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Episode 107: Nude on the Moon featuring Preston Spurlock
79 Plays20 days ago
Artist and musician Preston Spurlock is back again with a real charmer, it’s Nude on the Moon (1961). A nudist film directed by famed nudist director, Doris Wishman, it supposes, “What if we went to the moon, and there was a nudist colony there?” With its silly dialogue, quaint state of undress and the wonderful costumes on those that are clothed it’s a winner. After all, it’s just a nice little film about topless people hanging out in a very fascinating structure, Coral Castle. We’ve even going into the history and the mystery of that very castle itself as we explore another piece of Florida cinema. It’s a lot of lounging and a lot of laughter, so tune in!
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Transcript
Introduction & Hosts Introduction
00:00:40
Speaker
Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to your favorite bad movie podcast. The only podcast that's brave enough to ask the question, if this movie's so bad, why is it so nude?
00:00:54
Speaker
no We're your hosts. My name is Chris Anderson, and I'm going to say that I'm the professor of the show. Sure.
00:01:06
Speaker
I feel like he was my viewpoint character in this. there's only oh yeah There's only like three people to pick. So yeah, it's not much in the way characterization yeah no so obviously Greg, that makes you the Jeff.
00:01:21
Speaker
Okay. the show I'll take that. I'll find, ah I'll find love with a topless woman. That'd be great. That'd be wonderful. I hope that happens for you. Thank you. I'll be, we'll see what happens.
00:01:33
Speaker
and you know And you're adventurous. Sure. You've traveled all around the country. Definitely. That's not moving. It was travel. Yeah. You know you were you you picked up roots. That takes an adventurous trip. Sure. Yeah.
00:01:47
Speaker
and And, of course, we have my beautiful moon queen, my lovely wife, Anna. Hello, is this is this that love you speak of?
00:02:01
Speaker
Of course is, Michael. That feel for you. Of course it is. What else could it be? That is a lot of our conversations, though. That's a big assumption that we have to make up. I don't know what it is if it's not that.
00:02:15
Speaker
And, of course, we have... a man that is ah an artist, an animator, a musician, a wonderful human being. But also, I'm going to say... ah ah powerful heavenly body whose gravitational pull is so powerful. in the moon You're practically a character unto yourself. The moon of the show, Mr. Preston Spurlock. How are you, Preston? I'm great. Pleasure to be here.
Nude on the Moon & Florida Cinema
00:02:50
Speaker
ah Preston, you chose for our movie this week, Nude on the Moon. That's right. ah Listeners, if you haven't seen Nude on the Moon, here's just a short summary. If you couldn't sort of put it together.
00:03:13
Speaker
a pair of scientists fly to the moon where they find nudist colony and the hunkier scientist falls in love with the moon queen.
00:03:25
Speaker
You nailed it. Yeah. Yeah. and That is the whole plot. Yeah. Yes. ah I realized once we got to the back half of this film, my plot summary really just boom. I was pretty much done. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:03:44
Speaker
Uh, but a film delightful in its simplicity. Preston, I came to you with the prompt because I know that you're from Florida and I wanted to talk a little bit about Florida movies because I feel like Florida cinema has its own distinct vibe.
00:03:59
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Sure. Why not? Well, just to prove my point, I assembled this little list of Florida movies just to to spark the conversation.
00:04:12
Speaker
ah So we've already done three movies from Florida. ah We have done, obviously, Miami Connection is going to be in Florida. Right. A classic.
00:04:23
Speaker
oh Mr. No Legs, also in Florida. Yeah. And, of course, Ernest Saves Christmas. Mm-hmm.
00:04:34
Speaker
Well. Okay. Ernest Saves Christmas. He is in Florida. Yeah. Okay. With the goblins and everything. No, that saves Halloween. Yeah, there were no goblins at Christmas. Yeah.
00:04:46
Speaker
There were reindeer. Right. right Now, here are some other ones that I feel like all these all came out of Florida and speak to the essential Florida-ness that I'm thinking of.
00:04:58
Speaker
You've got From Justin to Kelly, the American Idol movie. yeah Classic. Classic touchstone for our generation, I say. ah Not that fun to watch, unfortunately. But a famous I recorded over my copy of that. I regret doing that, but I did record over my copy if for Justin McKinley.
00:05:20
Speaker
I think I've got it on the Plex, and if I don't, I'm going to. It's worth... okay Well, I don't know. It's a film. It's a movie. it's It should be preserved. We should not forget just from Justin and Kelly. Archive it.
00:05:35
Speaker
Yes, exactly. Also, you've got a personal favorite of mine, Kickboxing Academy. Anybody seen Kickboxing Academy? No. Very strange kids kickboxing movie.
00:05:48
Speaker
um where the evil dojo is chanting at the tournament at the end, cheat, cheat, cheat, cheat. That's how you know they're evil.
00:06:00
Speaker
i Yeah. love it It's really good. You've also got another personal favorite of mine, Only the Strong, the definitive capoeira movie. Oh. That's a good one. ah Ace Ventura, Pet Detective. Sure. Definitely Florida
Doris Wishman's Career
00:06:15
Speaker
movie.
00:06:15
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. The Day of the Dolphin, a movie that I fucking hate with my life. this What is this film? You had such a bad reaction to that movie. that It's the movie where George C. Scott unwittingly trains the dolphin to assassinate the President United States. Oh. But ah it it features a dolphin...
00:06:39
Speaker
that has ah proves that they have taught to speak English, but like every time it speaks, it's so horrible and unnatural, and and Chris just had a real hard time with it. okay It fucking sucked every time that dolphin talked. I would have killed that thing with a hammer, I tell you what. Wow.
00:07:00
Speaker
I had a real... avert It was like mocking humanity. Who the fuck are you? Shut the fuck up. wow Get out of here. Wow.
00:07:11
Speaker
Real bad vibes from that dolphin. You also got Mr. Nanny. Hulk Hogan movie. Where he's tied up in a tutu on the cover. Yeah. Wild Things.
00:07:23
Speaker
Yeah, classic. Yeah, it's great movie. Similar vibes. Palmetto. Yep. Oh, I've seen that one. I think I've seen that one. I saw it in the theater.
00:07:34
Speaker
Nice. yeah Yeah, that was a classic like horny but semi-respectable movie. it It walked that line very well. I like it when it's semi-respectable and horny.
00:07:45
Speaker
Yeah, best of both worlds. ah You also got John Leguizamo's The Pest. That feels very Florida to me. It is. Well, they go to an island at one point, but it starts and ends in Miami, yeah.
00:08:02
Speaker
ah You got Revenge of the Nerds 2, Nerds in Paradise. Yeah, it sounds right. Of course. And in the same vibe, Police Academy 5, Assignment Miami Beach.
00:08:15
Speaker
Yeah. Very Florida vibes movie. The Substitute. Very similar to Only the Strong. About a military guy cleaning up a school system.
00:08:27
Speaker
Sure. And... ah On the other side of the coin, I wanted to shout out my old professor, Kelly Reichardt, who shot a River of Grass down in Florida.
00:08:39
Speaker
And that was just a beautiful movie. and She's your professor? Yeah, yeah. I took sight and sound film with her. No kidding. Yeah, yeah. She was great. Wow.
00:08:51
Speaker
Yeah, you could tell she did not like a lot of the kids. She didn't like me. I don't understand why. I just don't. That's fucking funny. I think we had, like, she might have given me a begrudging respect, but I think she thought I was full of shit and an idiot, and she was pretty much right.
00:09:11
Speaker
But, Preston, you chose out of all the Florida movies, you chose Nude on the Moon. Why'd you choose Nude on the Moon? ah Because...
00:09:23
Speaker
In my mind, it was between that one or or or my other favorite Florida movie, Twisted Issues. And um I just knew Nude on the Moon better. Yeah. It's pretty easy to know. if yeah Yeah. Yeah. You you get ah pretty much an impression of it once you... Yeah. um I have a nifty... I know that your viewers, your listeners won't be able to see this, but my copy Nude on the Moon is just...
00:09:45
Speaker
Joe Bob Briggs branded Nice Official squeeze-a-rama Release of nude on the moon Joe Bob Briggs of course the ah famous host Of um just reputable Movies for years and years now Yeah icon Icon yeah and uh Sort of like a Hillbilly Elvira or so of a sort And uh And uh he uh There's a little bumper at the beginning of the the presentation where he's um basically just eulogizing the loss of drive-in culture.
00:10:19
Speaker
He's at like a drive-in and talking about how shameful it is and what it used to be. And then he goes on to dish the movie for a few minutes in a comedic way. and then like Yeah. It's fun.
00:10:33
Speaker
It's a lot of good fun. Yeah. Sounds good. Yeah. Well, I had not seen this one before. I had seen some later Doris Wishman.
00:10:44
Speaker
Yeah. I'd seen ah the specifically the Chesty Morgan films, yeah which are really late into her career. Yes, that that was in the her mid-70s. She worked with an actress called Chesty Morgan, who famously had 73-inch breast circumference.
00:11:05
Speaker
ah And they were ah confronting to look at. I did not find Chesty Morgan erotic. It was really... disturbing uh in uh double agent 73 she had a camera implanted in one breast and a bomb implanted in the other and she could activate them by squeezing them so you had to make sure you don't mix them yeah you want know which one's the camera you want to know which breast has the camera and which breast has the bomb camera in the breast that sounds so painful
00:11:41
Speaker
It all sounds pretty painful. Yes. Poor Chesty Morgan suffering for her art. Yeah. aye There's a great, do my other favorite Doris Wishman movie is the ah the ah disreputable documentary about sex changes called Let Me Die a Woman.
00:11:58
Speaker
e very ah Very guttural, unpleasant, tactless movie, if you can find a copy of it. I've got it up on the flex. I have not brought myself around to checking it out. I do not know if i want to go through that. It's got some ugly graphic surgery in it. and kind of the selling That's kind of the selling point.
00:12:20
Speaker
Okay, yeah, I definitely don't need to watch surgery. That is definitely one that will be kept on there as an archive. I am not ever in surgery mood. Had either of you two, Greg or Anna, seen Newt on the Moon before?
00:12:34
Speaker
ah Never seen it, never heard of it, didn't ever know of, ah was it Doris Wishman? Was that her name? and yeah didn't know about her when it was just like one of eight nudist films I was just like what what could that even mean exactly would when I say nudist film what pops into my brain and all it was just nude people and that's as far as I got that's as far as they got I mean there's a lot of nudity in this movie but I wouldn't say that anyone is like nude it's unerotic nudity for sure yeah pretty functional yeah
00:13:12
Speaker
Anna, what were your impressions of Nude on the Moon before you had seen it? What were you thinking going in? ah I mean, I and was vaguely... I've been vaguely aware of the notion of nudist films as a a way to to get movies with nude people in them even even aired or distributed before...
00:13:36
Speaker
ah what, the the late sixty s or whenever it is whenever it is that you started to be able to get real pornography. e But I hadn't seen one. But I had never seen one. And it was it was fun. ah It was, yeah.
00:13:51
Speaker
It was at least marginally more fun than a lot of the others that are just slice-of-life, travel-on-type things. Just at least a shoehorn, a science fiction plot into the underdating. Yeah. And I did watch ah before this, I checked out blaze star goes nudist, which was another one of her films, which did at least feature a very lovely blaze star in it.
00:14:14
Speaker
And a lot of nude women sort of just hanging out and vibing. And that seems to be what a nudist film is. It's just nude women. Just hanging out.
00:14:26
Speaker
Maybe they're doing some mild activity. not There's always volleyball. Yeah, maybe a little volleyball, maybe a little, like, splashing each other. I'm going to take a wild gander, take a wild guess, and say, like, maybe some sunbathing.
00:14:42
Speaker
Yeah, yeah ye very good guess. Maybe, like, a croquet game. Ooh. Or feeding some ducks. Nude croquet, I feel like, would be kind of freeing.
00:14:55
Speaker
Yeah, that would be a nice afternoon. Yeah.
00:15:01
Speaker
Well, do you guys want to hear about the context I got on old the nude on the moon?
Legal Impact on Nudist Films
00:15:06
Speaker
Yes. Yeah. Oh, let's hit it.
00:15:21
Speaker
I wish I had some context about the background of the film. Script director, actors on track. What was going on on screen? want to hear some details.
00:15:33
Speaker
Gossip stand to all that shit. Can't imagine all the time.
00:15:50
Speaker
So Nude on the Moon was released sometime in September 1961. The exact date is lost to history. What a shame. By which I mean it was not on IMDb or Wikipedia. so There you go.
00:16:05
Speaker
What more do you want from me? Our director is Doris Wishman, and we had four taglines. Wow. Perfect.
00:16:15
Speaker
Tagline number one. A truly different adventure. Sure. I guess. I love it. I mean, the title already sells you, so you just need a little bit. Yeah, right. It really is the perfect title.
00:16:31
Speaker
ah Tagline number two. And the heavens brought forth the wonder of woman. What? Okay. That one seems very of its era. This feels like that must have been a style. Yeah. that It's very early 60s sci-fi movie.
00:16:50
Speaker
Yeah. Which I kind of like about it. I think, I don't know, I think one of the things that I like most about the movie is how much it how much it resembles any other sci-fi cheapy of the time.
00:17:05
Speaker
Except for the nudity. And and yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it really is a ah genre fusion, which I think is interesting. ah Tagline number four.
00:17:16
Speaker
A truly different adventure. Oh, number three. I'm sorry. Yeah. Number three. A truly different adventure takes you out of this world.
00:17:27
Speaker
who Okay. Yeah. See, you don't need to gild the lily. A truly different adventure is fun. All right. Last but not least.
00:17:38
Speaker
Man discovers a nature camp on the moon. That's functional. Yeah. I feel like, yeah, it doesn't tell me anything that the title didn't already involve. Yeah, right. yeah Exactly.
00:17:51
Speaker
I mean, that's sort of the problem is you don't really need more. Like the tagline should just be, did you read the title? Yeah, exactly.
00:18:02
Speaker
So ah in the late 50s, our nation's pornographers struck a blow for free speech with the court case Excelsior Pictures Corporation versus the New York State of Regents.
00:18:16
Speaker
Guys, ah look at this research I'm doing. I'm slam dunking. Yeah, it's exciting. Yeah, really. Good Lord. ah The New York Court of Appeals said that the film Garden of Eden, the first nudist film ever shot in color, could not be censored because while the nudity displayed therein might be considered indecent, it could not be considered obscene because the nudity of a nudist is by definition non-sexual. man Okay. Okay.
00:18:47
Speaker
So it created this very specific legal precedent. And so it opened the floodgates and nudist films started popping up in theaters all across the country.
00:19:02
Speaker
Doris Wishman was the foremost filmmaker working in the genre, making eight nudist films to kick off her 30 film career. Wow. Wow. She is considered, i saw one source calling her the most prolific female director of the sound era.
00:19:20
Speaker
Wow. Wow. She's up. Yeah, she's up there. that's pretty wild. She must be. If somebody, listeners, write in to Favorite Bad Movie Pod, if you know a female director with more credits in the sound era, we would love to shout them out.
00:19:37
Speaker
So she came to filmmaking actually late in life, which makes that accomplishment all the more impressive. She made her first film at the age of 46. My age.
00:19:49
Speaker
Yeah. Well, her husband, Jack, died of a heart attack at the age of 31. Oh, no. wow Terrible. 15 years her junior. Good for you, Doris.
00:20:00
Speaker
that But Wishman was unsure of what to do with herself next. So she decided to borrow 10 grand from her sister and make a nudist picture.
00:20:13
Speaker
Yeah. Right on, Doris. Go for it. ah It was called Hideout in the Sun, and it was about a pair of bank robbers who lie low in a nudist camp.
00:20:27
Speaker
That's a good premise. I like that. love it. I love it already. Mm-hmm. One of them gets bit by a king cobra and the other one falls in love with a nudist. He gets arrested, but he says when he gets out, he'll come back to the nudist camp.
00:20:41
Speaker
Yeah, I'm on board. Yeah. Hideout in the Sun turned out to be a nice little earner for Wishman, despite being banned in Memphis, Tennessee and all of Kansas.
00:20:53
Speaker
Okay. It grossed $12,000 just in its opening week at the Variety Theater in Miami Beach. With the profits from Hideout in the Sun, she would make her second picture, Nude on the Moon.
00:21:09
Speaker
Okay. This is her second one. Yes, this is just her second movie. Oh, wow. I didn't know that. And already she's innovating in the field. You know, she doesn't, she's not held back by what she thinks it ought to be, you know?
00:21:22
Speaker
ah Nude on the Moon was the first science fiction nudist film. That makes sense. Yeah. Unfortunately, this resulted in some rolling back of free speech rights.
00:21:38
Speaker
The New York State Censorship Board determined that allowing realistic depictions of nudist camps could be in the public interest, but fantastical depictions of nudist camps, like, say, putting them on the moon, were not in the public interest.
00:21:53
Speaker
because It was a bridge too far. was like, this is clearly not just documenting a lifestyle that people have a right to know about. This is just a fantasy about naked people. You're not tricking. Also, it may it may be pertinent at this time to say that, like, none of the nudity that is in this is in any way or form shocking at this point in time.
00:22:16
Speaker
No, this is the tamest pornography I could literally imagine. Yeah. it's It's almost wholesome. It is holy. Yeah. I think I wrote the nudity is quaint.
00:22:27
Speaker
Yeah. like I feel like this should be the pornography you give your child. Do you know what I mean? The gateway pornography. Just like here. You need something. Watch Nude on the Moon. It's fine. You're 12.
00:22:44
Speaker
It's fine. This is a safe one for you. Yeah. If you just stick with this. No problem. You'll be almost normal, I'm sure. I feel like, man, i don't know. I just feel like this is going to give you some strange fetish or something. you know Maybe, but, you know, that's as bad as it gets. A lot of us have those. Yeah, suppose that's the worst thing. Get those any which way.
00:23:09
Speaker
At least it'll teach you to respect the queen of the moon. and That's true. So critics also didn't much care for nude on the moon. What?
00:23:23
Speaker
I don't know why. it i really delivered on the premise. ah Dave care described it in the New York times as inadvertently hilarious.
00:23:34
Speaker
Okay. I mean, that's fair. Yeah. ah It's got a New York times review. Wow. What a world. Yeah. Different world. I mean, maybe it wasn't contemporaneous. I'm not sure.
00:23:49
Speaker
ah Still, even if she wasn't going to set them on the moon anymore, she did still stick with nudist pictures until the genre died out, making movies like Blaze Star Goes Nudist and Gentlemen Prefer Nature Girls.
00:24:08
Speaker
By the mid 60s, the nudist film trend died off.
Film Plot Overview
00:24:12
Speaker
which been transitions to sexploitation films, specifically roughies, uh, more violent sub genre of sexploitation films.
00:24:22
Speaker
Hmm. In the eighties, which been retired from film work, taking a job in a sex shop in Coral Gables, Florida. Okay. In the late ninety s she started developing cult following after some of her films got picked up by Something Weird Video.
00:24:38
Speaker
Yeah, that makes sense. She even ended up making three more films before she died in 2002. She also had two appearances on Conan O'Brien, one with Roger Ebert. Wow. oh I'm sure you can find those somewhere, but I i forgot to look for them.
00:24:56
Speaker
Other nudist films of 1961. Yes. Yes. yes yes You've got nudist life.
00:25:08
Speaker
As nature intended.
00:25:12
Speaker
Shangri-La.
00:25:16
Speaker
Diary of a nudist.
00:25:19
Speaker
Nudist memories.
00:25:23
Speaker
and my personal favorite of the year, around the world with nothing on. Oh, that's really nice. Yes. All right. That sounds like a fun watch.
00:25:38
Speaker
Well, you guys want to talk about the plot of nude on the moon? As it were. Yeah, I sure do.
00:26:02
Speaker
Plot bumper, listen to me. I'm gonna give you the plot summary. Come on, baby. Here's the synopsis.
00:26:14
Speaker
Plot bumper, plot bumper.
00:26:28
Speaker
So we have it on an illustration of a lunar landscape with earth in the sky. Yeah, we sure do. Ralph Young sings a jazzy theme song, Moondall, in its entirety before title appears on screen.
00:26:45
Speaker
Yeah. Great song. Yes, and Moondall will be our outro today, listeners, so stick around. It was really the only option you had, I feel like. That's not that's not like a put-down or anything. Yeah.
00:26:59
Speaker
But finally, as we get towards the end of the song, we see our title appear on the screen. Nude on the moon. And there's just a loud bang, at least with the first nude. Like it was so loud. There's like, oh, like I like jump back for a moment. And it was just very hilarious for it to be like nude. and it was just like, hell yes. Okay. Yes.
00:27:23
Speaker
It wants your attention. It's got us. Yeah. What a great title as well. I mean, yeah unforgettable. Yeah.
00:27:33
Speaker
So our hero, Dr. Jeff Huntley, ah blandly handsome, hops in his giant boat of a convertible and goes for a drive. And we're going to put this in that category of bad movie where you see someone hop in their car and go for a drive.
00:27:52
Speaker
They might even talk about where they're going to go and then talk about the drive after they've had it. Yeah. Yeah. I'm going to put Birdemic in that class. I'm going to put No Legs in that class. It's a classic bad movie move.
00:28:08
Speaker
Yeah. Eat up some time. Yeah, exactly. ah He eventually pulls over into a ah payphone and he calls his friend and mentor and coworker, the professor.
00:28:24
Speaker
And he tells them that he has exciting news for him and that he shouldn't leave the office. He's going to be there in five minutes. Don't worry. I'll be there in five minutes. We couldn't just have him show up and talk to the professor. I also like i love that it's ah it couldn't be like, I'm going to be there in a half an hour, so don't leave. It's like, I'm almost there, so don't go away. It's like, why didn't you call sooner?
00:28:48
Speaker
And it was at this point that I wrote, already this is great.
00:28:53
Speaker
Yeah. You know that you're already like sort of lost in this sauce. This is the sort of haze of a movie you're going to be in. Yep. This kind of fever dream. What a pleasant fever dream.
00:29:05
Speaker
yeah Yeah. We're just like, yeah, just tell me a story. Whatever's happening is what's happening. Let's go. Yeah.
00:29:14
Speaker
So the professor does send home Jeff's clerical assistant, Kathy, and despite her office crush on Jeff.
00:29:25
Speaker
He's married to his work, after all. He is one of the world's leading rocket scientists.
00:29:33
Speaker
Jeff rolls up, and he does indeed have good news. His uncle is dead. Mm-hmm. ah His uncle Ted made a fortune in the fur business and he left our boy Jeff more than enough money to build a rocket ship to go to the moon.
00:29:52
Speaker
No more courting investors. They're going to do it themselves. And all they needed was $3 million dollars in 1961 fur money, which ah did you do the calculation? my does I sure did. It's a 33
00:30:09
Speaker
Yes, great minds think alike. Cheap at twice the price. I also looked up eight years later, the Apollo 11 mission, which would go to the moon, would cost about 100 times as much.
00:30:21
Speaker
That makes sense. Right. Okay. Just to not that we're expecting Doris Wishman to be a financial prognosticator on the cost to go to the moon.
00:30:33
Speaker
But if you were curious how far off she was, that's about how far off she is. ah Now, Jeff, he wants to take the professor with him to the moon. And the professor, he thinks it might be dangerous, but he eventually agrees.
00:30:49
Speaker
We're spending a lot of time talking about how we're going to get to the moon. Yeah. Yeah.
00:30:57
Speaker
They then spend six months building the rocket and developing the fuel necessary for their trip. Six months. They're crack scientists.
00:31:11
Speaker
Yeah. yeah yeah Now that they got the $3 million. Yeah. Money was the real factor standing in the way. They needed equipment their fuel They needed rare minerals to do their fuel tests.
00:31:24
Speaker
they needed rare minerals ah So Jeff doesn't give Kathy the time of day this whole time. He's so focused on the moon. yeah She just winds up staring longingly at an eight by 10 glossy photo of Jeff that she keeps in her desk.
00:31:43
Speaker
Yeah.
00:31:46
Speaker
Really, really into Jeff. Yeah. Yeah.
00:31:52
Speaker
experiments continue the professor gives a monkey in a cage a half a cup of coffee for example and then eventually it's launch day and pray we got there uh the professor and jeff drive across miami past a movie theater showing hideaway in the sun which jeff saw and loved He enjoys a good nudist film, Jeff. He's a man just like anybody else.
00:32:19
Speaker
But there's also lots of pulse-pounding action. is ah Maybe a little foreshadowing to what his reaction will be when he gets to the moon, actually. Now that I know what the film is.
00:32:30
Speaker
That's legitimate foreshadowing. I never thought about it. Well, I didn't know what it was, so I was just like, now they're talking about a movie he saw last night. This is interesting. No, no, The Hideaway was a nudist camp. That's why he goes there and he's like, I know what this is. That's right. I've seen this before. Last night, even.
00:32:49
Speaker
Thank you, Doris Wishman, for the gift of understanding.
00:32:57
Speaker
Let's see. ah Then they head out to the middle of the woods where they've built their launch pad. Finally, we're going to the moon. At first, you might think that they aren't going to show us the ship, but then we finally do get some pretty fun miniature work.
00:33:13
Speaker
I really like the little miniature rocket that you built. Yep. And, you know, it even separates during, ah you know, it's launch. I thought that was really impressive. Yeah.
00:33:25
Speaker
they They really put some ingenuity and some work into this little handmade sequence, and I loved it. I was trying to remember, though, do when astronauts go into a rocket that's going up, are they wearing any kind of suits are they just in their clothes like ah like ah like a jumper or something?
00:33:45
Speaker
I think they'd probably want to wear some sort of something. I bet there's a thing that you'd want to wear. I feel like there's got to something. For G-forces? Yeah, yeah. I mean, this is more just, I'm not, I'm not a compression sock.
00:34:00
Speaker
I'm not poo-pooing nude on the moon. I was just had a moment where I was like, they wear suits or something, right? Don't they do that? I mean, you know they're probably at this point still wearing both. These characters wear identical speed suits, both Jeff and the professor.
00:34:17
Speaker
It's a really great look on the both of them. Yeah, it's true. They both are dressed exactly like Dr. Venture. Mm hmm. uh okay okay we're on the moon they're on the moon yeah oh well we've made about to land on the oh but jeff and the professor fall asleep yeah and you might think maybe this is sending out some sort of was it all a dream situation ah but then the rocket lands and they both wake up and this is never mentioned again yeah there's a fun detail when they're in the rocket that um
00:34:54
Speaker
Kind of goes unnoticed because it doesn't strike exactly, but they're talking on CB radios to one another while sitting directly next to one another. Yeah. yeah it's It's really funny. Yeah.
00:35:07
Speaker
Yeah. Well, in space, no one can hear you scream except through a CB radio. Yeah. ah So finally, the movie has gotten to the moon.
00:35:18
Speaker
Half of the promise of the premise has been fulfilled.
00:35:24
Speaker
It's taken a long time. I want to say, did anybody clock at what point they got to the moon? I was trying to figure that out, but it was at least 20 minutes.
00:35:34
Speaker
So the first thing the professor and Jeff notice when they land on the moon is that it is covered in greenery. The first thing that we in the audience notice is that Jeff and the professor's spacesuits are completely wild.
00:35:48
Speaker
Yeah, they are bananas. Yeah, I really like them. oh reason Yeah, they're great looking. They really remind me like they feel like they would make more sense in a black and white movie from the late 40s. Yeah. These feel 15 years out of date.
00:36:06
Speaker
Cosmonauts or something. like Yeah. But also, like they part of them is like ah one of them has a bright red zentai suit, and the other one's wearing a bright green zentai suit. So they also look very much like Power Rangers. yeah But like Dime Store Power Rangers.
00:36:22
Speaker
It's also interesting to me. And also Santa's elves. The red and green is very Santa-coated. And the the cut of their leather tabards are also very Santa-coated.
00:36:34
Speaker
I like that they cover them up entirely except for like the neck. Oh yeah. it's like every There's no exposed skin except for on obviously the entire neck. The neck can be exposed to space.
00:36:44
Speaker
Yeah, it's fine. It does well. The visor is just for blocking out the sun. Right, you don't know that until later. But ah yeah. And they definitely breathe oxygen through just like a small disc in front of their face. Yeah, like E-Page with tanks on the back too. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, just blowing air directly into their faces constantly. They figure that's better than a helmet.
00:37:07
Speaker
for some reason. But also, ah what I liked about having the visors down is all the dialogue in this movie is 80 yard and having the visors down really must have saved them a lot of time. i That's a classic animator trick, you know, throwing a helmet on your character and your lips. yourself Yeah. begin sort of idly the moon doing science.
00:37:27
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. classic stuff so they begin sort of idly wandering around the moon doing science yeah They only brought 10 hours worth of oxygen for each of them.
00:37:39
Speaker
It was 13, actually. 13 originally. they've they've Yeah, they've used three, so they've got 10 left. Okay. Long day. Yeah. I'm going to say I'm tired. there's love dance there's all those There's all those specimens up there.
00:37:53
Speaker
Yeah, and you'll be on such an adrenaline the whole time. Yeah, true. This movie is just go-go action, nonstop. Well, I mean, that's what all the coffee was for.
00:38:04
Speaker
It's true. And they they had a nice long nap before they landed. It's true. They find a field littered with softball-sized gold nuggets. But Jeff says they'll probably turn to dust on the return trip for no apparent reason, so why bother taking them back to the ship?
00:38:22
Speaker
No need. Real cynic, this Jeff. Yeah. The professor really wants to take the gold, though, very badly. Right. Yeah. mean, obviously, if you bring back a huge lump of gold that you found just in 10 hours walking around the surface of the moon, people are going to be like, OK, I will happily finance your trip to the moon. na That it seems like a great proof of concept.
00:38:52
Speaker
the I'm with the, once again, the professor is my viewpoint character. I don't know about you guys. I'm lost in the sauce. I'm actually suggesting you don't bring the rock on the ship. There's no space for it.
00:39:03
Speaker
That's why you're a Jeff.
00:39:07
Speaker
I'm just concerned is all. I mean, what if it doesn't turn to dust? Jeff, have you even considered the fact that it wouldn't randomly turn What makes this crash? What if it makes this crash?
00:39:19
Speaker
Next time we come, we're building in room for at least one. Obviously, obviously his mistakes were made. Came all this way. Eventually they come across what appears to be a man-made stone wall.
00:39:36
Speaker
And a convenient ladder. Yeah. Yes, they also find a ladder. Just like on Earth. Wait a second. A wall, maybe that's natural.
00:39:48
Speaker
A ladder, that seems... the Do fool me twice. Broken clock. ah So they take turns climbing the ladder, and they're both surprised to find, on the other side of the wall, a nudist colony.
00:40:06
Speaker
While nudists isn't quite accurate, everyone there is in their skivvies, and one lady sitting on a throne is also wearing a cape. The cape and throne indicating her rank as Moon Queen.
00:40:20
Speaker
Yes. the they air course are We know they're from the moon because they are antennas. yeah yeah Yes, I love the antennas. They're real cute. Yeah. Yeah.
00:40:31
Speaker
Dorbys. Jeff stares at the moon queen enraptured while a pair of moon men grabbed the professor. They drag him away where a moon lady zaps him with her hypnotizing moon wand and tosses him in the moon dungeon.
00:40:49
Speaker
So I feel like it's a bit presumptuous of us to say that all that it can do is hypnotize people. I feel like it might be able to do more things and that we should just find out more about the moon. I just feel like we should find out more about the moon before we talk about it. Look.
00:41:08
Speaker
If I see somebody use a screwdriver, I'm not going to be like, oh, maybe that's also a hammer. Like, how many things you need a HypnoWarm to do? All right. That's fair. I'm just saying. As the Jeff of the group, I'm just saying that maybe we shouldn't jump to conclusions.
00:41:24
Speaker
You're killing me. So then immediately after that happens, the exact same thing happens to Jeff. Hmm. So now we've gotten a little bit of a glimpse of nudist society.
00:41:36
Speaker
actually, now we get even a better glimpse of nudist society because they all gather around the Moon Queen, just like they do in every nudist colony. And the Moon Queen uses her telekinetic powers to tell them that she will convene the Great Council to discuss what will do they will do with the Earthmen.
00:41:56
Speaker
think that's just telepathic. Telekinetic would be if she threw things at them with her mind. Yes, absolutely. It's very important. Yeah. No, thank you. i don't but I don't want to get the letters from the telepaths. Well, but of course, telepathy is another great ADR trick. yeah Yes. Oh, yeah, for sure.
00:42:19
Speaker
And ah the moon queen's telepathic voice is very, very creepy. It is a whisper that has been turned up in the mix.
00:42:32
Speaker
And it just said, let me see if I can. I'm going to try to talk like the moon queen and then I'm going to turn it up later when I edit this together.
00:42:43
Speaker
Hello, Jeff. You are an earth man.
00:42:50
Speaker
didn't we i
00:42:55
Speaker
Grand Council. And he's just like, Jesus Christ, this fucking lady's creeping me out. yeah But now that we've gotten a glimpse into nudist society, have you guys ever met any nudists? I have a nudist story.
00:43:12
Speaker
No. No, I have not. Well, a nudist came into where I work. And if you're listening to this and you know where I work, no, you don't.
00:43:25
Speaker
And a customer came in, I was new in town and he's introducing himself and he's like, oh yeah. And I, uh, I maintain the nudist camp outside of town. I'm one of the, I'm on the board there.
00:43:37
Speaker
was like, oh, okay. Okay. That's cool, man. He's like, yeah, yeah. It's great. It's so relaxing. You should come check it out sometime. Like, well, I don't know, man. and don I don't know. I don't know. is My polite way of saying no, no, no, no. yeah And so he keeps on talking about it's like, oh, we got a pool there. We got some trees. We got, you know, this, that, and the other. And, you know, on ah Saturdays, people bring their whole families by and you should see the kids running around like, nope.
00:44:11
Speaker
Yeah. Nope. I don't need to be around naked kids. I don't need that in my life. ah No, thank you. yeah No hard pass.
00:44:23
Speaker
ah So yeah, that, that was my one and only account. And I don't know why he thought that would be a selling point for me. And that doubled me down. I mean, like, Nope. Yeah, definitely. Definitely not.
00:44:36
Speaker
ah ah Maybe it's because the nudist isn't trying to convince anyone to become a nudist. It's just trying to find other nudists. Yeah, yeah. i think I think he's thinking about it.
00:44:49
Speaker
He's not thinking about how it sounds to me very much. Right. He's thinking about how it sounds to him. It's just like everyone's free and open and we can just be ourselves. Yeah. that yeah and in And some of us are terrified of that kind of freedom.
00:45:02
Speaker
Yeah, I don't need that. Yeah. I don't want to know you, and I don't want you to know me. Yeah, especially not with anybody at work. Yeah. well yeah That would be so bizarre.
00:45:15
Speaker
Yeah. See him at work later? Yeah. No, thank you. I don't know who else is in the club. I don't want to know.
00:45:24
Speaker
So the queen assembles the great council, which appears to be made up of all the exact same people we saw in the previous scene. I counted in the credits. There are only 14 moon people, including the queen and two children. Okay.
00:45:39
Speaker
And there appear to be two men. So that would be about nine women.
00:45:48
Speaker
So the queen tells the council, don't worry. They're probably nice. And the council is convinced. They let the earth men free.
00:46:00
Speaker
They're peace-loving people, the moon people. It's true. It's true, but it does make me feel like the Great Council is very much figureheads. so Yeah, I mean, I didn't really think about the politics of it.
00:46:13
Speaker
I think that they're just running cover for the queen, you know what I mean? like Yeah, yeah. You need to make it look legitimate. Yeah, don't worry. The council will have their say. That's right.
00:46:27
Speaker
So the professor and Jeff, yeah and it's definitely not that they didn't want to hire another voice actor. No. The professor and Jeff then spend the next 20 minutes or so wandering around, taking pictures of nude women doing stuff.
00:46:46
Speaker
So I wrote down all of the activities because I got a little curious. And so this is what we've got from from a little bit. So we've got sunbathing. yeah And then we have a mustache gag where like one woman puts a leaf in her nose, like you hold it there with her lips, you know, and then they both kind of do it and they laugh.
00:47:06
Speaker
That was great. I thought that was really true. No, I like that a lot. And then there's one that I wrote bathing because it's like people at a pool like kind of bathing, but they're not really doing anything other than like being in the pool.
00:47:21
Speaker
Was that the one where they were like gesturing vapor onto themselves? Yes, actually, yes. I thought of that as bathing in the vapor. Okay, sure. They bathe in vapor, like a chinchilla bathes in sand. like and Like moonbeams. Yeah. Bathing in moonbeams. Sure. And then the next section I wrote was child rearing. i don't fully remember what happened, but it was taking care of some kids.
00:47:43
Speaker
Yes. Then there was sunbathing slash pranking, which is where one woman woman was asleep and the other one's just like kind of touching her with the leaves. And she's like, what is that? What is that? um And then there was some talking, which you can't hear any of.
00:47:58
Speaker
And then there was people moving from place to place, including there being a revolving door. Yes. Yes. And that's about, that's, I don't know, seven minutes of the film, something like this.
00:48:14
Speaker
I also had a ah a man pushes a wheelbarrow at one point. Oh yeah. That was, I put that under locomotion. I put that under locomotion. Okay. That makes sense. That makes perfect sense. And then later we see a bit of dancing in some, what I called water lounging, which I think is very similar to bathing.
00:48:33
Speaker
yes but less driven. Yes. So those are some activities. It may be all of the activities you would see of topless people doing in nude on the moon.
00:48:45
Speaker
And I'll say one difference between nude on the moon and blaze star goes nudist blaze star goes nudist. The women are bottomless, but you still never see any genitals. That's always facing away from the camera or obscured. Sure. ah But you, there is at least, but in blaze star goes nudist. And obviously giving,
00:49:07
Speaker
the moon and nights panties sort of freeze up your blocking a little bit. yeah You know, it doesn't feel as like you're, you know, under that same formal constraint. Yeah. Now, uh, Jeff, while all this is going on has been going sweet on the moon queen.
00:49:26
Speaker
he offers her an earth candy bar, but then she throws out the candy and eats the wrapper. Classic. Oh boy. Cultural misunderstanding.
00:49:36
Speaker
but You still have a lot to learn. Moon queen. It turns out though, Jeff is the real goof because when the professor tells him that it's time to leave before they run out of oxygen, Jeff refuses.
Fantasy vs. Reality
00:49:52
Speaker
He's fallen in love with the moon queen and he'd rather die by her side than live without her on earth, which I think is very romantic, but also he can come back to the moon and then be alive.
00:50:07
Speaker
Yeah. A little silly yeah on Jeff's part. He's not thinking things through. I don't think. Impulsive, Jeff. yeah he's He's a rocket scientist, but he's no brain surgeon. yeah You know what I mean? I will i will also say, i don't know if it's here or a little bit later, but he had a really beautiful moment where he's just like, I'm staying.
00:50:27
Speaker
Let's take her. I'm not going. That's with no one in responding in between either. That's him just flitting between all of that, which I really enjoy. He's overwhelmed. Yeah. His love for the moon queen. It's beautiful.
00:50:41
Speaker
It's startling to him.
00:50:44
Speaker
The moon queen feels that this is kind of stupid and hits Jeff with her moon hypnostic. The professor leads him back to the rocket and they take off for Earth.
00:50:58
Speaker
Jeff is obviously upset. He's even more upset when he finds out that the professor left the camera and samples back on the moon. So when they get back, they have no proof that they even been to the moon.
00:51:10
Speaker
They also mentioned specifically before they left that they did not notify the press because they didn't want to be embarrassed if they didn't make it to the moon. Yeah. Real loser thinking.
00:51:22
Speaker
Yeah. For moon men. Come on, fellas. Believe in yourself. You got to bet on yourself sometimes. Yeah. oh Later, Jeff is stewing in his office, pining for his lost moon queen.
00:51:37
Speaker
But just then, Kathy walks in. Jeff briefly imagines her in panties and a cape. And she's the spinning image of the moon queen. I can't believe you're here on Earth.
00:51:50
Speaker
I didn't lose you after all, he says, before embracing his employee, which must have been very upsetting for her. But I she didn't mind too much. was going to she's got an 8x10 of them in her desk drawer. She's probably pretty ecstatic at this point. You can call me Moon Queen if you want. I've always been on Earth, though.
00:52:14
Speaker
ah Then we cut to our title card of the lunar landscape again and Moon Doll, the love theme from Nude on the Moon, plays again.
00:52:26
Speaker
The end. Yeah. Bing, bang, boom.
00:52:32
Speaker
Final thoughts. Five star ratings. Greg, in terms of watchability and weirdness out of five stars, what do you rank Nude on the Moon? So I'll tell for the first half, I would have ranked those watchability pretty high.
00:52:46
Speaker
And then you get to the back half. Then you get to the back half, and it's like, oh, this is just just a long lot of long shots of topless people not doing a lot, and there's not going to be any talking. so when i And the reasons why I say it's watchable is it's got like a...
00:53:03
Speaker
It's just hilarious. Like there's so many things in it that it's just like, I'll be there in five minutes. Don't go away. It's like, you could have said anything, make it like 20 minutes, make it something like ah the concept of people like going into space without like proper suits and things.
00:53:18
Speaker
ah Some of the, so I wrote down, I wrote down some of the dialogue when they land on the moon and it's things like, this is a fine specimen. And then the other says, notice the reactions on the meter. Yeah.
00:53:31
Speaker
and then And then the first one says, the reactions are even more pronounced here. Like, it's this kind of level. And it's just, like, so delightful to me that it's so, they're trying to be specific and yet they don't know anything so they can't say anything.
00:53:49
Speaker
And it's just, like, really, when they find the ladder, like, oh, this is nice. it's like, it's a fucking ladder? They all communicate telepathically. You can tell that either because they didn't want to bring too many people either to pay or because the grounds wouldn't let that big of a crew there. They're like, no sound.
00:54:06
Speaker
It's like, perfect. Don't record anything sound wise. Keep it cheaper. Make it go faster. ah just Just little things like that. And then the back half is just like, oh, it's just going to be this long shot of a person sleeping.
00:54:18
Speaker
Great. ah They're topless. So that's something. So I'm going to say for watchability, I'm going to give it a three because I think even though it kind of peters out, it's still got this like curio kind of quality to it where it's like even when it's not fun to watch, it's still kind of a joy in a way because how else are you going to see a thing like this? And it's also weird to think about this being like controversial in any way when it's just like this is just people talking without shirts on and they're not even talking.
00:54:48
Speaker
Yeah, standing. Yeah. it' So I'm going to say three for watchability. And it's a little weird. ah i don't know how it's hard to put hard to put a number to the weirdness in a way. I'm going to keep it real middle of the road. I'm going to say two and a half.
00:55:11
Speaker
Okay. Okay. The Cowards two and a half, Greg. Listen, did listen, listen, we're really having this episode. One a year, I'll give you one. Anna, do you have a watchability of weirdness rating?
00:55:27
Speaker
um I had, well, I had some similar thoughts ah to Greg, although i thought that, ah honestly, the first half was Requires some dedication. it requires some dedication to get to the the breasts in the second half. Because it is very, because it does um really feel like an ordinary sci-fi cheapie. And while those are often very funny, they are also very dull.
00:55:59
Speaker
Yeah. And admittedly, I don't know how many of those I've seen. so my enjoyment of that first half might yeah go a little further. Yeah. um I would, i don't know, i put it I would put its watchability at about a three or a three and a half. I think it is really um just interesting and fun and silly and Yeah, yeah. what What Greg said about, ah you know, just watching it and being like, oh, this was controversial. Because it's not, you know, like, these women these women are not Chesty Morgan. These women all have, like, completely, completely ordinary, like...
00:56:47
Speaker
B cup or lower breasts. And and that that in and of itself, I'm seeing at least some C's up there, listeners. Okay, well, it doesn't it doesn't really matter. Cup sizes are... Overrated. No, no they they vary with band sizes. So there's not... Anyway...
00:57:07
Speaker
um
00:57:12
Speaker
I got lost. I got lost in the sauce. I'm sorry. I threw you off when I said sea cups. That's entirely my fault. Weirdness. Weirdness. um i i do think it's I do think it's kind of weird. I would put it up at about, yeah you know, I'll give it a three and a half for weird too.
00:57:32
Speaker
ah right.
00:57:35
Speaker
Yeah. I think that's a completely fair rating. And I do think it's interesting, Greg, that we're sort of having a repeat of what we have with screamers where some of us really loved the first half of the movie. And so it's really like the second half of the movie. And there really is a big turn in tone like right at the halfway point. Yeah. Yeah. Uh,
00:57:55
Speaker
I also found the second half of the movie more engaging. I'll confess.
Film Reception and Critique
00:58:00
Speaker
I gave it three stars for watchability. It it takes a while to get there. But once you're on the moon, this movie delivers. You know, if you are like watching topless ladies just hanging out and vibing and you want them to do it on the moon, this movie's got you, you know,
00:58:16
Speaker
and but Not something that I found like fascinating to watch, but I found sort of pleasant to have on. yeah The back half of this movie was like a good screensaver.
00:58:27
Speaker
You know what I mean? Screensaver. Jesus. Anyway, for Weirdness, I gave it four and a half. I went a little higher on Weirdness. Wow. I think... Just because this I think the nudist film is a weird genre, just in general. I don't want to discount how weird nudist film is, you know? And I think this is a weird example of that genre. Yeah, exactly.
00:58:50
Speaker
It's also weird that they spend so much time on the logistics of going to the moon. I think that's a very, like, even if you wanted to load up sci-fi up front to have it start off with, we're going to start building the rocket now that we have the money to start that far back in your story is just weird storytelling to me.
00:59:07
Speaker
And ah everything that happens on the moon is weird. Obviously, that's just all weird things going on all the time. I think if this movie isn't weird to you, you're just sort of a nudist film sick of.
00:59:20
Speaker
Do you know what I mean? Like you have to be a nudist film guy to be like, oh, nude on the moon is normal, actually. Yeah. Nude on the moon is actually normal to me. It's normal.
00:59:32
Speaker
Preston, what about you in terms of watchability and weirdness? ah well Watchability I would put it pretty high ah Like you kind of said It's a nice just a nice thing to have on It's a vibe ah You know because I and ah i like ah ah One thing I can't believe we've gotten this far Without mentioning yet is the Coral Castle Where it was filmed I love that space And I just love being somewhat in it And I think it's a beautiful piece of outsider architecture I love that they filmed it there and the And to me, that makes the watchability very high, just the location itself. Sure. and i Absolutely. them
01:00:08
Speaker
Never mind. ah The toplessness is great, too, of course. But it's just a vibe to me. I i would put watchability very high. I'd put it at four, and I'd also probably put the weirdness at four, because like you said, there are plenty of B sci-fi movies, but none quite like this. Plenty of nudist movies, but none quite like this.
01:00:27
Speaker
It really is a genre-less film in some regards. um I just, I don't know. I like it. I don't know if respect is the right word, but I have an awful lot of fondness for this movie.
01:00:41
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's something that I think you can't help but sort of root for when you watch Yeah. root like that's really good yeah you know, it really just gets you on its side. It's like, okay, this is just a fun little movie with some little nudity in it. It's also like, it's just trying to be nice about it. Like, it's not like you're going to love these tits. It's just like, it's a nudist film.
01:01:04
Speaker
Yeah. it is it's Which is very, which is like very nice actually. So just be someone like, it's just bodies, whatever. It's just like, yeah, great. Yep.
01:01:15
Speaker
Maybe I'm a nudist. Yeah. Just the way that like a beautiful nude woman has been a subject of art for like as long as art has existed. Like this movie is just like, ah here's some beautiful nude women.
01:01:29
Speaker
There's actually a whole thing in ancient Greek sculpture where... ah they did not sculpt women for like hundreds of years. And then when they started doing it, there's a specific statue of the nude Aphrodite that like drove men crazy. Everybody was just like, yeah.
01:01:59
Speaker
wow yeah Wow. I could see that starting a trend. yeah Right. Yeah. And I will say that the men who are in this are Adonises, definitely. So, yeah yeah, absolutely. There are some nice pieces of beefcake in there, too.
01:02:13
Speaker
Something for everybody in New to the Moon. And that's part of its charm, too. Yeah. Yeah. Well. Preston.
01:02:24
Speaker
Yes. I have good news for you as a fan of Coral Castle. okay Anna has prepared an entire tangent about Coral Castle. How exciting. Sweet.
01:02:36
Speaker
Awesome. Let's hit it. Awesome.
01:02:41
Speaker
Sure, the movie is the main event. But that's not the case with this segment. No need to be sad or lament.
01:02:54
Speaker
Cause we're going on tangent.
01:03:00
Speaker
Yeah, that's the name of this segment. Going on tangent.
01:03:16
Speaker
Tangent.
01:03:33
Speaker
Okay. Coral Castle, where the moon scenes were filmed, is a set of stone structures, um each weighing several tons, located in southeast Florida.
01:03:46
Speaker
First of all, ah it's not made of coral, although the stones do contain fossilized coral and other ancient sea life. It is made of... um I think it's pronounced like this. Oolite limestone. Oolites, I'm taking the pronunciation from oocyte, it means eggstone.
01:04:10
Speaker
um It's little spherical rocks formed by a similar process as pearls. A piece of sediment rolling around on the seafloor acquires layers of, in this case, calcium carbonate.
01:04:24
Speaker
um And becomes, you know, just a little... A little circular stone. Yeah. And um the stone, so this stone is made up of all these little spheres, and so it has a kind of a distinct pebbly appearance. Okay. And it is a specific, it's local local limestone, it's called Miamiolite.
01:04:50
Speaker
Yes. And you can read online about, you know, where where it comes from. but Miami. Miami. Well, yeah. Bill Smith wrote a song about it.
01:05:03
Speaker
About this limestone. Yes. yes The limestone was quarried, transported, and sculpted entirely by one man. That's crazy. Named ah Edward Leedskalnin.
01:05:19
Speaker
He was a Latvian immigrant who claimed it was a monument to a 16-year-old fiancé who jilted him right before the wedding. This may or may not be true.
01:05:32
Speaker
ah he's got you know He's got some weird may or may not be true stuff in his biography. um you know He was born in 1887. It happens. ah he did He emigrated to ah North America in 1913 at 26 and worked as a logger in Canada and a ranch hand in Texas before being diagnosed with ah tuberculosis around the end of World War one And that's when he moved to Florida for the climate.
01:06:01
Speaker
okay He later claimed to have cured himself partially with magnets. and it was that' he probably he probably did not have TB.
01:06:11
Speaker
That would make more sense.
01:06:15
Speaker
Or it could be magnets. It's true. He started sculpting these giant limestone structures in 1923 at a site 10 miles north of where the current day Coral Castle stands.
01:06:28
Speaker
He called it Ed's Place and charged 10 cents admission. In 1936, he decided to move. ah The process took at least a year.
01:06:39
Speaker
He would apparently load a few pieces onto a trailer hooked to a friend's tractor. The friend would drive it to the new site and then he'd unload himself. He just he just didn't didn't want anybody else working on his stuff. He did all the work himself.
01:06:56
Speaker
And he continued to make pieces for this new site, which he called Rock Gate. He did not call it Coral Castle. um But he he operated as a tourist attraction. it's He supported himself like that um until his death in 1951.
01:07:12
Speaker
ah During that time, he also published some pamphlets on his wacky theories of magnetism and his belief that only property owners should be able to vote.
01:07:23
Speaker
Oh, classic. Okay. yeah That's an interesting take. So some of the notable structures, many of which can be seen Newt on the Moon.
01:07:34
Speaker
ah There was a two-story castle tower where he lived. um a polar telescope which consists of a 25 foot 20 ton stone with a circular hole on top that's been divided into quarters like ah like a rifle sight but you can look at it through an eyepiece 25 feet away and see the north star um traveling through the quadrants with the seasons oh cool okay yeah
01:08:08
Speaker
um And there's also, there's like an add of a very accurate sundial, which keeps a lot of, I think it has the month and stuff on it, too. um ah There's a lot of furniture, including a table shaped like the state of Florida, a bathtub, of course, 25 rocking chairs.
01:08:28
Speaker
Okay. A lot rocking chairs. And... cha ah Greg mentioned the revolving door. That is the rock gate that he named the place after. it is a nine ton eight foot tall revolving gate that fits the stone that revolves fits within an inch of the walls on either side.
01:08:50
Speaker
And it's um it was so well balanced when he built it that it could be it could be opened by a child. Wow. Yeah, and they didn't know, that's one that nobody really knew how he did it um until it stopped working in 1986.
01:09:10
Speaker
And, you know, they brought in some cranes and discovered that he had drilled a hole all the way down the center and um inserted a metal shaft that rested on an old truck bearing. And it was the the truck bearing rusted.
01:09:27
Speaker
And that's what made it stop moving. And they repaired it in 86 and again in 2005. And apparently it doesn't work quite as well as it used to.
01:09:39
Speaker
yeah yeah You can't get that originally engineering anymore. Yeah. yeah All told, Coral Castle includes 1,100 tons of stone assembled without mortar. It's all using weights.
01:09:54
Speaker
Crazy. Crazy. yeah By one man. Yeah. Most carved from single blocks, averaging 15 tons. The largest is 30 tons.
01:10:05
Speaker
um Now, while while he was alive, when people would ask about, you know, how he could do this all by himself, he would tell them that he understood the laws of weight and leverage. Yeah.
01:10:19
Speaker
um But, you know, because he never let anybody see him working on it and he was a very weird guy, and he was also a real little guy. he was apparently, like, five foot tall, 120 pounds. years...
01:10:32
Speaker
hu like over the years it it it's kind of got mythologized. You know, yeah people will say that, oh, he had super... and Well, yeah, that he had supernatural powers or, you know that he was ah building on ley lines.
01:10:50
Speaker
um In fact, the the official web website ah really kind of leans into it. It has a lot about, you know, engineers being mystified and the ah tagline ah calls it a captivating world where each stone holds a secret and every corner whispers a tale of ingenuity and mystery.
01:11:10
Speaker
um five earth But of course, he left behind Chul's photographs and even film footage that show how he did it. There's actually, this film footage is even on the official website. Like, he... um You know, he was a logger.
01:11:29
Speaker
ah and he learned how to move very large. Yeah, yeah. um So, yeah, he basically was just very good with with pulleys and chains. And i guess he used a lot of old car parts um to build a machinery. And yeah, just did it all himself. Pretty great. Crazy.
01:11:57
Speaker
Well, God bless him. Indeed. We love an outsider icon. Yeah. Yeah. Well, now, Preston, have you ever been to Coral Castle in your time down in Florida? No, I sure haven't.
01:12:10
Speaker
Ah, well. Yeah, I wish. seems like it'd be a cool place to go spend an afternoon for sure. Yeah. Yeah, I bet. Well, you guys want to play a little game? Yeah. Yeah.
01:12:22
Speaker
All right, we're going play a little Guess the Title with nudist films. Oh.
01:12:35
Speaker
Let me tell you about this brand new game. Where you guess the movie's name. You just tell me what the title is prove you know about show is Guess the title Whippa, whippa, whippa, whippa Guess the title Gooby, gooby, gooby, gooby Guess the title Come on, honey Guess the title Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
01:13:13
Speaker
So this is a little game called guess the title. What I'm going to do is I'm going to give you a description of a film and three possible titles. What I want you to do is buzz in and tell me which one you think is the real title.
01:13:27
Speaker
You'll buzz in by saying your own name. If you get it wrong, your opponents will have the chance to steal. So everybody ready. Yeah. All right. Question everyone. Hands on buzzers.
01:13:39
Speaker
Jill converts her stuffy husband, Roger, and his equally prudish parents to the joys of nudism. Is that the nude wife?
01:13:51
Speaker
Bear with me. Or some like it cool. Greg. Greg? The nude wife.
01:14:02
Speaker
I felt really confident about that. I felt really strong about that one. That's obviously going to be a Chris original. Preston. a Bear with me. too good.
01:14:14
Speaker
my goodness gracious. No, that was also a Chris original. That was literally too good. Some like it cool. Some like it cool is also a pretty good title. Yeah.
01:14:26
Speaker
You are cool when you're de-closed. Question number two. The first nudie musical. This movie is about a nightclub singer and a comedian who discover that their girlfriends spend their weekends at a nudist club.
01:14:42
Speaker
Is that singing in the buff? Goldilocks and the three bears or naked was my girlfriend.
01:14:55
Speaker
Anna, Anna Goldilocks and the three bears. yeah Oh my gosh, you're taking a commanding lead early in the game.
01:15:08
Speaker
Question number three. A young millionaire is obsessed with a woman he keeps dreaming about, even though they've never met. Eventually he finds her and she's a big breasted stripper who lives at a nudist camp.
01:15:24
Speaker
Is this Belle, Bear and Beautiful? Dream Girl a go-go? Or nudity is it?
01:15:36
Speaker
Uh, Greg. Greg? I feel like I'm going to regret this, but nudity a go-go.
01:15:46
Speaker
Dream girl a go-go, I think, was the one you were Sure, It wasn't. Preston? meaning I'm going to go with the last one. Nudity is it? Nope. Man, suck in today.
01:16:00
Speaker
That's okay. Anna. Three points up on the board. So what was it actually? That was Belle, Bear, and Beautiful. Yeah. yeah Yeah. That's a weak title.
01:16:13
Speaker
Don't worry. There's plenty of game left to play. Question number four. A Broadway director goes to florida goes to a Florida nudist camp for a rest.
01:16:25
Speaker
He's shocked to discover that the star of his Broadway show is also a nudist and decides to make a movie there with her. Is that the Everglades nudes?
01:16:38
Speaker
Nudes on Tiger Reef? Or No Rest for the Naked? Greg. Anna. Greg? Nudes on Tiger Reef.
01:16:50
Speaker
You've got it, Greg. You're on the board. Yes. No. Tiger Eats seemed really specific, and I was like, I don't think this is going to come with that. No, no. You can't play the game. You got to play the man.
01:17:04
Speaker
Question number five. A cameraman is having marital problems, so he suggests taking a trip to a nearby nudist camp where both he and his wife end up becoming swingers.
01:17:18
Speaker
Oh. Is this sweet bird of Aquarius? Yes. Let's try nude or the naked journey.
01:17:30
Speaker
yeahlist Sweet bird of Aquarius. You got Preston. You're on the board. Great. We got a game on our hands, folks. yeah Question number six.
01:17:44
Speaker
A husband and wife seeking to renew the excitement of their relationship decide to spend a weekend apart. He goes to watch some exotic dancing while she goes to a nudist camp.
01:17:58
Speaker
Is that I sleep nude lullaby of bear land or never more nude.
01:18:10
Speaker
ah Uh, Greg, was there one called I sleep nude? Yes. Yeah. I'll go with that one.
01:18:21
Speaker
No, I'm sorry. It wasn't I sleep nude. and
01:18:27
Speaker
Preston or Anna? Wasn't one of them all alive barely? Correct. Okay, great.
01:18:36
Speaker
All right. Right now, the score sits Preston at two, Greg at one, Anna at three. Question number seven. okay Several attractive gals travel to a nudist camp in the south of France.
01:18:50
Speaker
Is that any which way but nude?
01:18:56
Speaker
Vive la difference? Or take off your clothes and live? Greg. Anna. Greg? Vive la difference. No, i'm sorry, Greg. It wasn't vive la difference. I had to try.
01:19:12
Speaker
Anna. Anna? Take off your clothes and live. You've got it, my dove. Wow. a good one. am Not just a title of philosophy.
01:19:26
Speaker
Question number eight. A photographer discovers two shipwrecked women and one man living as nudists. Is that Adam lost his apple?
01:19:39
Speaker
Never kiss an octopus? Or the island of lost bikinis? Greg. Greg? octopus. Never kiss an octopus.
01:19:51
Speaker
No, I'm sorry. I had to go with it. was big Preston? The first one. i forget Adam lost his apple? Yeah, going to go that.
01:20:02
Speaker
You're correct. You could tie it up with this last one, Preston. Oh, boy.
01:20:09
Speaker
Question number nine.
01:20:13
Speaker
A group of women in a beauty contest decide to create a temporary nudist camp. but face opposition from some of the locals. I don't know who these fucking locals are. It's just temporary. It's just for the weekend.
01:20:27
Speaker
yeah Is that around the world in 80 nudes? So many nudes, so little time. or nudes of all nations.
01:20:43
Speaker
Anna. Anna? this also have viable Nudes of all
01:20:48
Speaker
You've got it, my dove. You're a big
01:21:03
Speaker
Congratulations, to my heart. Well, listeners, you know what that means. It's time for the Batty Awards.
01:21:18
Speaker
Now you're messing with the Batty Awards. Congratulations to all the nominees.
01:21:40
Speaker
That's right. Congratulations to all our nominees. It's the Batty Awards. Celebrating the moments, lines, cast and crew that make bad movies so good.
01:21:53
Speaker
We finally got there, listeners. Anna wrote me a thing. Anna's the writer of the family. should have gone to Anna. Instead, right now, I'll go to Greg. Greg, do you have a Batty Award? ah Yeah, so there are some dialogue exchanges in this that are really, really top tier.
01:22:11
Speaker
ah So my honorable mention is when he gets the money and he's like, I've got $3 million dollars after taxes. And it's like, I'm glad they included that little slice of life reality in it. But my favorite. Doris Wishman knows what's up. She does. ah My favorite, and I don't know if this last line is spoken by the professor, but at least the first two are spoken by a wistful Jeff.
01:22:34
Speaker
andy But it doesn't matter because he the the three lines are priceless. They have mischief in their eyes. I wonder what they're up to.
Batty Awards & Highlights
01:22:46
Speaker
Well, we'll come back later. who Just beautiful. Absolutely loved it. Yeah.
01:22:57
Speaker
Fantastic Batty Awards, Greg. Anna, do you have a Batty Award? I do. I'm going to give my baddie a word to the concept of cheating out.
01:23:09
Speaker
Okay. Which when on stage, if two people are, or in front of a camera, if two people are having a conversation, they don't face directly at each other.
01:23:21
Speaker
You kind of you kind of you cheat out. You stand so that the front of your body is facing the camera or the stage. And all the moon ladies are very good at that. Yes. Yes.
01:23:35
Speaker
yeah I'm going to give my baddie word to the professor's hair. Yes. It was weird. it really hypnotized me for the first five minutes of this movie. I don't, yeah it looked like it was made of liquid metal.
01:23:53
Speaker
Yeah. I, find it very hard to clock. It seemed like perhaps they put white shoe polish in his hair and he was just like a younger man that they were trying to age up. Yeah.
01:24:04
Speaker
But it really read very strangely on whatever film grain this was. Yeah. That had me transfixed for a little while, too. i was like, what's up with his hair? Really surreal. Preston, do you have a baddie award?
01:24:20
Speaker
My baddie goes to the part where they just landed on the moon. forget which one. One of them goes, look, a lake. and they cut to the leg for a couple seconds, and that's it. yep Yep.
01:24:34
Speaker
That's my favorite part. It's a pretty good part. Yeah, that is the sort of simple charms that you can find in Nude on the Moon that, you know, exactly how could you complain about, you really would have to be a spoil sport to not like Nude on the Moon. I think so. I think it's a very charming movie.
01:24:53
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Well, Preston, you've been a very charming guest.
Guest Teasers & Community Engagement
01:24:57
Speaker
Tell our listeners what what have you got going on? what if Where can people find you? I'm on the internet. My Instagram is actually underscore Preston underscore Spurlock. I'm working on some commissions right now. I'm in the sixth year of a feature-length animated movie, which I might actually bite off, might finish this year, which I'm excited about. Oh, shit.
01:25:21
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And I'll just keep busy, you know, watching movies. I got an antenna for my TV, so now I can watch network television. Oh, sick.
01:25:32
Speaker
Yeah, it is sick. It's a different landscape now, but not not that and fucking different. The commercials are different. Yeah, yeah, I can only imagine. Yeah, that's true. As long as you can still find a law and order somewhere, it's not too bad. Yeah, exactly.
01:25:47
Speaker
So, no, I'm a happy guy. Good. I'm glad to hear it. That's that is wonderful to hear. Listeners, you should be happy that Preston is happy. ah Listeners, you should also come back next week. where We're going to be joined by ah ross Lennon of the History on Film podcast. And we're going be doing another pre new Hollywood film. going to have two of those in a row. If you're a fan of older films next week, we're going be doing Gun Girls, which I believe was from the late fifty s
01:26:20
Speaker
but it's definitely like a juvenile delinquent film. I love those. Those are great. Yeah. Very curious. 1957. So, uh, come check that out.
01:26:33
Speaker
And, ah you can also check out our, uh, link tree in the show notes. You'll be able to find our Instagram, our blue sky. you can email us. you can find a link to our sub stack. We've been putting writing on,
01:26:49
Speaker
uh out as you know often as we feel motivated it's been at least once a month and uh we've also uh shoot us an email and you can get an invite to our discord where once a month we're watching movies uh at this point we will probably just have watched cocktail who knows what we'll watch next month maybe even nude on the moon Come join the discord. Come join the fun. We're a fun crew. And, ah and shoot us an email at favorite bad movie pond. If you at gmail.com, if you just want to reach out or if you want to talk about coming on the show or a movie you want us talk about, we'd love to hear from you. And, uh, that is the end of my
Closing Remarks
01:27:31
Speaker
plugs. Look at me. I did them all this week.
01:27:33
Speaker
I really hammered them out. Listeners, if you stuck around this whole time, you deserve i'll hear a little bit of Moondoll. So until next week, be good goodbye.
01:27:47
Speaker
I'm mooning over you, my little Moondoll.
01:27:57
Speaker
I'm mooning over you, my little Moondoll. For soon the time will come to part I'm crying over my little angel