedule and every aspect of the production shows it. Cat-Women of the Moon and Project Moonbase were filmed at the same time and both shared the same space ship set. Two of the film's space suits were also used in Project Moonbase and three were used in Destination Moon. The Cat-Women's temple and the cave were standing sets from previous films. The two spiders were actually one big puppet spider barely controlled by piano wire.
The crew had only five days to shoot the film. They ran out of time before they could film the expedition's escape from the Cat-women while racing back to the space ship so they used an off camera voice to explain that Kip had killed the Cat-Women with his pistol.
Elmer Bernstein did the score for Robot Monster as well as "Cat-Women of the Moon" while temporarily "gray listed" for suspected left wing activities. Three years later he was nominated for the Oscar for The Man with the Golden Arm. He received a total of 11 Oscar nominations. He won the Oscar once for "Thoroughly Modern Millie" in 1968.His name is misspelled as Elmer Bernstien in the screen credits for "Cat-Women of the Moon".
Rather than make different posters for the 2-D and 3-D release of this film only a flat (non 3-D) poster was made. Snipes with "3-D" were furnished in the press kit to use on the posters for theatres showing the 3-D version.
[edit] What Were They Thinking?
Even the film's limited budget doesn't explain some of the incongruities found in this movie.
- The chairs inside the cabin of the space ship are standard office chairs on casters free to roll around during take off, flight and landing of the space ship.
- An unsecured wooden desk used as Marie Windsor's work station/makeup stand and lots of loose objects used to decorate the set are also free to fly around the room in flight.
- An unexplained bottle of nitric acid in the main cabin is spilled and eats a hole through the floor to the lower deck. The spill is neutralized by a fire extinguisher.
- Marie brought a pack of cigarettes and matches with her on the voyage.
- Victor Jory points out that cigarettes won't burn in an oxygen-poor environment then five minutes later one of the cigarettes is placed on the bright side of the moon where it immediately bursts into flame.
- They illogically discover an atmosphere in the cave when Marie Windsor notices her boots have become very heavy.
[edit] Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Sonny Tufts | Laird Grainger |
| Victor Jory | Kip Reissner |
| Marie Windsor | Helen Salinger |
| William Phipps | Doug Smith |
| Douglas Fowley | Walt Walters |
| Carol Brewster | Alpha |
| Suzanne Alexander | Beta |
| Susan Morrow | Lambda |
| Bette Arlen | Cat-Woman |
| Roxann Delman | Cat-Woman |
| Ellye Marshall | Cat-Woman |
| Judy Walsh | Cat-Woman |
[edit] Reviews
- The New York Times said: "They (The Cat-women) try to get their hands on the visitors' rocket ship, hoping to come down here and hypnotize us all. Considering the delegation that went up, it's hard to imagine why".
- Variety said: "This imaginatively conceived and produced science-fiction yarn [an original story by producers Zimbalist and Rabin] takes the earth-to-moon premise and embellishes it with a civilization of cat-women on the moon
- Liz of "And you Call Yourself a Scientist" Website said: "There is a sense of - of lack about this film that grows increasingly surreal. How is one to react to a film shot in 3-D that makes no attempt whatsoever to exploit the process?"
- Mark Zimmer of "Digitally Obsessed Website said "Those looking for a laughably godawful movie experience need look no further".
- Graeme Clark of "The Spinning Image" Website said:"If it's camp you're after then this is the film for you, with its futuristic setting mixed with caveman attitudes to gender politics".
- David Sindelar of The "Sci-film" Website said:"this one seems so totally uninspired that one wonders why they bothered".
[edit] Availability
- A dual projection polarized 3-D print of "Cat-Women of the Moon was shown at the 3-D Film Expo in September 2003 at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood.
- A dual projection polarized 3-D print of "Cat-Women of the Moon was shown at the "3-D at the Castro" film festival October 17, 2006 at the Historic Castro Theatre In San Francisco.
- The 1995 VHS version in inferior red and green anaglyph 3-D is no longer commercially available. Used copies periodically show up on various internet auction sites.
- The DVD version in 2-D was released by Image Entertainment and is still available.
