Cat-Women of the Moon (1953)

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Cat-Women of the Moon (1953)
Topic Started: May 3 2009, 03:52 PM (376 Views)
Laughing Gravy	May 3 2009, 03:52 PM Post #1
Revered in the UK Posts: 11,062 Group: Admin Member #1 Joined: August 31, 2005	Our Famed FNF Crack Selection Committee had a problem: How in the HECK to follow up the cinematic perfection that is The Big Bird Cage. Luckily, there are some films that are so darn high on the entertainment meter that one'll always do in a pinch. You know, Robot Monster, Plan 9 from Outer Space, anything with Arch Hall, Jr., stuff like that. And of all the stuff like that, perhaps the stuffiest-like-thatiest is Cat-Women of the Moon. Sonny Tufts and Victor Jory lead an expedition to the moon, and B-Movie A-List Babe Marie Windsor is the navigator who is in a love triangle with these two fellers, and frankly she should've gotten an Oscar for having to act as if she found either of them any less repellent than finding half a roach in your sandwich. Anyway, she gets weird sensations in her body (I would too if I were in a love triangle with these guys) that lead her to a moon cave with (a) a lot of strings that just happen to have big fake spiders hanging from them, and (b) a lot of women in black body stockings who dance and plan to conquer the earth. I am not sure why they are called Cat-Women; my guess is that as appalled as the test audience must've been for this film, they would've been even more disgusted had it been called Spider-Women of the Moon. One of the goofiest movies ever made, unless Neil Armstrong took a pack of Luckies to the moon, too, and I didn't hear about it. Our astronauts (there're five of them, four of whom don't have stupid moustaches) walk around in moon suits, some of which have air packs and some of which don't, and they don't have radios, so once they put on their plastic moonsuit helmets that just yell at each other. A lot. At the end of the movie, abruptly Victor Jory tells us something that happens off-screen and the words THE END appear quickly and the audience is stunned and thinks it's a joke, but uh-uh. It's the end, alrighty. How could such a worthless film in which nothing happens leave you wanting more when it's finished? The riddle of the Cat-Women, I guess.



marlin lee	May 3 2009, 08:03 PM Post #2
Charter Member Posts: 5,070 Group: Members Member #6 Joined: September 2, 2005	Definitely one of those films which has to be experienced and certainly worth experiencing at least once. I can never decide if I prefer Cat-Women of the Moon or the remake Missile to the Moon. One of these days I'll have to watch them back to back. If my brain doesn't explode in the process I may be able to pick a winner. Edited by marlin lee, May 3 2009, 08:05 PM.



Laughing Gravy	May 3 2009, 09:05 PM Post #3
Revered in the UK Posts: 11,062 Group: Admin Member #1 Joined: August 31, 2005	Good point, old chum, and in fact as part of our FNF experience we had a "salute to Astor Pictures" with trailers and clips from Missile to the Moon, Frankenstein's Daughter, She-Demons, and other 0-star Astor offerings.



CliffClaven	May 4 2009, 10:16 AM Post #4
Balcony Gang, Foist Class Posts: 229 Group: Members Member #712 Joined: March 30, 2009	Films like these you just can't imagine ever being shown in a proper theater. As a kid I had visions of crummy little movie houses that only showed ultra-cheap movies, like those rundown corner stores that stocked knockoff brands like Bubble Up soda. Later, in pre-cable days, these were the films they'd run at 2 a.m when you had a nasty bug and the unsettling impression you were the only conscious human in the county. These and zero-budget noirs where guys would talk endlessly about double-crosses and the babes wore raincoats.



Black Tiger	May 4 2009, 10:28 PM Post #5
Charter Member Posts: 1,813 Group: Members Member #50 Joined: September 15, 2005	They would regularly show Cat Women of the Moon and Missle to the Moon at the late, lamented NYC Film Forum Annual Science Fiction and Horror summer film festival. Always got a few good laughs from the audience. The giant spider was a particular favorite.



Frank Hale	May 6 2009, 03:28 PM Post #6
Balcony Gang, Foist Class Posts: 828 Group: Members Member #59 Joined: October 6, 2005	I always had a hard time distinguishing between �Cat Women of the Moon� and �Queen of Outer Space�. WOR, WNEW, and WPIX always seemed to broadcast them interchangeably.



Laughing Gravy	May 7 2009, 07:24 AM Post #7
Revered in the UK Posts: 11,062 Group: Admin Member #1 Joined: August 31, 2005	They are indeed similar (and both hilariously awful and fascinating) but Cat-Women is in B&W and Queen is in full color and CinemaScope to boot.



CliffClaven	May 7 2009, 10:44 AM Post #8
Balcony Gang, Foist Class Posts: 229 Group: Members Member #712 Joined: March 30, 2009	I vote for Queen of Outer Space. More and hotter girls, Gabor's accent and a budget just big enough to look nutty instead of cheap. The one thing that leaves a bad taste in the mouth is how the hero rejects the queen not because she's evil, but because she's got some scar tissue on her face. In a slightly more interesting script, he would have fallen for (and possibly reformed) her. Or the queen would be gorgeous, and the Gabor character would be messed up ("Do you find me ugly, dahlink?").



Frank Hale	May 7 2009, 12:45 PM Post #9
Balcony Gang, Foist Class Posts: 828 Group: Members Member #59 Joined: October 6, 2005	Of course, color and �Scope weren�t options on our early 60�s Magnavox. When I saw the DVD of �Queen� a year or two ago and realized that at least some money had actually been spent on the production, I was so shocked I almost choked on my gin and tonic.



shelbyvinje	May 7 2009, 02:14 PM Post #10
Balcony Gang, Foist Class Posts: 415 Group: Members Member #470 Joined: June 3, 2008	I once had a VHS of CATWOMEN OF THE MOON with 3-D glasses that supposedly I was going to watch in 3-D format. The method transferred to VHS was awful. 80 plus minutes of my life I will not get back. NOT recommended.



Laughing Gravy	May 8 2009, 05:45 AM Post #11
Revered in the UK Posts: 11,062 Group: Admin Member #1 Joined: August 31, 2005	In the mid '60s, when our local grindhouse was showing triple features of horror/sci-fi films of the '50s every weekend, my brother and I saw Queen of Outer Space. It was fascinating... For one thing, of course, it was in color and had a lot of girls in short outfits. Mainly, though, it is just so WEIRD. The destruction machine appears to be made out of cardboard with painted-on glitter and some sticks on the top representing whirring blades of some kind. It looks like it was made by a high school shop class for a school play. A terrific movie. I don't recall seeing Cat-Women, but definitely we saw the remake, Missile to the Moon. I wonder, with high-def and all that going on these days, can home 3D be far behind? I know it's been tried (as recently as the last Superbowl halftime show) but the results have never impressed me.



Frank Hale	May 8 2009, 11:24 AM Post #12
Balcony Gang, Foist Class Posts: 828 Group: Members Member #59 Joined: October 6, 2005	I saw a film in the late 50�s that I�ve been trying to identify for 50 years. All I remember is a robot chasing a couple around the control room of a space station or rocket with hopes of strangling them. The lighting gave everything a vivid green tint. Sort of like �Gog�, but I�m sure it wasn�t that film. Absolutely scared the hell out of me. At this point I�m wondering if it was merely a dream. Ring any bells, Gravy? I also would really like to see �The 27th Day� again, which I remember from the same era. The only true 3-D production I ever saw in a theatre was "Dial M For Murder". Interesting, but I had the same reaction to the glasses as everyone else. I wasn't even tempted to look at the materials in the Harold Lloyd DVD box. I don't know how current 3-D attempts on TV work in practice, but it seems obvious that any successful technology will have to be completely passive for viewers.



Frank Hale	May 11 2009, 12:06 PM Post #13
Balcony Gang, Foist Class Posts: 828 Group: Members Member #59 Joined: October 6, 2005	I revisited Cat-Women this weekend, and to tell you the truth it wasn�t nearly as bad as I had remembered. Sure it�s cheap, but it wasn�t one of those PRC things that you keep praying will end soon. Sonny Tufts could afford to lose a little weight, but Victor Jory is in there pitching, as always. Hard to resist �ber-babe Marie Windsor, who hops out of her gravity couch after take-off and immediately starts fussing with her hair. Nice Chesley Bonestell paintings, too.



Laughing Gravy	May 24 2009, 05:22 AM Post #14
Revered in the UK Posts: 11,062 Group: Admin Member #1 Joined: August 31, 2005	Oh, yeah, and since viewing this film a few weeks ago, it's surprising how many of the FNF attendees will, for no apparent reason, suddenly stand up and do the "Cat-Women" dance. No, I'm not kidding. Vulnavia was doing it in the theatre while we waited to see Star Trek, for example.



Laughing Gravy	Jun 9 2009, 05:37 AM Post #15
Revered in the UK Posts: 11,062 Group: Admin Member #1 Joined: August 31, 2005	Speakin' of the Cat-Woman dance... here 'tis! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dv4TNJIX7g


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