Throwback Thursday: Cat-Women Of The Moon!

1953

This week I’m taking the Wayback Machine to the 1950’s, a great time for film thanks to the release of such great classics like The Ten Commandments (1956), The Wild One (1953), and Some Like It Hot (1959).  It was also an exceptionally wonderful time for science fiction.  Classics like Invasion of The Body Snatchers (1956), The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951) and Forbidden Planet (1956) were released in the decade as were a multitude of other classic genre films too long to list in this post.

Tucked in among these classics is a much loved (but not always mentioned) B-film that is the epitome of cheese and one of the first films in a long line of films featuring planets full of attractive ladies in (at least for its time) revealing outfits that were usually attempting to take over mankind in some sort of brilliant scheme.  That film was Cat-Women of the Moon.  It was also released in 3-D, which would explode in the 1950’s and be featured in multiple films.

The film’s plot is simple but effective.  A scientific crew is sent to the Moon on an expedition.  As they get closer to their destination, the team’s navigator, Helen (Marie Windsor) begins to have dreams and visions that make her feel as if she’s already been to the Moon.  Once the team lands, Helen leads the group deep into a maze of caverns where the atmosphere is breathable…..and giant spiders reside!

Eventually the group meets up with the desirable Cat-Women, who have been using telepathy to influence and control Helen’s actions.  They reveal to Helen their grand scheme to take over Earth and save their civilization which is almost extinct.  In order to do this, the Cat-Women have to eliminate the men, learn how to use the expedition’s spaceship, and steal the crew’s spacesuits in order to make it out to the ship which is not in a breathable atmosphere.

The film is rather brief (just over an hour long), but that actually helps since the story plays out very quickly and, in all honesty, probably didn’t have to be as long as it was in the first place.  The acting is sufficient and the special effects are exactly what you’d expect from a film made in the early 1950’s.

The music was composed by prolific composer Elmer Bernstein, who would go on to win an Academy Award and multiple other awards for his work in films such as The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape, To Kill A Mockingbird, Ghostbusters, Cape Fear, and The Ten Commandments.  Bernstein is one of only four composers to have two of their scores listed on the American Film Institute’s 100 Years Of Film Scores list.  Only one composer, John Williams, has more.  He has three on the list.

The film has a few notable cast members who would go on to bigger and better things.  Marie Windsor worked in over eighty films in her career and had multiple roles on television as well.  Dubbed “Queen of the B’s” for her work in the genre, Windsor had steady work up until her death in 1991.  Victor Jory (who portrayed Kip) is best known for his work in Gone With The Wind, the television series Manhunt, and his work as the Shadow in the classic film of the same name.  Also of note is Douglas Fowley (who portrayed Walt) who portrayed Doc Holliday in The Life And Legend Of Wyatt Earp.  He is the father of Kim Fowley, best known as the manager of the influential rock group The Runaways, the band that introduced the world to future solo stars Joan Jett and Lita Ford, as well as Michael Steele of The Bangles.

As stated before, Cat-Women of the Moon was one of the first films to use the concept of a planet or civilization made up primarily of attractive women intent on taking over mankind.  This would lead to a long line of exploitation films including Fire Maidens From Outer Space and Voyage To The Planet Of Prehistoric Women.  The film is regularly featured at film festivals and has even received the Rifftrax treatment.  I recently watched it at Sci-Fi Saturday at The Mines Theatre in Sulphur, LA.

The film is both loved and despised for its camp and exploitation.  Honestly, is a dance number necessary in the middle of the film?  No, but you’re gonna get one anyway!  If you’re interested in checking this film out, it’s currently available to watch on Amazon Prime and is also available on DVD.  It can be purchased individually or as part of discounted collections.  I do not believe that it is available on Blu-ray as of this writing.

Thanks for reading.  I really do hope that some of you check out this film if you haven’t seen it yet.  It’s worth watching even if it just gives you the chuckles.