Queen of Outer Space doesn’t actually feature Zsa Zsa Gabor in the lead role. Technically, the lead is Laurie Mitchell. Gabor is just a courtier planning to overthrow the Queen. That’s right, kids. It’s not a Sci-Fi movie so much of a political stab in the heart of an Intergalactic Matriarchy. If you thought this wouldn’t fly in the 50s, you’re right. The film was quickly stuffed onto a double feature with the Boris Karloff horror title Frankenstein 70.
Cult Sci-Fi is always a mixed bag. When it dips into camp so hard that it gets spoofed in Amazon Women on the Moon, one has to wonder how later generations can approach it. Well, the fact remains that most people under 21 are going to pass because it’s an old film featuring dead people. What those kids miss is a B-film jaunt through an era that was obsolete by 1969.
If the film looks ridiculous, ponder this. It was designed by the same team behind Forbidden Planet, Flight to Mars and World Without End. The Atomic Age’s inability to understand space travel and realities presented to us is astounding. What makes the thing even crazier is when you realize the underpinnings of the Female driven Venusian society depends on getting men to repair their Death Ray. Seriously. The entire film hangs on Earth-hating women getting men to fix something around the house.
I love the insanity of the 1950s.
