Devil Girl from Mars (1954)

An uptight, leather-clad female alien, armed with a raygun and accompanied by a menacing robot, comes to Earth to collect Earth's men as breeding stock.

Director:

David MacDonald

Writers:

John C. Mather (play), James Eastwood (play),

Stars:

Patricia Laffan, Hugh McDermott, Hazel Court

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Patricia Laffan	...	Nyah
Hugh McDermott	...	Michael Carter
Hazel Court	...	Ellen Prestwick
Peter Reynolds	...	Robert Justin, alias Albert Simpson
Adrienne Corri	...	Doris
Joseph Tomelty	...	Prof. Arnold Hennessey
John Laurie	...	Mr. Jamieson
Sophie Stewart	...	Mrs. Jamieson
Anthony Richmond	...	Tommy
James Edmund	...	David (as James Edmond)
Stewart Hibberd	...	News Reader

Storyline

An uptight, leather-clad female alien, armed with a raygun and accompanied by a menacing robot, comes to Earth to collect Earth's men as breeding stock.

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Plot Keywords:

alien | robot | helpless captive | leather | nuclear explosion | 

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Taglines:

Invasion from Outer Space!...Sights too weird to imagine! Destruction too monstrous to escape!

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Genres:

Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 April 1955 (USA)

Also Known As:

Djävulsflickan från Mars

Filming Locations:

Shepperton Studios, Shepperton, Surrey, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Danziger Productions Ltd.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

77 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film is listed among The 100 Most Amusingly Bad Movies Ever Made in Golden Raspberry Award founder John Wilson's book THE OFFICIAL RAZZIE® MOVIE GUIDE.

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Goofs

When the "indestructable" robot Chanti leaves the spaceship, a close-up of his feet reveals paint scraping off where the joints of the suit and the boots meet.

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Quotes

Nyah: Today it is you who learns the power of Mars.

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Connections

Referenced in Truly, Madly, Cheaply!: British B Movies (2008)

User Reviews

Gams From Mars

A couple things upon which we can all agree: At the time of this production, Patricia Laffan had an absolutely wonderful set of gams, and those gams were very nicely displayed by her Martian costume. Another thing we can all agree upon is that within the parameters of this very genteel English 'Invasion Literature' flick, there is a window into some of the kinky thoughts lurking within the very genteel English writer who penned this yarn.

Certainly, this is the one of the quietest and perhaps dullest of the Alien Invader films of the 1950's...the opening credits telegraph this when they tell the audience that this film was based upon the PLAY of the same name. That fact alone, that somewhere upon the British Stage in the early 1950's, someone produced a play titled 'Devil Girl From Mars', is a thing very amusing to contemplate.

So yes, this film is quite talkative, and filled with recognizable stage play types as our cast of characters, and containing a prominent subplot involving a romantic and perhaps redeemable escaped murderer...these are the elements that keep this extra-terrestrial tale unduly Earth-bound. Worse, there appears to be a kind of gentlemen's agreement in effect between the eponymous Devil Girl and her earthly opponents to avoid any serious attempts to overcome the other, until the last moments of the film. And after about the first 20 minutes of the story, it is impossible to stop one's mind from repeating the question: Why doesn't the Devil Girl simply liquidate these annoying people since they are of no use to her?

But weaknesses aside, it is impossible to hate a 1954 British B-movie about an outer-space dominatrix with fabulous gams wearing shiny black leather and visiting Earth in search of male breeding stock. And besides giving her credit for great gams, I should also credit Ms. Laffan for giving what is actually a very good performance, radiating intelligence and menace, and seeming to be both simultaneously prim and lusty.

Also of interest to scifi fans would be the flying saucer design, which is interesting, and the robot, which is not bad.

As I said previously, this opus began it's life as a stage play. The same thing is true of the 'Rocky Horror Picture Show,' which also featured a black clad quasi-dominatrix from outer space, stuck in the English countryside. I have to think that the Devil Girl helped pave the way for Dr. Frankenfurter.