Devil Girl from Mars (1954)

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

Director:

David MacDonald (as David Macdonald)

Writers:

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

Stars:

Hugh McDermott, Hazel Court, Peter Reynolds

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Hugh McDermott	...	Michael
Hazel Court	...	Ellen
Peter Reynolds	...	Albert
Adrienne Corri	...	Doris
Joseph Tomelty	...	Professor
John Laurie	...	Mr. Jamieson
Sophie Stewart	...	Mrs. Jamieson
Anthony Richmond	...	Tommy
James Edmond	...	David
Stewart Hibberd	...	News reader
Patricia Laffan	...	Nyah

Storyline

In a Scottish inn, the owners, employees and guests are reunited in the bar. Our of the blue, a flying saucer lands nearby and a woman dressed in black leather like a dominatrix with a cape arrives in the bar armed with a ray-gun. She explains that she is Nyah from Mars, and she was heading to London. However her spacecraft collided with an airplane and was damaged; therefore she had to land to repair the saucer. She also explains that she is looking for men to breed her female race since the male population is dying after warfare between males and females and they need offspring. Nyah has the robot Chani to help her to capture men, but she wants that one of the men volunteers to go with her to Mars. Who might be the volunteer?

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Plot Keywords:

eyeglasses | bar | robot | ray gun | alien | 

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Taglines:

The fantastic night of terror that menaced the fate of the world!

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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:

A Garota Diabólica de Marte

Filming Locations:

Shepperton Studios, Shepperton, Surrey, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Danziger Productions Ltd.

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.80 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Patricia Laffan thought her costume was hot and hard to wear.

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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

Michael Carter: Mr. Jamieson, how far is the nearest phone?
Mr. Jamieson: Seven miles.
Michael Carter: How far is the village?
Mr. Jamieson: Seven miles. That's where the house with the phone is!

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Connections

Featured in Where Are All the UFO's? (1996)

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. Additionally, Gerry Anderson worked on this pic, as a sound editor, thus beginning his long career in British celluloid scifi.

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.