Cat-Women of the Moon

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Cat Women of the Moon
Lobby Card
Directed by	Arthur Hilton
Produced by	Jack Rabin Al Zimbalist
Written by	Roy Hamilton
Starring	Sonny Tufts Victor Jory Marie Windsor
Music by	Elmer Bernstein
Cinematography	William P. Whitley
Editing by	John A. Bushelman
Distributed by	Astor Pictures
Release date(s)	September 3, 1953
Running time	64 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Allmovie profile
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.^[1]

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.

1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Critical reception
4 Availability
5 Related films in the same genre
6 References
7 External links

[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] Cast

Sonny Tufts as Laird Grainger
Victor Jory as Kip Reissner
Marie Windsor as Helen Salinger
William Phipps as Doug Smith
Douglas Fowley as Walt Walters
Carol Brewster as Alpha
Suzanne Alexander as Beta
Susan Morrow as Lambda
Bette Arlen as Cat-Woman
Roxann Delman as Cat-Woman
Ellye Marshall as Cat-Woman
Judy Walsh as Cat-Woman

[edit] Critical reception

The staff at Variety magazine wrote, "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...Cast ably portray their respective roles...Arthur Hilton makes his direction count in catching the spirit of the theme, and art direction is far above average for a film of this calibre. William Whitley's 3-D photography provides the proper eerie quality."^[2]

Other 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.