Runtime: 80 minutes
Directed by: Edward Bernds
Starring: Zsa Zsa Gabor, Eric Fleming, Dave Willock, Laurie Mitchell, Lisa Davis
From: Allied Artists Pictures
This is exactly what I expected from a motion picture about a Venus ruled by a despotic Queen who hates men & wants to destroy Earth.
Via the DVR recording of a recent TCM broadcast (let’s not even discuss the current fears over that network due to Voldemort's actions) was a film I’ve known of for years; after all, it has Zsa Zsa Gabor in a leading role, but NOT as the titular queen. There are quaint special effects, mostly mediocre at best acting and various sets came from earlier films (the most notable being Forbidden Planet) but this does have its charms. As for why it was on TCM, it was during a night of campy movies that include Plan 9 from Outer Space and… THE APPLE. That will be discussed relatively soon!
In the far-flung future of 1985, a rocket ship carrying a quartet of chauvinistic men are attacked by a beam & crash-land on Venus, where… I explained above it is ruled by a despotic Queen and the planet is full of women; they have become exasperated at their ruler. Given how those men act (calling them “babes”, numerous comments about their appearances AND thinking that it’s impossible for them to even build a space laser, let alone use one), all those women on Venus should desire a catastrophic end to the Earth!
For those that like “the fairer sex”, the ones that are in the cast are of course all attractive and wear short, revealing outfits. Believe it or not, this low-budget production was filmed in Cinemascope with Color by Deluxe so it does look lovely, and Warner Archive restored this movie to HD quality long ago. The plot is incredibly silly yet this is watchable as long as you aren’t turned off by the rampant sexism. If you can believe it, the story (not the screenplay) was written by… BEN HECHT. Not what you’d expect from a two-time Oscar winner and legend of both stage & screen.
This technically is a pretty bad film, where most of the main players deliver poor performances (Gabor was actually the acting highlight!) but I was still charmed at times by the colorful sets and guffawed at all the outdated opinions.
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