Sunday Morning 18 - Project Moonbase (1953) 

Hope you have good eclipse viewing!

Another winner👊😏👍

And I'm not going to quote the good MST3K lines. They're the ONLY reason this thing is watchable!!

This was absolutely terrible. Heinlein understandably HATED this movie. He wanted to have something to say about how women may one day be treated, and the "movie" wound up a study on how women were treated THEN. Colonel Briteis is a disturbing example. You will note that the film never bothers to even give her a first name, and it does everything possible to discredit her. The public apparently sees her as a great hero, but then we find out it was purely by chance and no one at the space agency has any faith in her whatsoever, especially her nominal commanding officer, General Pappy. She's such a great symbol of women's rights; a spoiled brat on earth and a submissive little girl once they make it on the Moon. She demonstrates no knowledge whatsoever, and at the end, the General forces her and her copilot Bill to get married, which she only agrees to if the President (who turns out to be a woman seemingly modeled after Mamie Eisenhower - I'm sure she would be wearing pink if this was on color film) issues an executive order promoting the copilot to outrank her and restore the natural order. Yeah, I know, it's 1953, but this is one of the most sexist and disgusting films I have ever seen, and it was well riffed by MST3K. Though I really wish they had redone it later with a full writing staff. The filmmakers seemed awfully proud of the special effect allowing the characters to walk on the walls ... until we got a sign "No walking on the walls" so they didn't have to keep doing it. The meeting with Briteis and Bill with the big brass on the space station is just oddly filmed presumably to show off that effect, but, seriously, would YOU want to attend a meeting when those you are talking to are adhered to the ceiling?!! Then there are the enemy agents. We know little about them, but somehow they manage to find (or create) doubles of everyone working at the space agency, but they're just waiting for ONE specific agent to impersonate. Which takes them days to discover! If you HAD so many doubles already available, why didn't you replace everyone on the damn ship? And the double agent's mission is to destroy the space station, right? Yeah, the movie forgot about that too. He makes no move to attack the space station, he's intended for the mission to the moon from the start, and then he doesn't even try to sabotage the spaceship anyway! He is SO forgotten that Bill gets him to help out to establish a communications antenna so the spy can get himself killed and then no one has to worry about THAT subplot anymore. Oh, and, as an afterthought, we are told they found the REAL scientist that the spy impersonated (WE don't see him again), but neither the agency nor the government have any clues because the scientist never knew what happened and the only spy known is now dead! No wonder Heinlein hated this thing! The only thing worth watching is Donna Martell in her sproingy 50s bra!

18:44 dear God that's the most obscene docking procedure I've ever seen!