Nude on the Moon (1961) review
Revisiting Doris Wishman’s kitschy sci-fi cult classic
After her first film Hideout in the Sun was a success, Doris Wishman decided to strike while the iron was hot and proceeded to make another nudist film… that wasn't REALLY a nudist film. It’s possibly the movie she’s best known for, with the B-52’s naming a compilation album after it, but amongst her sun-soaked films, it’s the one that truly stands out the most.
Campy space plot
Nude on the Moon tells the story of Dr. Jeff Huntley, played by William Mayer, and his partner Dr. Nichols, played by Lester Brown (with white in his hair to look older), as they make an expedition in their rocketship to the moon and find that it happens to look just like Coral Castle in south Florida…and that it's occupied by semi-nude aliens!
They are quickly captured by the aliens, but their Queen, played by an actress credited only as Marietta (and who looks suspiciously like our astronaut duo’s lovesick secretary Cathy) determines that they are harmless.
The queen telepathically orders their release so that they may explore the paradise she oversees for the rest of their brief visit.
The duo walk around taking photos and notes on the strange sights they encounter while the aliens lounge around and occasionally poke at the astronauts themselves.
Huntley, who’s spent his life and inheritance on this rocket project and typically has no interest in relationships or starting a family, winds up falling in love with the Queen, offering her a chocolate bar at one point. It doesn’t go as planned, but the Queen falls for him as well, having never experienced love before herself. Alas, it’s too little too late: their oxygen is low, and the astronauts must depart despite Huntley’s protests to stay behind.
On the way back to earth, they realize they left their camera behind. Without any evidence of what they encountered (including gold just laying around on the ground apparently), the trip feels like a complete bust…until Cathy walks into Huntley’s office and a realization overcomes him: he didn’t just leave his newfound love behind on the moon, she’s right there with him! Another classic Wishman storybook ending.
Nudist in name only
As mentioned before, it's hard to call Nude on the Moon a nudist film despite Wishman’s intentions: to start, with the exception of one toddler, nobody in this film appears fully nude. The aliens all wear brightly colored bottoms and have pipe cleaner antennae on their head, and Coral Castle certainly isn't a nudist camp. Wishman decided to strike out into science fiction territory, partly due to America’s burgeoning space program being in the news, but also to stand out from the other nudist films that were starting to crop up.
Nudist films were becoming more prevalent after the infamous Excelsior Pictures Vs New York Board of Regents case over distribution of the 1954 film Garden of Eden, in which it was determined that nudity by itself was not indecent or offensive, and could be shown in films.
The catch here is that, for the New York censors, it has to be in the context of nudism as a subject, or at least in some way educational, with the films themselves set in nudist camps. Because this film doesn't mention or discuss nudism at all, nor is it set in a proper camp, the New York censors refused to let the film be shown in the state, thereby killing a huge chunk of the market and potential audience, practically dooming it at the box office. Her brilliant idea backfired, and this blunder is the reason why Wishman’s following nudist films were set in actual camps and more explicitly about the subject, starting with my personal favorite Diary of a Nudist.
It’s still a quirky, charming, and enjoyable watch, but it lacks the unhinged energy of Hideout in the Sun. There’s significantly less going on here, with the film’s first half meandering around pointlessly until our protagonists get into their rocket and blast off. The Florida footage is gorgeous, as is Hentley’s giant purple Pontiac convertible, but it really lags. As if they’re aware of how dull things are, our heroes themselves fall asleep shortly after they blast off!
When we finally reach the moon, with Coral Castle’s bizarre limestone carvings and the alien cast laying around doing very little, things sadly don’t get much more exciting. Even when Hentley and Nichols are captured, there’s no sense of danger, no urgency. Everyone and everything moves so slow. If you’re not up for laying back and basking in the weird, languid vibes, there’s not much here to engage with.
Newly restored
One thing about the film is that it is pretty to look at. Once again, the American Genre Film Association has done an incredible job restoring this film from the original negative for their blu-ray box set release Dorish Wishman: the Daylight Years, which includes this and five other nudist films of hers. The colors are lush and vibrant, and the detail is fantastic. I love the funny space suits our heroes wear around the moon, looking like they got lost on their way to a golden age sci-fi convention. There’s one alien in particular, the long haired blonde who knocks the men out with her wand, who has an incredibly painful looking sunburn on her lower back and above her breasts. As with Wishman’s other films, everyone here is a model, presumably from the same group that photographer Bunny Yeager worked with. What’s more, we get a fair share of hunky men to look at alongside the women!
We also get a fun score with appropriate sci-fi warbles throughout, and another theme song written by Wishman’s niece Judith Kushner. As with Hideout in the Sun’s theme, this one is sung by Ralph Young, who also plays the romantic lead in Wishman’s 1962 film Blaze Starr Goes Nudist.
The blu-ray release also includes a commentary track with Frank Henenlotter (best known as the director of Basket Case and Frankenhooker) and Anthony Snead, who is labeled as a filmmaker but whose info I couldn’t really find during a quick Google search, so I’m not sure at all who he is. Henenlotter sounds almost exactly like the late Marvel Comics writer Stan Lee, and is very knowledgeable about Coral Castle, telling all kinds of stories about it and its creator Edward Leedskalnin. There’s not as much trivia here on Wishman and her films as there is in the commentary tracks on the other films in the set, but it’s still a fun listen.
If you want something that really hooks you and keeps your eyes glued to the screen, Nude on the Moon isn’t it, but it’s still an incredibly charming and weird movie to put on, especially in this cold winter weather with a blanket and warm drink. 🪐
I just still want a Naturist remake or even Original take of Anything!!
Fun!