Cinema, Stick It In Your Queue

Cult Flick: Queen of Outer Space

Posted by: Ryan Allen on April 15, 2008 at 12:00 pm

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Queen of Outer Space (Edward Bernds, 1958)

Planet Earth may be in mortal danger, and it’s up to Professor Konrad (Paul Birch) to uncover the perilous mystery that threatens us all. He’s being chaperoned to Space Station A by a three man crew: Captain Neal Patterson (Eric Fleming), Lieutenant Mike Cruze (Dave Willock), and Lieutenant Larry Turner (Patrick Waltz). Shortly before they arrive at their destination, they’re witness to some poorly animated special effects (recycled from World without End) that destroys the station and sends them hurtling to Venus.

Similar to the Venus of Abbott and Costello Go to Mars, the planet is populated solely by humanoid women. The few Venusian men that have been allowed to live reside on the prison moon Tyrus. Certain that the Earth men represent an early invasion force, they’re sentenced to death with the sentence to be carried out eventually. It’s up to Captain Patterson to use his masculine wiles on Queen Yllana (Laurie Mitchell). Apparently her Achilles Heel is between her legs. Unfortunately, the masked monarch turns his stomach when she reveals her radiation-scarred face. Good thing for him that resistance leader Talleah (Zsa Zsa Gabor) thinks Patterson’s got a good heart and a hot bod.

Zsa Zsa isn’t any slouch herself. She’s in her prime as Talleah, giving her all with the ridiculously overwrought dialogue that packs even more sniggers when delivered with her thick Hungarian accent. Written by Charles Beaumont (from an outline by Ben Hecht), Queen of Outer Space is a relic from an unenlightened age. All of the Venusian females wear stripper shoes and outfits that might even make Gene Rodenberry blush. The guys are constantly gaping about the hot dames while making cracks about the technology level that an XY-based culture could attain. “How could a bunch of women invent a gizmo like that? And, even if they invented it, how could they aim it? You know how women drivers are.”

The three space pilots embody the id (Turner), ego (Cruze) and superego (Patterson). The psychoanalytic analogies go further with the men hiding out from the Queen and her army in a scary cave populated by deadly (rubber) spiders. But rather than basting the film with Freud like Forbidden Planet, the film goes for a broader brand of humor. One of the Venusian girls sitting on Turner’s lap is heard to remark, “We don’t need any more wood.”

Queen of Outer Space provided the framework that many subsequent space adventures would follow. Most notably, the film is the main source of material for the metafilm Amazon Women on the Moon. Filmed in lush DeLuxe color, there’s some annoying print damage on the final reel, but otherwise the DVD release by Warner Home Video looks as good as Zsa Zsa Gabor in an evening gown. — Mike White

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[tags]Queen of Outer Space, Amazon Women on the Moon, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Queen of Outer Space, Venus[/tags]

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