QUEEN OF OUTER SPACE (1958) Blu-ray
Director: Edward Bernds
Warner Archive Collection

A crown-jewel from the Allied Artists library of low budget 1950s sci-fi films (and one of the few shot in color), QUEEN OF OUTER SPACE receives a Blu-ray release courtesy of Warner’s popular Archive Collection.

QUEEN OF OUTER SPACE takes place in the-then distant year of 1985 (which means in that actual year, this movie was only 27 years ago and now 1985 is 33 years ago!). After a pre-credit sequence which lasts an incredible 15 minutes, four astronauts – Capt. Neal Patterson (Eric Fleming, CURSE OF THE UNDEAD), Lt. Larry Turner (Patrick Waltz), Lt. Mike Cruze (Dave Willock, LET’S GO NAVY) and Professor Konrad (Paul Birch, THE DAY THE WORLD ENDED) – have their space mission thwarted when their rocket crash lands on Venus. Despite what they were told in school, the men uncover Venus as a planet with an atmosphere similar to Earth, and rich with vegetation. Setting up camp the night of their arrival, they are unsuspectingly taken captive by a group of Amazonian, leggy Venusians clad in mini-skirt dresses and toting ray guns. The leader of Venus is the evil Queen Yllana (Laurie Mitchell, ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE), a self-professed man-hater who has to hide her horribly disfigured face under a fancy silver mask. The unwelcome astronauts are held prisoners, but compassionate scientist Talleah (Zsa Zsa Gabor, BEAUTY AND THE BULLFIGHTER) and her cohorts befriend them and attempt to overthrow the Queen, who is bent on destroying the Earth.

It’s not the first 1950s sci-fi flick to concern spacemen visiting a planet ruled by sexy love-starved females, but QUEEN OF OUTER SPACE is surely the most cinematically exemplary and enjoyably bad of its type (it has been spoofed numerous times over the years including the wraparound bits of AMAZON WOMEN AND THE MOON and the under-seen final-season SCTV parody “2009: Jupiter and Beyond”). Everything about it is pure camp, no doubt the reason why the film has appealed to so many late-night TV gazers over the decades. Many of the costumes were borrowed from FORBIDDEN PLANET, and special effects footage and props (including a lifeless bulky spider flung at one of our heroes in a cave) were cribbed from both WORLD WITHOUT END (from the same director) and FLIGHT TO MARS. Though seemingly played straight, many of the performers seem to be winking at the audience (especially the wisecracking Patrick Waltz and Dave Willock as the film’s most sexist characters) and a lot of the dialogue (the script was by “Twilight Zone” scribe Charles Beaumont, based on a short outline by Ben Hecht) is too silly to be anything but tongue-and-cheek, even at the time it was conceived.

Top-billed Zsa Zsa Gabor gets to model a number of different fancy gowns and her make-up and hair is never out of place. The former Miss Hungary’s infamous and perennial socialite status is another factor why people are still so fascinated by her rather oddball appearance here. Despite the Zsa Zsa-exploiting poster art, the “Queen” is played with schlocky gusto by Laurie Mitchell, and her repulsive radiation-scarred face make-up is still pretty effective. Director Edward Bernds is best known for his work with The Three Stooges (shorts and features) and the 1950s-era Bowery Boys, but he also directed a number of straight sci-fi (RETURN OF THE FLY and SPACE MASTER X-7), fantasy and dramatic B programmers, including this colorful opus. The late blonde bombshell Joi Lansing (wasted as a left-behind Earth woman, as she should have been cast as a statuesque Venusian) has a brief cameo, and her reaction to a rocket launching brings on one of the film’s most unintentionally hilarious moments.

Warner Home Video previously released QUEEN OF OUTER SPACE on DVD as a single release and as part of a “Cult Camp Classics Volume 1 - Sci-Fi Thrillers” set which also contained ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN and THE GIANT BEHEMOTH, two gems also awaiting Blu-ray treatment at this time. Presented in 1080p HD in its original 2.35:1 Cinemascope aspect ratio, QUEEN OF OUTER SPACE is lovely eye candy here, one of the finest visual renderings of a color 1950s genre film that you’re likely to see. The Technicolor photography is vibrant, detail is excellent, and there is very little in the way of print blemishes. The film elements are in pristine shape, and it’s really hard to believe this movie is now 60 years old. Fine grain is present but light, adding a pleasing level of texture to the image, and black levels are adequately deep. The English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono track has clear dialogue and renders Marlin Skiles’ classic score nicely. Optional English subtitles are included. Carried over from the DVD is an audio commentary track which features star Laurie Mitchell as moderated by film historian Tom Weaver. It’s a fun commentary with some good anecdotes about co-star Gabor, director Bernds and much more, and the two even take time recreate scenes which were in the original script but didn’t end up in the final film. The original theatrical trailer is also included. (George R. Reis)

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