Queen of Outer Space (1958)

Director:

Edward Bernds

Writers:

Charles Beaumont (writer)
Ben Hecht (outline) (episode)

Release Date:

7 September 1958 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Mankind's first fantastic flight to Venus - the female planet!

Plot:

American astronauts are drawn by a mysterious force to the planet Venus, which they find to be inhabited only by beautiful women and their despotic queen.

Plot Keywords:

Venus | Amazon Tribe | Space Station | Beautiful Woman | Revolution

Cast

Zsa Zsa Gabor	...	Talleah
Eric Fleming	...	Capt. Neal Patterson
Dave Willock	...	Lt. Mike Cruze
Laurie Mitchell	...	Queen Yllana
Lisa Davis	...	Motiya
Paul Birch	...	Prof. Konrad
Patrick Waltz	...	Lt. Larry Turner
Barbara Darrow	...	Kaeel
Marilyn Buferd	...	Odeena
Mary Ford	...	Venusian Girl
Marya Stevens	...	Venusian Girl
Laura Mason	...	Venusian Girl
Lynn Cartwright	...	Venusian Girl
Kathy Marlowe	...	Venusian Girl
Coleen Drake	...	Venusian Girl

Also Known As:

Queen of the Universe

Runtime:

80 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

USA:Unrated

Company:

Allied Artists Pictures

Trivia:

The project was originally announced as "Queen of the Universe" by Allied Artists in 1951 and was to have been produced by Walter Wanger.

Goofs:

Factual errors: When the rocket is stationary at the beginning of the film on the launch-platform, the interior of the rocket is parallel to the ground. Later when the rocket is speeding throughout space, the cabin must have been turned 90 degrees because people inside the vehicle can walk around normally on the floor.

Quotes:

Lt. Larry Turner: Hiya, dolls. Glad to hear you're on our side.

Movie Connections:

Edited from World Without End (1956)

Outrageous 1950s Sci-Fi

When one starts watching this movie, one gets a feeling that this might be a fairly serious, good sci-fi film...then the rocket lands on Venus, and all credibility simply vanishes. First, we all know that Venus is shrouded in poisonous clouds and has a surface temperature that will melt lead, right??? Well, in this movie, Venus looks like a discount store with lots of potted tropical plants strewn around, and the intrepid astronauts never even break a sweat. The astronauts are then captured by a patrol of women in high heels (who also shout "Bagino!" over and over), and the familiar "men-encountering-love-starved-female-civilization" plot begins.

The movie does have some interesting twists: The deadly "Beta Disintegrator" with which the evil queen is planning to destroy earth; the queen's advanced acne-like skin condition; gloriously saturated color photography; Paul Birch as the bookish scientist who is uninterested in the nubile Venusian women; and of course Zsa Zsa Gabor, who gives an interesting performance as the Chief Scientist on Venus (!).

This movie is outrageously male-chauvinistic (even for the 50s) and has some of the dumbest dialogue in the cosmos. For those reasons--and to see Gabor in her most ridiculous role--you should watch this. However, I doubt that you'll want to watch it more than once.