MARS
NEEDS WOMEN (1968)Director: Larry Buchanan
MGM
MARS
NEEDS WOMEN (1968)If you are looking for a beach party meets the Martians type of comedy, you're on the wrong planet. MARS NEEDS WOMEN is one of those titles that's fun to toss around but impossible to sit through (at least this reviewer found it that way).
The question I am asking for the folks over at MGM is why make a priority out of a non-entity like this when they still have not released such classic titles as THE HAUNTED PALACE, BURN WITCH BURN, THE CONQUEROR WORM, and others (ad nauseum)?
This was a tough film to watch mainly because it is so badly put together. Nostalgia buffs may find some relief in the pairing of Disney star Tommy Kirk (THE SHAGGY DOG) and television's Batgirl Yvonne Craig, but it's not enough to sustain your interest and their charisma is obviously not apparent with this effort.
MARS NEEDS WOMEN was shot in Dallas, Texas over a few days and actor Tommy Kirk, now long retired and a staple at autograph shows (as with Ms. Craig) remembers Larry Buchanan as an energetic schlockmeister who put them up in a first-class hotel and let Kirk write his own dialogue. He is very proud of his speech in the observatory and tried to base his performance on Michael Rennie's classic turn in THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (1951). But one wouldn't have known it except for the fact that Kirk discussed it in an interview conducted by genre writer David Del Valle for the laserdisc presentation, now long out-of-print.
The full frame transfer quality on MARS NEEDS WOMEN is superior to the film itself. There is not even any camp value here. The special effects are non-existent unless you're a kid working with an 8mm camera. In particular, I am tired of the inaccuracies and the "pop-up video" trivia on the MGM "Fun Facts" on the back of each DVD. It is NOT informative and in many cases, inaccurate as in saying that Larry Buchanan wrote this film in one morning and shot it the next day. The film was released to directly to television, so there is no theatrical trailer.
The covers for all of the MGM Midnight Movies have been beautiful and this one is no exception. Unfortunately the movie falls painfully short of the artwork. (Christopher Dietrich)