Dirk Green(Michael Whalen)wants to keep the spaceship he built to himself without any interference from the government. When he finds a couple of escaped convicts hiding in the craft, he forces Lon(Gary Clarke)and Gene(Tommy Cook)to become his crew and it is all systems go. The missile is launched and found aboard are Dirk's science technician and partner Steve(Richard Travis)and his fiancée June(Cathy Down). Before the ship even lands on the moon, Dirk is accidentally killed and nobody else knows that he is actually a previous inhabitant of the moon trying to get back. The adventurers land on the moon and find a dying civilization of beautiful women under the rule of The Lido(K.T. Stevens). There are also some "rock monsters" that look like man-size stone Gumbies. Thus this low budget affair has very primitive special effects and is no showcase for recognizable acting abilities.
49 Reviews
"Take me to your Ledo..."
robertguttman30 September 2017
It is curious how entertaining bad 1950s science-fiction movies can be. The cheesy production values, the absurd story lines, the ridiculous scientific details and the bad acting somehow all combine to make them a lot of fun to watch. "Missile to the Moon" is a prime example.
A couple of punks break out of prison and manage to take refuge in a space ship, despite the fact that the ship is surrounded by an electrified fence. Rather than turn the two creeps in to the cops, the designer of the ship impresses the two escaped convicts to serve as his crew. After teaching them everything they need to know about how to fly a rocket ship in about five minutes, the three take off for the moon. However, not before two stowaways manage to join them aboard the ship, namely the designer's assistant and his girlfriend.
Once on the moon, the intrepid astronauts find that it is a great deal different from what terrestrial scientists now know to be the case. The moon is inhabited by "rock monsters" with an instinct to pursue humans (albeit very slowly), giant marionette spiders and a community of sex-starved, green-skinned women ruled by a blind queen referred to as "The Ledo". Most of the moon-bimbos are played by an assortment of winners of minor beauty contests who were probably told that being in this movie would be a great way to break into the movies (it wasn't).
There were conspiracy theorists who believed at the time, and some who still believe, that Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong never really landed on the moon in 1969, and that the whole moon landing was nothing but an elaborate government hoax. Perhaps the fact that Aldrin and Armstrong never mentioned anything about encountering "rock monsters", giant marionette spiders or green space-broads on the moon is proof that those conspiracy theorists were right after all.
A couple of punks break out of prison and manage to take refuge in a space ship, despite the fact that the ship is surrounded by an electrified fence. Rather than turn the two creeps in to the cops, the designer of the ship impresses the two escaped convicts to serve as his crew. After teaching them everything they need to know about how to fly a rocket ship in about five minutes, the three take off for the moon. However, not before two stowaways manage to join them aboard the ship, namely the designer's assistant and his girlfriend.
Once on the moon, the intrepid astronauts find that it is a great deal different from what terrestrial scientists now know to be the case. The moon is inhabited by "rock monsters" with an instinct to pursue humans (albeit very slowly), giant marionette spiders and a community of sex-starved, green-skinned women ruled by a blind queen referred to as "The Ledo". Most of the moon-bimbos are played by an assortment of winners of minor beauty contests who were probably told that being in this movie would be a great way to break into the movies (it wasn't).
There were conspiracy theorists who believed at the time, and some who still believe, that Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong never really landed on the moon in 1969, and that the whole moon landing was nothing but an elaborate government hoax. Perhaps the fact that Aldrin and Armstrong never mentioned anything about encountering "rock monsters", giant marionette spiders or green space-broads on the moon is proof that those conspiracy theorists were right after all.
Bottom-of-the-barrel space-cheesecake
jamesrupert20145 June 2019
This remake of the equally dire (but more influential) 'Cat-women of the Moon' (1953) finds an engineer, his fiancée, and a couple of escaped cons captured (and captivated) by a bevy of leggy moon-maids living under the lunar surface. The film makes little attempt for visual cohesiveness (the V2 rocket used for the takeoff/landing sequences looks nothing like the spaceship shown at the beginning) and the plot makes little or no sense. The science in the fiction is completely inept, with flames burning and sound travelling in the lunar vacuum, the lunar sunlight being hot enough to instantly incinerate a person, and a breathable atmosphere in caverns that are contiguous with the lunar surface. The story, yet another spin on the teen-bait 'sexy space women in need of men' trope makes little sense, the script is dull, predictable and humourless, and the B/C-list cast underwhelming in their generally hackneyed roles (although most of the moon denizens were not likely chosen for their thespian skills). 'Star Trek' fans may recognised the lovely Leslie Parish ("Zeta"), who 10 years later falls for Apollo in the classic TOS episode 'Who Mourns for Adonis?'. Other than the lithic Gumbys that lurk on the lunar surface "Missile to the Moon" is an unnecessary remake that just recycles stock-footage and props from 'Cat-women of the Moon', (including the remarkably unconvincing tarantula) and is not really worth watching by anyone except hard-core sci-fi-schlock fans (admittedly not that rare a breed).
Makes "Cat Women of the Moon" look like DeMille.
jnselko28 July 2005
It's hard to believe that anyone would want to re-make "Cat Women...", but I guess plagiarism knows no bounds. Unfortunately, the humor of the original (which continues to crack me up) was only funny the first time, and this attempt at re-animation reeks. The original at least had some good actors/actresses (Victor Jory, Marie Windsor, Bill Phipps...), but this one is a thespian black hole. Everything from CWOTM is here: telepathic communication with a crew member, subterranean all-woman civilization, giant cave spider... Oh, there is one HUGE "difference": the greedy "crewman" who goes after diamonds (instead of the gold of COTW) which are as common as quartz on this version of the moon.
The crew of this rocket (which has an exhaust manifold about the size of a large pizza) is a mad scientist, two escaped cons, and a pair of unwitting stowaways (one- of course- a woman) who, when the rocket blasts off, grab air masks "..because soon we'll be out of the earth's atmosphere". The masks are old fighter pilot jobbies, and are unconnected to anything at all, let alone an oxygen tank.
Already in a deep hole, this flick goes downhill rapidly from there: The rocket just happened to have a ladies space suit (and of course she's wearing pearls and high heels); the "moon" has plants growing on it; rock creatures which attack at the speed of "The Crawling Terror", yet (of course) our intrepid band cannot elude or outdistance them; and on and on and on...
What a stinker!
The crew of this rocket (which has an exhaust manifold about the size of a large pizza) is a mad scientist, two escaped cons, and a pair of unwitting stowaways (one- of course- a woman) who, when the rocket blasts off, grab air masks "..because soon we'll be out of the earth's atmosphere". The masks are old fighter pilot jobbies, and are unconnected to anything at all, let alone an oxygen tank.
Already in a deep hole, this flick goes downhill rapidly from there: The rocket just happened to have a ladies space suit (and of course she's wearing pearls and high heels); the "moon" has plants growing on it; rock creatures which attack at the speed of "The Crawling Terror", yet (of course) our intrepid band cannot elude or outdistance them; and on and on and on...
What a stinker!
Going Home To The Moon
bkoganbing16 December 2011
Missile To The Moon has to be one of the wilder science fiction films the Fifties came out with. It has cheesy special effects, lousy plot, scantily clad females, and a dying civilization. All the ingredients to make a cult classic.
Michael Whalen and Richard Travis have constructed themselves a moon rocket that they have in Whalen's backyard. Government funds have shut down the project. But Whalen is going back to the moon, yes I said back because he came here years ago from there on a secret mission.
The lack of a crew is remedied by Whalen drafting a pair of escaped convicts Gary Clarke and Tommy Cook who've busted out of jail and took refuge in Whalen's space ship. Amazing how fast one can get astronaut training in a pinch. Travis and his girlfriend Cathy Downs also come on board and the five get to the moon.
Whereupon they find a shrinking civilization living in caves led by Queen K.T. Stevens. I can't go into the rest but in the short time this film runs we meet rock monsters, giant spiders, and a doomed moon with only women running things. That's what Whalen was sent to earth for, to get a spaceship so they can all escape.
In a word this film is bizarre. In fact all the players look like they're in terrible need of ExLax. I would to if I had to summon up enough abilities to make this story any kind of credible. It gets two stars from me, the second star for the sheer audacity of bringing this one to the big screen. It must have been drive-in hoot in 1958.
Michael Whalen and Richard Travis have constructed themselves a moon rocket that they have in Whalen's backyard. Government funds have shut down the project. But Whalen is going back to the moon, yes I said back because he came here years ago from there on a secret mission.
The lack of a crew is remedied by Whalen drafting a pair of escaped convicts Gary Clarke and Tommy Cook who've busted out of jail and took refuge in Whalen's space ship. Amazing how fast one can get astronaut training in a pinch. Travis and his girlfriend Cathy Downs also come on board and the five get to the moon.
Whereupon they find a shrinking civilization living in caves led by Queen K.T. Stevens. I can't go into the rest but in the short time this film runs we meet rock monsters, giant spiders, and a doomed moon with only women running things. That's what Whalen was sent to earth for, to get a spaceship so they can all escape.
In a word this film is bizarre. In fact all the players look like they're in terrible need of ExLax. I would to if I had to summon up enough abilities to make this story any kind of credible. It gets two stars from me, the second star for the sheer audacity of bringing this one to the big screen. It must have been drive-in hoot in 1958.
So clichéd it creaks.
junk-monkey8 April 2006
Warning: Spoilers
I'm amazed there is no "goofs" link for this movie because there are many, including:
Space suits that don't have any connection between the suit and the helmet leaving the bare neck of the wearer visibly exposed.
Characters able to hear things on the airless moon's surface.
Clouds on the moon.
A gantry clearly visible as the spaceship lands on the unexplored lunar surface (an effect achieved by reversing the stock V2 take-off footage used earlier in the movie with a couple of rock matted into the foreground).
A civilisation so starved of oxygen that the main form of interior decorative lighting consists of lighted torches and flambeaux.
Early in the movie Hunk hero and Girlfriend are trapped in the lower part of the ship that "has no oxygen". Luckily there are a couple of 'spare' oxygen masks lying around. Later one of the crew in the upper part of the ship raises a hatch in the floor of the upper section to reveal the two slumped bodies. No he wouldn't. If the lower portion had been unpressurised, the air pressure in the upper cabin would have held the door shut with the apparent weight of a couple of tons.
Etc etc.
None of these would really mar what is a pretty awful, hackneyed piece of junk SF assembled from bits salvaged from the great North Hollywood cliché mountain but for the fact that the whole plot revolves around the lack of air on the moon. This movie has no internal logic at all.
If you are looking to buy this movie - and I cannot for the life of me understand why you would - please be warned: my copy is on one of those "3 Classic Sci-F- Films of the Silver Screen" on one disc jobs* and the print is just awful. Scratched, jumpy and, amazingly, out of focus for great chunks of the time.
*Cat Number CE 040 along with Earth Vs The Flying Saucers http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049169 and Planet Outlaws http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046192
Space suits that don't have any connection between the suit and the helmet leaving the bare neck of the wearer visibly exposed.
Characters able to hear things on the airless moon's surface.
Clouds on the moon.
A gantry clearly visible as the spaceship lands on the unexplored lunar surface (an effect achieved by reversing the stock V2 take-off footage used earlier in the movie with a couple of rock matted into the foreground).
A civilisation so starved of oxygen that the main form of interior decorative lighting consists of lighted torches and flambeaux.
Early in the movie Hunk hero and Girlfriend are trapped in the lower part of the ship that "has no oxygen". Luckily there are a couple of 'spare' oxygen masks lying around. Later one of the crew in the upper part of the ship raises a hatch in the floor of the upper section to reveal the two slumped bodies. No he wouldn't. If the lower portion had been unpressurised, the air pressure in the upper cabin would have held the door shut with the apparent weight of a couple of tons.
Etc etc.
None of these would really mar what is a pretty awful, hackneyed piece of junk SF assembled from bits salvaged from the great North Hollywood cliché mountain but for the fact that the whole plot revolves around the lack of air on the moon. This movie has no internal logic at all.
If you are looking to buy this movie - and I cannot for the life of me understand why you would - please be warned: my copy is on one of those "3 Classic Sci-F- Films of the Silver Screen" on one disc jobs* and the print is just awful. Scratched, jumpy and, amazingly, out of focus for great chunks of the time.
*Cat Number CE 040 along with Earth Vs The Flying Saucers http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049169 and Planet Outlaws http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046192
Wow...you know it's bad when they are ripping off a film that was horrible the first time!!
planktonrules5 May 2009
This film involves five humans who go on a flight to the moon. Once there, they find a planet of nothing but women--angry, PMS-enraged women! And, to make matters worse, there are giant rock creatures, spiders and two of the crew members are crooks.
Wow...you know this is going to be a terrible film when they are ripping off CAT-WOMEN OF THE MOON--especially since CAT-WOMEN is one of the worst films of the early 1950s! Now I don't know if MISSILE TO THE MOON was announced as a remake, but it certainly was and the number of similarities are too many to be a coincidence. Both involve a rocket trip to the moon. Both have a crew member who actually is being controlled by the Moon folks. Both moons are inhabited by super-unattractive "beauty queens" in spandex. Both have really stupid giant plastic spiders in the caves. Both have crews whose space suits are stolen. And, these are only a few of the similarities. So, they remade a bad movie and in a way that is no better than the wretched original! Wow, that has "must-see" written all over it!!
One of the other horrible touches are a skeleton that clearly is from a science classroom (with the top of the skull sawed off)--even though it's supposed to belong to one of the dead crew members who you see die before your eyes. Another brilliant touch was using three completely different rockets as well as normal Earth gravity on the moon and inside the space ship throughout the trip. Nice attention to details, folks!
Overall, this is a terrible film that only lovers of schlock cinema will enjoy. Others will probably find it pretty tedious.
Wow...you know this is going to be a terrible film when they are ripping off CAT-WOMEN OF THE MOON--especially since CAT-WOMEN is one of the worst films of the early 1950s! Now I don't know if MISSILE TO THE MOON was announced as a remake, but it certainly was and the number of similarities are too many to be a coincidence. Both involve a rocket trip to the moon. Both have a crew member who actually is being controlled by the Moon folks. Both moons are inhabited by super-unattractive "beauty queens" in spandex. Both have really stupid giant plastic spiders in the caves. Both have crews whose space suits are stolen. And, these are only a few of the similarities. So, they remade a bad movie and in a way that is no better than the wretched original! Wow, that has "must-see" written all over it!!
One of the other horrible touches are a skeleton that clearly is from a science classroom (with the top of the skull sawed off)--even though it's supposed to belong to one of the dead crew members who you see die before your eyes. Another brilliant touch was using three completely different rockets as well as normal Earth gravity on the moon and inside the space ship throughout the trip. Nice attention to details, folks!
Overall, this is a terrible film that only lovers of schlock cinema will enjoy. Others will probably find it pretty tedious.
Reeks of insipidness to the point of no return.
mark.waltz17 October 2015
Warning: Spoilers
Thank goodness that this was not in smell-o-vision. I would have to have had a close pin on my nose. This ranks as one of the lamest movies of all time let alone probably the worst remakes of all time. The original version, Catwoman on the moon, is one of the worst films ever made, and to find out that there was a remake made just five years later,I rolled my eyes even before the film started. Well not entirely a duplicate of the original, this has elements that make it believe it or not even worse.
Giant rocks that walk, a hideous looking spider the size of an elephant and an aging queen fighting to keep her throne are among the ridiculous elements of this wretched piece of science fiction. The women who live on the moon look as if they are living inside a Mardi Gras Festival, with K.T. Stevens as the Lido aka queen of the moon women. She has a rival to the throne in her assistant Alpha who defies her at every turn in her efforts to take over. The visitors from Earth includes two escaped convicts and several scientists who kick off accidentally from earth and end up on the moon which remarkably looks like a desert. All of a sudden, rocks break out of the formation, walking so slowly that there is no way they could ever catch up to those they are after. This monster as well as the spider ended up in that delicious 1982 spoof of bad science fiction/horror films, "It came from Hollywood", and in a way it was fun to find the film that I remembered the silly clips from.
This just gets sillier and silly are as the movie goes on and I can't imagine driving audiences actually watching this without laughing or throwing things at the big screen. It is just so absurd. Yes the spider is gruesome looking and may give you the heebie jeebies, but the rock people are so stupid looking, like Teletubbies filmed in black and white. The acting is hideous, particularly by the space women and ranks up there with the worst performances of all time, although I did have sympathy for K.T. Stevens. In fact I would give this collectively the award for worst acting of the year, because everybody is so bad that I couldn't single just one person out. Veteran actress Stevens tries her best but you can see behind her character's apparent blindness in her own eyes that she was just thinking am I this desperate for a paycheck? Phony looking sets includes the earthlings looking out the cave palace window at supposed land which is really s bad drawing. So grab some popcorn, sit back and laugh. Because you are entering into what remains worse than even the stupidest of the early Star Trek episodes.
Giant rocks that walk, a hideous looking spider the size of an elephant and an aging queen fighting to keep her throne are among the ridiculous elements of this wretched piece of science fiction. The women who live on the moon look as if they are living inside a Mardi Gras Festival, with K.T. Stevens as the Lido aka queen of the moon women. She has a rival to the throne in her assistant Alpha who defies her at every turn in her efforts to take over. The visitors from Earth includes two escaped convicts and several scientists who kick off accidentally from earth and end up on the moon which remarkably looks like a desert. All of a sudden, rocks break out of the formation, walking so slowly that there is no way they could ever catch up to those they are after. This monster as well as the spider ended up in that delicious 1982 spoof of bad science fiction/horror films, "It came from Hollywood", and in a way it was fun to find the film that I remembered the silly clips from.
This just gets sillier and silly are as the movie goes on and I can't imagine driving audiences actually watching this without laughing or throwing things at the big screen. It is just so absurd. Yes the spider is gruesome looking and may give you the heebie jeebies, but the rock people are so stupid looking, like Teletubbies filmed in black and white. The acting is hideous, particularly by the space women and ranks up there with the worst performances of all time, although I did have sympathy for K.T. Stevens. In fact I would give this collectively the award for worst acting of the year, because everybody is so bad that I couldn't single just one person out. Veteran actress Stevens tries her best but you can see behind her character's apparent blindness in her own eyes that she was just thinking am I this desperate for a paycheck? Phony looking sets includes the earthlings looking out the cave palace window at supposed land which is really s bad drawing. So grab some popcorn, sit back and laugh. Because you are entering into what remains worse than even the stupidest of the early Star Trek episodes.
Low Budget, Low Tech Space Opera Livened By Luscious Moon Babes In Low, Low- Cut Outfits -- Hot Dawg!
oldblackandwhite14 April 2011
Did I forget to mention low intelligence Script? No matter. This enjoyable drive-in special was designed for the underdeveloped brain and over-active hormones of a particularly crude specimen of ape, the 1950's teenage male (that's me and my pals in the two-tone green '53 Plymoth sedan third row up from the popcorn stand). This bunch of knuckle-draggers wouldn't know or care that there were no clouds on the Moon or that pegboard and Army surplus bunk beds were not exactly the latest technology of space craft equipment even for the 1950's. What they would care about was whether this flick was going to show them some sexy, skimpy-dressed Moon Babes. In this department Missle to the Moon would have not disappointed! Who cares about the cheesy sets and ludicrous special effects! The producers of this awful but fun si-fi epic rounded up a covey of seriously gorgeous hotties to play the wonderfully lascivious Lunar lasses. They even combed beauty contests all over the states and the world to lure the winners to Hollywood or wherever this trifle was made, no doubt at low salaries but extravagant claims of chances for fame and fortune. One of the fun games you can play while watching is trying to figure out which of the Moon chicks is Miss Yugoslavia -- was it the tall blonde with the angular face or the short, dark, exotica who danced the hootchy-kootchy?
The sexiest and most exotic of all is in fact Nina Bara, as the beautiful bad Moon girl Alpha. Though only 5th billed, Nina was the real star of the show. Her chewing the cardboard scenery, deliciously wicked villainy is the only thing, other than curiosity, that makes this space soaper worth watching to the end. Her acting skill, I hasten to add, was far above that of the higher billed members of the no-name cast. It's worth the price of the DVD to see her gleefully wicked expressions and movements as she pulls a dagger from the confines of her bulging bosom. Though 38 years old at the time, Nina was still very pretty (in a sinister way), and wow! what a figure! In that all-important department (to this picture) she stacked up quite well (pun intended) against the young beauty contest bimbos. I don't understand why this badly underused actress didn't do better. In her prime a few years before this, she would have been a terrific femme fa-tale in those noir thrillers -- well, the low, low budget ones anyway.
Missle To The Moon is not nearly as bad a movie as others have carried on. Not one of those you watch just to laugh at such as Mesa of Lost Women (see my review). True, they did use the same giant, rubber spider from that looser, but they used it better in Missle. Though leading man Richard Travis and leading lady Kathy Downs were as bland as skim milk most of the time, Ms. Downs at least came alive during the cat fight with Alpha -- Hot Dawg! Though veteran stage actress K. T. Stevens seemed to sleep-walk though her part as the Moon Babe ruler Lido, the general quality of the acting wasn't so bad. Compare to past space operas up to the time -- every member of the cast, including the blankest of the beauty queens, could act better than Buster Crabbe of Flash Gordon fame! So the shots of the rocket in space were stock footage of V-2 rockets. What would you expect of a space travel flick of any budget from 1958. This was only the year after Sputnik. The United States had not yet managed to launch a ping-pong ball into space. Actually, Missle to the Moon is quite an enjoyable watch if you just think of it as a fun romp.
I do have a couple of gripes though. 1) They spent too much time traveling to the Moon before they found the Moon Babes and the wonderful Alpha. 2) A major plot hole is the Moon Babes claiming they were keeping the earthlings captive so they could learn to fly their space ship to another planet before their oxygen supply ran out. Why did they need the rocket? With all the spandex the Moon bunnies had, they could have built a giant sling shot which could have launched space vehicles with velocity enough to escape the moon's low gravity. And you thought I wasn't the scientifical type!
If you want to see space travel portrayed as accurately as 1950's technology could, watch Destination Moon, and be bored. If you want to have fun, watch Missle To The Moon!
The sexiest and most exotic of all is in fact Nina Bara, as the beautiful bad Moon girl Alpha. Though only 5th billed, Nina was the real star of the show. Her chewing the cardboard scenery, deliciously wicked villainy is the only thing, other than curiosity, that makes this space soaper worth watching to the end. Her acting skill, I hasten to add, was far above that of the higher billed members of the no-name cast. It's worth the price of the DVD to see her gleefully wicked expressions and movements as she pulls a dagger from the confines of her bulging bosom. Though 38 years old at the time, Nina was still very pretty (in a sinister way), and wow! what a figure! In that all-important department (to this picture) she stacked up quite well (pun intended) against the young beauty contest bimbos. I don't understand why this badly underused actress didn't do better. In her prime a few years before this, she would have been a terrific femme fa-tale in those noir thrillers -- well, the low, low budget ones anyway.
Missle To The Moon is not nearly as bad a movie as others have carried on. Not one of those you watch just to laugh at such as Mesa of Lost Women (see my review). True, they did use the same giant, rubber spider from that looser, but they used it better in Missle. Though leading man Richard Travis and leading lady Kathy Downs were as bland as skim milk most of the time, Ms. Downs at least came alive during the cat fight with Alpha -- Hot Dawg! Though veteran stage actress K. T. Stevens seemed to sleep-walk though her part as the Moon Babe ruler Lido, the general quality of the acting wasn't so bad. Compare to past space operas up to the time -- every member of the cast, including the blankest of the beauty queens, could act better than Buster Crabbe of Flash Gordon fame! So the shots of the rocket in space were stock footage of V-2 rockets. What would you expect of a space travel flick of any budget from 1958. This was only the year after Sputnik. The United States had not yet managed to launch a ping-pong ball into space. Actually, Missle to the Moon is quite an enjoyable watch if you just think of it as a fun romp.
I do have a couple of gripes though. 1) They spent too much time traveling to the Moon before they found the Moon Babes and the wonderful Alpha. 2) A major plot hole is the Moon Babes claiming they were keeping the earthlings captive so they could learn to fly their space ship to another planet before their oxygen supply ran out. Why did they need the rocket? With all the spandex the Moon bunnies had, they could have built a giant sling shot which could have launched space vehicles with velocity enough to escape the moon's low gravity. And you thought I wasn't the scientifical type!
If you want to see space travel portrayed as accurately as 1950's technology could, watch Destination Moon, and be bored. If you want to have fun, watch Missle To The Moon!
There are spiders on the Moon!
reptilicus15 May 2005
Richard Cunha did not direct many movies but the few he did give us are fantastic. You know right away you are in an alternate universe when you watch this one. Hero Richard Travis pulls back a curtain to give us a look at what is supposed to be a giant rocket way out in the background; but you can tell immediately that it is a wooden model just a few inches away! Oh it just gets better from there! Scientist Michael Whalen blasts off for the Moon with a makeshift crew of 2 escaped JD's (Gary Clarke of HOW TO MAKE A MONSTER fame and Tommy Cook of no particular fame at all). Mr. Travis and girlfriend Cathy Downs (former fiancée of THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN) go aboard just before blastoff and are unable to get off in time . . . does that mean they were shanghaied? Amazingly the extra weight does not affect fuel or oxygen consumption and apart from the obligatory meteor shower they reach the Moon with no problem. Remember to keep repeating "It's only a movie, only a movie, only a movie . . ."
This is not the Moon of DESTINATION MOON, oh no! This Moon is inhabited by walking rocks that look like Gumby on steroids, a giant spider that looks like a puppet (well okay it IS a puppet but it's a darn mean looking puppet!) and a civilisation of beautiful women. They have a distinct problem though, they are running out of oxygen and must take off for another planet soon or else! They want the Earth people to show them how to build a rocket to carry them to safety. Meanwhile moon girl Alpha (Nina Bara) takes one look at Travis and decides she must have him for a mate and her unrequited love is more important than the survival of her own race. Talk about self absorbed!
Is it art? No. Is it fun? You bet! The puppet spider had already been seen in the 3-D film CAT WOMEN OF THE MOON but Mr. Cunha's film is much more fun. The rock men are surprisingly good and the Moon girls are fabulous. Look closely for Leslie Parrish (Daisy Mae of L'IL ABNER fame) and Lisa Simone who would go on to meet THE GIANT GILA MONSTER among the lunar beauties.
Amazing some TV prints cut the scenes of the spider claiming a victim and the climactic shot that shows why you should not go out in the sun while visiting the moon. Some DVD prints of this now Public Domain title offer the film uncut. Notice I said some, not all!
This is not the Moon of DESTINATION MOON, oh no! This Moon is inhabited by walking rocks that look like Gumby on steroids, a giant spider that looks like a puppet (well okay it IS a puppet but it's a darn mean looking puppet!) and a civilisation of beautiful women. They have a distinct problem though, they are running out of oxygen and must take off for another planet soon or else! They want the Earth people to show them how to build a rocket to carry them to safety. Meanwhile moon girl Alpha (Nina Bara) takes one look at Travis and decides she must have him for a mate and her unrequited love is more important than the survival of her own race. Talk about self absorbed!
Is it art? No. Is it fun? You bet! The puppet spider had already been seen in the 3-D film CAT WOMEN OF THE MOON but Mr. Cunha's film is much more fun. The rock men are surprisingly good and the Moon girls are fabulous. Look closely for Leslie Parrish (Daisy Mae of L'IL ABNER fame) and Lisa Simone who would go on to meet THE GIANT GILA MONSTER among the lunar beauties.
Amazing some TV prints cut the scenes of the spider claiming a victim and the climactic shot that shows why you should not go out in the sun while visiting the moon. Some DVD prints of this now Public Domain title offer the film uncut. Notice I said some, not all!
Strange happenings on the Moon
chris_gaskin12327 March 2006
Warning: Spoilers
I've seen Missile to the Moon a couple of times now and found it quite enjoyable and also unintentionally funny in parts.
A couple of crooks who have escaped from prison are being pursued by coppers when they decide to hide in a rocket they have come across. They are then caught by its inventor who forces them to go to the moon with him. What they are unaware of is that the inventor's friend and his lover have also come aboard. They arrive on the Moon and come across several strange things including diamonds, a cheap looking giant spider, some rather strange looking rock men and, best of all, a group of beautiful young ladies who are living on the moon. After one of the group is hypnotised by the leader of the group so she can marry him, he manages to escape and they head back to the ship but not before one of the prisoners is roasted to death by the intense heat of the sun.
Missile to the Moon is more or less a remake to Cat Women of the Moon, which was made in 1953.
The cast includes Richard Travis (Mesa of Lost Women), Cathy Downs (The Amazing Colossal Man, The Phantom From 10,000 Leagues) and Gary Clarke (How to Make A Monster).
This is a must for all B-movie fanatics. Great fun.
Rating: 3 stars out of 5.
A couple of crooks who have escaped from prison are being pursued by coppers when they decide to hide in a rocket they have come across. They are then caught by its inventor who forces them to go to the moon with him. What they are unaware of is that the inventor's friend and his lover have also come aboard. They arrive on the Moon and come across several strange things including diamonds, a cheap looking giant spider, some rather strange looking rock men and, best of all, a group of beautiful young ladies who are living on the moon. After one of the group is hypnotised by the leader of the group so she can marry him, he manages to escape and they head back to the ship but not before one of the prisoners is roasted to death by the intense heat of the sun.
Missile to the Moon is more or less a remake to Cat Women of the Moon, which was made in 1953.
The cast includes Richard Travis (Mesa of Lost Women), Cathy Downs (The Amazing Colossal Man, The Phantom From 10,000 Leagues) and Gary Clarke (How to Make A Monster).
This is a must for all B-movie fanatics. Great fun.
Rating: 3 stars out of 5.
Woof
BandSAboutMovies3 March 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Have you already watched this movie? Well, maybe.
Missile to the Moon is an even lower-budget remake - is that possible? - of the low-budget film 1953 film Cat-Women of the Moon.
That movie had 3D going for it, but this one has much younger men in the heroic roles and an army of international beauty contest winners playing the moon maidens. But the dreaded moon spider? Yep. That's the very same prop from the original film. It was originally built for the movie Tarantula, so here's to Hollywood for being green years before anyone knew what recycling was.
This film was shot in the Vasquez Rocks, where all cheap films decide to show what the moon or an alien planet looks like. A red gel over the lens of the camera was the attempt to make the sky look different, yet no science was given to the script. How do people explode into flames when there's no oxygen, after all?
Anyways, two escaped convicts named Gary (Tommy Cook, who is also in HIgh School Hellcats and would go on to write and produce Rollercoaster) and Lon (Gary Clarke, TV's The Virginian) stowaway on a rocketship that Dirk Green is piloting back to his home satellite, the moon. He's soon killed by a meteor storm, of course.
Also on board are hunky Steve Dayton and his fiancee June (Cathy Downs, The Amazing Colossal Man), who obviously had no idea what they were getting into. They all soon find themselves up against an underground empire of gorgeous moon women and their evil ruler, Lido (K. T. Stevens, who also shows up in They're Playing With Fire).
Rock men. Giant spiders. Nina Bara, who was on TV's Space Patrol. Leslie Parrish, who would go on to pretty much invent C-SPAN and remains an environmental activist. Laurie Mitchell, who plays a very similar role in Queen of Outer Space opposite Zsa Zsa Gabor. Marianne Gaba, the Playboy Playmate of the Month for September 1959, who also plays a robot in Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine. These are the menaces and maidens that our convicts must face on...the moon!
This was directed by Richard E. Cunha, whose Frankenstein's Daughter made the other half of the double bill that this movie appeared on. It was written by H.E. Barrie, who was also behind She Demons and Girl in Room 13 (two other Cunha films), and Vincent Fotre, who wrote Baron Blood.
I have a weakness for movies where female societies have taken over the moon. I blame, of course, Amazon Women on the Moon.
Missile to the Moon is an even lower-budget remake - is that possible? - of the low-budget film 1953 film Cat-Women of the Moon.
That movie had 3D going for it, but this one has much younger men in the heroic roles and an army of international beauty contest winners playing the moon maidens. But the dreaded moon spider? Yep. That's the very same prop from the original film. It was originally built for the movie Tarantula, so here's to Hollywood for being green years before anyone knew what recycling was.
This film was shot in the Vasquez Rocks, where all cheap films decide to show what the moon or an alien planet looks like. A red gel over the lens of the camera was the attempt to make the sky look different, yet no science was given to the script. How do people explode into flames when there's no oxygen, after all?
Anyways, two escaped convicts named Gary (Tommy Cook, who is also in HIgh School Hellcats and would go on to write and produce Rollercoaster) and Lon (Gary Clarke, TV's The Virginian) stowaway on a rocketship that Dirk Green is piloting back to his home satellite, the moon. He's soon killed by a meteor storm, of course.
Also on board are hunky Steve Dayton and his fiancee June (Cathy Downs, The Amazing Colossal Man), who obviously had no idea what they were getting into. They all soon find themselves up against an underground empire of gorgeous moon women and their evil ruler, Lido (K. T. Stevens, who also shows up in They're Playing With Fire).
Rock men. Giant spiders. Nina Bara, who was on TV's Space Patrol. Leslie Parrish, who would go on to pretty much invent C-SPAN and remains an environmental activist. Laurie Mitchell, who plays a very similar role in Queen of Outer Space opposite Zsa Zsa Gabor. Marianne Gaba, the Playboy Playmate of the Month for September 1959, who also plays a robot in Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine. These are the menaces and maidens that our convicts must face on...the moon!
This was directed by Richard E. Cunha, whose Frankenstein's Daughter made the other half of the double bill that this movie appeared on. It was written by H.E. Barrie, who was also behind She Demons and Girl in Room 13 (two other Cunha films), and Vincent Fotre, who wrote Baron Blood.
I have a weakness for movies where female societies have taken over the moon. I blame, of course, Amazon Women on the Moon.
Watching this....I've been Mooned!
BaronBl00d13 January 2001
Whew! This film is something to see, that is for sure. It tells the story of five people aboard a missile going to the moon. None of the leads have any acting range at all, but look like master thespians once we are introduced to the people living on the moon in the kingdom of Olanda(?). There we find the Ledo...the leader of a bunch of buxom, half-clad women living off of oxygen waiting for news from an emmisary sent to Earth. The Ledo bears no small resemblence to Rosiland Russell in appearence, lacking any of that actress's ability. The rest of the plot is incredibly inane and we see giant rock men with strips cut out where you can see human faces, a giant spider called the "dark ones" that looks like a leftover from a Syd and Marty Kroft seventies show, and other equally inept script and special effects problems. The budget for the film starts at low and goes swiftly to almost no budget! The film is funny in all the wrong places, and willbe a hoot to sit through. The guy playing Steve Drayton is just God awful! Fun to watch though!
Remake of "Cat-Women of the Moon," this film should never have made it off the launchpad.
scsu197514 November 2022
Warning: Spoilers
A couple of rocket scientists, (Richard Travis and Michael Whalen), Travis' fiancée (Cathy Downs) and two escaped convicts (Gary Clarke and Tommy Cook) take off for the moon. Don't even ask how they all ended up together. Highlights of the trip include a meteor shower, Cook trying to score with Downs, and Whalen getting crunched under some metal object. Before he kicks off, Whalen refers to somebody called "The Lido" and gives Travis a medallion.
Upon landing on the moon, the "stars" are accosted by walking rock creatures (think Gumby on steroids). They hide out in a cave, where they are captured by babes in scanty clothing. Downs gets off the best line in the movie, when, after noticing the skimpy clothing on the moon babes, says that had she known there was this kind of competition, "I would have undressed for the occasion." Yes, that would have made this film more interesting. The Lido (K. T. Stevens) makes her appearance, and upon discovering the medallion on Travis, thinks he is actually Whalen. It seems Whalen set out from the moon to the earth many moons ago; now, she thinks he has returned. Since she's blind, she has no way of knowing her blunder. To add to the mess, her right-hand woman, Alpha (Nina Bara) was promised to Whalen when she was just a kid; now she wants to marry the guy. Alpha wastes no time playing tonsil hockey with Travis, leading Downs to blow her stack and blab that Travis is not Whalen. Alpha doesn't care, since this is the first man on the moon in who knows how long, and she wants some action. Meanwhile, Cook discovers a load of diamonds, while Clarke meanders around with a moon babe named Zema, played by the lovely Leslie Parrish (somewhat unrecognizable as a brunette).
Alpha offs The Lido, and becomes The New Lido, or Lido #2, or whatever the protocol is on the moon. She arranges for a wedding, and uses mind control on Travis. She also sentences Downs to death. Downs is tied up in a cavern inhabited by a giant spider - the same giant spider that appeared in Cat-Women of the Moon, World Without End, and Queen of Outer Space. Hopefully, it got some residuals. Cook and Clarke rescue Downs, and Zema throws some kind of hand grenade at Alpha which apparently destroys the oxygen on the moon. Meanwhile, the air has already been sucked out of the movie. Cook tries to make off with the diamonds, but is surrounded by rock creatures and incinerates in the sun. Travis, Downs, and Clarke take off for earth, where the careers of Travis and Downs are permanently grounded.
Much of the dialogue is inane, as witnessed by this example of scientific measurements during the trip: Whalen: "Two twenty four over ten." "Minus 25," replies Travis.
"Minus 25," confirms Downs.
Um ... I get 22.4. Is this gonna be on the test?
If you are in the right mood, there is a certain element of campiness here. Bara, as Alpha, hams it up pretty good. She looks decent in her moon outfit, but her eyebrows are a bit much, especially when she is looking full tilt into the camera and trying to mesmerize Travis. Her Spanish accent occasionally slips through, but I guess if you buy the plot, you don't worry about the ethnic origins of these women. There is also a babe named Lambda, but apparently that's all of the Greek alphabet known to the writers. Travis looks and sounds a bit like Joel McCrea, but that's where it ends. He is stiff and uninteresting. Downs is okay, but her career was just about over when she made this. Most of the moon chicks are played by beauty contest winners, so they make part of the film worthwhile. They dance, strut around, and generally look sexy, which should thrill the 13-year-old boys in the audience (at least those who aren't text messaging). The rock creatures are silly; it is inconceivable they could not be outrun. And speaking of slow moving objects, there is a clock inside the rocket, which is at 9:15 for the entire trip to the moon. This proves the old adage: time stands still when you're not having fun.
Upon landing on the moon, the "stars" are accosted by walking rock creatures (think Gumby on steroids). They hide out in a cave, where they are captured by babes in scanty clothing. Downs gets off the best line in the movie, when, after noticing the skimpy clothing on the moon babes, says that had she known there was this kind of competition, "I would have undressed for the occasion." Yes, that would have made this film more interesting. The Lido (K. T. Stevens) makes her appearance, and upon discovering the medallion on Travis, thinks he is actually Whalen. It seems Whalen set out from the moon to the earth many moons ago; now, she thinks he has returned. Since she's blind, she has no way of knowing her blunder. To add to the mess, her right-hand woman, Alpha (Nina Bara) was promised to Whalen when she was just a kid; now she wants to marry the guy. Alpha wastes no time playing tonsil hockey with Travis, leading Downs to blow her stack and blab that Travis is not Whalen. Alpha doesn't care, since this is the first man on the moon in who knows how long, and she wants some action. Meanwhile, Cook discovers a load of diamonds, while Clarke meanders around with a moon babe named Zema, played by the lovely Leslie Parrish (somewhat unrecognizable as a brunette).
Alpha offs The Lido, and becomes The New Lido, or Lido #2, or whatever the protocol is on the moon. She arranges for a wedding, and uses mind control on Travis. She also sentences Downs to death. Downs is tied up in a cavern inhabited by a giant spider - the same giant spider that appeared in Cat-Women of the Moon, World Without End, and Queen of Outer Space. Hopefully, it got some residuals. Cook and Clarke rescue Downs, and Zema throws some kind of hand grenade at Alpha which apparently destroys the oxygen on the moon. Meanwhile, the air has already been sucked out of the movie. Cook tries to make off with the diamonds, but is surrounded by rock creatures and incinerates in the sun. Travis, Downs, and Clarke take off for earth, where the careers of Travis and Downs are permanently grounded.
Much of the dialogue is inane, as witnessed by this example of scientific measurements during the trip: Whalen: "Two twenty four over ten." "Minus 25," replies Travis.
"Minus 25," confirms Downs.
Um ... I get 22.4. Is this gonna be on the test?
If you are in the right mood, there is a certain element of campiness here. Bara, as Alpha, hams it up pretty good. She looks decent in her moon outfit, but her eyebrows are a bit much, especially when she is looking full tilt into the camera and trying to mesmerize Travis. Her Spanish accent occasionally slips through, but I guess if you buy the plot, you don't worry about the ethnic origins of these women. There is also a babe named Lambda, but apparently that's all of the Greek alphabet known to the writers. Travis looks and sounds a bit like Joel McCrea, but that's where it ends. He is stiff and uninteresting. Downs is okay, but her career was just about over when she made this. Most of the moon chicks are played by beauty contest winners, so they make part of the film worthwhile. They dance, strut around, and generally look sexy, which should thrill the 13-year-old boys in the audience (at least those who aren't text messaging). The rock creatures are silly; it is inconceivable they could not be outrun. And speaking of slow moving objects, there is a clock inside the rocket, which is at 9:15 for the entire trip to the moon. This proves the old adage: time stands still when you're not having fun.
Women, spiders and rock men, the moon is full of life!
Aaron137511 September 2023
Warning: Spoilers
This is a movie that may have fit in better if it had released in the 30's or maybe the 40's. By the 50's though there were more than a couple of good science fiction films that looked better than this thing. If it had been made in the 70's, it probably would have made a really good adult film, but as it is it looks bad and the plot laughable. The surface of the moon is obviously a desert, the monsters so slow you would be ashamed of yourself if they caught you (looking at you Gary) and a bevy of girls in need of men and a dude with his fiance ruins everything!
So the story has a man who has seemingly created a rocket on his own wishing to blast off because the government wishes to confiscate it. Stupid government, try to tell me it is the land of the free yet I cannot have my own personal rocket made out of pegboard, dagnabit! Well two convicts make up this guy's crew, but the scientist's assistant and his fiance get on board too. Well, they make it to the moon, but thanks to the fiance being there things go awry and the poor scientist is killed by a toolkit. Well, they reach the moon and there are women and they mistake the assistant for the scientist and apparently the scientist was from the moon and now Steve who is engaged comes close to marrying another. Long story short, thanks to Steve and his jealous fiance an entire race is wiped out...
The acting is typical of the time, the story outlandish. I kind of knew where it was going when the scientist gave the assistant the medallion, it is just too bad Steve was such a catch that the one moon girl could not back off, as that doomed everyone on the moon! Meanwhile, there were stone men that one could easily briskly walk away from, but a character instead walked right to his death. There is also a spider that looked strangely familiar, I am thinking it was used in another film.
So, the film was not good and while Steve and his crew blew it and just laughed off the death of a civilization any normal person would have felt sadness over, one has to wonder how they might react in the situation. I would love to be instantly liked by the moon girls, but then I am someone who is so introverted I am incapable of getting anyone these days and they just kill them all! Also, Gary would have been disappointed coming back to Earth when the 'diamonds' turned out to be like those salt crystals kids made in class...
So the story has a man who has seemingly created a rocket on his own wishing to blast off because the government wishes to confiscate it. Stupid government, try to tell me it is the land of the free yet I cannot have my own personal rocket made out of pegboard, dagnabit! Well two convicts make up this guy's crew, but the scientist's assistant and his fiance get on board too. Well, they make it to the moon, but thanks to the fiance being there things go awry and the poor scientist is killed by a toolkit. Well, they reach the moon and there are women and they mistake the assistant for the scientist and apparently the scientist was from the moon and now Steve who is engaged comes close to marrying another. Long story short, thanks to Steve and his jealous fiance an entire race is wiped out...
The acting is typical of the time, the story outlandish. I kind of knew where it was going when the scientist gave the assistant the medallion, it is just too bad Steve was such a catch that the one moon girl could not back off, as that doomed everyone on the moon! Meanwhile, there were stone men that one could easily briskly walk away from, but a character instead walked right to his death. There is also a spider that looked strangely familiar, I am thinking it was used in another film.
So, the film was not good and while Steve and his crew blew it and just laughed off the death of a civilization any normal person would have felt sadness over, one has to wonder how they might react in the situation. I would love to be instantly liked by the moon girls, but then I am someone who is so introverted I am incapable of getting anyone these days and they just kill them all! Also, Gary would have been disappointed coming back to Earth when the 'diamonds' turned out to be like those salt crystals kids made in class...
Ludacris, silly, fun for one viewing
ebeckstr-121 January 2024
Ludacris 50s sci-fi Z movie, surely part of a double or triple feature meant to be gabbed through, necked through, and what not. In one sense it's a so bad it's good movie, if you're into that (I'm really not, so I suppose this movie has less appeal for me than it might for others), but it's also fascinating to watch it from the perspective of the drive-in teans it was made for. The stiff-walking, Gumby-shaped Moon rock monsters alone are worth the watch. I wish more discs like this had commentaries by or interviews with the people who made them, including the effects technicians. They're such a cool part of American cinematic history.
Oh, No! Now I Have to Write About It!
Hitchcoc14 January 2023
So, where to I start. Let's face it. The fifties were a time when drive in movies had double and triple features. This would be a third one on the program. It is about a group of people who stow away on a cheap rocket ship and head for the moon. The guy who designed and planned the trip, gets in a fight and is killed. So everyone ends up on the moon. There is nothing scientifically accurate about the moon which is probably a place on some desert landscape. Oh, and there are women running civilization, and rock people who look like Gumbies or walking cardboard boxes. The acting is ridiculous. There is a couple who are engaged on board. I can't even be critical of the thing because the people who made it could not have taken it seriously. Don't waste your time.
Last in the Richard Cunha quartet from Astor Pictures
kevinolzak12 January 2021
1958's "Missile to the Moon" was an impoverished Astor quickie signaling director Richard Cunha's final entry in a quartet of sci fi efforts, this one a virtual remake of Astor's 1953 release "Cat-Women of the Moon," depicting the discovery of a civilization of lunar lovelies who have never seen a man in their lives. Michael Whalen's Dirk Green is the creator of a rocket ready to blast off for a predetermined destination, frustrated by a government that won't allow him to test his theories so he hides two escaped convicts on board as a 3 man crew for an impromptu takeoff at the 20 minute mark, with colleagues Steve Dayton (Richard Travis) and June Saxton (Cathy Downs) stowing away by accident. Delighted to have more knowledgeable help, Dirk doesn't survive being injured during a meteor shower, landing after only 10 minutes in space to put the quartet among Vasquez Rocks in Red Rock Canyon near the Mojave Desert, the same location as the opening of Universal's "WereWolf of London." Wearing their oxygen gear, it is said that the blazing hot sun is enough to roast a man alive, menaced by rock creatures that blend in with the terrain but stumble about like Gumby. The only oxygen available is inside a cave where they become honored guests of the all female kingdom led by The Lido (K.T. Stevens), who mistakes Steve for the deceased Dirk because of the medallion he was given, evidence that Dirk was a male consort sent to bring back help to their dying world. They need the rocket to transport the survivors to Earth but treachery presents itself from the telepathic Alpha (Nina Bara), who takes over as new leader after stabbing The Lido, sending the astronauts to certain death in the chamber of the 'dark creatures,' actually the same giant spider puppet from "Cat-Women of the Moon." Issued on a double bill with the lower budgeted, already completed "Frankenstein's Daughter," success was more assured than the previous coupling of "Giant from the Unknown" and "She Demons," far more delightful delilahs to entice horny teen males to their local drive-ins for lucrative business (Cunha's slim resume would add only one more title as director, 1960's "Girl in Room 13").
Absence of logic can be highly entertaining!
ksdilauri16 February 2019
One of the best things about a sci-fi entry like this is that it seems to take itself seriously. If it were made 20 years later, it's likely there would be some evidence of self-mockery, but as it is, "Missile to the Moon" has all the required ridiculous situations, Mr. Wizard dialogue, and deadpan stereotypes, playing it straight-faced for the duration. It's filled with moments that make you seriously wonder just how much 1958 audiences would buy. Fred Willard is a guest riffer, and he is a great addition to the team---they don't miss one ridiculous moment.
Much better colorized
eclecticerotic13 March 2024
This rating is for the 2007 colorized version, which improves greatly on the original black and white. The first half hour has more plot holes than I could count. But some of that first part is so dumb, it becomes the prototype bad good film. But once they arrive on the moon the movie is actually pretty entertaining. The women's outfits are really well done and sexy.
Whether or not this is a copy of an earlier film is irrelevant to me, as I try to judge movies, or music etc., as if I were watching in a vacuum.
The giant spider and the rock monster were funny and pretty cool. The alien girl vs. Earth girl jealousy fight was an added bonus.
Whether or not this is a copy of an earlier film is irrelevant to me, as I try to judge movies, or music etc., as if I were watching in a vacuum.
The giant spider and the rock monster were funny and pretty cool. The alien girl vs. Earth girl jealousy fight was an added bonus.
Perfect "Bad Movie" Entertainment
Scott_Mercer6 July 2007
This is almost a perfect film of its type: the 50's lower-than-low-budget science fiction yarn. More specifically, the one about traveling to another planet and finding the underground civilization of beauty pageant winners in showgirl costumes and high heels. And a silly rubber spider puppet monster. And living rock creatures that look like Gumby.
This is one hilariously incompetent slab of celluloid, meant for the bottom half of the bill at the local Drive-In, custom made for the local teenagers to ignore while furiously making out in the capacious back seat of Dad's '58 Oldsmobile. Almost as funny as Plan Nine From Outer Space! If Ed Wood Jr. had made a film about a trip to the moon, it would be very close to this, except all the women on the moon would be wearing angora sweaters. No, sorry, SPACE angora sweaters.
I won't get into all the plot holes, bad (over)acting and cheesy special effects. The black and white cinematography is actually pretty darn good for something with this tiny of a budget, so kudos to the DP. Can't give the same to the director, writers, or any of the actors though.
Very sad that Mystery Science Theater 3000 never had the chance to cover this film, nor the other films that went toward inspiring Amazon Women on the Moon, namely Cat Women on the Moon and Queen of Outer Space. Though MST3K did tackle Project Moonbase, Moon Zero and Rocketship X-M early on. They also did Phantom Planet in one of the later seasons, which has some similarities with this turkey.
Anyway, this is quite an enjoyable trip to 50's Drive-In land, a magical place in a magical time nobody will ever recapture. Thank goodness.
This is one hilariously incompetent slab of celluloid, meant for the bottom half of the bill at the local Drive-In, custom made for the local teenagers to ignore while furiously making out in the capacious back seat of Dad's '58 Oldsmobile. Almost as funny as Plan Nine From Outer Space! If Ed Wood Jr. had made a film about a trip to the moon, it would be very close to this, except all the women on the moon would be wearing angora sweaters. No, sorry, SPACE angora sweaters.
I won't get into all the plot holes, bad (over)acting and cheesy special effects. The black and white cinematography is actually pretty darn good for something with this tiny of a budget, so kudos to the DP. Can't give the same to the director, writers, or any of the actors though.
Very sad that Mystery Science Theater 3000 never had the chance to cover this film, nor the other films that went toward inspiring Amazon Women on the Moon, namely Cat Women on the Moon and Queen of Outer Space. Though MST3K did tackle Project Moonbase, Moon Zero and Rocketship X-M early on. They also did Phantom Planet in one of the later seasons, which has some similarities with this turkey.
Anyway, this is quite an enjoyable trip to 50's Drive-In land, a magical place in a magical time nobody will ever recapture. Thank goodness.
I'm still waiting for the evening gown portion of the show
bensonmum212 April 2008
Warning: Spoilers
Fans of serious science fiction need not bother. In fact, to call Missile to the Moon a "science fiction" movie is something of a misstatement. "Fiction" sure. "Science" not on your life. Any resemblance Missile to the Moon may have with actual science is purely coincidental and, most likely, unintentional. But that doesn't mean it's not entertaining. Taken for what it is (a 1958 low-budget drive-in b-movie), it's not half bad. Sure, the rock creatures look fake and the giant spider is obviously a puppet and the inhabitants of the moon are straight off an Atlantic City beauty show runway, but all these things only add to the fun of the movie. It's kooky stuff like this that always seems to appeal to me. Don't take it too seriously and you just might enjoy it. There are a couple of other positives. One, the film is nicely paced so that at only 78 minutes it doesn't overstay its welcome. And two, the movie looks far better than it should given its meager budget. I'd say that the cinematographer, Meredith M. Nicholson, got it right. In the end, Missile to the Moon may not be the greatest movie ever made, but as a piece of entertainment, it's certainly better than its 2.4 IMDb rating. For what it's worth, I'll give it a 6/10.
Cheesy, But Still Sort of Fun
gavin694221 May 2017
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.
While this is incredibly cheesy, and not very scientifically accurate (at one point the rocket looks like cardboard), it is fun. The rock creatures are especially interesting. The spider is okay, although it does look a bit silly and this is the second or third time that same prop has appeared in a film.
I am curious what color the moon people are supposed to be. In the version I watched, they were sort of greenish blue. But in other versions, they are more naturally human-colored. And, of course, originally the film had no color at all. I suspect the true color is closer to human-tone, because otherwise how did Dirk (the moon man) pass as human?
While this is incredibly cheesy, and not very scientifically accurate (at one point the rocket looks like cardboard), it is fun. The rock creatures are especially interesting. The spider is okay, although it does look a bit silly and this is the second or third time that same prop has appeared in a film.
I am curious what color the moon people are supposed to be. In the version I watched, they were sort of greenish blue. But in other versions, they are more naturally human-colored. And, of course, originally the film had no color at all. I suspect the true color is closer to human-tone, because otherwise how did Dirk (the moon man) pass as human?
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