Since I was already in the mood for cheese,
I thought why not try this. Yes, it is generally awful but there is a place
in my heart for films like this. Way too ambitious for their budget, they
give it their best with terrible special effects and a lot of cardboard. I
am just glad they made movies like this once upon a time. It has a solid slice
of imagination that for 1953 was kind of cool. It also has perhaps the worst
dialogue known to man. But there is a charm in there somewhere. And the Cat-Women
are more than a little bit seductive, fascinating and ruthless. A whole moon
colony of femme fatales. The small dance/ritual performed by the Cat-Women
will stick in my brain for a while. Better dialogue and a few more bucks
found under the car seat and this would have been great! Or at least be a
cult film. Or maybe it is?
Four male and a female astronaut are headed for the moon. They are about
as professional as five random people you picked off of the street. The tough
talking Commander is played by Sonny Tufts, the female navigator is the always
welcome Marie Windsor and the guy who brought a gun is Victor Jory. These
three are reasonably well-known actors - not star material but they showed
up in some good films. Windsor in particular intrigues me - her looks
are so mysterious and different than most starlets of the time. Often a rough
in charge female in crime films and known as the Queen of the B's. How they
all ended up in this film is a mystery shrouded by the unknown.
So they land on the moon - easy as parking your car. Windsor seems to know
exactly where to land and then leads them into a cave . . . that has oxygen.
They are attacked by two giant spiders on strings that are clearly visible.
Next they discover an ancient city. With women. Only women. Good looking women.
A man's dream. Or is it. Nefarious intentions are lurking - they want to
conquer the earth!
I had never heard of this but I guess it has a certain cult cache according
to Wikipedia. A few things that it mentions.
Since 2007, the L. A. Connection improvisational comedy troupe regularly
screens the film in its live "Dub-a-vision". performances.
Cat-Women of the Moon was remade as Missile to the Moon (1958), which was
also released by Astor Pictures.
The film was the inspiration for performer Pat Benatar to change her appearance
for one Halloween, which assisted in her acquiring a record deal.
Cat-Women of the Moon inspired several songs on Shakespears Sister's second
album Hormonally Yours, among them their UK number-one hit "Stay".
The opening track of Is It Man or Astroman uses the opening narration from
the film prior to the start of the song "Taxidermist Surf".
Stock footage from this film was later used in the 1961 film Valley of the
Dragons.
Who would have known. Thanks Wikipedia. And hold on to your hats for this
- the music is composed by Elmer Bernstein - very early in his career - they
even misspell his name. He went on to slightly better films.
