Queen of Outer Space
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Movie Reviews of Queen of Outer Space
Movie Review: DARLING...SIT, DRINK, SURRENDER
Summary: 4 Stars
QUEEN OF OUTER SPACE is a lot like make-up... it takes a combination of many parts to create the perfect face, and that's what we have here in this (at long last) DVD release of one of the best and most complete "B" movies ever made.
I discovered QUEEN OF OUTER SPACE while working at a video store. To pass the time I put in this preplexing film for store play and was won over right from the opening. It was garish, glossy, frothy, sultry and all toppped off with dashes of pepper, salt and gold dust. It's a fashion runway with a plot. It features I LOVE LUCY lite comdey mixed with tongue twisting mad schemes and jabs at the basic nature of women themselves. Their vanity, their driving skills and the fact that their hair-brained ideas are more hair (cut and styled to perfection) than brain. A day didn't go by when I played this in store that a woman wouldn't come up and demand to know what I was playing, and why. But, once I introduced them to the box, the film was rented the very next second. The QUEEN OF OUTER SPACE was something that had to be seen to be believed and here's your chance. I have to admit, I love this film. It's not perfect, it borrows heavily from other films for its effects and costumes, and there are times when the balance of comdey and drama lurch abruptly from one scene to the next... but, as a whole, it works and works very well.
While Zsa Zsa gets top billing, she is not the QUEEN OF OUTER SPACE, but the very model of a brilliant scientist with perfect taste in clothing and men. The QUEEN herself (Laurie Mitchell) is pure beast, yet still a beauty, just so long as you don't look at her face. You couldn't ask for a better pair for these roles... it's all snarling and darling and a riot from start to finish.
Commentary is included and hosted by one of all time favorites, Tom Weaver. And he brought with him the QUEEN herself, Laurie Mitchell, and while I can't say this is the best commentary done by Weaver (there are too many gaps and long stretches of silence durning the commentary, so long in fact that I thought my copy may have had a fault. I'm used to Weaver spilling information like a waterfall - endless and always rushing to fit it all in the time allowed - he's not like that here), it is still a fun and heartfelt commentary from both Weaver and Mitchell, and will learn you a thing or two... such as the family connection between Paris Hilton and Zsa Zsa Gabor, something I never knew.
Overall, QUEEN OF OUTER SPACE is a must have for any collector. It's a fun, funny and furious film that even a hundred years from now will still delight and entertain. So, don't pass this chance to have an audience with the QUEEN and enjoy.
Movie Review: Matinee Madness
Summary: 4 Stars
I saw this as a kid at the matinee. That queen being unmasked has stood out in my mind since. This is just fun movie to watch with family and friends. In the early Sixties it was wonderful entertainment for boys. Now even though much of there dialogue and acting is laughable, it brings smiles to all. I got this as part of a set and I'm glad I did. My wife and I couldn't help wondering as we watched it if some of the movie crew went on to do "Star Trek" a few years later. I certainly pointed out the "Forbidden Planet" costumes and props to my wife. This is one old SciFi color movie that should be good entertainment for most families even today. Fans of the MST3K series should especially enjoy it.Movie Review: From my childhood.
Summary: 4 Stars
I remember this movie on tv when I was a kid oh so long ago. I used to love it and I still do. It's so silly and crazy. ZaZa is a riot. Totally serious as is the evil queen. You will laugh when you see it. Of course it would be better with drag queens because if this isn't drag, nothing is!Movie Review: "I hate zat Qveen, I hate her".
Summary: 3 Stars
Schlocky 50's sci-fi just don't come any worse than this ultimate camp favorite, possibly the worst film ever made in the "so bad it's good" tradition of cheesy low-budget potboilers.
Zsa Zsa Gabor, in her best-known movie role, stars as Talleah (wasn't that the name of Maria Montez's character in Cobra Woman?), Chief Scientist of the Planet Venus, a world ruled and inhabited entirely by females. Because all but a few of the men of Venus have been banished to a distant asteroid, kept alive only for breeding purposes, most of the women on Venus have never even seen a man. That is, until a scientific expedition headed by Capt. Neal Patterson (Eric Fleming) arrives from the Earth, accidentally blown off their course. And just in time! It seems the women, led by the evil Queen Yllana, are plotting to destroy the Earth, using a death ray Zsa Zsa calls, "Za Beta Disintegrator". The Beta Disintegrator is housed in something resembling a cardboard tent, complete with a polka-dot paint job, and special effects that consist of colored flashing Klieg lights and awkward camera movements. Thank God this film is in Technicolor; without it, you'd never appreciate how awful the sets truly are.
Queen Yllana hates all men, ever since the men of Venus started a nuclear war, which scarred her face, ruined her makeup, and inspired her to lead a revolt in which the men were vanquished, caught off-guard because, as Zsa Zsa observes, "Zhey didn't take her seriously - after all, she vas ONLY a voman". Many of the props, sets and costumes are borrowed from Forbidden Planet, but used so clumsily and positioned so poorly that anyone over the age of five will laugh out loud at virtually all of the production values. The special effects are in a class by themselves, and set a new low in absurdity, crowned by the appearance of a giant rubber spider, so un-menacing you wonder how the sequence got approved, even on the most obviously cheap budget this side of Ed Wood.
The intense male chauvinism catapults the absurd script from downright awful to completely offensive, and sci-fi fans have been debating for years how Ben Hecht (one of the most prolific and honored screenwriters of all time) and Charles Beaumont (who churned out dozens of superior scripts for the original Twilight Zone series) came to write this truly awful camp legend.
Why does Zsa Zsa have a Hungarian accent on the planet Venus? Vhy not? You cannot appreciate the true meaning of camp until you've heard her invoke the immortal line, "I hate zat Qveen; I hate her!", in a fit of jealousy after the Queen sets her sites on Eric Fleming. Zsa Zsa's outfits not only change in every scene, the color of her outfits sometimes varies wildly from shot to shot. It's surreal by even 1950's sci-fi standards, and I have seen a lot of bad 50's sci-fi in my day.
No true lover of science fiction could hope to be even mildly satiated by this truly awful film. But camp aficionados, and anyone who values a cheap laugh over true entertainment, may just find that this film deserves its reputation as one of the biggest camp-fests ever placed before a camera, and one of the worst films ever made. I give it three stars; four for its camp value, but minus one for Zsa Zsa's acting.
Movie Review: Zsa Zsa In Outer Space
Summary: 3 Stars
Four American astronauts blast off into space and discover Zsa Zsa Gabor in this truly strange 1958 film--a movie which actually received fairly positive reviews at the time but which is today regarded as a cult classic of the "so bad it's good" variety.
The story is trivial. A space ship carrying four American astronauts is struck by a mysterious ray and forced down on Venus--which is ruled by evil Queen Yllana (Laurie Mitchell), who has banished men from the planet and who now determines to kill our heroes and blow up the earth for good measure. Fortunately, the astronauts are befriended by Talleah (Zsa Zsa Gabor), scientist and rebellion leader. Along the way we encounter lots of leggy, busty women in short chiffon skirts, silly special effects that include a large rubber spider, and a doomsday machine that looks like it has been slapped together from cardboard and spray paint.
The script was written by Charles Beaumont, a writer of no particular talent, and alternates great stretches of flat dialogue with accidentally funny one-liners, most memorably Zsa Zsa Gabor's "I HATE zat Queen!" The film was directed by Edward Bernds, prolific creator of grade C movies during the 1940s and 1950s, and in general consists of people standing around looking like they wished they had something to do. As for the cast...
The big noise here is, of course, Zsa Zsa Gabor, one of three Hungarian sisters who became celebrities during post-war era. Sister Eva was an amusing actress; sister Magda had a talent for finance; Zsa Zsa, however, was simply famous for being famous and was a frequent guest star on television programs of the day, working her accent, her jewels, and her numerous marriages for all they were worth to create a cult of celebrity that effectively kept her in the public eye for more than fifty years. She is indeed beautiful. She cannot, however, act, and her entire performance consists of looking dreamy in a series of floaty gowns.
The rest of the cast is very much "B" movie. Laurie Mitchell had a long career playing small parts in low-budget movies and supporting roles in such television series as BONANZA; much the same can be said for actors Eric Flemming, Paul Birch, and Patrick Waltz. Zsa Zsa Gabor aside, the most recognizable performer is Dave Willock, who appeared in close to two hundred films and television programs between 1939 and 1972, most often in small but charming character roles.
"So bad it's good" movies really are a matter of personal taste; one person's hilarity is another's boredom. I myself felt that the film got off to a memorable start--but about mid-way through I found the amusement factor began to pale. It is very easy on the eyes, but it just goes on about twenty minutes too long. The DVD, somewhat surprisingly, offers the film in very good shape--and it comes with a commentary that features actress Laurie Mitchell, who recalls the experience with fondness. Recommended for cult-movie-fans, but primarily for those who want to know what all the fuss over Zsa Zsa Gabor was about.
GFT, Amazon Reviewer