Catwomen of the Moon

This a great example of B-grade sci-fi movies. It combines recycled props, low-budget effects, second-tier acting and a strange plot. It would have been right at home as an episode in the original Star Trek series. Catwomen must have developed somewhat of a fan base back then, as it was remade in 1958 as Missile to the Moon. It was adapted somewhat in 1956 as Fire Maidens of Outer Space. The catwomen must have found some resonance in 50s audiences.

Catwomen of the Moon (CWotM) is a sort of "sister" film to Project Moon Base. Even though they were being produced by two separate film companies, following two different moon-mission plots, they used many of the same props, sets and costumes in order to save money. The B-movie market was thin on margin, so any cost-savings was desirable.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A mission to the moon has five people aboard a rocket. Laird, the Kirk-like commander. Kip, the co-pilot. Helen, the typical lone female crew member is the navigator. Doug is the radio operator. Walt is the engineer. He's the "red shirt" of the bunch. While en route, the crew radio home some trite little messages. Helen's is cryptic. "Hello Alpha. We're on our way." She doesn't remember doing it. There is a pointless encounter with a usual meteor, which only provokes the love triangle between Laird, Helen and Kip. Near the moon, Helen picks a landing spot on the dark side, which no one could have known about. Once on the moon, Helen leads the crew to a cave. In the cave, they find an oxygen atmosphere, and are attacked by two giant spiders (puppets). The catwomen steal their space suits. The crew find the catwomen's "ancient civilization" city -- a mishmash of roman, hindu and buddhist motifs. The catwomen have been communicating/controlling Helen telepathically. Alpha, leader of the catwomen, induced the earth men to send the ship to the moon so they could steal it and travel to earth. The last lunar air pocket would run out soon. Once on earth the catwomen would rule via mind control of all the earth women and institute their own eugenics program. Walt, the typical greedy materialist red-shirt, gets greedy the catwomen's cave full of gold. One of the catwomen kills him there. The catwomen assigned to kill Doug, falls in love with him instead, spills the beans about the plot and dies for it. There are some struggles between the men and the catwomen. In the end, the catwomen are killed (off screen, thankfully) and the four earthlings rocket away.

Why is this movie fun?
Firstly, it's fun to see the family resemblance to Project Moon Base. The rockets (interior and exterior) are the same with minor modifications. It's fun to see low-budget shortcuts like wheeled office chairs with seatbelts, and spinning empty 16mm film reels sufficing for rocket gear.
Secondly, are the similarities with other works. The plot premise of aliens seeking to steal an earthling rocket so as to get to, and take over the earth, is reminiscent of Flight to Mars ('51). The civilization-of-women sub-genre gets a little boost too, with some familiar elements, and a few notable twists.

Cold War Angle
CWotM is more space drama than allegory. One could try to stretch the mind-control by villains and a plot to rule the earth into something Cold War, but that seems too long of a stretch. CWotM is more about women than war.

Notes
Familiar Props Patrol -- The spacesuits are yet another re-use of those in Destination Moon. The helmets, however, are mixed. The two metal "bell jar" helmets were used in the sister movie Project Moon Base. the three acrylic spheres appeared a few months earlier in Abbot & Costello's ...Go to Mars. In CWotM they had flat acrylic across the conical fronts which you could see steaming up with actor breath. The rocket models and interior set are the same as Project Moon Base. The cave spider puppet looks remarkably like that used in Mesa of Lost Women, except for the odd horn on its head. Mesa was too cheap of a movie to have created that spider puppet, so it must have come from an earlier film. I've just not found that earlier film yet.

Familiar Plot -- Despite the overall oddity, CWotM recycles two familiar sub-plots. The first is that of aliens who, despite being much more advanced than ourselves, want to steal one of our rockets so they can come to earth and dominate. This sub-plot appeared in Flight to Mars in 1951. The second is that of a group of mostly men discovering a "lost" civilization of beautiful young women. This sub-plot figured in several prior films: Tarzan and the Amazons ('45), Queen of the Amazons ('47), Mesa of Lost Women ('53) and Abbot & Costello Go to Mars ('53). It also shares elements of the "lost women" movies like Preshistoric Women ('50) and Bowanga Bowanga (Wild Women) ('51). More on that below.

More Lost Women -- CWotM shares several elements of the "Lost Women" sub-genre. There are a group of 20-something beautiful, trim women who live without men. They're supposedly an ancient race. They perform their special dance together. The lobby poster implied that they all craved men, but only one does. There is one, usually the leader, who persists in her dislike (if not hate) of men. An element which gets more use later, is their communicating telepathically. This made a small showing in Mesa of Lost Women but could be easily missed.

There are some notable differences, too, however. The catwomen are not dressed in typical Hollywood style, despite the movie's posters touting "Hollywood Cover Girls". Atypically, there are no blonds. No long flowing hair. No tight shorts or ample cleavage. Instead, the catwomen are in all-black leotards with a bit of gold (or red?) "yoke" around the neckline. We're still intended to appreciate their curvaceousness, as one slow camera pan of a catwoman from toe to head gives us. Still, the all-in-black look is such a departure from the usual Hollywood glamor motif, it's worth noting.

Feminism Editorializing -- A common undercurrent in "lost women" sub-genre is editorializing on feminism. The women's leaders are depicted as man-haters. Their culture doesn't need men. They are smart, but ruthless. The leader often wants to take over the (man-run) earth. A "good" woman feels love for one of the men. For that "sin" of rebellion, she is killed by the man-haters. In the end, they are killed. Since they dislike men and love, the loss of them is not mourned. Only the death of Lambda (the one who loved) is mourned.

Replete with Romance -- A somewhat odd undercurrent in CWotM is how often male-female relationships intrude on the story. The love-triangle between Laird, Helen and Kip gets an inordinate amount of attention. When confronted by an alien race bent on killing them, and one of their own crew-mates being under mind-control by the aliens, the big question on Kip's mind is, "Do you love Laird?" Perhaps this romance obsession is because the film was aimed at drive-in audiences (teens) who tend to be similarly obsessed.

In the end, CWotM is a perfect example of obtuse sci-fi B-movies. High art, it isn't. It is, however, a fun bit of obscuria. It might not be the first planet-of-women film, but it's a notable early one.

Project Moon Base

This is a fairly obscure B-movie, despite some significant elements and a famous writer contributing to the script. It is so mediocre that it was fairly easy for people to forget. The screenplay and story are credited to Robert Heinlein, but he co-authored the script with Jack Seaman. (more on this in the Notes section) The final result is marginal, even by B-movie standards. Despite some of the dreadful parts, Project Moon Base has some interesting parts which make it of historical interest.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Scrolling text tells how space became a strategic arena in the 60s. In 1970, a space station has been established so America can stage a moon mission. Colonel Briteis (frequently pronounced: Bright Eyes) is chosen to pilot the mission to fly around the moon as a survey flight, Major Moore to co-pilot and a Dr. Wernher to photograph the moon for future landing sites. Petty tensions arise as Briteis and Moore are revealed to have had a failed romance in the past and professional rivalry since. A group of spies replace Dr. Wernher with a double. His mission is to blow up the space station and its nuclear weapons.

Their rocket blasts off, with the obligatory fake high-Gs scene. At the space station, they transfer to the moon ship. While en route to the moon, the spy tries to take over the ship. Bill grapples with him, but they bump the engines-on button in the process. During the high-Gs (again), Briteis eventually shuts off the engines and Bill subdues the spy. With little fuel left, Briteis opts to land on the moon. They landed just beyond view of earth, so there's no radio contact. Bill and the spy don spacesuits to set up a radio relay on a mountain a few miles away. During this mission, the spy slips, falls down the mountain and dies. Bill returns, running very low on oxygen. Once inside again, they learn that a rescue rocket is on its way, that their mission is now to be "Moon Base #1" and since the public would look askance at a young buff man and pretty young woman cohabitatating, they should get married. This they do via televised minister and so all is well. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
To some extent, the low budget production is fun to watch. As a made-for-TV movie, it had to take all the shortcuts it could. Yet, despite this, they did rather well. A "first" for PBM is the portrayal of an orbital space station. Granted, it owed much to flying saucers for its design, but the concept of an orbital base was there. Space stations would become commonplace later, but PMB had it first. Another fun little bit is the lunar lander. Previous films had a single rocket for lift-off, journey and landing, Heinlein foresaw specialized vehicles. For 1953, his lander was surprisingly close to what the Apollo program developed. Another little fun bit is Hayden Rorke playing the gruff and patronizing senior officer. General Greene is very similar to the Dr. Bellows character Rorke played in the 60s TV series "I Dream of Jeanie."

Cold War Angle
Heinlein is said to have been anti-communist. It's little surprise that his plot lines involve shifty "enemies of freedom" and nukes in space. These elements, however, are not central to PMB. They move the actual plot (adventure / romance) along as in Destination Moon, but are not the point. PMB is more about gender roles than commies.

Notes
Made for TV -- PMB started out as a pilot for a proposed TV series, to be titled, "The World Beyond". The pilot episode, which was to be called "Ring around the Moon", would have run 30 minutes. Plans for the series got scuttled part way through shooting. The producers didn't want to waste what they'd invested already, so they shot more footage, expanding it to just enough for a feature film. This added noticeable filler. Since it was originally intended for the "small screen", it was shot more in the TV style of the early 50s. People stood or sat in front of a fixed camera and talked. TV studios were not geared (yet) for action shots. This goes a long way to explain why the pace can seem so dreadfully slow and talky at times, and why we hear the actors describing off camera events instead of us seeing them.

Two for One -- Two small production companies teamed up to share costs for their respective projects. Galaxy Pictures shot their TV moon story while Z-M Productions worked on Catwomen of the Moon. They shared sets and many props and some costumes. The rocket ships, both exterior and interior are almost identical. The rocket-fin elevator lift features in both films. Given the evidence, it appears that Z-M Productions were shooting a feature film (Catwomen) and Galaxy Pictures piggybacked shooting the would-be TV pilot to save money. TV ad revenue was pretty meager in the early 50s. Shows had to be very cheap to produce. As mentioned above, PMB was expanded into a feature film. It was mediocre at best, but it was better to make a little box office money than nothing.

Confused Sexism -- One feature of PBM which stands out strongly, is its contradictory treatment of gender roles. Heinlein was said to be somewhat pro-feminist, so it's not too surprising that we are given a woman military officer and spacecraft pilot who out-ranks the leading man. We also are shown a woman as president of the United States. A woman crew member was not totally new. Rocketship X-M, ('50) had Dr. Lisa. Unknown World ('51) had Dr. Joan. Yet, in both of those, the woman was an auxiliary scientist. Men were in charge. PBM's Colonel Briteis was the pilot and in command of the mission. The woman president comes at the end, as a non-sequetor surprise.
On the other hand, PBM has a painfully chauvinist scene in which General Greene calls Briteis a "spoiled brat" and threatens to spank her. Spank her? He totally devalues her rank and accomplishments. Even a non-feminist could squirm at such condescension and insult. Bill is touted as the truly skilled pilot and leader, but for PR reasons, Briteis (though clearly just a "girl") is given the command. Naturally, she's not up to the job. "Sorry I went all female on you back there," she says to Bill after screaming when the spy attacked. PBM may have an editorial theme on women doing men's jobs . Women can pretend to be equally qualified, but... In the end, however, it is the men who get the job done. At the end of the movie, Bill is promoted to Brigadier General. He out ranks Colonel Briteis, so is then in command of Moon Base One. The "proper" man-in-charge order has been restored. Happy ending. Passionate kiss.
The conflicting sex roles in PMB may be due to having two writers -- one a feminist, one a chauvinist. It makes for a very odd story.

Heinlein's Hand -- Heinlein liked working "real science" into his stories. Jack Seaman had produced several westerns. This was his first (and only) screenplay. Which of them contributed what is not clear. The result is conflicted and so beneath Heinlein's usual sci-fi standards that it suggests that their collaboration was not a smooth one. Heinlein is likely the source of several long talky segments were General Greene expounds on orbital physics or the space station's construction, etc. This was still gee-whiz stuff in the early 50s. Audiences were hungry for (or more tolerant of) techno-blather.
The theme of a moon landing and weapons in space more than likely came from Heinlein. He wrote a short story in 1949 called "The Long Watch" which dealt with a moon base being used as peace-keeper (atom bomb platform), but taken over in a coup. His contribution to the movie Destination Moon stressed the strategic importance of a moon base. This is the basis for the story in PBM, but banal espionage and trite romance intrude. These may have been Jack Seaman's contribution and/or the producers' notion of what TV audiences expected.

War of the Worlds

This is the big sci-fi movie of 1953, and one of the top four or five for which the whole decade is remembered. Filmed in Technicolor, with top actors, and an experienced production crew, this was a "A" film. War of the Worlds (WOTW) set a very high bar for sci-fi movies.  Barre Lydon adapted H.G. Wells' 1898 novel rather well for 1950s America. Lydon was not slavishly following the novel. Instead, tweaked the story for "modern" audiences, such as having a female lead (Wells had only the single male "narrator"), and having nukes used against the martians. Other than the modernizing, it's a good adaptation of the classic sci-fi novel.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Meteors (from Mars) land at night, Townsfolk investigate to find a too large "meteor". A scientist, Dr. Clayton Forrester (Gene Barry) joins the townsfolk. A cover unscrews. A cobra-like appendage comes out and fries three people with its heat ray. Panic ensues. The army is called in, but to no avail. The martians widen their pit and launch their fighting machines. Forrester and Sylvia flee in a small plane, but crash near a farmhouse. While in the farmhouse, a new cylinder crashes up against the house. While in the ruins, the two encounter a martian probe and a martian. Forrester cuts the camera end off the probe. They escape to Los Angeles and examine the probe at Forrester's lab. The martians attack LA, so everyone must flee to the hills. In the every-man-for-himself melee, Forrester and Sylvia become separated. He searches for her, finally finding her in a church. Just as doom appears immanent, the martian machines faulter and fall. The martians succumbed to earth's germs.

Why is this movie fun?
The script, directing and cinematography keep the pace brisk. Only a few spots get a little talky. The "swan" ship fighting machines were radical for the early 50s -- in which saucers and rockets were king. Wells' original story is so compelling that it survives Hollywood-izing. To their credit, George Pal's crew did a good job of adapting it. The parallels to the book are fun to spot. The new material isn't just filler, but has some merit on its own.

The disintegrator ray effect had become so commonplace in later sci-fi, that it's easy to think it had always been there. WOTW wasn't the first to show a disintegrator ray. In The Day the Earth Stood Still Gort "benign" eye-beam destroyed weapons (but not people). George Pal's WOTW kicked it into the mainstream with mass destruction via rays.

Cold War Angle
Wells' novel was written in an earlier era's zeitgeist of invasion-scare stories. Even then, his story was more of a shoe-on-the-other-foot look at conquest. In the late 1800s, the British were accustomed to be the invader, conquerer, colonizer. Wells tried to see how it would feel (for Britain) to be on the receiving end. George Pal's WOTW set this same notion into Cold War America. We had great confidence in our military and especially our trump card -- nukes. When all that we trust fails, what do Americans do?

Notes
Parallel's to the Book -- There are many parallels to the book. The martians arrive in meteor-like cylinders. Their "lids" unscrew. They have a heat ray. The martian machines move on "legs." (This is easy to miss in Pal's WOTW, but it's there). The martians succeed in overpowering us, but it's germs that stop them, not us. One hallmark scene in both book and film was The Ruined House. There is the same snake-like probe and fear of being discovered.

A important scene in the book, The Thunderchild, was recast rather well. In the book, the British warship "Thunderchild" attacks the martians, but fails. Victorian England put enormous faith in its navy as supreme national savior. Thunderchild's failure was symbolic of England's best hope failing. 50s America put a similar stock in its military and especially its atomic bombs. The cutting-edge of American military might was the YB-49 Flying Wing (even though the program was cancelled in 1951) When the "high-tech" military and the nukes fail, America had no hope of stopping them.

Difference from the Book -- Pal set his adaptation in America since his audience was American. This is similar in spirit to Wells' setting his book in England. The addition of a female lead -- Sylvia -- is a significant deviation, but Hollywood or not, it helped the screenplay use dialogue where the book used internal monologue. A notable deletion was that Pal's martians are never depicted as eating people. Pal's martians were less clearly evil, despite the destruction. The one martian we see was more ET-like than Wells' disgusting tentacled blobs.

Mars Mania -- Wells popularized the notion that there were hostile beings on Mars. Pal's '53 film was not the first sci-fi of the Golden Era to feature hostile martians (e.g. Flying Disc Man from Mars, 1950). In fact, Pal's big budget film took a bit long to produce. Pre-release publicity was acute, so B-film producers were able to crank out some quick movies to capitalize on Pal's Mars buzz. Invaders from Mars and Abbott and Costello Go to Mars are two examples.

A fun little homage to Orson Wells is the radio reporter (Paul Frees) giving his report from the crater as the martians attack.

The Divine Ending -- Wells' text credits God with foresight wisdom in creating bacteria. Wells did not believe in the biblical God (as evidenced in his book "God, the Invisible King"), At best, he allowed there being a sort of inner higher standard, but not an objective creator God. George Pal, however, did believe in the biblical God. He (and Lydon) capitalized on Wells' words and played up the divine role. Towards the end, people huddle and pray in a church. Shortly afterward, the martians fall. Nukes couldn't save the world, but God could. Pal was not shy about allowing God in his films.

Remakes Aplenty -- Overall, Pal's WOTW stands up well over the years. Sure, special effects have gotten fancier, but as a story the '53 movie holds its own. Later remakes have tried to modernize the basic tale for their generations, but beyond having flashier effects, their stories aren't any stronger.
Independence Day ('96) is a loose adaptation. The ID4 alien fighters are similar to Pal's swan ships. The aliens are defeated by a computer virus.
Invasion (2005) is an indie film that was quickly renamed "War of the Worlds" before release since Speilberg was getting so much pre-release publicity about his movie. Latt's version is a recast of Wells' tale, but really doesn't add anything beyond updating Wells' tale from 1898 to 2005. Also released in 2005 was a version by Timothy Hines. His version tried to be completely authentic to the book. In many ways it was. The production quality and weak acting, however, made it a version that only hard-core Wells fans would tolerate.
Spielberg's War of the Worlds (2005) was yet another recast, but one relying heavily on massive special effects. Spielberg's martians ate people and rode in tripod machines. He merged the Perlate and the Man on Putney Hill into the ruined house scene. He also did homage to the '53 film in several little ways, including giving Gene Barry and Ann Robinson a cameo appearance at the end.

Bottom line? Pal's WOTW is another must-see for sci-fi fans. It is, in fact, a must-see for cinema fans as it has such historical importance (given all the later remakes and variations).

Abbott and Costello Go to Mars

The comedy duo were hot in the 1940s, but were beginning to wane in popularity by the early 1950s, perhaps due more to over-staturation of the market than anything. Universal had them doing 2 movies a year since 1941. They did not add a lot of new material to their skits, so by 1953, audiences had seen their gags quite a few times already. Some A & C fans call Go to Mars one of their middling productions -- not their worst, but not all that great either. Many of their movies were spoofs on "serious" genre films, like westerns, horror or jungle adventure films.

That aside, Abbott and Costello Go to Mars (GtM) is a fun spoof of the sci-fi genre, which was only just getting popular then. When they were producing GtM, in early 1953, audiences would have seen films like Destination Moon, When Worlds Collide and Flight to Mars -- all having curvy cigar-shaped rockets with pointy fins and stubby wings. So, it's little surprise that GtM has one too. With news of George Pal's impending War of the Words to be release in August, audiences were primed for just about anything with "Mars" in the title.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Orville (Costello) is a 38 year old orphan in a home for orphans. When his toy plane breaks a window, he hides from a policeman in Lester's (Abbott's) delivery truck. While loading supplies on an experimental rocket, Orville presses some buttons he shouldn't have, and the rocket takes off. It zooms around awhile, comically, before landing in a Louisiana bayou. The boys think they're on Mars, but it's just New Orleans at Mardi Gras (everyone has big-headed costumes on). While in New Orleans, a couple of escaped convicts see the rocket, swipe a couple space suits as disguises to rob a bank. A comic chase ensues. All four take off again, this time to land on Venus. Venus is populated only with beauty pageant winners. Men were banished 400 years prior for unfaithfulness. Orville sits in a chair beside queen Allura, a light goes on, and the girls all decide it's a sign that Orville should be their king. Only Allura remembers why men were banished. The rest of the beauties are fascinated with the new men. This idyll unravels quickly, naturally. All four men escape. The rocket is too heavy to take off, however, Only after Orville releases all the girls he had hidden in lockers. They return to a ticker tape parade.

Why is this movie fun?
GtM is nothing BUT fun. It's a spoof. The superimposed model-on-string rocket is hardly serious special effects. The gags are still funny, and the many innuendoes are subtly delivered with straight faces. Their mistaking the outskirts of New Orleans at Mardi Gras for a Mars is silly, but fun. Then their mistaking the planet Venus for Los Angeles, is a fun spoof on their own movie. Thinking that another planet is Hollywood is a neat dig too. The convicts, form a sort of criminal opposites duo to A & C (one the wise-talking straight man, the other the buffoon). Knowing what's gone before GtM in the sci-fi genre, it's easy to see what they're spoofing. Knowing what comes after GtM makes it even MORE fun. They managed to spoof films that hadn't even been made yet, like Missile to the Moon (1958) which has two convicts hide out on a rocket ship which lands on the moon, where there's a society of only beauty pageant winners. They also have a jet-car vehicle which prefigures the one in Forbidden Planet (1956). How did A & C know?

Cold War Angle?
None. This is pure silliness in a sci-fi setting. Enjoy the break.

Notes
It might be a subtle bit of humor that the high-tech rocket ship gets stocked with wooden crated supplies. In the spirit of B-film recycling, there's the obligatory stock military footage, but as part of the spoof, some of it is obviously older WWII footage. No mistake, I'm sure. The space suits are recycled from Destination Moon and all those others who reused them too, like Flight to Mars. Their helmets, the clear spheres, were not from those previous wardrobes, but will show up again very soon in Catwomen of the Moon.

Planet Women -- The planet full of nothing but beautiful young women (but not men), who meet a few earth MEN, was not (in 1953) a tired theme. A&C were actually ahead of their time. A few earlier movies featured all-women societies, but these were a few jungle flicks like Wild Women ('51) or Prehistoric Women ('50) stories. These women societies weren't found in space yet. Universal's Abbot and Costello machine isn't often thought of as a ground-breaker or trend innovator, but in this case, they were. GtM predates all the many Planet of Women flicks that were to come, like Catwomen of the Moon, Fire Maidens of Outer Space, Mission to the Moon, Queen of Outer Space, etc. etc. There are many more, but A&C scooped them all!

Robot Monster

This is another one of those movies often touted as "the worst movie ever." It was an ultra low-budget film with minimal "special effects" and weak acting and a confusing screenplay. Since it was released amid a wave of impressive movies like Invaders from Mars and War of the Worlds, it is surprising anyone remembers it at all. However, Robot Monster was so bizarre that it developed a modest cult following. Ro-Man's costume, a gorilla suit with space helmet, makes an indelible impression.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A mother (presumed to be a widow), her son Johnny (8-ish), daughter Carla (6-ish) and adult daughter, Alice, are all picnicking in bleak Bronson Canyon. Johnny is playing space man. Carla nags him to play house. While avoiding Carla, Johnny meets two archeologists working in a cave. Johnny thinks the cave painting looks like a robot. After a picnic lunch, the family all nap, but Johnny wakes up and goes to explore the cave. There, he falls and lies unconscious for awhile. While unconscious, he dreams of a post-apocalyptic earth in which his family (which now includes the older archeologist as "dad") and three others, are the last people on earth. All others have been eliminated by a robot monster named "Ro-Man." These eight are immune to his "Calcinator" ray because of an antibiotic serum the "father" had worked on. Ro-Man is ordered by his leader (Great Guidance) to eliminate the survivors so the Ro-men can take over the earth. Ro-Man kills the little girl Carla, pushes Roy off a cliff and destroys a rocket with two unseen other survivors. Ro-Man takes a liking to Alice and decides he can't kill her. Instead, he captures her and plans to keep her for himself. Great Guidance detects the "error" in Ro-Man's independent thought, eventually eliminating Ro-Man just as Ro-Man was about to kill Johnny. Johnny awakens from his unconscious dream. All is well after all. (though there is a complete non-sequetor ending of Ro-Man coming at the camera three times before the credits roll.)

What makes this movie fun?
On a certain level, Robot Monster is one of those movies that is so bad it's good. Ro-Man's costume is so absurd, it's hard not to chuckle. His "high tech" equipment includes some old radio equipment with rabbit ears on a wooden table and a bubble making machine. There are segments of recycled footage of dinosaurs fighting. It's all so odd that it's fun.

On another level, it's fun to re-watch Robot Monster seeing Ro-Man as Johnny's alter ego. Ro-Man does what Johnny fantasizes doing. This makes many of the outrageous elements somehow fit together. Why, for instance, are there recycled "dinosaur" segments from One Million B.C. and Lost World?  Boys are fascinated with dinosaurs. Nothing deeper.

Cold War Angle
There isn't much of a Cold War connection. The apocalyptic scenario almost fits, but not particularly well.

Notes
3D -- Robot Monster was shot in "Tru-3 Dimension." Around 1953, 3D was a fad nearing its peak. People would watch just about anything because it was 3D. The screenplay quality was secondary. Some of the movie's peculiarities make more sense when understood as being there for the 3D. The bubble machine, for instance, makes no sense as a prop, but is perfect for 3D cinematography.

Ro-Man as alter boy's ego -- Since it's all a dream, consider Ro-Man as Johnny's alter ego, NOT an independent character. He's supposedly very powerful. Ro-Man eliminates Carla, the pesky younger sister (who always wanted Johnny to play house). Johnny, on the cusp of libido, imagines his Ro-Man defeating the buff "rival" (Roy) for sexually mature older sister Alice's affection. One strong indicator of this boy-fantasy comes during the abduction scene when Ro-Man carries off Alice. She remarks about how strong Ro-Man is, almost admiringly. That's not your expected comment from a forcibly abducted woman. It is however, what a neo-libidinous boy would prefer to think women behave.

They're After Our Women -- The oft recurring sub-theme of the Abducted Woman, gets a big boost in Robot Monster. The poster image, of Ro-Man carrying off the woman actually does happen in the movie. What kicks it up a level is that Ro-Man actually "wants" Alice. He wasn't, like Gort, simply carrying her benignly. "Suppose I were hu-man," Ro-Man says to Alice. "Would you treat me like...a man?" This suggestive innuendo is pretty radical content for a sci-fi B movie. When Alice refuses his advance, he rips the top of her dress -- the symbolic "rape" metaphor. An even bolder addition to this sub-theme is that Alice appears to not mind (too much) being abducted. For awhile, she kicks as he carries her. Later, she's calmly riding in his arms. "Oh Ro-Man, you're so strong."

Love is Life -- In an interesting simile to King Kong, it's pretty young Alice which awakens passion in the supposedly passionless Ro-Man. When Great Guidance hears of Ro-Man's intentions to spare Alice, we hear Ro-Man trying to alter his programming, his "plan". Great Guidance scolds Ro-Man. "To think for yourself is to be like the hu-mans." Ro-Man responds, "Yes, to be like the hu-mans. To laugh, feel, want. Why are these things not in the plan?" The allure of a pretty woman is very powerful.

Lost Sonnet -- When Ro-Man is told by The Great Guidance to kill Alice, Ro-Man becomes conflicted. He has is "orders" but he has his new passions too. Ro-Man's soliloquy is almost Shakesperan. "I cannot, yet I must. How do you calculate THAT? At what point on the graph do Must and Cannot meet? Yet I must, but I cannot..." Ro-Man may be the first cinematic robot who wanted to be human. That is, if you don't give this honor to Baum's Tin Man who wanted a heart. Many others will follow.

Bottom line? All in all, Robot Monster offers some surprisingly thoughtful elements, despite it's almost total absurdity. It's definitely worth watching.

Mesa of Lost Women

This movie is commonly labeled one of the worst films ever. It seems to annoy all but the most ardent fans of 50s sci-fi B movies. Granted, it's no lite-entertainment piece. Mesa of Lost Women (MOLW) is disjointed, oddly acted or just too obtuse for most viewers. Despite all that, there really are still some points of interest.

In essence, the story line is similar to H.G. Wells' "Island of Dr. Moreau," but it is not a direct film adaptation, such as Island of Lost Souls (1933). MOLW takes the same theme of a rogue scientist creating humans from animals but adds its several of its own twists and skips others. What adds confusion is that the screenplay is structured as a double flashback. More on that in the Notes section. There are enough holes in the plot, non-sequetors and loose threads that MOLW frustrates the average viewer. This may be due to heavy-handed editing and/or the movie's murky parentage. More on that in the Notes section too.

Quick Plot Synopsis
MOLW opens with a man and woman found wandering through the desert. The flashbacks tell their tale (and the larger story too). Dr. Aranya (Jackie Coogan) has a lab on remote Zarpa Mesa in a Mexican desert. On the mesa, he swaps growth hormones between humans and spiders in an effort to produce a race of super humans. (Supposedly, spiders have an invincibility to them which he's trying to impart to humans.) With these invulnerable humans, he plans to rule the world. Spider hormones make beautiful women "special", but turns men into distorted dwarves. Human hormones in a spider create a huge "intellegent" spider. Dr. Aranya is able to communicate with his mute creations telepathically. Dr. Aranya lures a Dr. Leland Masterson, "world's foremost organo-therapist", to Zarpa Mesa in hopes of having him join him in his work. Instead, Masterson is aghast and refuses. He is drugged, turning him into a mental patient. Later, a deranged Masterson shoots Aranya's best spider woman, Tarantella, then hijacks a rich American's entourage and their plane. The plane, carrying six people crashes on Zarpa mesa. Some are killed by spiders or spider women, but the pilot (Grant), girl (Doreen) and Masterson are taken to the lab within. Masterson comes out of his drug stupor and blows up the lab. Grant and Doreen escape. No one believes their tale. The end.

Why is this movie fun?
Okay, "fun" is probably not the word. MOLW is not an easy movie to watch, given it's many rough edges. It is fun to see Jackie Coogan ten years before (and many pounds lighter than) his "fame" as Uncle Fester on the 60s Addam's Family TV series. There is also an element of the "Lost Women" archetype which is interesting. It doesn't quite follow the norm for that genre, adding some femme fatale twists. There is also a couple of threads of good-vs-evil theme which fade in and out. Other odd bits are fun to puzzle over.

A bit of trivia fun for watchers of old sci-fi is Dr. Aranya has in his lab the control panel and view scope "machine" that Vultura had on planet Atoma in the Captain Video serial. It was fun to spot an old prop getting some work.

Cold War Angle
There's none, really. This is good ol' fashioned evil scientist stuff.

Notes
Hijacked flashbacks -- What throws many viewers, is the layered flashback structure. The story starts out as if being told by Grant, but shifts to Pepe, the oil company's jeep driver, before Grant's flashback really gets started. Pepe's flashback is not a personal account (which confuses some people) but is a sort of collective account of what his people have heard or know of Dr. Aranya. All that is set-up or back story for the cantina scene where the Americans pick up the story. The 'extra' flashback really isn't all that bad. It's just atypical.

One "hit" wonder -- Herbert Tevos is credited for the screenplay. Somewhat mysteriously, he never wrote anything before or after. Tevos is said to have started filming a project for Howco Productions tentatively entitled "Tarantula", doing the directing himself. The project was halted because Tevos was too difficult to work with. Howco later had director Ron Ormond pick up the project, adding some footage to finish the project. It's been said that the Dr. Aranya footage is what Ormond added. Aranya is so pivotal to the plot, however, that he must have been in the original screenplay and not added later. Tevos is no Wells or Bradbury, but he clearly had some artistic vision in his head, though was too inexperienced to get that vision onto film clearly. Ormond didn't help much, but the project may have been too far along, or too little budgeted to fix.

Good vs. Evil -- Tarantella (Tandra Quinn) is Aranya's sensual creation. The other spider women are stoic. Tarantella represents the dark, "animal" side of female. Masterson, in his drug-induced derangement, proclaims Tarantella to be evil. He quotes from the Old Testament (2 Kings 9:33) about the death of evil queen Jezebel. Masterson also pronounces Doreen to be "good." Doreen, with shorter blond hair and modest suit dress, represents the virtuous woman. Then too, Aranya himself represents the dark side of science, while Masterson represents the moral and heroic side.

Loose Ends Theories -- 

-- What's up with Wu? It is significant that Wu and Tarantella know each other (nodding to each other in cantina). My guess is that Aranya used drugs to make human minions to do his bidding in the outside world. (including the mute women who drove Masterson to Zarpa) The drug did not make Wu mute (as it did the others) but did make him talk only in Chinese proverbs. (odd) The control-drug made Masterson demented rather than compliant. Wu eventually resists Aranya's will (moral objections) and gets killed for it. Wu's rebellion helps set up Masterson's. Wu, as Jan van Croft's valet, appears to have been assigned to bring Doreen to Zarpa. Wu tampered with the plane's compass. Apparently, the Wu/Doreen thread explains how Aranya gets 20-something white women to experiment upon.

-- What's with the lost comb? Yes, it's obtuse, but it's a symbolism thing that tips the love triangle. We start out with young Doreen engaged to old Jan van Croft. She doesn't "love" him but is marrying for security. She and Grant don't hit it off well at first, but during the crisis, he's heroic and caring, while van Croft is selfish. His obsession over the lost "heirloom" comb (and not for Doreen or anyone else) symbolizes his materialism. This negates him as a worthy mate and sends Doreen into Grant's arms.

-- Why is Tarantella different from the other spider-babes? She is like Dr. Moreau's panther woman -- a special project, pushing the envelope of the essence of woman-ness. All the other spider women are white (acquired like Doreen almost was), whereas Tarantella seems more of a local girl. White girls make stoic spider-women. Latinas make sensual ones. Tarantella appears to develop feelings for Masterson. How else to explain her being many miles from Zarpa, in the town Masterson was hospitalized in? Then there is her sensual "spider" dance for him in the cantina. The dance seemed to come as a response to Masterson fawning over Doreen. His ultimate rejection (he shoots her) is actually a deeper commentary on civilization-morality confronting (rejecting) animal-sensuality.

Bottom line? MOLW will be a difficult movie to watch, particularly for the heavy-handed musical score of flamenco guitar and piano. Sure, at a superficial level, MOLW seems like just another exploitation film, promising audiences some cheesecake, like Prehistoric Women ('50) and Wild Women ('51). It's not a "lite" flick, but despite its hack production and poor acting is actually a deeper film too cheaply done. It is not simply a "bad" one. For fans of 50s sci-fi, it's still worth watching.
The notes above give some suggestions for the case that MOLW is not total junk, but an odd spin on the Dr. Moreau theme. MOLW isn't a great film by any stretch, it's still worth watching.

Beast from 20,000 Fathoms

Beast (for short) is not a spectacular movie, but is an important milestone movie for the sci-fi genre. It kicked off a sub-genre that would prove very popular, and in many ways, become the stereotype of sci-fi B films. It was the first of the giant -creature-awakened-by-nukes subgenre. There were many to come in this class, but Beast was the first. The most famous will be Godzilla in 1954.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Scientists monitoring a nuclear test in the arctic inadvertently awaken a giant predatory dinosaur which had been frozen in the polar ice. Only one of the scientists catches a glimpse of the beast, but he is injured in the dino-caused ice quakes. While hospitalized, no one believes him. All assume he's delusional. He, Tom Nesbit, consults a world expert in paleontology, who remains highly skeptical. Dr. Elson's pretty young assistant, Lee Hunter, however, believes Tom. Meanwhile, a fishing boat off the Grand Banks is wrecked by the beast. A coastal town is mysteriously damaged.. A lighthouse is wrecked.

Eventually, the authorities consent to a diving bell search for the beast which is making its way down the east coast towards New York City. Dr. Elson, in the bell, is lost when he spots the beast just before being eaten by it. The Beast comes ashore in NYC, causing much panic and destruction as it stomps through the streets. The army is called out, but they cannot contain it. Drops of beast blood, from a bazooka wound, carry ancient germs which begin a plague. The beast must be stopped.

Nesbit advises that only a shot with a radioactive isotope, into the wound, will kill the beast an not spread more germs. The beast holes up in the roller coaster of Coney Island, wrecking a good deal of it. The marksman hits his spot, but in its death agonies, the beast starts a dramatic fire of the coaster's ruins. He dies dramatically on the beach. NYC is saved. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Firstly, because it was the first of a popular sub-genre. The creator of Godzillia is said to have based his tale on Beast, though he may not have seen it. The parallels are unmistakable. Secondly, Beast is the first artistic effort by master-animator Ray Harryhausen. Stop-motion animation had been around for a long time (King Kong in the 30s and Lost World in the 20s), but Harryhausen brought an artist's heart to the task. His fictional dinosaur -- a Rhedosaur -- moves and reacts quite credibly. Others will copy Harryhausen work, but almost never equal to his skill. Lastly, there are little bits in the dialogue which are fun. More on that below.

Cold War Angle
It has been said (and occasionally rebuffed) that much of the 50s' sci-fi was allegory for Cold War or Nuclear anxieties. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't. Beast clearly is. The movie opens with a nuclear test. That testing awakens the beast. Trailers for the movie left little room for doubt. "Are we delving into mysteries we weren't meant to know?" (superimposed over nuclear test mushroom cloud footage) "Is mankind challenging powers behind the cosmic barriers?"
An interesting double standard is that the Rhedosaur represents the destructive potential of nuclear power, yet it was a radioactive isotope that was the solution. This highlights the double-mindedness of people in the 50s. Nuclear power was both frightening and yet still seemed like a fascinating blessing too.

Notes
Ray Bradbury Conection? -- The opening credits say that the story is "suggested by" a Saturday Evening Post story written by Ray Bradbury. This isn't actually true, but is a great example of name dropping to make a buck.
Ray Bradbury and Ray Harryhousen had been friends many years prior, and both were fond of dinosaurs. Bradbury wrote a short story entitled: "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms," which ran in the June 23, 1951 edition of the Saturday Evening Post. (more on his story below) A year or so later, Hal Chester and Jack Dietz begin to produce a dinosaur-loose-in-NYC movie using Ray Harryhousen. Their working title was, "Monster from Beneath the Sea." Since the two Rays were friends, it was inevitable that Bradbury would eventually hear of the movie and visa versa. Dietz and Chester were aghast that to find out Bradbury had written a similar story two years before. While their Beast movie was an independent work, its writers may well have been influenced by Bradbury's story.
To ease legal troubles, they bought the rights to Bradbury's story. Sensing a benefit, they changed the title of their movie to match Bradbury's story. There was a little collaboration, but Bradbury's contribution to the Beast movie was minimal. Harryhousen lobbied to insert a lighthouse scene. Bradbury would later re-issue his short story, but with a new title: The Fog Horn.

Bradbury's Tale -- The original short story was one about loneliness and the rage loneliness can bring. A giant sea monster, perhaps the last of his kind on earth, is attracted to the sound of a lighthouse's fog horn. It sounds just like the mating call of the female sea monster. At his approach, the keepers turn off the horn. This sends the monster into a rage of both anger at the deception and at crushing of a hope. He destroys the lighthouse.

Harryhausen Tale -- Ray Harryhausen was granted a good deal of artistic freedom in the movie. He suggested changes, inserted scenes and directed the story flow. As such, Beast was effectively co-written by Harryhausen. His beast, like Bradbury's is all alone. Instead of seeking a fog horn, his beast follows an ancient migratory path to its ancestral home, the Hudson River. Along the route, he finds a lighthouse and destroys it, for a deliberate parallel to Bradbury's story. When he gets "home", he finds New York City there instead of any kin. The way Harryhousen models him, the Rhedosaur is more a giant frightened orphan puppy in scary and dangerous place. The destruction he causes is unintentional (he's just huge) or semi-justified retaliation. In the end, you almost feel bad that he had to die. Not as much so as King Kong elicited, but some sympathy still.

Interesting Scenes -- At one point, Colonel Evans is scoffing at the idea of living prehistoric beasts. "Next thing, they'll be trying to get me to believe in flying saucers." To which, Dr. Elson asks, "You don't believe in flying saucers? Why not?" This tiny little bit of wit may have been picked up by movie-goers in 1953, but is probably lost on modern audiences. Colonel Evans was played by Kenneth Toby, who starred in The Thing just two years prior. In that movie he battled an alien who had landed in a flying saucer. I have no doubt that movie audiences would have recognized Tobey's prior role and been amused at the reference.

Nothing shocks New Yorkers -- As the Rhedosaur moves from the waterfront to downtown, a lone NYPD cop walks resolutely against the human tide fleeing the beast. He strikes a very Clint Eastwood air. He deliberately takes out his service revolver and fires at the beast. When that was ineffective, he calmly reloads. (The beast then eats him). A New York cop is unflappable. "Hmmm. I'll have no giant dinosaurs rampaging through MY beat..." The stoic tough-guy hero cop scene was amusing.

Bottom line? Beast is pretty mild for modern tastes, but was a bigger deal at it's time. It is still entertaining enough, provided the viewer's modern CGI expectations can be reigned in. As an historical benchmark, Beast is well worth seeing -- the first nuke-made monster movie.

Phantom from Space

Released in May of 1953, Phantom from Space (PFS) was quickly overshadowed by that year's more notable sci-fi films. Compared to Invaders From Mars and War of the Worlds, PFS is a rather dowdy B-film. This is the first effort of father-and-son team of W. Lee Wilder (director) and his son Myles as writer. This team would go on to produce several similarly dowdy B-films, not all of the sci-fi genre, but a few within it.

For most of the film, the structure is more of a crime drama, with a murder, suspects, witnesses and teams of investigators coming up empty. Only much later in the movie does the alien become one of the actors. In fact, the second half of the movie almost seems like a separate production. While almost forgettable, PFS has a couple of merits. More on those below.

The ending is almost flat. Once the alien dies, there is almost NO philosophizing or musing over the fact that they've just made contact with an advance alien life form. It's all rather humdrum. "Oh look, it's morning..." and everyone leaves. (???)

Quick Plot Synopsis
An unidentified flying object is spotted over Alaska, flying at 5,000 mph. It eventually disappears from radar off the California coast.
Shortly afterward, strange interferences with radio and TV are reported. A man is killed on the beach. Later, a shop owner is found dead too. A mysterious explosion and fire at a nearby oil field has all investigators in the area. They corner the alien in a store room. The alien takes off his space suit and helmet to reveal that he's invisible! From there, the action shift to the lab where scientists try to analyze his suit without success. Eventually the female lead encounters the alien who seems intent on trying to communicate, perhaps about his running out of "his" air supply. Everyone chases him up into the observatory's telescope room where they can "see" him with UV light. The alien dies for lack of "air" then evaporates. All is safe again.

Why is this movie fun?
Actually, there's not a whole lot of fun in PFS, but there are a couple points. The beginning is ponderously slow, but the idea that there is a Communication Commission which goes around in cars with big antennae on their hoods is kinda fun. Big Brother was "cool" back then. Another fun bit is that the alien's space suit was a re-use of the suits from Destination Moon (1950). Those suits show up in a lot of B-movies, so spotting this one is like seeing a friend on TV. The helmet too, may be a modified Destination Moon prop, but really reminds me of the one in Robot Monster which was only a month away. Finally, the heavy use of the Theremin for "mood" music is amusing. In case you didn't know the name, the Theremin was that electronic synthesizer (invented in 1919) which made those creepy "Oh-WEE-oh-ooooo" sound effects. It gets a lot of use in PFS.

A fun bit for B-movie fans is to watch the actors closely. Yes, their acting is wooden and emotionless. But, watch how they deliver their lines. They say their line, then sit back waiting for their next line. You'd think an alien from another world was just another petty criminal. No big deal. Seen it all before, ma'am.

Cold War Angle?
The Russians aren't cited specifically, but are alluded to. When the "action" shifts from simple crime drama to spy drama, the investigators say things like: "That outfit doesn't look like one of ours." To which another replies, "You mean...sabotage?" The writer and producer were banking on audiences having a heightened sensitivity to spies and sabotage to keep interest up.

Notes
The Misunderstood Alien -- While aliens were shaping up to be the bad guys (by and large) by this point, PFS still plays on the earlier ambivalence. Were aliens good or bad? In this regard, PFS is akin to 1951's Man From Planet X in having the poor misunderstood alien.

They're After Our Women -- PFS has a brief scene which fits the iconic plot device of They're After Our Women. The posters show the alien in his spacesuit, carrying the woman, but in the movie it is the invisible alien who carries an unconscious Barbara from one lab to another. Even though his intentions seem benign enough, her lab coat is torn, completing the abduction/ravage icon elements.

More To Come -- The Wilder team would go on to produce Killers From Space and The Snow Creature in 1954, but these would have the same weak B-film qualities as PFS. Killers, however, would at least become more memorable, if only for it's more over-the-top hokeyness.

It came from outer space

It came... (ICFOS) is one of those lesser known 50s sci fi films which really deserves to be better known. On a surface level, ICFOS has good pacing. Director Jack Arnold (who would direct several other big 50s sci fi films) does a good job of keeping up the intrigue and tension. Even when the movie is over, the overall effect is more thoughtful than most B-films. It helps that the screenplay is an adaptation of Ray Bradbury's "The Meteor." All this helps ICFOS rise above the average 50s B movie.

ICFOS was filmed for the 3D, which was all the rage in the early 50s, but works perfectly well in 2D. The overall story is step up too, rising above the typical Cold War cautionary tale. Instead, it's an introspective about mankind, both our strengths and weaknesses when facing the unknown. This is rather cerebral stuff for a B-film.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A meteor crashes in the desert night outside of Sand Rock, Arizona. Astronomer John Putnam (played by Richard Carlson) investigates. In the impact crater, he finds sees the hull of a ship with its hatch open. No one believes him, because a landslide covered the hull. Putnam discovers that various town folk have been "taken over" by the aliens. A couple of the possessed folk tell Putnam that they mean no harm. The sheriff eventually believes him when spouses also report odd behaviors. The aliens capture Putnam's fiancee, Ellen, which provokes the sheriff into raising a posse to confront the aliens. Putnam gets to the crash site first and confronts the aliens in the abandoned mine. They say they mean no harm, but crashed on earth by mistake and just want to repair their ship and leave. Putnam convinces the aliens that only by releasing the real townsfolk will the posse by appeased. They do, and it works. The aliens finish repairs to their ship and fly off in a shower of sparks.

Why is this movie fun?
Seeing some familiar faces is fun. Richard Carlson starred in Magnetic Monster is great as the stalwart but misunderstood hero. Barbara Rush who starred in When World's Collide plays Ellen very well. She's no mere cheesecake. Russell Johnson, who will feature in many future sci-fi films, plays George, the first person "possessed" by the aliens. All of the actors do a good job.

Arnold introduced a fun first in ICFOS: the alien point of view -- this was made unmistakable by our looking through faintly reflected moist cycloptic eye and oddly Darth Vadar-like breathing sounds. At other times, we whisk along the telephone wires watching the cars of people about to be confronted by the aliens. (apparently, they can 'transmit' themselves) This is a stroke of genius for the story line. It prevents the audience from forming the usual "us versus them" mindset typical of monster movies, such as in The Thing ('51).

Also fun is the strengthening of the alien-possessed-person plot device. We saw it first in The Man from Planet X ('51) in a similar capacity of people helping the alien work on his ship. Those folks weren't really possessed so much as under mind control. In Invaders from Mars('53), people were also taken over to help the aliens. In ICFOS, the possessed are actually duplicates, not the originals under remote control. This pushes the concept into new ground.

Cold War Angle
Actually, there isn't much, if any, of a Cold War metaphor in ICFOS. There is a more general anti-hostility message, but that fits far more of the human condition than just the Cold War.

Notes
Un-human aliens -- The aliens in ICFOS look a little hokey when you get a good look at them, but that's not important.
This is a B-film, after all. What's notable is that the aliens are very different. They're not humanoid. The Man from Planet X was small, but still a humanoid shape. The Thing (1951) was big, but still a biped with a head, arms, torso, etc.. The martian in Invaders from Mars was less humanoid, being a big head with six little tentacles, but it still had a very human face. ICFOS may have the first radically non-humanoid alien life forms. They were big, potato-like creatures with one large eye and wispy frond-like appendages. This was a significant moment in sci-fi movie history. Aliens could be totally weird and not just people dressed up in hoodies with lighting bolt logos on their chests.

The Message -- ICFOS has a definite moral to the story. Mankind is not all that grown up and sophisticated. The alien tells Putnam, ""Let us stay apart, the people of your world and ours. If we come together, there will only be destruction." This is more true for the aliens as at least two of them die. (fake-Frank and fake-Ellen), but interestingly, no humans are actually harmed. Putnam later says to the sheriff for why the aliens don't show themselves. "They don't trust us...because what we don't understand we want to destroy. That's why they hide." Message: mankind isn't mature enough for the stars. Yet the tone isn't too pessimistic. As the crowd watch the ship fly away in a shower of sparks, Putnam says, ""Well, they've gone. "it wasn't the right time for us to meet....they'll be back."