CAT-WOMEN OF THE MOON (1953)
Tagline: They're fiery...fearless...ferocious!
(Sci-Fi, Adventure, Cat-Women Sort Of) [G]
Note – There was no MPAA rating for this movie, but it would likely have been a G.
Four of us will be enough. We will get their women under our power, and soon we will rule the whole world!
In this one five astronauts are on a moon mission when they run into several unexpected hazards and a cave that allows them to breathe oxygen. It doesn’t take long before they realize the moon has a handful of women who seem to want to scratch their eyes out at first, but then just plan to steal their rocket.
First off I have no idea why this movie is called CAT-WOMEN OF THE MOON. It should have been something like “Ballet Dancers That Escaped Their Ballet Class And Hid On The Moon”. Nothing in this thing resembles a “cat” at all. They don’t even give the so-called cat-women cat ears. I mean come on, you couldn’t get a few fake cat-ears in the budget?
Anyway, this movie is oddly satisfying as a so bad it’s good 1950’s flick. I actually enjoyed watching it as wonky as it is. The acting is oddly solid and we get good performances out of William Phipps as Doug. Phipps is probably THE WAR OF THE WORLDS, but he was also the voice of Prince Charming in Disney’s animated CINDERELLA. Douglas Fowley is also good as Walt. He is probably most famous for this movie, but he had over 335 acting credits over his lifetime. Carol Brewster plays the leader of the cat-women “Alpha” and does a decent job, but I am guessing they weren’t asked to show much emotion because everything they are saying is pretty serious business. She is probably most famous for the movie UNTAMED WOMEN which came out a year before this. Suzanne Alexander plays “Beta” the second in command for the cat-women. She was in 29 different acting projects, but her biggest claim to fame might be that she was “Miss Canada” in 1918. This movie also has Susan Morrow as cat-woman “Lambda”. She was mostly known for movies in the ’50s but was also in a serial called “Canadian Mounties vs. Atomic Invaders”. Apparently, it wasn’t as great as the name.
Regarding the score and pacing, this thing is rough. The last 20 minutes or so really drag but it does have a fairly decent ending for a sci-fi film because it actually ends when it should instead of 5 to 10 minutes early with no wrap-up. The effects by today’s standards are laughable, but given the talents in this thing, it certainly wasn’t meant as a joke when it came out. These moon women mean freakin business.
A quick aside. Back in the 90’s I kind of loved the band Shakespeare’s Sister’s song “Stay”. I just thought it was unique and kind of eerie at the same time. It turns out that song, and 3 others including “Catwoman”, were all inspired by this movie.
This movie is free to stream on several platforms if you want to check it out, but don’t expect anything cat-related. Overall I have to give this a 4 out of 7. As far as 50’s sci-fi goes it's not even close to the worst and it’s a little better than “just okay”.
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