Devil Girl from Mars

There's no other movie quite like Devil Girl from Mars. It's cheesy and low-budget, unfolding like a stage-play ineptly filmed, with a script dulled by timid ideas and old-school misogyny. Yet in Patricia Laffan, the British actress who plays Nyah the Devil Girl, this picture presents a space-queen unrivaled in the annals of B-movie campiness. Her dominatrix boots and patent-leather cape, not to mention her highbrow imperious accent, easily outclass the features on display from those Venusian babes in Queen of Outer Space (1958) or the Martianettes in Flight to Mars (1951). And check out that Devil Girl headgear, a cross between medieval helmet and Egyptian sphinx! In silhouette, Nyah is the image of Darth Vader, striding about with cape swirling to do something unspeakably naughty. But before you conclude that Ms. Laffan's over-the-top performance is an instance of bad acting, consider this: there's no way to play a character like Nyah with psychological depth. The Devil Girl is a comic-book villainess, an icon, somebody who has to be bigger than big. Patricia Laffan is the perfect drama queen to meet the challenge. If you like her in this movie, be sure to see her in Quo Vadis? (1951), a glorious sword and sandal epic that also features the burning of Rome and the martyrdom of the Christians. In that film Laffan plays Poppaea, wicked Empress of Rome, opposite Peter Ustinov's even more formidable Emperor Nero. From bride of the Roman Antichrist to warrior-woman of Mars is just a small step -- or should I say, it's a small step for Patricia Laffan, but a giant leap for anyone else.

No one drawn by the title will be disappointed with tall, amazonian Patricia Laffan in the title role of this nonsense in which Oscar-winning wartime documentarist David MacDonald shows the same respect for matriarchal aspirations he later did in 'Petticoat Pirates'. The title is misleading, though, since dressed in leather by Ronald Cobb to resemble a particularly ferocious principal boy, Martian warrior Nyah is plainly all woman.

The Danzigers seem to have read about 'The Day the Earth Stood Still' rather than actually seen it since Nyah is plainly Klaatu and Gort rolled into one; and her pet robot merely an afterthought.

Enlivened by a dramatic percussive score by Edwin Astley and a cast of familiar faces (too bad Nyah was seeking men, since Hazel Court & Adrienne Corri are by far the most impressive specimens). It also marks an interesting overlap of careers on the set of veteran cameraman Jack Cox - who shot 'The Lady Vanishes' - and child actor Anthony Richmond, who later shot 'Don't Look Now'.

I've wanted to see this film because of the intriguing title and the poster art. It sounds like a film right down my alley. I finally had the chance today when I found it as an offering for Amazon Prime members. It was obviously going to be a low budget film, but I wasn't expecting it to take place in Scotland or be made in England. I was expecting a 'Cat Women of the Moon' type American B-film. The dreary atmosphere at first brought to mind 'The Man from Planet X', a film I thoroughly enjoy. Unfortunately this did not turn out to be as good a movie. The plot here involves a tall, stern, not unattractive woman in leather and a short skirt with a strange hat. She's from Mars and comes to our world in search of male specimens for breeding stock. It seems war has decimated the males of her own world and women are the dominant sex. When I see films with similar plots I imagine legions of male volunteers fighting to go of their own free will…instead they show men having to be dragged off like victims; they aren't willing. The movie contained too much pointless dialog for its own good and the direction was poor. On the bright side the cast gave it their best shot with what they had to work with. As might be expected the best scenes were those with the Devil Girl and those with her B-movie budget giant robot. The robot was a like a poor man's Gort. Her spaceship was also pretty neat and the ray gun effects weren't bad. I also thought the explosion near the end was an unusual effect. I'll give this movie a 4 out of 10 for those reasons. BTW-if you have Prime and you watch it be careful. For some reason they offer two versions. One has much better image and sound quality than the other. You'll need to try them both to see which.

An odd little cinematic gift from England -- but don't take it too seriously. The story is set in an isolated English inn where a flying saucer lands and surrounds the area in an invisible force field. From the spacecraft emerges a fifteen-foot-tall robot and an evil Martian woman who announces that the matriarchal Martian society has sent her to select Earth men for breeding purposes. The Martian men have been subjugated ever since they lost a war with the women, and during the intervening centuries the males have grown weak and useless. (American men take note: this could happen to you, too!)

All this is played absolutely straight by the cast. No cutesy sex jokes.

On the negative side: bogus scientific terms saturate Miss Laffan's dialogue. The robot looks too much like a refrigerator with a police light for a head. The entire films is shot on an indoor set, causing it to resemble the original stage production on which it was based (yes, a British sci-fi PLAY!)

On the positive side: The concepts described by the bogus scientific dialogue are key elements in the plot -- which means the viewer has to pay attention to keep up with what's going on. The Scenes of the woman and the robot coming out of the huge spacecraft are flawlessly matted and very impressive -- and so is the robot's demonstration of its death ray. Patricia Laffan (the Martian women) overacts outrageously, but her performance is still enjoyable. Her shiny black outfit is comprised of black boots, short skirt, long cape, and black skullcap. The supporting players do a fine job, including the lovely Hazel Court. Praiseworthy music score by Edwin Astely. The story contains some good concepts. For example, the spacecraft is made of `organic metal' that repairs its own damage. Unfortunately, we don't get any special effects depicting this marvel.

In some ways, this one is more fun to watch than a few of the more well-regarded sci-fi entries. It's available on pre-recorded VHS, and worth the few bucks it costs -- IF your expectations have been properly adjusted. I hope I succeeded in doing this. Let me know if I've succeeded.

At first you may think this is another fifties low budget sci-fi saga, the type Hollywood churned out by the truckloads(and still do.) The big difference here is the fact that its actually a brit production and that makes it rather rare. The English take their movie making seriously(sometimes to seriously) so the production values, writing, lighting, etc. are a notch above that of the typical Hollywood production.

The wildest thing about the movie is the alien babe who is pretty darn sexy in that freaky outfit she wears. The biggest negative is probably the robot who must have been made out of an old refrigerator. However, to the robots credit he has a cool disintegration ray. First his head lights up , a beam of light shoots out and anything it hits glows then disappears leaving only a bit of smoke. This is by far the best special effect and this technique showed up later on many American sci-fi shows including THE INVADERS and STAR TREK. As i recall from my childhood, the aliens glowing and disappearing after being killed was the coolest thing about THE INVADERS. The robot appears to be really huge also and that alone might have scared the bejesus out of its audience back in the day.

I can imagine that back in the fifties most people who put down their change to see THE DEVIL GIRL FROM MARS left feeling they got their money's worth and then some. Its still pretty entertaining. Better than most from that era no doubt!!!