Cat-Women of the Moon (1953) achieves a level of ineptitude that places it squarely within the province of MST3K mockery, for which it is eminently suited. I’ll not bother to dissect this movie, (a task that has been well accomplished by the review posted on The Invisible Sc-Fi ’50s Page). I’ll simply add my observation that the use to which 3-D was put in this movie was about as effective as, no, less effective than a 3-D rendering of 12 Angry Men. Let us marvel at a man looking with concern at his wristwatch… in 3-D! We are astounded by a close-up of the watch… in 3-D! (It gets better.) Look! A shadow on a flat, featureless wall… in 3-D!
In the version I saw (a VHS tape released by Rhino), the 3-D scenes were not only oddly selected, but they were oddly rendered, too. Actors invariably had two sets of eyes and two sets of mouths, and nothing so much leapt out at the viewer as appeared blurry and headache-inducing.
My favorite part of the movie (yes, there is a favorite part) is the scene where crewman Doug Smith is getting to know Cat-woman Lambda a little better:
SMITH: Or on Saturday nights you can go out on the town. Dance, drink, just laughing too hard.
LAMBDA: I’d like the driving down to the beach best. Stretching out on the sand… Just a boy and a girl together… and… and maybe what you call a… a Coke.
SMITH: You would? That’s what I like best, too. With the right girl, of course.
Yes, sounds like perfectly plausible first contact dialogue to me. Cat-Women of the Moon has all the right bad acting, bad writing, bad directing, and hilariously bad special effects to make a first rate MST3K experiment. I don’t know if it was ever used, but if it wasn’t, it’s a crime. At any rate, it ought to meet anyone’s needs… if one’s needs consist of a truly horrible movie ripe for mocking.
Overall Rating: Terrible
Mockery Potential: Superb