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Project Moonbase (1953)

 
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 05, 2015 3:28 pm    Post subject: Project Moonbase (1953) Reply with quote



This is actually several episodes of an unsold television series by director by Richard Talmadge, edited into a feature starring Ross Ford, Donna Martell, and Hayden Rourke.

The plot involves a "communist saboteur" who damages a spacecraft on a lunar orbital mission, making it necessary for the ship to land on the Moon -- the first lunar landing.

The costumes are a bit bizarre; the astronauts wear shorts, t-shirts, skullcaps, and boots. A female president congratulates the astronauts (both male and female). One of the astronauts is the first person to orbit the Earth -- the woman.

These bold aspects of the story might have contributed to it being rejected in 1953. Too progressive.

But the FX are stellar, and the shots of the space port near the beginning are the stuff of which a sci-fi lovin' kid's dreams are made.



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Last edited by Bud Brewster on Tue Aug 23, 2022 4:13 pm; edited 7 times in total
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 02, 2016 9:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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Brother, if I'd seen this at a theater in 1954 at the age of five, I'd have been in hog heaven.

Even seeing it for the first time just a few years ago, I still enjoyed it thoroughly. It's by the same folks who did Rocky Jones I think, only with a bigger budget. The prints have been beautifully preserved (unlike Rocky, I'm sorry to say), so the DVD of it is gorgeous.

Enjoy this trailer and then buy it immediately. Those are direct orders from Space Command and must be obeyed! Very Happy




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Robert (Butch) Day
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 03, 2016 8:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

This was intended as a semi-sequel to Destination Moon (1950). It was co-written by Robert A. Heinlein.
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Krel
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 03, 2016 1:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

According to Filmfax magazine, they never made the tv show, funding collapsed before they could film it. But, they had already built the costumes, sets, props and models, so they were able to secure funds to do a movie.

It is hilariously sexist. Over the falls in a barrel sexist to the point where I wonder if it was done intentionally for comedic purposes.

The model work was done by Jacque Fresca. Look up the Venus Project for more examples of his model work and photography.

David.
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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 06, 2016 11:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Looking at this from the present it IS amazingly sexist, but then so are many 50's films and TV shows.

MEN INTO SPACE has been showing on COMET TV on Sunday nights after MST3K and many of those are terribly sexist, to the extreme that women don't belong in space, or as pilots, or as anything other than staying in the kitchen baking cakes. The resolutions of these stories always revert to the woman using her "womanly wiles" and the men wink-wink about the conflict.

Robert Heinlien did write the story and much of the dialog reflects this. It seems to be influenced by his short story Delilah and the Space Jockey (also known as Delilah and the Space Rigger.)
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 07, 2016 3:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Gord Green wrote:
Looking at this from the present it IS amazingly sexist, but then so are many 50's films and TV shows.

In it's defense, it does start right off establishing that the first person to achieve orbit was a woman (Donna Martell), and the president of the United Space is a woman, too (Ernestine Barrier).

The attitude of the men was masculine, based on the culture of the time (and fun to watch). But they certainly didn't assume that the women belonged in the kitchen and not in space.

The leading lady is a wonderful combination of competence, intelligence, determination, and very appealing femininity. She looked very adult and dignified in some scenes, and very sweet in others.






I have to admire the morality of the era for wanting to have the two attractive astronauts be married while they waited for months to be rescued on the Moon. Since they were both very agreeable to the idea, it would certainly put a positive spin on anything that happened after that — like the woman getting pregnant. It made for much better publicity.

Instead of this headline —


Stranded Astronauts Have Illicit Sex Like Rabbits and Produce First Bastard Child in Space!

— the headline would read —

America's Moonbase Celebrates Its First Birth as the Happy Honeymooners Announce, "It's A Boy!"

Just think how much easier it would be to get funding from Congress for a noble family who established a lunar base, instead of for two horny folks who crash landed and then laid around banging each other in 1/6th gravity! Shocked
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 21, 2016 12:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Interesting IMDB trivia item.
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This was initially intended as a pilot film for a TV series to be called "Ring Around the Moon". When science-fiction movies suddenly became popular, producer Jack Seaman added enough footage to the film to bring it up to feature length. This was done without the knowledge of writer Robert A. Heinlein, and he disowned the result.
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I wonder what aspects of the additional scenes Heinlein didn't like?
Confused
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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 08, 2017 11:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wikapedia reports "

Quote:
This movie and Cat-Women of the Moon (1953) were made using some of the same sets and costumes. The two films were then released within one day of each other.

The film was shot in 10 days.

The most obvious was the use of the spaceship sets.



I also liked the sence of humor shown as well!



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bulldogtrekker
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 09, 2017 10:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

This is one of favorite low-budget sci-fi movies and is similar to Cat Women of the Moon, Missile to the Moon and War of the Satellites, but much more fun.



Donna Martell is fun to watch and is easy on the eyes.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 20, 2019 10:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

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Happy 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing! Very Happy

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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 05, 2022 3:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

IMDB has several interesting trivia items for this production. Very Happy
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~ This movie and Cat-Women of the Moon (1953) were made using some of the same sets and costumes. Both use spacesuits from Destination Moon (1950), but Project Moon Base had new helmets made instead. The two films were then released within one day of each other, September 3 and 4.

Note from me: Cat-Women of the Moon is pretty bad. But Project Moonbase was written by Robert Heinlein, and it looks it. I love the movie and I have the crystal clear DVD. And this next item surprised me.

~ The dialogue and space uniforms (including shorts and skull-cap helmets) is pure Heinlein.

Note from me: As unlikely as it seems that astronauts would wear T-shirts and shorts on a spacecraft, the ISS crew do in fact dress in comfortable clothes similar to the ones in this fun little movie. Very Happy










~ Included is an early cinematic example of the word "warp" (used as a verb) in the science fiction space travel genre. This occurs around the 24 minute mark. A message is given by "Space Control" to the crew of "Rocket ship Mexico". Quote: "We will warp you to park at three", referring to dock number three on the orbiting space station.

Note from me: Obviously Mr. Heinlein liked the word "warp" in conjunction with space flight.

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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 02, 2022 2:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Krel wrote:
It is hilariously sexist. Over the falls in a barrel sexist to the point where I wonder if it was done intentionally for comedic purposes.

Admittedly there are sexist elements in the plot that reflect the male-centric society of the 50s.

But these elements are counter-balanced by the fact that the story puts an intelligent and strong-willed women in the lead role — the first astronaut to go into space! Cool

That, along with other moments in the story, are in direct opposition to the condescending attitude towards women in the 1950s.

So, I think this movie was deliberately spotlighting the mistaken assumption that females were "the weaker of the sexes".

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