Cat-Women of the Moon
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Cat-Women of the Moon (CWotM) was a 1953 Sci-Fi movie directed by Arthur Hilton. It starred Sonny Tufts, Victor Jory and Marie Windsor. CWotM was not a high-quality production. It is, however, noteworthy for being one of the first feature-length films shot in 3-D, and because its musical score was composed by Elmer Bernstein.
The film's premise
The premise of Cat-Women of the Moon was that an American expedition to the Moon encounters the last survivors of a 2-million-year-old civilization, barely hanging on deep within a cave where they have managed to maintain the remnants of a breathable atmosphere that once covered the entire Moon. These eight survivors are all women, the men having died off; they are the Cat-women of the title. The air in the cave will soon be gone; thus they face a desparate struggle for survival. They plan, therefore, to steal the rocketship and escape in it back to Earth.
Plot summary
It turns out that the Cat-women are telepathic. They have reached out to Earth with this ability, imparting knowledge to Helen Salinger (Marie Windsor) so she can win the navigator slot on the expedition's crew. They also use it to lead her to the cave. Once Helen and the male members of the crew arrive at their buried city, they take control of her mind. However, they cannot contact or control men's minds. They will work around this obstacle with Helen's help, but mainly by using their superior abilities plus basic feminine wiles. "Show us their weak points," one says to Helen, referring to her crewmates. "We'll take care of the rest."
Along with telepathy, the Cat-women have one other superior ability: they can teleport themselves. They use this to jump unseen from place to place within the cave, first stealing the crew's spacesuits from where they were left at the mouth of the cave, then "marking" Helen's palm to establish control of her mind.
After trying and failing in stealthy attacks, the Cat-women approach the men openly, with Helen on hand to smooth things over. Food and drink are brought out, and a party ensues. All the men are won over — except for Kip (Victor Jory). Earlier he went back to check on the spacesuits, and found them missing. He doesn't trust the Cat-women, and now confronts their leader Alpha (Carol Brewster) over the stolen suits. She promises to return them in the morning.
Kip sits alone, unable to intervene while various Cat-women exploit the "weak points" of expedition commander Laird (Sonny Tufts) and the other men. Soon, by diverse means, they have learned how to operate the rocket ship and are well on their way to success. But Lambda (Susan Morrow) falls in love with Doug and tells him of the plot. Carrying three spacesuits, Alpha, Beta and Helen make a break for the ship. Lambda teleports ahead to delay them and is killed by Beta (Suzanne Alexander). Kip catches up and fires several shots; Alpha and Beta are killed; Helen is uninjured. The expedition leaves.
Problems with the film
Cat-Women of the Moon has many problems: in the plausibility of its premise, in consistency of its plot, and in production values. These problems are discussed at length in on-line reviews. (See links below.)
The \"lovelorn civilization\" sub-genre of sci-fi films
Cat-Women of the Moon is one of a flood of low-budget sci-fi films that appeared in the 1950s and 1960s. It falls into what may be labeled the "lovelorn civilization" sub-genre. This consists of an expedition (typically all-male) to a remote and isolated setting where they discover a group of women without men. Other examples include Fire Maidens of Outer Space, Queen of Outer Space, and Missile to the Moon. (The last was basically a remake of "CWotM".) The women will be facing some dire problem with which the expedition is in a position to help. It is characteristic of such films that the women tend to be beautiful and to wear revealing costumes. An obligatory feature of this sub-genre of film, though at best loosely related to the plot, that one or several of the leading actresses will perform an exotic dance. These films are, in short, designed to cater to male fantasies. That does not preclude them having good production values, complex characters, or an intelligent plot; but few do. Professional and amateur reviewers agree that Cat-Women of the Moon is one that does not.
Complete cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Sonny Tufts | Laird Grainger |
| Victor Jory | Kip Reissner |
| Marie Windsor | Helen Salinger |
| William Phipps | Doug Smith |
| Douglas Fowley | Walt Walters |
| Carol Brewster | Alpha |
| Suzanne Alexander | Beta |
| Susan Morrow | Lambda |
| Bette Arlen | Cat-Woman (as Betty Arlen) |
| Roxann Delman | Cat-Woman |
| Ellye Marshall | Cat-Woman |
| Judy Walsh | Cat-Woman |
External links
Internet Movie Database
Reviews of the film at various Websites
- [And you call yourself a scientist!] ("Liz")
- [The Bad Movie Review Website] (Andrew Borntreger)
- [Digitally Obsessed] (Mark Zimmer)
- [The Spinning Image] (Graeme Clark)
- [Sci-film] (Dave Sindelar)
- [DVD Authority] (Dave Sinclair)
- [SF, Horror, and Fantasy Film Review]
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