{ "id": "ephg5pw9ac", "slug": "cat-women-of-the-moon", "title": "Cat-Women of the Moon", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.science-fiction-fantasy", "label": "Science fiction and fantasy films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.science-fiction-fantasy" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.science-fiction-fantasy.science-fiction-and-fantasy-films-before", "label": "Science fiction and fantasy films before 1970", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.science-fiction-fantasy.science-fiction-and-fantasy-films-before" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.science-fiction-fantasy.science-fiction-and-fantasy-films-before", "label": "United States · 1946 to 2000: Science fiction and fantasy films before 1970", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.science-fiction-fantasy.science-fiction-and-fantasy-films-before", "path": [ { "id": "geo.us", "label": "United States", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946", "label": "United States · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.science-fiction-fantasy", "label": "Science fiction and fantasy films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.science-fiction-fantasy" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.science-fiction-fantasy.science-fiction-and-fantasy-films-before", "label": "Science fiction and fantasy films before 1970", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.science-fiction-fantasy.science-fiction-and-fantasy-films-before" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Cat-Women of the Moon (Rocket to the Moon) is a 1953 American 3-D black-and-white sci-fi film directed by Arthur Hilton, starring Sonny Tufts, Victor Jory, and Marie Windsor, about telepathic lunar women who plot to steal the astronauts' rocketship; remade as Missile to the Moon.", "snippet": "Cat-Women of the Moon (Rocket to the Moon) is a 1953 American 3-D black-and-white sci-fi film directed by Arthur Hilton, starring Sonny Tufts, Victor Jory, and Marie Windsor, about telepathic lunar women who plot to steal the astronauts' rocketship; remade as Missile to the Moon.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.science-fiction-fantasy.science-fiction-and-fantasy-films-before", "markdown": "# Cat-Women of the Moon\n\n**Cat-Women of the Moon** (alternate title *Rocket to the Moon*) is a 1953 American black-and-white science-fiction film, 64 minutes long, directed by Arthur Hilton and produced by Al Zimbalist and Jack Rabin for Z-M Productions, in which the first American astronauts to reach the Moon discover a telepathic civilization of women living in a cave with a breathable atmosphere.[1](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/cat-women_of_the_moon) • [2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/50781-CAT-WOMEN-OF-THE-MOON?cxt=filmography) It stars Sonny Tufts, Victor Jory, and [Marie Windsor](https://www.edgepedia.org/marie-windsor), was shot in 3-D, and was distributed by Astor Pictures Corporation.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/50781-CAT-WOMEN-OF-THE-MOON?cxt=filmography) Although routinely listed among the classic bad science-fiction films of the 1950s, the Science Fiction Encyclopedia calls it one of the most influential science fiction films ever made, because it established the template for a cycle of films about astronauts finding all-female civilizations on other worlds.[3](https://moriareviews.com/sciencefiction/cat-women-of-the-moon-1953.htm) • [1](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/cat-women_of_the_moon)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Release | 1953; Los Angeles opening the week of 7 December 1953; produced mid-October 1953[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/50781-CAT-WOMEN-OF-THE-MOON?cxt=filmography) |\n| Format | 64 minutes, black and white, shot in 3-D; prints available in 3-D, standard, and widescreen[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/50781-CAT-WOMEN-OF-THE-MOON?cxt=filmography) |\n| Key personnel | Directed by Arthur Hilton; story by Jack Rabin and Al Zimbalist; screenplay by Roy Hamilton; music by Elmer Bernstein[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/50781-CAT-WOMEN-OF-THE-MOON?cxt=filmography) |\n| Principal cast | Sonny Tufts (Laird Grainger), Victor Jory (Kip Reissner), Marie Windsor (Helen Salinger), Carol Brewster (Alpha)[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/50781-CAT-WOMEN-OF-THE-MOON?cxt=filmography) |\n| Premise | Telepathic cat-women, the last survivors of a two-million-year-old civilization, control the crew's navigator so they can steal the rocketship and conquer Earth[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/50781-CAT-WOMEN-OF-THE-MOON?cxt=filmography) |\n| Remake | Officially remade as *Missile to the Moon* (1958 per the Science Fiction Encyclopedia; 1959 per the AFI Catalog, by Astor Pictures)[1](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/cat-women_of_the_moon) • [4](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/50781-CAT-WOMEN-OFTHEMOON?cp=1&cxt=Filmography2&pos=7&sid=0cb7eed6-84ca-4f44-9913-39c07299238c&sr=8.700041e-7) |\n| Reception | 40% Tomatometer from 5 critics and 32% from 250+ audience ratings on Rotten Tomatoes[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/cat_women_of_the_moon) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot\n\nThe crew of Moon Rocket 4, the first American astronauts bound for the Moon, comprises Commander Laird Grainger (Tufts), co-pilot Kip Reissner (Jory), navigator Helen Salinger (Windsor), engineer Walter Wallace (Douglas Fowley), and radio operator [Doug Smith](https://www.edgepedia.org/doug-smith) (William Phipps).[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/50781-CAT-WOMEN-OF-THE-MOON?cxt=filmography) After a meteorite strike, Helen advises landing on the dark side of the Moon without consulting her charts, and leads the crew to a cave on the edge of a crater whose interior holds an oxygen atmosphere.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/50781-CAT-WOMEN-OF-THE-MOON?cxt=filmography) Two giant spiders attack Helen before Kip kills them, and the crew's space suits disappear.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/50781-CAT-WOMEN-OF-THE-MOON?cxt=filmography)\n\nDeeper in the caverns the crew finds a small city in a vast valley, home to the last members of a two-million-year-old civilization, eight women in black leotards led by Alpha (Carol Brewster).[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/50781-CAT-WOMEN-OF-THE-MOON?cxt=filmography) • [6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045609/plotsummary/) Alpha explains that as the Moon's atmosphere deteriorated, their ancestors practiced planned genocide and oxygen preservation so that a few would survive, and their only hope is to leave the Moon.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/50781-CAT-WOMEN-OF-THE-MOON?cxt=filmography) Using telepathy, Alpha drew Helen to them; the women plan to kill the men, whom they cannot control, and fly the rocketship back to dominate Earth.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/50781-CAT-WOMEN-OF-THE-MOON?cxt=filmography) Kip's embraces repeatedly break the cat-women's mental hold on Helen, who confesses the plot and her love for him; the cat-woman Beta murders Walt in a gold-filled cave, Lambda is killed trying to warn the crew, and Kip kills the remaining cat-women before the astronauts return safely to their ship.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/50781-CAT-WOMEN-OF-THE-MOON?cxt=filmography)\n\n## Production\n\nThe onscreen credits read \"Produced by Al Zimbalist, Jack Rabin\" and \"Original Story Idea and Special Effects Created by Jack Rabin, Al Zimbalist,\" with Roy Hamilton writing the screenplay.[4](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/50781-CAT-WOMEN-OFTHEMOON?cp=1&cxt=Filmography2&pos=7&sid=0cb7eed6-84ca-4f44-9913-39c07299238c&sr=8.700041e-7) Although surviving prints are flat, numerous scenes were shot in 3-D, and prints were available for standard, 3-D, and widescreen viewing.[4](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/50781-CAT-WOMEN-OFTHEMOON?cp=1&cxt=Filmography2&pos=7&sid=0cb7eed6-84ca-4f44-9913-39c07299238c&sr=8.700041e-7) The score was composed and directed by [Elmer Bernstein](https://www.edgepedia.org/elmer-bernstein), early in his career, and the credits acknowledge the use of Chesley Bonestell's moonscapes, though the space artist was otherwise not involved in the production.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/50781-CAT-WOMEN-OF-THE-MOON?cxt=filmography) • [1](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/cat-women_of_the_moon)\n\n**A rushed shoot.** Marie Windsor said in a 1992 interview that it was \"one of the worst pictures I've been involved in,\" that the crew made it in about two weeks, and that in the last days of production, having run over schedule, filming simply stopped and several pages of the script were never shot; she recalled flying to the Moon \"in a spaceship while sitting in regular desk chairs with wheels.\"[7](https://silverscreenings.org/2026/02/13/so-bad-its-good-cat-women-of-the-moon-1953/) The special effects show the economy: the giant spider is a puppet with visible wires, and one shot outside the rocket window shows the Moon as a topographical map with meridian lines.[3](https://moriareviews.com/sciencefiction/cat-women-of-the-moon-1953.htm)\n\nIn December 1953, Z-M Productions sued the *My Little Margie* radio show, claiming a writer who had visited the set stole the plot and satirized it in a broadcast in which characters watch a film called *Cat Women from Outer Space*; the AFI Catalog records the outcome as undetermined.[4](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/50781-CAT-WOMEN-OFTHEMOON?cp=1&cxt=Filmography2&pos=7&sid=0cb7eed6-84ca-4f44-9913-39c07299238c&sr=8.700041e-7)\n\n## Influence and the \"space girl\" cycle\n\nThe film was officially remade as *Missile to the Moon*, with very different characters; the Science Fiction Encyclopedia dates the remake to 1958, while the AFI Catalog dates Astor Pictures' remake to 1959.[1](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/cat-women_of_the_moon) • [4](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/50781-CAT-WOMEN-OFTHEMOON?cp=1&cxt=Filmography2&pos=7&sid=0cb7eed6-84ca-4f44-9913-39c07299238c&sr=8.700041e-7) It also prompted unofficial homages in which astronauts discover decadent, all-female or nearly all-female civilizations on other planets, including *Fire Maidens from Outer Space* (1956), *Queen of Outer Space* (1958), *Nude on the Moon* (1961), the Mexican *El Planeta de las Mujeres Invasoras* (1967), and *Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women* (1968).[1](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/cat-women_of_the_moon) The encyclopedia notes that *Abbott and Costello Go to Mars* (1953), released a few months earlier and ending on an all-female Venus, technically preceded it with the scenario, but that *Cat-Women of the Moon* established the pattern other films followed.[1](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/cat-women_of_the_moon)\n\nFilm historian Roderick Heath places the film in a 1950s subgenre he calls the space girl movie, in which mostly male explorers land on the Moon, Mars, or another planet and meet a civilization of attractive women, with gendered conflicts and dance sequences usually following; he counts *Flight to Mars* (1951), *Fire Maidens from Outer Space*, and *Queen of Outer Space* among its notable entries.[8](https://www.pdf-archive.com/2018/12/19/roderick-heath-film-writings-2018/roderick-heath-film-writings-2018.pdf) Critics have also read the film's gender politics as a product of its moment: the Moria review argues that the cat-women, who have dispensed with men and become \"coldly superior,\" embody postwar male anxieties about women's independence, and a University of Zaragoza dissertation groups the film with *Devil Girl from Mars* (1954) and *Queen of Outer Space* as addressing fears of rising female independence and power.[3](https://moriareviews.com/sciencefiction/cat-women-of-the-moon-1953.htm) • [9](https://zaguan.unizar.es/record/94437/files/TESIS-2020-110.pdf)\n\n## Reception and reputation\n\nContemporary and later reviews have been largely negative. The *New York Times* critic Howard Thompson wrote that the film \"went on and on and on\" at the Rialto, pitting its earthlings against \"a small group of lovelies camouflaged in black tights and smeary make-up.\"[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/cat_women_of_the_moon) On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 40% Tomatometer from 5 reviews and a 32% Popcornmeter score from more than 250 audience ratings.[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/cat_women_of_the_moon) The Moria review calls it one of the classic bad science-fiction films of the 1950s, frequently mentioned alongside *Robot Monster* (1953), *Attack of the 50 Foot Woman* (1958), and *Plan 9 from Outer Space* (1959), while judging it more dull than awful, with cheap but mostly passable effects.[3](https://moriareviews.com/sciencefiction/cat-women-of-the-moon-1953.htm) The film has a long afterlife on the midnight movie and camp classic circuit, and the critic Scott Weinberg of eFilmCritic.com called it \"endlessly worthy of the hilarious MST treatment,\" referring to the riffing format of *Mystery Science Theater 3000*.[8](https://www.pdf-archive.com/2018/12/19/roderick-heath-film-writings-2018/roderick-heath-film-writings-2018.pdf) • [5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/cat_women_of_the_moon)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Cat-Women of the Moon, The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/cat-women_of_the_moon)\n2. [Cat-Women of the Moon (1953), AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/50781-CAT-WOMEN-OF-THE-MOON?cxt=filmography)\n3. [Cat-Women of the Moon (1953), Moria: The Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Film Review](https://moriareviews.com/sciencefiction/cat-women-of-the-moon-1953.htm)\n4. [Cat-Women of the Moon (1953), AFI Catalog, history and credits page](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/50781-CAT-WOMEN-OFTHEMOON?cp=1&cxt=Filmography2&pos=7&sid=0cb7eed6-84ca-4f44-9913-39c07299238c&sr=8.700041e-7)\n5. [Cat-Women of the Moon, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/cat_women_of_the_moon)\n6. [Cat-Women of the Moon (1953), Plot summary, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045609/plotsummary/)\n7. [So Bad It's Good: Cat-Women of the Moon (1953), Silver Screenings](https://silverscreenings.org/2026/02/13/so-bad-its-good-cat-women-of-the-moon-1953/)\n8. [Roderick Heath, film writings (2018), This Island Rod](https://www.pdf-archive.com/2018/12/19/roderick-heath-film-writings-2018/roderick-heath-film-writings-2018.pdf)\n9. [Pablo Gómez Muñoz, A Better World? Cosmopolitan Struggles in Twenty-First Century Science Fiction Cinema, University of Zaragoza thesis](https://zaguan.unizar.es/record/94437/files/TESIS-2020-110.pdf)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Science fiction and fantasy films (individual works) › Science fiction and fantasy films before 1970*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/cat-women-of-the-moon", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/cat-women-of-the-moon.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Cat-Women of the Moon\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/cat-women-of-the-moon. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Cat-Women of the Moon](https://www.edgepedia.org/cat-women-of-the-moon)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/cat-women-of-the-moon](https://www.edgepedia.org/cat-women-of-the-moon). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Cat-Women of the Moon\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/cat-women-of-the-moon. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Cat-Women of the Moon is a 1953 American 3-D black-and-white sci-fi film directed by Arthur Hilton, starring Sonny Tufts, Victor Jory, and Marie Windsor, about telepathic lunar women who plot to steal the astronauts' rocketship; remade as Missile to the Moon." }