Queen of Outer Space

Summary

“If the gravity is still close to earth’s, the atmosphere should be breathable.”

In 2017, Warner released a film called World Without End. This release was not exceptional but it was reflective of a certain naïveté of the science fiction genre before man had landed on the moon. The camp qualities of the film were undeniable. Warner has followed up this release with this 1958 science fiction entry from the same director, Queen of Outer Space.

At the beginning of the film, a group of astronauts are assembled for a voyage to a weigh station in space. They are led by Captain Neal Patterson. He is assisted by Professor Konrad, Lieutenant Mike Cruze, and woman-loving Lieutenant Larry Turner. Turner has to leave behind his gal to go on the mission. When the space weigh station is destroyed by some sort of attack from space the crew ends up on some strange planet. They explore the planet and realize they are on Venus. It turns out that all the scientists had been wrong about it’s atmosphere. It is very much like Earth’s! The men are bombarded by women. They wield ray guns and yell “Botchino!” which seems to mean “Move!” in Venusian. The men are brought to a masked queen (Laurie Mitchell) and her counsel. The Queen wants them killed fearing that they will bring war to her planet. A beautiful scientist named Talleah (Zsa Zsa Gabor) wants them saved for her own purposes.

Like World Without End, judging the film on the merit of being “good” would be an exercise in futility. This is a movie that (like the other film) serves as an excellent example of the campy science fiction films of the Fifties. If the genre is not to your liking, this film will probably not change your mind. For those who like these types of films, here are some things that will be of interest to you:

The rocket take-off scene lasts for far longer than necessary and relies on footage of an actual rocket launch.

These space age designs are hilarious and a good reminder of how little we knew in 1958.

This film is meant to take place in 1978 – a brave future twenty years ahead of the filming!

Casual and flagrant sexism. Lines like “How could a bunch of women invent something like that?” are common.

Zsa Zsa Gabor plays against type as a scientist.

This movie borrowed sets and costumes from several other sci-fi films like Forbidden Planet and World Without End.

Every time the Professor says a scientific fact, he is way off base.

At the end of the day – this movie will only appeal to fans of the genre, but I feel like fans of the genre will enjoy this one pretty well. It does have some slow parts that drag it down slightly, but it is pretty funny most of the time. Given that the film is directed by Edward Bernds, if you enjoyed World Without End, I think you will enjoy this one.

Video

Warner Bros. did a good job on the transfer of the film using an MPEG-4 AVC codec of a new 2K restoration in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1. The visual presentation is solid. The film was shot in CinemaScope and has a similar feel to other cheap science fiction film from Warner like World Without End and Forbidden Planet – partially because they stole sets and costumes from those films. Parts of the film look very good, but certain transitionary sequences are incredibly soft. The visual effects are of course completely ridiculous looking. Overall, fans should be pleased with the new transfer.

Audio

Warner Bros. have provided a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track that sounds pretty good, but I found the difference in levels between dialogue and music a bit jarring. This is one of the few Warner tracks where I felt like the levels were just not well thought out. The score and effects track seems a good amount louder than the dialogue track which meant I was raising and lowering the volume frequently. For someone with two kids and a wife, this proved to be a hassle.

Supplements:

Audio Commentary with Laurie Mitchell and Film Historian Tom Weaver – a good commentary track featuring the Queen of Outer Space herself. One notable fact is that a quarter of the film was shot in one day.

Overall Scores:

Video – 4/5

Audio – 3/5

Supplements – 2.5/5

Overall – 3/5

Overall, this is a campy and fun little science fiction film from 1958. As can be expected, it got a lot wrong about the future – which is most of the fun. If you are not a fan of the genre, this will probably not change your mind. If you enjoy this genre, pick up a copy and get your fix. The transfer is good looking and the audio commentary is nice.

This review originally appeared on Blu-ray Authority in 2018.