From the far reaches of the Milky Way Galaxy, It's Retro Nerd Girl with a film review for you.
Today I'll be reviewing the movie Cat-Women of the Moon released in 1953.
Starring:
Sonny Tufts, Victor Jory, Marie Windsor
Directed by:
Arthur Hilton
Genre:
Adventure, Sci-Fi
Rating:
Not Available
Budget:
Not Available
IMDb Rating:
3.6
My Rating:
6.7
The Synopsis is:
Astronauts from earth are sent to the moon on a scientific expedition and find an ancient civilization of alien amazons that live there. The alien women use their charms to advance their plans to take over the earth.
Enjoyment:
This is a heavily flawed movie that has been put in the bad movie list category for good reasons, but I still enjoyed it.
*WARNING: FROM THIS POINT FORWARD THERE MAY BE SPOILERS!*
Pacing:
With a run time of an hour and 4 minutes, it dragged a lot mostly because of the dialogue and parts where the filmmakers were trying to extend the run time to keep this a feature film. It also feels as if some of the film was missing by the end. Maybe they ran out of time.
Story:
The story seems like a very good idea but get’s undermined by it’s own characters in the script. They really try to be clever though.
But how do you have a scientific expedition without scientist? Yep there were no scientist on this mission.
Challenge:
The challenge here would be the alien women, which are referred to as the cat-women, I suppose for a lack of a better term. They don’t really have any cat qualities at all, unless you were in 1953 and never saw a woman in black leotards before. This is true. They looked just like cat-women back then.
The cat-women were the most likable of all the characters in the film. The three lead cat-women were Alpha, Beta, and Lambda. Alpha is the leader hell bent on taking over the earth because the breathable atmosphere on the moon is vanishing. She wants to bring their culture to the earth people. Beta is a loyal murderous follower. Lambda however, ridiculously falls in love with one of the earth men the instant she sees him and helps the earth men even though it could lead to the eradication of her people.
The plan of the cat-women was quite awful. Alpha is definitely my favorite of the three as she assertively activates her plan. It isn’t a smart one, but she herself exhibits the qualities of a leader.
Empathy:
The story really centers around the lone female astronaut and her psychic connections with the aliens. They are using her to access a way to get to earth to repopulate their race… the typical goal of most female aliens in B movies unfortunately. Fighting for Helen’s affections are Laird the leader of the expedition and Kip the co-pilot and a former love interest. The cat-women order Helen to spend time with Laird because of his knowledge of flying the ship even though she does not love him and is still in love with Kip. It’s hard to feel anything for Helen but contempt because she never has any control of herself, and when she does she’s passive. Nearly all of them are dis-likable except Doug who seems to be a sweet guy who falls in love with Lambda.
Technical:
Cat-Women of the Moon was B movie, independently made black-and-white 3D science fiction film, produced by Jack Rabin and Al Zimbalist.
The special effects never looked real even for 1953 but there was some effort placed into visually showing the audience the adventure, when other movies around this time didn’t try. They were bold enough to attempt matte paintings of the moon’s landscape and the ancient world of the alien race of women.
Real world science was completely over-looked for the film in exchange for make believe science, that probably passed to most of the public in the 1950’s but not today. Most of us wouldn't assume that a sign of oxygen on another astronomical body meant that the air was safe to breathe for humans. It was acceptable at the time.
The wigs, costumes and make-up for the cat-women were unique for the time and still look pretty striking which, it didn’t go unnoticed by the public. The style has been recycled into pop culture, fashion and other science fiction films.
In the story there is a useless dance performed by the Hollywood Cover Girls, a dance troupe I believe at the time that also appeared in a few other sex-exploitation movies in the 1950’s along with the infamous tarantula that appears in the film. It is rumored that the film studios for Astor Pictures used this spider in several movies to get its money’s worth. As well as some of the sets too.
Performances:
Some of the performances were just hilarious, such as the scene Kip bullies Hellen into confessing what's going on. Many of the main actors in this stated in interviews that they were ashamed that they were in this movie, but to their credit they were doing what most actors were doing at the time. We in the modern age must take that into consideration.
Best:
The Cat-Women look. That is the most striking thing about the story.
I also enjoyed the matte paintings of the moon’s landscape. So many movies copied from this film.
Wish List:
I wish they did not have so much dialogue with phony science talk and explanations. They only bring out the weakness in the research for this movie. I would have love to see a flashback of the moon when the ancient civilization was at it’s peak. They could have explained or shown how the cat women survived before the earth men arrived.
I wish they had explained a purpose for the dance of the cat-women. Was it a ritual for good luck before executing a mission or was it to appease a God. Why was it in the film other than to beguile the men in the audience.
I wish I liked Helen more… maybe if Kip wasn’t so overbearing with her we could understand why she would like him. Also, we know that Kip is bitter that Helen isn’t with him, but it would be nice to know what truly happened at the time when the cat-women took over Helen’s mind instead of having the exposition of it. That was something we needed to see. If we saw who the real Helen was then maybe we feel something for her when she is not herself.
The ending:
The ending was so messy as it looks as if they ran out of time to film much needed scenes and decided to tell us what happened through dialogue. It was very unsatisfying but not the worst I have ever seen.
Summary:
In spite of that and many of the movie’s faults, I still like this film. I have a soft spot for independently made low-fi sci-fi movies. I always admire the determination of filmmakers to get these films made because while everyone was admiring movies like Casablanca and musicals like Singing in the Rain and Calamity Jane, science fiction movies weren't taken seriously even by the actors who acted in them. These often forgotten movies have the cult following to keep them relevant as we revel in their silliness and observe their influence in our lives.
This movie shows how women in science fiction have come a long way. The misogyny of the 1950’s is definitely reflected in this story. But if they were truly intentionally being sexist it backfired because women of that time and the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s were inspired by this movie and helped to spur the idea that women could be powerful even though they were represented as villains in the film.
Alpha is strong and determined to do something noble for her people and nearly succeeds with her plan. And although Helen is a damsel in distress, and her intelligence is unfortunately undermined by the film’s revelation that she had been controlled by the Cat-Women, she was treated equally to her crew members in her area of expertise.
This was a powerful message to the women and little girls who saw this movie in the old days. Modern girls may see it as a film from an archaic time that serves no purpose for us now other than to remind us of a painful exploitation.
You can look at this film any way you want, but I think that the filmmakers set out to make film that wasn’t supposed to be taken seriously in the slightest, you can tell that they didn’t even care about getting the science correct. But they set out to entertain those seeking entertainment in the form of a classically campy B movie and that they did!
That sums up my review. I hope you liked it.
This is Retro Nerd Girl signing off.
Take care movie lovers! I'm off to the next review!
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