Queen of Outer Space (1958)

"A must for all B-movie fanatics" (Video Movie Guide) Male astronauts crash-land on an all-female planet Venus. Zsa Zsa Gabor's most famous movie role. Year: 1958 Director: Edward Bernds Starring: Zsa Zsa Gabor Eric Fleming Dave WillockRunning Time: 80 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: NR UPC: 085391145103 Manufacturer No: 114510 Product Description

Zsa-Zsa At Her Best!

Queen Of Outer Space is a top notch 1950's Sci-Fi B-Movie which stars Zsa-Zsa Gabor and Laurie Mitchell(from Missile To The Moon). The plot features a group of Earthmen who were traveling to a space station when their spaceship was crashed landed on Venus, instantly they were captured by a race of dominant Venusian Warrior Women under the order of their queen(Mitchell). The queen then reveals a devious plan to destroy the Earth, but her plans are stopped by the Earthmen and a rebel scientist(Gabor) and her friends who are against the queen. The audio commentaries by Mitchell and film historian Tom Weaver gives a lot of history of the film. This movie is perfect for Saturday afternoons and late-night viewing. May 23, 2008

Zsa Zsa In Outer Space

Four American astronauts blast off into space and discover Zsa Zsa Gabor in this truly strange 1958 film--a movie which actually received fairly positive reviews at the time but which is today regarded as a cult classic of the "so bad it's good" variety.

The story is trivial. A space ship carrying four American astronauts is struck by a mysterious ray and forced down on Venus--which is ruled by evil Queen Yllana (Laurie Mitchell), who has banished men from the planet and who now determines to kill our heroes and blow up the earth for good measure. Fortunately, the astronauts are befriended by Talleah (Zsa Zsa Gabor), scientist and rebellion leader. Along the way we encounter lots of leggy, busty women in short chiffon skirts, silly special effects that include a large rubber spider, and a doomsday machine that looks like it has been slapped together from cardboard and spray paint.

The script was written by Charles Beaumont, a writer of no particular talent, and alternates great stretches of flat dialogue with accidentally funny one-liners, most memorably Zsa Zsa Gabor's "I HATE zat Queen!" The film was directed by Edward Bernds, prolific creator of grade C movies during the 1940s and 1950s, and in general consists of people standing around looking like they wished they had something to do. As for the cast...

The big noise here is, of course, Zsa Zsa Gabor, one of three Hungarian sisters who became celebrities during post-war era. Sister Eva was an amusing actress; sister Magda had a talent for finance; Zsa Zsa, however, was simply famous for being famous and was a frequent guest star on television programs of the day, working her accent, her jewels, and her numerous marriages for all they were worth to create a cult of celebrity that effectively kept her in the public eye for more than fifty years. She is indeed beautiful. She cannot, however, act, and her entire performance consists of looking dreamy in a series of floaty gowns.

The rest of the cast is very much "B" movie. Laurie Mitchell had a long career playing small parts in low-budget movies and supporting roles in such television series as BONANZA; much the same can be said for actors Eric Flemming, Paul Birch, and Patrick Waltz. Zsa Zsa Gabor aside, the most recognizable performer is Dave Willock, who appeared in close to two hundred films and television programs between 1939 and 1972, most often in small but charming character roles.

"So bad it's good" movies really are a matter of personal taste; one person's hilarity is another's boredom. I myself felt that the film got off to a memorable start--but about mid-way through I found the amusement factor began to pale. It is very easy on the eyes, but it just goes on about twenty minutes too long. The DVD, somewhat surprisingly, offers the film in very good shape--and it comes with a commentary that features actress Laurie Mitchell, who recalls the experience with fondness. Recommended for cult-movie-fans, but primarily for those who want to know what all the fuss over Zsa Zsa Gabor was about.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer January 27, 2008

It's frosting

Pink frosting.

Chock full of lo-fi technogrunge samples, too. 2nd only to Grave Diggers from Outer Space, this one's got the dayglo. Thrift-shop sets, decaf dialogue, a certain mystique nevertheless.

Zsa-Zsa, plastic Rubinesque, proto-Raquel, queen cream. 100% perfection woulda included her guest (villian) spot on Batman's final episode but whatever, only Mae West coulda trumped this.

Cupcakes! January 8, 2008

Zsa Zsa Gaboring

The only reason I own a copy of this movie is because it is part of a set of Cult Classics that included ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN and THE GIANT BEHEMOTH. It was cheaper to buy the set than any two of the movies in it separately, and besides, the set came with a snazzy slipcase. So, having purchased this movie, even if only indcidentally, I decided to have a look at it.

The movie stars early 50's beauty queen Zsa Zsa Gabor. You may remember her from PICTURE MOMMY DEAD whence she played Mommy. In this picture, she just plays dead. Zsa Zsa had no talent as an actress. She had more talent for finding men with money and/or fame to marry her. There was one of the Hiltons and George Sanders and Prince what's-his-face of some country that no one ever heard of, among many other husbands and paramours. The kind of talent that Zsa Zsa had couldn't be filmed legally "back in the day". So, she became a talk show clown. Remember the Johnny Carson Story? Oh well, we won't go there. Remember when she slapped a cop? You try that and see what happens. As punishment, they should have deported Zsa-Zsa to that so-called country that her husband is a so-called prince of.

This movie looks like it was filmed on a back lot at Desilu with cardboard sets left over from Star Trek. I guess the other actors and actresses in the movie didn't want to show up their star, so they ALL gave lousy performances. With a script as cliche-ridden and amateurish as this one, there is no way anyone could come out of this affair looking good. The only interesting detail in this movie is the fact that they re-used Walter Plunkett's and Helen Rose's costumes from FORBIDDEN PLANET. That's it!

Camp Classics all have one factor in common. In spite of the bad scripts, bad effects and bad acting, they are fun to watch. This one's pure tedium from beginning to end. It's not worth sitting through 90 minutes of this claptrap to see the costumes. Watch FORBIDDEN PLANET instead. And.. if you buy the super-deluxe version of FORBIDDEN PLANET in the tin case, you get a miniature ROBBY the ROBOT! Cool!

I am a great fan of ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN and THE GIANT BEHEMOTH. Those two get a thumbs-up from me. I should re-sell my copy of THE QUEEN OF OUTER SPACE but then, the movies wouldn't fit neatly in the slip-case. One star... only because they won't let me give it a zero. December 5, 2007

Zsa Zsa's Mystique

Fifty years ago, Zsa Zsa Gabor was a household name in entertainment. To
this day I'm still mystified as to why. Sure she had a classic kisser,
and a pronounced Hungarian accent, which caused her to utter cutsey quotes partly because of the communication gulf and partly because of the
ditzy blond persona. But what did she do? Sing, juggle, tell jokes, dance or act? How about none of the above. At least not until Queen of Outer Space. This is a suitable vehicle to showcase Ms. Gabor's talent.
If you're wondering what that might be, it's posing in front of the camera.

The premise of the picture amounts to a backhanded compliment to women.
It's tantamount to Flo Ziegfeld running amok. However, this picture is
not without it bright spots. It is admireably filmed in vibrant color,
with lots of mini-skirt clad beauties used to improve the meager scenery.
The movie begins with disappointed crew, ordered to transport a scientist
to an outer space station. They grudgingly obey the stern command with
the promise of a future shot at a more glorious endeavor. The farewell
scene is rich, with the playboy ladies-man navigator holding up the launch because of an extended make-out session with one of his many "girl
at every launch site" fans bidding him adieu. They decide to use footage
of a rocket launch, clearly demonstrating the violent energy used in get-
ting something like that airborne. The gal is close by waving bye-bye
sufferring because her careful coiffure is tossed about by the force of
the propulsion. Other than that she's O K! The crew does a great job in
simulating G-force by making faces one would associate with the potty.
The story heats up when the ship is shanghied to Venus and the all male
crew discovers the planet is populated by former beauty pageant winners
from their own planet earth. The women speak English, naturally, but
there's the occasional bossy babe barking out "bachino", which we believe
is Venusian for "move it". The men find the women generally hostile, how-
ever the crew can avert certain death if their captain can be nice to the
mask wearing attention starved Queen Iliana. He fails. Zsa Zsa, in the
interest of restoring normalcy to Venus, comes to the rescue and saves the
day.

The real villain in this picture, is not the wicked Queen, but radiation.
That's right, it's the cause for most all reversals in 50s sci-fi, horror
films. In this case the Queen was dosed with enough of it to putrify her
puss, and set her off against the opposite sex with a vengeance. Con-
versely the hero is portrayed by a woman, an unusual role departure for
this brand of sexist clap-trap.

I can recommend this movie to those who wonder about what Zsa Zsa did, and
to the fans of egregiously awful 50s flics.



October 15, 2007

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