Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Queen of Outer Space (1958).

The Scoop:
Can a society ruled entirely by women still be misogynistic? It can when it comes to hilarious '50s sci-fi.

The first manned expedition to Venus crash lands, and the three thoroughly condescending men aboard (Eric Fleming, Dave Willock, Patrick Waltz) find themselves captive in a miniskirted all-woman society ruled by Queen Yllana (Laurie Mitchell), who has a severe hatred for men (turns out it's all their fault she's not pretty anymore) and wants to destroy the Earth. Zsa Zsa Gabor is on hand to camp it up as Talleah, the planet's chief scientist, but even she is not immune to the charms of our three space studs and helps them escape. Who needs a career when you can marry the first guy to come along?

Like a beer commercial fantasy stretched out to 80 minutes, the supporting cast is populated by a slew of beauty queens who look great but act horribly. The production design in great, though -- the epitome of what you'd expect from 1950s cardboard movie cheese. It's all just a goofy, campy hoot.

Best Line:
"Why don't you girls knock off all this Gestapo stuff and try to be a little friendly."

Side Note:
Most of the costumes are recycled from "Forbidden Planet" (1956) while many of the models and effects are taken from "World Without End" (1956) and "Paris Playboys" (1954).

Companion Viewing:
"Fire Maidens of Outer Space" (1956), "Cat Women of the Moon" (1953) and "Vegas in Space" (1991).

Links:
IMDb.
Jabootu's Bad Movie Dimension.
3B Theater.

Take a Look:
The trailer:



Zsa Zsa really hates that queen:

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