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

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 Edmond	...	David
Stewart Hibberd	...	News Reader

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:

Earth Menaced By Fantastic Powers

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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: Mrs. Jamieson, may I introduce your latest guest. Miss Nyah. She comes from Mars.
Mrs. Jamieson: Oh, well, that'll mean another bed.

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Connections

Referenced in Penn & Teller: Bullshit!: Alien Abductions (2003)

User Reviews

Fun Viewing Although Not Much Real Action

"Devil Girl From Mars" (1954) looks like a strange cross between "Quatermass Xperiment" (1955) and "Queen of Outer Space."(1958). Then throw in a little of "Mars Needs Women" (1967) and "The Mysterians" (1957) for good measure. So if you don't like any of these films you might consider avoiding contact with "Devil Girl".

This is the earliest film I know of with aliens seeking Earthlings for breeding stock. It is played perfectly straight. Naya (Patricia Laffan) is an emotionless Martian space explorer. She has the Michael Rennie role here, but she is not visiting Earth for reasons that will benefit mankind. Still she is beautiful and her black leather costume and "Ming the Merciless" helmet must have caused quite a sensation back in 1954.

Like Rennie she arrives in a flying saucer with a robot. The saucer looks interesting but Chani the robot looks like a mailbox with a hood ornament.

It's one of a handful of 50's English science fiction films. It's real claim to fame is that it's the adaptation of a radio play. All the action (and there is not very much) takes place on the moors of Scotland and involves a varied collection of Earthlings staying at the remote Bonnie Charlie Inn whose proprietress speaks the immortal line: "While we're still alive, we might as well have a cup of tea".

Actually the film is not nearly as bad as its reputation. The film stock is excellent (at least judging by the 1990 Rhino VHS release) even if it does rely too much on wide master shots, with beautiful Hazel Court as one of the guests a few close-ups would have been nice. The production design and the special effects are more than adequate for the period of the film.

As a radio play the story by necessity adopts the remote house with an unlikely group of strangers dynamic. But it explores new territory by making a woman the invincible extraterrestrial visitor. She is a woman from a planet of women who indulges herself and the viewer with lengthy very humorous lectures on the inferiority of Earthlings. And she even expounds at length about the fusion reactor (probably films first reference to this) that powers her ship.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.