Project Moon Base (1953)

As Good As It Gets

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The acting in this movie is really good.

The 1950's was the invention of 3-D, which caused a lot of people to rush to make sci-fi movies. A lot of the more memorable cheesy ones featured giant monsters or aliens, but this didn't even have that. If you want to watch something about going to the Moon before we actually did that in real life, watch the classic "A Trip To The Moon". This plot is very basic with people going to the Moon, but one of them is going to sabotage the mission. The movie is so dull there is really nothing else to say about the plot. A lot of the time, a bad movie with a short running time would be good. Here, it's more distracting because you just know they didn't have enough ideas to show more off a movie.This movie was apparently supposed to depict women in a positive light, at least for the decade it was released. Instead, the women come off as annoying and contribute little to the story. Then again, you could say the same thing of the male characters. The costumes and sets are quite goofy. This doesn't even the distinct of being cheesy in an entertaining way like a lot of B-movies. *.

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.

"Project Moonbase" doesn't attempt to act like a big-budget film, nor does it take its subject very seriously. In fact, I'm not sure what was going through the filmmakers' minds when they made this movie, but the end result is pretty bland, and it's to dull to be very funny.The film opens in the far-future year of 1970 as the "Enemies of Freedom" (guess who?) are plotting to place a spy aboard a U.S. space station. Ross Ford and Donna Martell play astronauts who are traveling to the moon, along with the "Enemy of Freedom" agent, who we know is a bad guy because he slouches and smokes cigarettes. The director inserts some very amusing sequences of space flight (with heavy sweating, facial contortions, and screaming) before final touchdown on the lunar surface. The "Enemy of Freedom" guy naturally does his spy thing and is caught and overcome, leaving Ford and Martell to fall in cosmic love. The happy couple is addressed by "Madame President" of the U.S., before a long-distance space wedding is conducted via viewscreen.About the best thing in this movie is perky Donna Martell, who deserves much better material. Otherwise, it's pretty standard, with rudimentary special effects and a pedestrian spy/love story thrown in for good measure. Hayden Rorke is about the only recognizable person in the cast, and he gives an excruciatingly overbearing performance as a military general. The idea of a female president is novel for the early 1950s, but it's way too little, too late, to save this turkey of a film. One question I do have—during space flight, why does Ford grimace, howl and yowl at the top of his lungs and sweat profusely, while Martell just looks lovely—with no sweat?

Even by the standards of classically cheesy 50s cold war sci-fi propaganda movies; this one totally takes the cake for being the worst of the bunch.The portrayal of the bad guys is both bland and hammy at the same time (which is a remarkable feat in itself). The models look like cheap constructor-kit toys. And don't let me get started on the MARRIAGE scene. I seriously wanted to hurl at that bit.And the final proof of badness? Hayden TRoarke looked more credible playing the psychiatrist in I DREAM OF JEANNIE (a sitcom) than he did playing this serious drama story! Nuff said.