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Missile to the Moon
Missile to the Moon
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Richard E. Cunha
Written by	H. E. Barrie; Vincent Fotre;
Produced by	Marc Frederic
Starring	Richard Travis; Cathy Downs; K. T. Stevens; Leslie Parrish;
Cinematography	Meredith M. Nicholson
Edited by	Everett Dodd
Music by	Nicholas Carras
Production; company	Layton Film Productions
Distributed by	Astor Pictures
Release date	December 15, 1958;
Running time	78 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$65,000

Missile to the Moon is a 1958 independently made American black-and-white science fiction film drama, produced by Marc Frederic, directed by Richard E. Cunha,^[1] that stars Richard Travis, Cathy Downs, and K. T. Stevens.^[2] The film was distributed by Astor Pictures and is a remake of an earlier Astor Pictures-distributed film, Cat-Women of the Moon (1953). Missile to the Moon was released in late 1958 as a double feature with Cunha's Frankenstein's Daughter.

A spaceship blasts off from Earth with five aboard, but one of them is secretly a Moon man returning home. He dies by accident during the trip to Luna. What the remaining four find waiting for them when they arrive on the Moon is well beyond their expectations: huge rock creatures, giant lunar spiders, and a cave-dwelling civilization made up of beautiful women.^[3]

Plot

Two escaped convicts, Gary and Lon, are discovered hiding aboard a rocket by scientist Dirk Green, who then forces them to pilot the spaceship to the Moon. Dirk, who is secretly a Moon man, wants to return home.

Dirk's partner Steve Dayton and Steve's fiancée June are accidentally trapped aboard just before the rocketship blasts off from Earth.

Moon man Dirk is later accidentally killed in a meteor storm during the lunar trip. Once they land on the Moon, the spaceship's reluctant crew encounter deception and intrigue when they discover an underground kingdom made up of beautiful women and their sinister female ruler, the Lido.

While on the Moon, the Earthers encounter surface-dwelling, slow-moving, bipedal large rock creatures that try to crush them. They must also contend with a cave-dwelling, not-so-giant spider that attacks them.^[4]

Cast

Richard Travis as Steve Dayton
Cathy Downs as June Saxton ^{[Note 1]}
K. T. Stevens as the Lido
Tommy Cook as Gary Fennell
Gary Clarke as Lon
Michael Whalen as Dirk Green
Nina Bara as Alpha
Laurie Mitchell as Lambda
Marjorie Hellen (Leslie Parrish) as Zema
Henry Hunter as Colonel Wickers
Lee Roberts as Sheriff Cramer
Pat Mowry as Moon girl
Tania Velia as Moon girl ^{[Note 2]}
Sanita Pelkey as Moon girl
Lisa Simone as Moon girl
Mary Ford as Moon girl ^{[Note 3]}
Marianne Gaba as Moon girl
Sandra Wirth as Moon girl

Production

Missile to the Moon was an even lower-budget remake of the low-budget science fiction film drama Cat-Women of the Moon (1953) and closely follows the plot details of that earlier feature.^[4] That film offered 3D as its big attraction, but all its male characters were middle-aged. The 1958 remake opted to better appeal to a teenage audience by adding a pair of youthful escaped convicts, one a good kid who had made a mistake, the other an incorrigible crook, and providing them with lunar love interests in due course. In the 1953 film, the bit players portraying the minor Moon maidens are described as "Hollywood cover girls"; in the remake, they are credited as "international beauty contest winners".

A red camera filter was used to make the blue sky photograph very dark on the black-and-white film, but the result was still far from the ideal starry black. Bits of scrubby vegetation could be seen in the background of some shots. No attempt is made to convince the viewer that the Moon is an airless void where humans would weigh one-sixth their normal Earth weight. When one of the space-suited astronauts is forced into direct sunlight, unshielded from its intensity, he bursts into flames, despite the lack of an external oxygen atmosphere; in seconds he is reduced to a skeleton.^[4]

The large, slow-moving rock creatures have a passing resemblance to the shape of Gumby, the popular stop motion clay animation children's television character introduced in 1955.^[5]

The giant spider prop was wire-controlled from above; it is exactly the same "Moon spider" used five years earlier in Cat-Women of the Moon.^[6]

Nina Bara, in the role of the evil, scheming, back-stabbing Alpha, was familiar to genre audiences from her role as Tonga on the television series Space Patrol (1950-1955). Popular 1960s/1970s television and film star Leslie Parrish also co-stars, billed under her real name Marjorie Hellen.

Reception and legacy

The film is regarded as a drive-in camp classic.^[7]^[8] Film historians Kim R. Holston and Tom Winchester noted that the film was "... (a) low-budget, scientifically inaccurate hoot ..."^[9] Film reviewer Glenn Erickson commented on DVD Talk that the film "is nobody's idea of a good movie ... a hoot, a real knee-slapper," but added "how can the worst space movie ever made, be the worst space movie ever made, if it's such a delight?"^[10] Writing in AllMovie, critic Paula Gaita described the film as "woefully cheap and naïve," but noted that it "offers a wealth of juvenile delights, with its improbable monsters, wonky science, and serial-style hidden civilization."^[11] A review of the film in TV Guide described it as "a third-rate science fiction picture" that is "bad enough for a laugh."^[12]

The film was twice spoofed on RiffTrax^[13]^[8]

References

Notes

^ Cathy Downs appeared in her final film role.
^ Tania Velia was "Miss Yugoslavia, 1952".
^ Mary Ford is incorrectly billed in the film as "Miss Minnesota," confusing her with a different Mary Ford.

Citations

^ MUBI
^ "Missile to the Moon". American Film Institute Catalog. Retrieved 7 October 2024.
^ "Notes: Missile to the Moon (1958)." Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved: November 6, 2014.
^ ^a ^b ^c Jalufka et al. 2001, pp. 190–191.
^ Lloyd, Robert. "Even now, Gumby has that special dimension." The Los Angeles Times, July 9, 2006. Retrieved: November 7, 2010.
^ Johnson 1996, p. 23.
^ DON’T OPEN THAT DOOR!: #3 – ‘MISSILE TO THE MOON’ (1959)|PopMatters
^ ^a ^b RiffTrax
^ Holston and Winchester 1997, p. 78.
^ Erickson, Glenn. "Review: Missile to the Moon." DVD Savant, July 22, 2000. Retrieved: November 6, 2014.
^ Gaita, Paula. "Missile to the Moon (1958)". AllMovie. Netaktion LLC. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
^ "Missile to the Moon". TV Guide. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
^ Mike Nelson and Fred Willard edition|RiffTrax

Bibliography

Holston, Kim R. and Tom Winchester. Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Film Sequels, Series and Remakes: An Illustrated Filmography. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 1997. ISBN 978-0-7864-0155-0.
Jalufka, Dona A., Christian Koeber, Cesare Barbieri and Francesca Rampazzi, eds. "Moonstruck: How Realistic Is The Moon Depicted In Classic Science Fiction Films?""Proceedings, Earth-Moon Relationships Padova, Italy: Springer, 2001. ISBN 0-7923-7089-9.
Johnson, John. Cheap Tricks and Class Acts: Special Effects, Makeup, and Stunts from the Films of the Fantastic Fifties. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 1996. ISBN 0-7864-0093-5.
Strick, Philip. Science Fiction Movies. New York: Octopus Books Limited, 1976.ISBN 0-7064-0470-X.
Warren, Bill. Keep Watching the Skies: American Science Fiction Films of the Fifties, 21st Century Edition. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2009. ISBN 0-89950-032-3.