Queen of Outer Space (1958) User Reviews

"Twenty-six million miles from Earth and the little dolls are just the same."

[utgard14 · 6/10 · 13 July 2014]

A spaceship with a four-man crew crash-lands on Venus. There they find the planet is inhabited solely by women, who take the men prisoner believing them to be the first wave in an invasion by Earth. The women are ruled by masked Queen Yilana, who hates men and blames them for the disfigurement of her face. Not all of the women on Venus are man-haters, though. A group of resistance fighters, led by Talleah (Zsa Zsa Gabor), plan to rescue the astronauts and overthrow Yilana.

I love this movie. It's so much fun. It has lots of cheesy appeal and comic value, both intentional and otherwise. It's so ridiculously sexist and outdated that you can't possibly take it seriously unless you have a stick up your rear the size of a redwood. Also, it's a '50s sci-fi movie so it has that charm about it. I love the colorful costumes, sets, and props. The cast is good. Zsa Zsa is memorably bad in the best way. Eric Fleming and Paul Birch play it straight, which helps make the whole thing that much funnier. Dave Willock is always a treat. But it's Patrick Waltz that gets the best (and most sexist) lines. A fun sci-fi movie that everyone should be able to enjoy on some level. Just take your serious hat off for awhile.

A side-splitter

[frankfob · 5/10 · 24 February 2002]

To the ranks of "Go ahead, make my day", "Badges? We don't need to stinkin' badges" and "You had me at hello," can now be added "Men cannot liff vizout vimmin," uttered dreamily by renowned philosopher Zsa Zsa Gabor in this no-budget sci-fi "epic". Everybody involved seems to be having a good time, with the exception of lead Eric Fleming, who goes through the movie with a "when this is done I'm gonna strangle my agent" look on his face, but it's a fun movie to watch. Director Ed Bernds made his name at the helm of some of the better Three Stooges shorts--including "Micro Phonies", considered by many Stoogephiles to be the team's best--so you know he couldn't have been taking this thing seriously while he was making it. (I've always wondered, however, how a writer with the stature of Ben Hecht--credited with the story--got involved in a project like this. Then a few years ago I read an article that said Hecht got loaded at a party one night and started spinning a yarn about a spaceship that crash-lands on a planet of beautiful, horny women. Somebody who heard that story passed it on to someone else, and eventually it became "Queen of Outer Space." Hecht sued the producers when he heard it was being made into a film, and as part of the settlement he got a story credit.)

It's still a fun movie, although by no standards could it be considered a good one. Just appreciate it for what it is--a chance for '50s teenage boys to see lots of tall, beautiful, leggy women running around in skimpy outfits and short skirts, for one thing--sit down with a six-pack and a pizza and have a good time.

Alternately hilarious, boring, and nonsensical

[scsu1975 · 4/10 · 8 November 2022]

A space crew is assigned to ferry a scientist to a space station. The stereotypical crew consists of the stud commander (Eric Fleming), the skirt-chasing navigator (Patrick Waltz), and the comic relief/wisecracker/occasional moron (Dave Willock). The scientist is played by Paul Birch. Before they can lift off, Waltz has to play tonsil hockey with his girlfriend, played by the ultra-sexy Joi Lansing, who has an all-too-brief appearance.

Now it's out into space, where they witness the destruction of the space station by some mysterious ray. The ray latches onto them, and we see ripped-off footage from World Without End, as the rocket crash lands in snow. Birch immediately concludes they are on Venus, but doesn't bother telling the crew why he knows that. Somehow, they manage to move from a polar ice cap to a lush looking forest, where they are captured by chicks in high heels and miniskirts. "They speak English!" exclaims Waltz, assuming his crewmates are too dumb to figure that out. Actually, besides English, the babes occasionally say something that sounds like "Bocce No," so I suspect they are really Italian and don't like lawn games. Then there is Zsa Zsa Gabor, playing Talleah, who is a researcher or something along those lines. Apparently the scientist-women on Venus are immigrants from Eastern Europe, just like on our planet. Zsa Zsa talks about the history of of "var" and "veapons" on Wenus - er, Venus. The Queen, played by Laurie Mitchell, spends most of the film behind a mask, presumably because she was too embarrassed to be in this movie.

The Queen thinks the men are here to help launch an attack from Earth. This gives Fleming the chance to say "that's not true" an uncountable number of times. The Queen is not convinced, and ponders using the beta disintegrator to destroy the earth. Zsa Zsa utters the classic "I hate dat Queen," and helps Fleming and the others escape. At one point, Zsa Zsa tries to impersonate the Queen. Gee, I wonder what will give her away? The finale is a riot, as the men and the Venusian dolls stage a Pier Six brawl, while the disintegrator goes up in smoke.

If you can put up with endless talk, this movie isn't half-bad. It was filmed in Cinemascope, and the special effects and sets are decent, but the crew's uniforms are stolen from Forbidden Planet. Birch is competent as always, no matter what production he is in. Zsa Zsa spends most of the movie in heat, drooling over Fleming. She accomplishes the impossible by reaching her acting zenith and nadir in the same film. Waltz wastes no time finding a Venusian girlfriend, but I don't see his appeal. His nostrils are always flaring, like he just walked into the sigmoidoscopy recovery room at Northern Westchester Hospital and caught a whiff. Willock looks like a shriveled version of Ronald Reagan. And the less said about the giant spider, the better.

The dialogue is intentionally hilarious at times, and unintentionally risqué at other times. For instance, when the men are hiding in a cave with their women, making out, and the fire is dying, each guy keeps telling the others to "get more wood."

Fans Have Debated for Years Whether This Film Was Intended As A Parody or Not.

[bella-6 · 2 February 1999]

"Queen of Outer Space" has been unkindly described as a deliberate parody of sci-fi cliches, but the director wasn't in on the joke.

Fans have been debating for years just what the intentions of Ben Hecht and Charles Beaumont were in penning this much-reviled space adventure. Surely both writers were capable of much better work. Surely Zsa Zsa Gabor as a Venusian space maiden was a piece of casting nobody expected to be taken seriously. Surely director Edward Bernds must have known the score. This is the man who directed the Three Stooges. He knows a joke when he sees it! Yet, in interviews, Bernds insists that the film was intended to be taken straight.

Even a casual examination of the finished product makes this hard to believe. The first half of the film seems to be skewering the stereotypical male/female relationships found in pulp sci-fi cinema of the day. But after the captain rebuffs the evil queen's advances and the plot turns to action, the film starts taking itself seriously and its sense of goofy fun dissipates quickly.

But, in fairness to Bernds: if he wasn't in on the joke, neither were any of his cast, who perform with earnest sincerity throughout.

Although the film was made by Allied Artists (Monogram after their name change), some expense seems to have been spent on it: it's in color & Cinemascope and the sets, although gaudily and colorfully fake, are extensive. Perhaps most tellingly, AA released it as a single feature, clearly a sign of confidence (or misplaced optimism) in those days where double-features were standard for B-films.

In hindsight, the question of deliberate parody may never be answered. Because of the film's reputation, those involved in the production were undoubtedly anxious to rewrite history to salvage their professional reputations.

Favorite scene: Zsa Zsa's attempt to impersonate the queen by donning her mask and issuing orders in her imperious and distinctive Hungarian accent, then being shocked when the ruse fails.

Planet of the cheesecake

[jamesrupert2014 · 4/10 · 28 September 2017]

Before the Kardashians (yes Virginia, there was such a time), there were the Gabor sisters, a trio of minimally talented*, much married Hungarian sisters with a flair for self-promotion. The most chutzpahtic of the three was undeniably Zsa Zsa, who brings her iconic Hungarian accent to the Planet of Love in "Queen of Outer Space". Briefly, a crew of Earth's astronauts are knocked off course by a mysterious beam and land on Venus, which is populated by lovely, leggy lassies ruled by the titular despot. The film is fun in a goofy, nostalgic way (remember 'lady driver' jokes?) with sufficient sexist comments to infuriate the most stoic SJW. Zsa Zsa (who allegedly was unimpressed with being surrounded by a bevy of beautiful women half her age), plays Talleah, part of a revolution against the masked queen who is planning to destroy the Earth. Special effects are a mixed bag: there are some great props borrowed from earlier, bigger-budget films and a cool 'flat screen TV', yet much time is spent running from a beeping spotlight and, as a spiritual antecedent to the 'Death Star', the 'beta disintegrator', is underwhelming. If your expectations are low, "Queen of Outer Space" is an enjoyable space-romp, with lots of pretty girls, a "Star Trek TOS" aesthetic, campy dialogue, and one of the least convincing giant spiders ever put on film. As an added bonus, you can snigger with your friends when the gorgeous Venusian says to the amorous astronaut "We don't really need any more wood". (*to be honest, I actually think Eva Gabor was great in "Green Acres").

Zsa Zsa In Space

[gftbiloxi · 4/10 · 3 February 2008]

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

Zsa Zsa's Shakespearean Epic

[Hitchcoc · 2/10 · 13 December 2016]

I have puzzled over something for much of my life: What exactly is it that makes Zsa Zsa Gabor famous? At least sister Eva had a fun time on Green Acres. I guess it's because she married rich men. This movie, in my opinion, is the best of her career--and that ain't saying much. There is trouble in outer space with a group of women dominating a planet and tricking men into coming to the planet. How they didn't die off long ago is a mystery. Why they are all basically the same age is also interesting. Anyway, there's a monkey wrench in the machinery that pushes the envelope. Don't stop me. I'm on a role of clichés. Anyway, some men go to the planet and cause trouble and forces must stop them. Watching the elder Gabor try to act is quite hilarious. Unfortunately, this is not a parody, because parody requires intelligence and careful planning. Just awful!

yes, of course it's camp!

[Andy Sandfoss · 1/10 · 31 January 2005]

A quick review will suffice for anyone who hasn't had the deliciously silly pleasure of seeing this trashy nonsense. A spaceship full of male chauvinist pigs crash lands on Venus, where they become victims of the female-dominated planet's tyrannical queen. We needn't go into the ridiculously inaccurate descriptions of the surface of Venus; they could be forgiven for that considering the state of scientific knowledge at the time it was made. That's not the problem. The problem (if it counts as a problem) is the complete silliness of the script. And the acting. To no one's surprise, Zsa Zsa Gabor is outacted by a woman wearing a mask. The rest of the cast is little better, pure two-dimensional crap. The sets appear to be made of cardboard, as do most of the cast. Now, when you go around looking for truly awful films, you can do no better (or worse) than to start with "The Queen of Outer Space".

Unscheduled trip to Venus.

[michaelRokeefe · 5/10 · 16 March 2009]

The year is 1985 and Americans have already circled the moon and built and put a space depot in orbit. Now an experienced crew led by Captain Patterson(Eric Fleming)is scheduled to take a crew to Mars; but a last minute assignment comes up...a routine trip to the space depot. Instead of routine, the depot is blasted to smithereens by a strange laser beam that also ends up carrying our astronauts to the planet Venus. The planet is nothing like imagined, it is inhabited by only women. All men have been disposed of and now all citizens are long legged sexy women under the rule of a masked Queen Yllana(Laurie Mitchell). Patterson and crew are held captive, but gets help from a Venusian scientist Talleah(Zsa Zsa Gabor), who needs aid in defeating the evil Queen and restoring men to the planet.

Very low budget, borrowed cheep sets, hasty script...but all in color. Also starring: Dave Willock, Paul Birch, Patrick Waltz, Lisa Davis, Mary Ford, Kathy Marlowe and Barbara Darrow.

Endearingly ridiculous.

[Hey_Sweden · 7/10 · 29 August 2015]

In the "future" year of 1985, a team of astronauts - Captain Neal Patterson (Eric Fleming), Lieutenant Mike Cruze (Dave Willock), and Lieutenant Larry Turner (Patrick Waltz) - undertake a mission to escort eminent scientist Professor Konrad (Paul Birch) to the space station that Konrad helped devise. A strange beam destroys the station, and envelops their spacecraft, forcing it to crash land...somewhere. It turns out that they've landed on Venus, where the population is made up entirely of women. They're led by the man-hating, crazed villainess Queen Yllana (Laurie Mitchell). Fortunately, not every woman is on the Queens' side, and a few brave women try to help the men escape, including gown wearing Venusian scientist Talleah (none other than Zsa Zsa Gabor).

Fans have debated for years as to whether this was INTENDED to be a parody of science fiction or not. As it is, it's a campy delight: colourful entertainment shot in CinemaScope, with some amusing sets and special effects. (There's also one hell of a hilariously unconvincing alien spider.) It's also hard for any red blooded male to knock any movie that puts such sexy costumes on its attractive female cast. You have to hand it to the Venusians for rocking those miniskirts. It takes quite a while to really get underway, as the "opening" credits don't start until a 15 minute prologue is over. Quite a novelty for 1958. The story - credited to Ben Hecht, of all people - inspired a screenplay by Charles Beaumont that never passes up an opportunity for a sexual joke.

Other than the rather dispirited looking Fleming, our male leads look content with the arrangement, and you can't blame them. The performances suit the material, with Zsa Zsa having a bit of a wink in her eye, and Mitchell going delightfully over the top as the antagonist of the piece. Mitchells' character, and others, wear masks that have you really interested to know what they look like underneath. The revelation is effective.

"Good" fun for fans of 1950s sci-fi.

Seven out of 10.

...And Women Are From Venus

[atlasmb · 3/10 · 5 April 2017]

Can a bad film be enjoyable. You betcha! You just need to enjoy its campiness and silliness.

Filmed in Cinemascope, "Queen of Outer Space" offers laughable special effects, cheap-looking sets, a contempt for the laws of physics, a juvenile conception of future technologies and fashions, chase scenes with almost no action, and even a monster that's as threatening as a throw pillow.

Still, it can be fun to watch a film that features corny dialogue and a Venusian rebel who speaks with a Hungarian accent and indulges in numerous costume changes. Zsa Zsa Gabor is the rebel, and she plans to overthrow her man-hating queen when she is not applying her makeup or working in a laboratory that looks like the workshop of a flower arranger.

The Earthmen who crash on Venus are imprisoned (a goulash archipelago?)by the evil queen but they are distracted by the all-female population of Venus. They spend their time insulting women in general and they seem about as worried as a patient awaiting his annual dental cleaning.

The irony is that mankind (really) would enter space only a few years after the release of this film in 1958. And the first moonwalk would take place barely more than a decade later than this film. That makes the film interesting in a peculiar way. The added fun of the film's inferior production values and the silly story make this a must-see for cinema fans.

My favorite movie of all time

[toto-24 · 10/10 · 16 April 2000]

This truly is my favorite for sheer enjoyment. This was featured on a low-budget TV station (WOR) back in NYC in the early 1960's. It could be shown up to 20 times a week and we watched it EVERY time. It has everything: the 1958 view of life in 1984, space catastrophe, sex (well, sort of), Zsa Zsa, a man-hating queen with a shocking secret, babes in short togas, and the funniest plot ever. It's colorful, hysterical and they even throw in an animated monster for a mercifully short period of time.

Any line of Zsa Zsa's (the chief scientist of Venus) is quotable. The best moment in the show happens when she tries to impersonate the Wicked Queen and they briefly fall for it, accent and all!

Don't miss it!

Camp Classic!

[tjl_mpls · 7/10 · 27 November 2008]

This film is a hysterical camp classic. My rating of 7 out of 10 is on the "camp" scale. If you're looking up this film, you must know it's very campy.

Just watching the men squirm around on their beds or seats after takeoff will make anyone roll on the floor with laughter.

I won't "spoil" the film by telling you the lines you have to learn to quote, but there are a couple...even if those lines are only one word.

The skimpy costumes on the 1960's amazon-style women provide plenty of eye candy. The campy dialogue (a la Zsa Zsa, Dahling) make it a flick everyone can enjoy.

Somewhere between "duck and cover" and "Barbarella," this film is a lot of fun.

Venus Without The Blue Jeans

[davidcarniglia · 5/10 · 11 May 2019]

Not a bad premise: the routine space mission gone awry--a crew of astronauts seemingly stranded on a hostile planet. Color is used to good advantage here. I'm sure I've seen the astronauts' uniforms before--on Forbidden Planet, I think. The tone is a little iffy from the start, with lime-draped Larry's girl making out with him, on the launchpad, no less.

The miles-per-second 'speedometer' is a cool touch; "there's something strange going on our there!" the navigator announces, their space station blowing up. Unfortunately, the spacecraft is in a sort of cartoonish mode, as the mysterious beam pulls it in. The question arises, why destroy the space station? Or, why isn't the spacecraft also destroyed, as it's hit by the same beam?

The spacecraft, upon its crash-landing, has sort of graduated from an image into a model. Nice lurid-looking flora on Venus "It appears all things are possible in space" says the suddenly sombre Prof. Konrad (Paul Birch). I almost wish the astronauts would stop talking; there's either speeches or inane banter, nothing to resemble the thoughts of actual characters.

Finally, the 'girls' show up. Not only vividly and scantily-clad, but an even assortment of blondes, brunettes, and redheads as well. The "How would you like to drag that to the Senior Prom?" comment lets us know, despite the fact that females are in control here, that we're in the middle of a sexploitation universe. The interior shots of the Venusian city are pretty cool, but the exteriors are obvious modelling jobs, and look medieval in contrast to the otherwise futuristic look of everything else.

The Queen (Laurie Mitchell) is fairly witchlike--the masks are creepy. "I have a sense of foreboding about them" reflects Konrad. I agree, the Venusians basically kidnapped them, and already condemned one to death. At least they discover through Talleah (Zsa Zsa Gabor) that there's a rebel cadre amongst the natives.

The Queen seems to waffle a bit "even a queen can be lonely, Captain". Ah, so that's their weakness! But, she's not done threatening; The Beta Disintegrator looms large in her calculations... The Captain (Eric Fleming), can't quite play along, as he's a bit put off by her radiation-ravaged face.

So the plot does gain some traction, as the rebel Venusians and the astronauts attempt to destroy the Disintegrator. There's nothing worse in a movie than dodging in and out of corridors, but thankfully everyone get outside (I was getting claustrophobic). The spacey sound of the rayguns is cool. The problem, as usual, is the guys' numbing dialogue; the women seem to be better actors for some reason.

Finding a cave always helps juice up a sci-fi situation--some different, decent sets, and the giant spider isn't bad--and dies even better. A general make-out session ensues. Then, a cunning ruse..."Do you want to be hated?" says the Captain to the Queen, after the tables turn. These sympathetic psychological ploys do supply some much-needed dramatic interest.

More car-and-mouse stuff; by this point the sci-fi theme might as well just fold up, as all the intrigues are so much short-feature adventure filler. It doesn't help that we have the Disintegrator right in our faces. That stagey apparatus hasn't got much visual impact; even its destruction looks inconsequential. On the other hand, the Queen's incineration is pretty ghastly.

The goofy ending makes a weird sort of sense, but, naturally, just caps off the campy hi-jinks. This is worth watching for its cult status, and the generally creative sets and (sort of special) special-effects. If the script didn't reek so much of the beer-hall, Queen Of Outer Space would be a bit better.

Hilarious cliche-ridden sci-fi fun

[delson · 23 October 1998]

Steve Rhodes (newsgroup review) sums it up best when he says, "'Queen of Outer Space' is a parody of science fiction films. Whether it meant to be so at the time is another question." This is prime material for MST3K (very similar to "Fire Maidens from Outer Space"), but they might be avoiding "Queen" because it almost makes fun of itself. It reeks of cardboard sets, silly dialogue, and more phallic symbols, hot babes, and sexual innuendo than you can wave a stick (or laser gun) at. The astronauts ride in Lay-Z-Boy chairs and Zsa Zsa Gabor is a real treat. Never taking itself seriously, it's the "Austin Powers" of the sci-fi genre.

camp

[SnoopyStyle · 5/10 · 11 October 2019]

Three astronauts are flying a rocket to an orbiting space station with a passenger on board. A light beam zapping around the station gets deflected. The station gets blown up. The spaceship is hit by the beam. They crash onto Venus. Surprisingly, it has a liveable atmosphere and plants. They are taken prisoners by a civilization of beautiful women with no men led by the masked Queen Yllana who threatens to execute them. Talleah (Zsa Zsa Gabor) leads a revolt freeing the men.

A civilization of strong women is as old as the Amazons. This is definitely unintentional camp. Let's be clear. This is not a good movie. One could make fun of it Mystery Science Theater style or one could fast forward most of it. Even at 80 minutes, it is far too long. The 50's style is hilarious and kinda cool. Zsa Zsa is the cherry on top of this delicious camp sundae.

Seriously sexist science fiction

[sarastro7 · 2/10 · 8 January 2006]

Queen of Outer Space starts out well enough, for a 1950s sci-fi flick. A bunch of nicely scientific dialog makes you think that this is a serious science fiction movie - until the Venusian women appear. From then on, only conservative, nigh-misogynist, women-belong-in-kitchens types of people will enjoy this movie. Get this: the queen is basically evil because she is ugly (but her face is hidden beneath a mask, so the male protagonists at first believe her as beautiful as all the others). And the guy she likes won't have her because of her hideously fire-scarred face - and the movie clearly shows that this is perfectly okay and understandable.

Women here are portrayed as living up to the most blatantly sexist and obsolete male wishful thinking. Oh, men are so superior and great, and women can't live without men, and yadda yadda yadda. Talk about being full of themselves.

This movie was probably silly even in the fifties, but today it borders on the absolutely unwatchable. You'll put your head in your hands and go "argh!" Oh well. At least the legions of women in very short skirts gives you something to look at. If you're a guy. Wait -- was I just being sexist...?

2 out of 10.

"Hiya, dolls. Glad to hear you're on our side."

[bensonmum2 · 5/10 · 31 July 2007]

When a mysterious ray destroys a space station and sends a spaceship hurtling off course, a group of astronauts finds themselves on a strange, seemingly deserted planet. Seemingly deserted, that is, until the inhabitants of Venus make themselves known to the astronauts and take them prisoner. The first thing the group of Earthlings notices (and how could they help but notice) is that Venus is inhabited by women only – there are no men. Fearing the group of men might be an advance team scouting for a possible invasion from Earth, the Venusian Queen sentences the astronauts to death. But a scientist named Talleah (Zsa Zsa Gabor) would rather make love - not war. She leads a group opposed to the Queen's ways and does what she can to help the men escape.

Queen of Outer Space is another of those movies that I find very difficult to rate. On the one hand, you've got an incredible amount of camp appeal. The movie is a mix of Zsa Zsa as a scientist who can't stand still without posing, some inspired set design, vivid colors, leggy Venusian women in short skirts and high-heels, wacky dialogue delivered with a completely straight face, arcane sexist jokes, and some of the best unintentional (at least I think it was unintentional) humor you can find. It's so completely off the wall and deliciously silly that I cannot help but like it. But where there's one hand, you usually find the other. The movie has its share of problems that I cannot overlook. Chief among them is some very uneven pacing and a plot that has a tendency to drag. Add to that some less that stellar acting from some of cast and what seems to be disinterest on the part of others, I can't rate Queen of Outer Space as high as I would like. In the end, I've taken the easy way out once again. I've split the difference and given the movie a 5/10 - while it may be a camp lover's dream, there are problems that kept me from fully enjoying the Queen of Outer Space.

It's rather bad...but also kitschy fun as well.

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 21 March 2009]

This is a film you can't take very seriously, because if you do you're bound to hate it. However, if you see it as a silly and tacky bit of fun, then there is a lot to like. Bear in mind that the plot is very similar to films such as CAT WOMEN OF THE MOON and ABBOTT AND COSTELLO GO TO MARS, as it's about a space ship that lands on a planet filled with crazy (and horny) amazons. It's sort of like every man's fantasy from the 1950s, though by today's standards the ladies are far less desirable than they must have been back then.

The movie begins with a seemingly routine rocket trip to the orbiting space station. However, I had a good laugh as the rocket changed three times into three totally different ships. The first two were stock film clips of V-2 variants and the one they showed flying in space was completely different (more like a George Pal-inspired rocket). How they thought the audiences wouldn't have noticed is beyond me.

Once the rocket neared the station, weird beams started flying about and eventually the station is hit and explodes. The rocket is struck, but instead of exploding it is pulled to Venus. Oddly, while Venus SHOULD have had a totally noxious atmosphere and ship-crushing pressure, naturally it is rather Earth-like and the air is breathable.

The four crew men are soon taken prisoner and are taken to go see the planet's insane queen, Yllana. Yllana always wears a mask and is perpetually in a state of advanced PMS. She seems totally unreasonable and "bitchy"--despite her bringing the ship to the planet in the first place! As the four men are to apparently be put to death, the captain does what any good captain would do--try to seduce the queen (a lesson right out of the Captain Kirk manual). She seems amenable but also violently unpredictable. The captain also learns that the queen plans on letting the men live BUT blow up the Earth with something like the "illudium q-36 explosive space modulator"! So, it's up to the men and some turncoat Venusian women (including the underground's leader, Zsa Zsa Gabor) to foil this insane plan and save the Earth.

My favorite part of this brilliant plan is when the men capture Yllana and they take her mask off and Zsa Zsa wears it in a "clever" attempt to fool everyone into believing she's the queen! Considering the queen sounds very American and Zsa Zsa has the heavy Hungarian accent, it's pretty funny! While this plan didn't work (big surprise here), the group somehow manages to foil the queen and in the end everyone lives happily ever after--except for the smoldering remains of Yllana. The camera fades as our four sex-crazed men smile at the camera when they learn they must remain on the planet at least another year--as the space babes all begin to practically rape them. Apparently, the men on their planet were wiped out a long time ago and it's been a very long time since they have,....well...you know! Silly and with splashy and vibrant sets, this is a great film to watch with friends and NOT a film for those who demand serious sci-fi films. It works pretty well because the film, fortunately, never seems to take itself too seriously.

Laughable indeed! (Potentially spoilers, but they're predictable when you're watching anyway!)

[HenryHextonEsq · 4/10 · 8 May 2002]

My word, what a ludicrous film! The question should very much be whether this is a parody or not, as the dialogue seems too overblown and truly sexist to be serious on the part of Charles Beaumont, perhaps one of the finest writers of TV science fiction ("The Twilight Zone") and the script-writer for some Corman Poe adaptations.

There's no doubt the attitudes of the "earthmen" and the passivity of the women may have been to some extent true to real life in the fifties, but surely Beaumont is having a laugh; as others have attested here, Hecht likely was with the story line. And how laughable the story is; this unconvincing bunch of astronauts (made up of a staid "leader", a lecherous "lover", a hapless "lovelorn" chap and a grinning, supposed center of gravitas, the "professor"; these titles are given at the end credits bizarrely!) is hijacked and forced to crash land on Venus where they are accosted by mini-skirt clad dames, and they basically manage to take over the place via their "sex appeal". Oh, and I forgot, they inadvertently dispose of this Queen figurehead along the way.

So many cliches are evident; the jerky spaceship, grating, annoying sound effects, the Queen being "wicked" as she is disfigured, a sub-Harryhausen insect monster (that is there for about five seconds!), the ray guns, the pseudo-totalitarian (with monarchist trappings) oppressive state with an already active "resistance", the "rebels" being whiter than white and a few explosions and bangs near the end. Where it differs from other sci-fi B movies like "The She Creature" (a less glossy, if still beleaguered film, but with a few oddball aspects) is in this pervasive sexism. The "world of Venus", as well as being perfectly habitable (this is never explained after the Professor acknowledges this is the case), is bestraddled by lascivious ladies, legs more than in evidence, brains frankly less so. I just love these lines; "Vimmen vill never be 'appy vizout men..." as spouted by Zsa Zsa Gabor. The "Lover", the if you will, Larry character, is outrageously smug! "Hey!!! the little dolls are just the same as they are on earth!" A truly LOL moment - I must remark now that I remember it; why isn't the professor accorded a girl in that middle part when the rest of them are lounging around? ;-) Though I suppose they do end with a token gesture of his maniacal, absurdly grinning, smug face, being seen to by "The Girls" as they are referred to in the end credit.

To conclude, may I say it is tough to rate such a film; on film making quality it has to be a 2 out of 10, but on entertainment value an 8, so I'll give it a five. It is worth watching, as it is fairly short - around seventy-five minutes - and just to see either those largely delectable mini-skirted dames or/and laugh at an unbelievably ridiculous film in all its garish glory.

Rating:- ** 1/2/*****

Queen of Outer Space

[mickeyv347 · 7/10 · 21 April 2014]

Hold your horses there people. The main thing is that "Queen of Outer Space" is a Saturday Matinée Feature that appealed mostly to the younger generation. I was 11 years old when it came out and I found it entertaining then and now. True, it may be a poor parody and seems to have a poorly written plot but who really cares. The main thing is that it is fun to watch whether it makes you laugh-out-loud or not. People tend to over analyze things these days. Hey, "STAR WARS" got bad reviews but became a smash hit. It was a fun movie to watch. So, back off a little and give the girl a break. Fun has a place in enjoying movies as is any drama, action adventure or comedy. Recently movie makers are putting the FUN back into movies. Now, that's entertainment.

It's Not an Easy Task to Achieve a Movie as Awful as This One

[ragosaal · 2/10 · 20 October 2006]

In a decade -the 50's- where us moviegoers were not very hard on sci-fi or horror films because the genre was in demand and many of them became little classics even with their natural technological limitations ("Creature of the Black Lagoon", "The Fly", "The Incredible Shrinking Man"), this one was really bad and impossible to defend.

If you just consider that Zsa Zsa Gabor is the main star you can imagine what you could expect from the rest of the cast. Miss Gabor has always been a less than mediocre actress; in fact I can't recall an acceptable performance out of her.

"Queen of Outer Space" has no highlights whatsoever, it looks cheap and is boring; costumes and settings are standard or worse (it's impossible to imagine the guys are in Venus). The story could not be less original (the destruction of the earth by aliens that look exactly like us).

The face of the masked evil queen would have been something to maintain some sort of interest on; but not even that, director Edward Bernds shows it five minutes after she makes her appearance.

Real bad product. My 2 rank (out of 10) goes to an acceptable color photography.

A delectably tacky 50's sci-fi kitsch hoot

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 11 July 2007]

Four men on a space ship -- ramrod Captain Neal Paterson (stolid Eric Fleming), smooth ladies man Lt. Larry Turner (smarmy Patrick Waltz), jolly Professor Konrad (a delightfully lively Paul Birch) and antsy comic relief Lt. Mike Cruze (annoying Dave Willock) -- land on the planet Venus and discover that men have been outlawed and women reign supreme. The wicked and hideously disfigured Queen Yllana (juicily played to the hissable hilt by Laurie Mitchell) plans on blowing up the Earth with her Beta Disintegrator. Meanwhile sympathetic scientist Talleah (a perfectly vampy Zsa Zsa Gabor, whose heavy accent acts as a key source of often sidesplitting unintentional humor) and her fetching female cohorts want the guys to themselves. Boy, does this legendary lemon possess all the right wrong stuff to qualify as a total sidesplitting camp classic: ham-fisted (non)direction by Edward Bernds, a poky pace, a cheerfully dopey, talky script by Charles Beaumont, paltry (markedly less than) special effects, a ridiculously serious tone, lush, bright, vibrant widescreen color cinematography by William P. Whitley, hot babes in skimpy outfits, laughably bad dialogue ("Hey, you kids play rough!"), groan-inducing sexist humor, a generic spooky'n'shivery score by Marlin Skiles, largely lousy acting, a surprise appearance by a hilariously hokey rubbery giant spider, and a rousing fiery conclusion. Better still, there's a clunky sincerity evident throughout that's both amusing and endearing in equal measure. A real gut-busting howler.

A movie with one memorable moment

[IndridC0ld · 6/10 · 30 October 2012]

The moment I'm referring to is the "unmasking" of the evil Venusian queen. If you look at the captain's reaction shot when he gets a good look at Yllana's face, you'd swear the actor playing him was kept totally in the dark about what the makeup department had cooked up for him under that mask. As a kid of 5 or six who had never seen such a thing, I remember almost pissing my pants when I saw that radiation scarred face. And when she tried to get a little kissy kissy, I think I almost blew chunks. There is something about a disfigured woman with a great body that is mighty disturbing to a young lad who didn't even know what a naked boob looked like at that point in life. I had nightmares about queen Yllana for months.

Simply amazing!

[darkrom · 1/10 · 26 April 2002]

Incredible that such good writers as Charles Beaumont and Ben Hecht did the deed for this insane, cliche-ridden, and hilarious film. Guns must have been held to their heads. Best line: (Eric Fleming): "How do you know our language....?" Reply: (from Zsa Zsa) "Ve learned it from yer radio broadcasts". I guess the Venus women listened to Radio Free Europe. A real corker.How it got made is a total mystery, but it exists in the realm in truly so-bad-they-are good movies.