Project Moon Base

In the far-flung future of the 1970's, turmoil on Earth has forced colonization of the Moon. A Space Station has been constructed in the Lunar orbit. Now, a mission to the station is a target for sabotage.

PROJECT MOON BASE features: #1- A General (Hayden Rorke) who threatens to put a Colonel (Donna Martell) "over his knee"! #2- Quite possibly cinema's most preposterous rocket launch, complete with screams, moans, idiotic facial expressions, and wobbly rockets! #3- Luckily, the mission crew are all wearing ultra-short shorts, and sporting teapot cozies on their heads! #4- A ludicrous, slow-motion fight sequence, replete with more gape-mouthed buffoonery! #5- Loads of crackpot camera angles! #6- Wonky Moon Music, including a theremin! #7- Ridiculous romance!

A rib-tickling riot from start to finish! Just add intoxicants...

If you want a good Sci Fi movie to watch, this probably isn't it. It's old and low budget. In particular the costumes look quite goofy. The players are also unknowns or near unknowns. However it's such an early space movie that it's historically fascinating.

The noted Sci Fi writer Richard Heinlein wrote the script. (He's more famous for Starship Troopers.) The movie attempts to portray space in a realistic way. Of course the technology looks thoroughly ridiculous to us now but this was done 60 years ago.

Socially it was of interest because of the relative equality between women and men. Equality between the sexes was a theme in Heinlein, and amazingly it made it into this very early movie.

I came across this 1953 movie on Free TV streaming. It is barely over 60 minutes long so isn't too much different from a one hour TV show.

I find it interesting that almost 70 years ago this work of fiction so accurately foreshadowed some of the things going on today, in 2022. There is a space station in orbit around the Earth and they accurately explain why a person feel weightless on it. They use magnetic shoes inside the space station and there are signs "please do not walk on the walls."

Also there is a proposal to build a station on the Moon, another thing our current Artemis program is headed towards. In this story a team of three are to orbit the Moon to photograph the back side. For some reason not completely explained they end up having to land there in a crater and then get inventive to establish radio contact with Earth.

One of the crew members was a female officer, a novelty for the early 1950s as relates to sending people in space. However, as with almost all pre-space movies the crew boards a few minutes before launch, and all are wearing short shorts and snug-fitting tee shirts, even the men. They just strap themselves onto cots and go.

The drama in this story involves a rogue group out to destroy the space station, they find a look-a-like to substitute for one of the scientists in the initial trip to the space station.

Judged by 21st century standards this is not a very good movie and the special effects are not realistic at all. Still I found it to be a worthwhile glimpse into a time when space exploration was still just a dream, and how fiction writers and movie producers envisioned how it might be.

In the early '50s when real space travel was yet another 8 years in the future, this was average view of space travel for most people. In that paradigm, movie like this was a pretty standard format as a space rocket based stories.

Story's premise sound's ridiculous now that a rocket goes off course and can land on moon as an alternate plan and become the first people to land on the moon, but movie like this was never intended to be a serious science fiction. Some things were predicted accurately such as giant screen TV monitor, and forward thinking concept such as woman president of the country.

But let's get to the bottom line here. The only thing that's worth watching in this movie in my opinion is the beautiful Donna Martel. She looks great as the female astronaut. This movie would not be worth a watch without her.

Movie is a bit of cheese, but I find decent entertainment, and not a terrible movie to watch. I like this movie better than many of the rocket movies from this era such as Cat Woman of the Moon.

So, I wouldn't give a high rating, but it's an okay movie for this category.

This minor little early fifties space picture was compiled of episodes of an unsold TV series titled "Ring Around The Moon." This explains the films awkward bifurcated structure. The producers claim they thought these episodes look so great, that they decided to release it as feature film instead. While this may be true, I think its more likely the producers couldn't find a sponsor or a network that was interested. Which is a bit odd. For an early fifties T.V. show, this really doesn't look all that bad when compared to other early fifties shows like "Rocky Jones: Space Ranger" or "Tom Corbett Space Cadett." PROJECT MOON BASE (or "Ring Around the Moon.") seems to have slightly higher production values and more ambitious special effects than other TV shows from the period. From watching this film, its seems there was an attempt to make something more adult than other shows on TV at the time. However, these sets and special effects must of looked inadequate when seen on the big screen even in 1953.

There are some surprises here. The fact that the space commander is women is unusual for a film from the early fifties, although back in the early seventies when I first saw this film I didn't think that was so odd. What did surprise me was at the end when the president is shown to be a woman. One enlightened soul in this forum called this film "sexist" and "paranoid." I wouldn't call a film that features a women as space station commander and a woman as president "sexist", and I don't see what is so paranoid about this film. Then again, maybe I'm clueless. Then again the term "paranoid" has been used by so many pedantic critics to describe just about every 1950's sci fi/monster flick almost as if by rote.

Perhaps the most unusual thing about PROJECT MOON BASE is some of the names in the credits. The name almost always mentioned is the famed science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlan, who is credited as co-writer. It's a shame that this minor little film is one of the few times Heinlan ever worked on a film. The other name is Richard Talmadge who directed. Talmadge's career goes back to the silent period where he was one the silent periods great stunt men. He also was a star back then in his own right. Over the years Talmadge, acted, directed, produced, wrote and worked as a unit director on all kinds of films.

Over all, PROJECT MOON BASE is a rather tedious film. I recently watched it on video and sat through it with only minor interest. Unless your a fifties sci fi buff, or a fan of Heinlan, or interested in the career of Richard Talmadge, PROJECT MOON BASE will probably be rough going. It's a minor curiosity, and a footnote in the career of Robert Heinlan.