Queen of Outer Space (1958)

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Truly Dreadful Film

Powerful

As Good As It Gets

I liked the closing credits, which introduces the evil queen and her "posse" how is that for predicting the future!

A well meaning film that wasn't meant as a parody, but was shot with a kind of innocence of being self aware that the story was kind of silly.Like with a lot of films of the era, I saw this during those lazy Sacramento days, probably during an afternoon showing on a local channel. As a kid I didn't get it, thought it was kind of silly, but it was still a "space film" so I sat and watched it. It was then, and still is now, kind of boring, but it's got that slow paced campy look to it.It's a fairly basic film with a "war of the sexes" kind of theme going on. It's certainly not great cinema, but it's got that kind of harmless "look at the hot women" kind of appeal.Few cutaways, mostly master shots with anamorphic lenses, it's actually a rich film color wise, but otherwise it's just a real basic film meant for young men. If you've seen the parody tribute "Amazon Women on the Moon", then you've essentially seen this movie.In the words of Douglas Adams; "Mostly harmless..."

In the "future" year of 1985, a team of astronauts - Captain Neal Patterson (Eric Fleming), Lieutenant Mike Cruze (Dave Willock), and Lieutenant Larry Turner (Patrick Waltz) - undertake a mission to escort eminent scientist Professor Konrad (Paul Birch) to the space station that Konrad helped devise. A strange beam destroys the station, and envelops their spacecraft, forcing it to crash land...somewhere. It turns out that they've landed on Venus, where the population is made up entirely of women. They're led by the man-hating, crazed villainess Queen Yllana (Laurie Mitchell). Fortunately, not every woman is on the Queens' side, and a few brave women try to help the men escape, including gown wearing Venusian scientist Talleah (none other than Zsa Zsa Gabor).Fans have debated for years as to whether this was INTENDED to be a parody of science fiction or not. As it is, it's a campy delight: colourful entertainment shot in CinemaScope, with some amusing sets and special effects. (There's also one hell of a hilariously unconvincing alien spider.) It's also hard for any red blooded male to knock any movie that puts such sexy costumes on its attractive female cast. You have to hand it to the Venusians for rocking those miniskirts. It takes quite a while to really get underway, as the "opening" credits don't start until a 15 minute prologue is over. Quite a novelty for 1958. The story - credited to Ben Hecht, of all people - inspired a screenplay by Charles Beaumont that never passes up an opportunity for a sexual joke.Other than the rather dispirited looking Fleming, our male leads look content with the arrangement, and you can't blame them. The performances suit the material, with Zsa Zsa having a bit of a wink in her eye, and Mitchell going delightfully over the top as the antagonist of the piece. Mitchells' character, and others, wear masks that have you really interested to know what they look like underneath. The revelation is effective."Good" fun for fans of 1950s sci-fi.Seven out of 10.

Well for me, I guess this is what you'd call a bonus day on Turner Classics - as they screened "The Cosmic Monsters" followed in quick succession by "Queen of Outer Space", neither of which I'd seen before, thus gluing me to the TV for a span of three hours. As 'Queen' progressed, it became pretty apparent to me that the story was an updated version of 1953's "Abbott and Costello Go to Mars" for a host of reasons. For starters, even though the name of the A&C romp has 'Mars' in the title, they actually wound up on Venus by way of New Orleans and the Mardi Gras. In both stories, the planet is ruled by women who have spurned men and banished them from their world. It would probably be a toss up between Zsa Zsa Gabor and Mari Blanchard as to who was the more beautiful co-star, but overall, I'd have to score one for A&C for having the better looking array of female Venusians. Theirs looked like they walked off the set of a Miss Universe contest, while the gals here were definitely cast for their gams and not their faces.One of things that really blew my mind here was seeing Eric Fleming in the picture as Captain Neal Patterson of the astronaut team. It's hard to imagine how coming off of this flick he would have been tapped to ramrod herds of cattle across the West in 'Rawhide'. In fact, I can't imagine how any of the principals managed to do this with a straight face. The sets are incredibly cheap looking, the Venusian backdrop is totally art deco, and the dialog is interchangeable with any Frankie and Annette beach flick from the following decade.You could probably put together a pretty long list of the incredibly goofy stuff going on here. As far as I could tell, the story takes place in the way distant future of 1979, since it was mentioned the American way station in outer space was built twenty two years ago in 1957. Since the picture came out in 1958, I was literally astounded to see the Queen's flat screen TV operated at one point by the Captain with a remote! My question - how come it took so long for us to get them?! Now if you're watching the picture with a critical eye, not something I'd recommend mind you but nevertheless, you'll marvel at the incredible coincidence of the hijacked astronauts landing on a planet where they don't need pressurized suits or an oxygen supply. What a lucky break! Then there's the whole business of Queen Yllana (Laurie Mitchell) looking to blow up Earth with that Beta-Disintegrator gizmo. When she finally got around to it, she kept punching that red button like one does on an elevator that fails to respond the first ten times. With all that, we never got to find out why the thing malfunctioned turning her into a crispy critter.You know, if you think about it, there's a natural progression in film making when you start connecting the dots here. You had that 1953 Abbott and Costello film, and then you had this one serving as a connecting bridge to that landmark of television Sci-fi - 'Star Trek'. The female crew members of the Enterprise got by on pretty much the same colorful mini-skirts that the women on Venus did, and Captain Kirk was just a more sophisticated version of Lieutenant Larry Turner (Patrick Waltz). With that in mind, I'd have to agree with Professor Konrad (Paul Birch), who at one point in the proceedings opined - "It appears all things are possible in space."