ALL SCI-FI

Bud Brewster · Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2015 5:12 pm Post subject: Missile to the Moon (1958)

Director Richard E. Cunha decided to remake "Cat Women of the Moon" just six years after the notorious original. He didn't improve it a bit -- in fact, it might be worse. He used some imaginative cost-cutting measures to create the sets -- which unfortunately didn't work worth a crap.

For example, when the builder of a private moon ship opens the curtains in his living room to show a visiting general his spacecraft located outside, the rocket is a two-dimensional mockup positioned just outside the window!

And when the spacemen land on the moon, the full-sized mockup of the rocket they stand beneath is obviously just a flat cardboard mockup! Notice that the shadow is just a thin line on the ground. The top of the poor thing doesn't even reach the top of the frame, and it's visibly damaged. It appears to be patterned after the popular rocket used in Flight to Mars and several other 1950s sci-fi movies.

The lunar "rockmen" which attack the astronauts are very convincing -- except that the actors' noses appear to protrude from the featureless stone heads of the costumes!

I figure it was a subtle joke played by the creators of the costume: a nose smack in the middle on the stone "face". Look closely and there's even the suggestion of eyes. It's not easy to see, so I doubt many folks have ever noticed it.

The plot and the acting are equally uproarious. After learning that the government is going to take over his private moon-rocket project, a scientist discovers two young fugitives hiding inside his spacecraft.

He pulls out a gun and threatens to shot them if they don't agree to serve as crewmen on his lunar voyage. During the trip, the scientist reveals that he is actually an alien from the Moon -- and he built the rocket to get back home!

The rocket's control is more impressive in this behind-the-scenes photo that in the movie itself.

The lunar civilization is comprised mostly of former beauty contest winners, all dressed in high heels and old fashioned Las Vagas show-girl costumes.

Gary Clark (How to Make a Monster) plays one of the young escapees. Also starring Richard Travis, K. T. Stevens, Cathy Downs, and Tommy Cook. Look for lovely Leslie Parrish (Lil' Abner - 1959) as a principle character.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

orzel-w · Galactic Ambassador Joined: 19 Sep 2014 Posts: 1865

Bud Brewster · Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2015 7:21 pm Post subject:

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And the silver line right down the middle -- what's that? A support to hold the "rocket" up? Why would it be in front instead of in back?
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

orzel-w · Galactic Ambassador Joined: 19 Sep 2014 Posts: 1865

Robert (Butch) Day · Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2015 3:25 am Post subject: Re: Missile to the Moon - (1959)

scotpens · Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2015 4:02 am Post subject: Re: Missile to the Moon - (1959)

Bud Brewster · Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2015 12:46 am Post subject: Re: Missile to the Moon - (1959)

Pow · Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2015 9:00 am Post subject:

These rockmen remind me that William Shatner wanted to have some kind of rock creatures in the Star Trek film The Final Frontier which he directed.
Got cut due to budget. Doubt it would have helped that mess of a movie.

Krel · Guest

Bud Brewster · Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2015 2:16 pm Post subject:

Robert (Butch) Day · Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2015 3:36 pm Post subject:

Pow · Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2015 6:36 am Post subject:

I will always wonder what this movie could have been like if they had used the script Harlan Ellison had written for ST:TMP?

Bud Brewster · Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2017 6:58 pm Post subject: Re: Missile to the Moon - (1959)

Maurice · Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2017 2:16 am Post subject:

Bud Brewster · Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2017 1:08 pm Post subject:

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On All Sci-Fi we don't worry about "hi-jacking" threads. (Well, at least I don't.)

Here's why.

A discussion should be allowed to wander into related subjects that occur to the members, simply through free association. The comments above are a perfect example.

Pow wondered about a Harlan Ellison script. You offered some additional info on the subject, including budget comparisons between Star Trek movies (since Pow mentioned Ellison's work on scripts for Star Trek movies).

Chances are, somebody else will make a comment on how different Missile to the Moon would have been with exactly the same script but a much larger budget.

Eventually the discussion wanders back to the original movie in a natural manner. But without the tangent it went off on for a while, it might not have been energized by new ideas that came out of the "off topic" comments.

And we all know that sometimes it's tough to think of new things to say about these movies without new thoughts being inspired while we wandering around a bit! Very Happy

I think of threads as if they were discussions at a party. If a group is talking about baseball, and somebody mentions that he wished baseball games had cheerleaders, the conversation will wander into the subject of football, and then perhaps into hockey.

Nobody in the group is going to suddenly say, "Hey, guys! Stay on topic! We're talking about baseball." But eventually it might just come back to that subject on it's own.

So, that's why I don't sweat "off topic" posts. Very Happy

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)