Cat-Women of the Moon
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Cat-Women of the Moon |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1953 |
| length | 64 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Arthur Hilton |
| script |
Al Zimbalist (adaptation) Jack Rabin (adaptation) Roy Hamilton (original) |
| music | Elmer Bernstein |
| camera | William P. Whitley |
| cut | John A. Bushelman |
| occupation | |
| |
Cat-Women of the Moon is a science fiction film of Arthur Hilton from the year 1953 .
action
A team of five astronauts is on a research mission in space. For a moon landing, Helen, the navigator of the crew, Captain Grainger, recommends the dark side of the moon, as there is a particularly good landing site there. Once there, she leads the crew into a nearby cave, which she claims to have seen upon landing. The atmosphere in the cave is similar to that of the Earth, so that the astronauts can take off their spacesuits. Suddenly attacking giant spiders floating in the air can be overcome by the intrepid crew member Kip with the help of his revolver. While on their explorations they come across a seemingly deserted, magnificent city, the crew's distrust of Helen grows, who apparently led them purposefully to this place and suddenly disappears without a trace. The distrust proves to be justified. A group of futuristically dressed women led by Alpha made telepathic contact with Helen a long time ago in order to use her to seize the spaceship and thus start an invasion of Earth.
Helen, who is still under the telepathic influence of the Cat Women, poses her new friends as good-natured hosts to her colleagues. Alpha assures the men that they will retrieve the spacesuits that have apparently mysteriously disappeared. While the attractive moon dwellers swiftly wrap the crewmen Doug and Walt around their fingers and Helen makes the long-lost captain submissive, Kip resists the seductions and illusions and finally manages to wake Helen from her hypnosis-like state. In tears, she tells the men about the Cat Women's plans. After Alpha got rid of the dissident Lambda, who foolishly fell in love with one of the men, she doesn't want to waste any more time and rushes towards the ship with one of the stolen spacesuits. However, she is shot from behind by Kip and the Cat Women's resistance is broken. The crew begins the journey home.
Background and reception
The film music is one of the first works by the later famous Hollywood composer Elmer Bernstein , who also wrote the music for the sci-fi cult film Robot Monster that same year . Director Arthur Hilton is best known for his multiple Oscar nominations as a film editor . His numerically smaller directorial work is mainly limited to the television sector. The film premiered on September 3, 1953 and also reached some European cinemas, but not the German-speaking countries.
The low budget production was attested to have a comparatively remarkable equipment, for which the art director Chesley Bonestell, who is considered a pioneer of space film, was responsible. The 3D recordings by cameraman William Whitley were also highlighted . However, the plot of the film and the acting was largely ridiculed. In the New York Times, for example, it was read that, in view of the Earth delegation visiting the moon, it was hardly understandable why the inhabitants of the moon were aiming for the earth.
1958 turned Richard E. Cunha a remake under the title Bestie des Horens ( Missile to the Moon ), which was consistently described by the critics as unsuccessful.
Web links
- Cat-Women of the Moon in the Internet Movie Database (English)