Queen of Outer Space (1958)

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

5/10