Queen of Outer Space

Queen of Outer Space

Film poster
Directed by Edward Bernds
Produced by Ben Schwalb
Screenplay by Charles Beaumont
Story by Ben Hecht
Starring
Music by Marlin Skiles
Cinematography William P. Whitley
Edited by William Austin
Distributed by Allied Artists Pictures
Release dates
  • September 7, 1958 (1958-09-07)
Running time
 80 minutes
Country United States
Language English

Queen of Outer Space is a 1958 American CinemaScope science fiction feature film directed by Edward Bernds, and starring Zsa Zsa Gabor, Eric Fleming and Laurie Mitchell in a tale about a revolt against a cruel Venusian queen. The screenplay by Charles Beaumont was based on an idea supplied by Ben Hecht, originally to be titled Queen of the Universe. The film was released theatrically in some areas on a double bill in 1958 with the Boris Karloff film Frankenstein 1970.

Plot

Capt. Patterson (Eric Fleming) and his space crew (Dave Willock, Patrick Waltz and Paul Birch) crash land on Venus and are captured. They learn the planet is under the dictatorship of cruel Queen Yllana (Laurie Mitchell), a masked woman who has banished men from the planet. In the palace the astronauts are aided by a beautiful courtier named Talleah (Zsa Zsa Gabor) and her friends (Lisa Davis, Barbara Darrow and Marilyn Buferd). The women long for the love of men again and plot to overthrow the evil queen. When Patterson has the opportunity to remove the Queen's mask, he discovers she has been horribly disfigured by radiation burns caused by men and their wars. In a fury, the Queen decides to destroy Earth and its warlike peoples but she dies in the attempt. The Venusians are free again to enjoy the love of men.

Cast

Cast includes Guy Prescott as Col. Ramsey (uncredited), Gerry Gaylor as base commander, Ralph Gamble as officer in anteroom (uncredited) and Joi Lansing as an astronaut's girlfriend (uncredited). Venusians are played by Tania Velia, Norma Young, Marjorie Durant, Brandy Bryan, Ruth Lewis and June McCall.

Production notes

The Three Stooges and The Bowery Boys director Edward Bernds recalled that after famed producer Walter Wanger was released from prison for shooting agent Jennings Lang in the groin for having an affair with his wife Joan Bennett, Wanger could only find work at low-rent Allied Artists (formerly Monogram Pictures). In 1952 Wanger brought a ten-page idea for a screenplay by Ben Hecht called Queen of the Universe that was a satirical look at a planet run by women. Several years later, with the idea of science-fiction films being more common, Allied Artists revived the project with Wanger replaced on the film by Ben Schwalb, who was then producing The Bowery Boys films. Screenwriter Charles Beaumont didn't think there was much in the Hecht screenplay, but Schwalb suggested spoofing the idea and had former Three Stooges screenwriter Ellwood Ullman touch up Beaumont's screenplay.[1] Allied Artists retitled the film Queen of Outer Space as they thought the original title sounded more like a beauty pageant.[1]

The film recycled many ideas, such as a planet ruled by women, from other science-fiction films of the era, such as Abbott and Costello Go to Mars, Cat-Women of the Moon (both 1953) and the British Fire Maidens from Outer Space (1955). Queen of Outer Space also recycled many props and costumes, most prominently the C-57D crewmen's uniforms and Altaira's wardrobe from Forbidden Planet (1956),[2] models, sets, and special effects from Bernds' World Without End (1956), the usual stock footage of an Atlas and a rocketship model (and stock footage) built for the film Flight to Mars.[3] The model was eventually used by The Bowery Boys in Paris Playboys (1954), which was co-written by Bernds and Ullman. The Queen's guards wore uniforms reminiscent of (and may have influenced) those worn on the later Star Trek TV series and came in the same three Starfleet colors, red, gold and blue.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 18% of 11 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 4.2/10.[4] Variety called it "a good-natured attempt to put some honest sex into science-fiction".[5]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 p.55 Weaver, Tom Return of the B Science Fiction and Horror Heroes McFarland 2000
  2. ↑ p. 169 Keep Watching the Skies: Science Fiction Movies of the Fifties, Vol. II, 1958-1962McFarland
  3. ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/474687/Queen-of-Outer-Space/overview
  4. ↑ "Queen of Outer Space (1958)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved March 4, 2015.
  5. ↑ "Review: 'Queen of Outer Space'". Variety. 1958. Retrieved March 4, 2015.

^ p. 169 Keep Watching the Skies: Science Fiction Movies of the Fifties, Vol. II, 1958-1962 McFarland 1982

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