Devil Girl from Mars

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.

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'.

Having read many comments written by various sorts of movie buffs and having checked some original posters and adverts of the movie, one can watch this film with some prefabricated expectations. On the one hand, one may look for an innovative gift from England that includes some aspects of early science fiction genre; on the other hand, being curious of a sexy Martian woman wearing black leather and rousing challenging lusts in men. Yet, DEVIL GIRL FROM MARS roused my interest in a slightly different way though science fiction isn't my cup of tea whatsoever.

DEVIL GIRL FROM MARS is, first of all, the movie that beautifully combines the virtues of old cinema with the elements of early science fiction. What we get here is an excellent, psychological insight into the contrast between "Earthmen" and "Martians", between the ability to use the senses and the ability to use the machines; between the ability to love sacrificially and the ability to gather selfishly; finally the contrast between obeying orders blindly and following own's will freely. The accurate representation of this contra-worlds is revealed in the character of the Martian girl Nyah (Patricia Laffan) and the Professor. While she parrots the slogans about the invisible war of the sexes, he experiences the innate war of the senses. These factors are memorably entailed in the old cinema style and charming scenes that portray human feelings like affection, curiosity and fear. That makes DEVIL GIRL FROM MARS convincing for various movie buffs.

Of course this highlighted aspect cannot be treated too seriously, as one of the commentators stated, it's no psychological movie nor any thought provoking story but only a fiction that deals with many shallow effects and odd "space talk" about a super technology of another planet. Nevertheless, this aspect of "earthmen" vs "martians" should not be neglected. Why? Because of a dangerous condensation...

Indeed, the character that is most memorable in this movie is Nyah (Patricia Laffan), not only due to her "Martian origin" nor sexually challenging looks nor even due to her good acting. She remains memorable because of her cold eyes, strict voice, so to say: her strength appeal. That was something extremely important about this new cinematic heroine and must have been very difficult for the actress to portray an alien in this way; yet she crafted the role perfectly. Yet, where does the danger lie? Many modern viewers tend to condense her role to sex appeal only. The earthmen around her are creatures of free will, they are not sex machines that would dream to make love to her. Therefore, it is significant to state here that you cannot watch this movie from today's perspective. Nyah and her robot that some science fiction buffs find ridiculous represent dominance through fear, through intolerance and cold cruelty. Mars vs Earth indicates unbelievable technology of weapons vs old fashioned toys but at the same time tyranny vs freedom. In this respect, we could as well say that this role of Ms Laffan highly refers to the one 3 years earlier in a sword and sandal colossal epic where she could, as well, constitute an object of lust only though there was something different about her role, too. But that's a different story...

The supporting cast include good British talents from beautiful Hazel Court as longing for love Ms Prestwick to Hugh McDermott as strong personality Michael Carter. The aforementioned Professor also does a good job as one who thinks what his brain tells him to think. Together with the performances come other artistic features of the film including cinematography, mood, pace. Although some aspects may irritate you as seriously dated, the mood is impressive. Since the movie is not long and the content is primarily built upon the dialogs and reactions in the particularly scary situations, much of the communication with viewers builds upon image. Consider, for instance, the memorable arrival of the Martians and Nyah's coming out of her spaceship. Therefore, lots of movie buffs will perhaps not find this movie scary; yet they will still find it thrilling.

Just in a nutshell, DEVIL GIRL FROM MARS is one the movies of the genre that I see with interest and recommend to the viewers for whom science fiction isn't their cup of tea. Not primarily because of its content, nor sexy/scary Nyah, but a cinematic surprise from England made more than 50 years ago but still impressive in a way.

It's chock full of clichés and is a bit stagy at times, but Devil girl from Mars still manages to entertain. The story concerns a group of guests at a remote Scottish inn who witness the landing of a strange unearthly craft and are subsequently held captive by its occupant, the comely Nyah, who is here to take back eligible men to repopulate Mars. Yikes! Needless to say the eligible men want nothing to do with this and plot to prevent her from carrying out her mission. Devil girl from Mars suffers from a number of problems, prime among them the absolutely inept acting of Hugh Mcdermott, who plays the newspaper reporter. He has a key role in the film, which really weakens it dramatically. The other actors can't quite make up for this, although Patricia Laffin is really quite menacing as Nyah. The film has a stagy feel to it, not surprising since it was based, believe it or not on a play. I can just imagine a local theater group trying to mount this! The movie's special effects are the real stars. The spacecraft is really pretty cool, and the robot Chani is a typical 50s conception of an automaton, even if he does resemble a refrigerator. This film belies its bargain basement budget much of the time and can be quite atmospheric with the sound of the wind and the shots of the studio bound Scottish moors. The scene of Nyah entering the drawing room of the inn for the first time still makes me jump.

"Devil Girl From Mars" (1954) looks like a strange cross between "Quatermass Xperiment" (1955) and "Queen of Outer Space."(1958). Then throw in a little of "Mars Needs Women" (1967) and "The Mysterians" (1957) for good measure. So if you don't like any of these films you might consider avoiding contact with "Devil Girl".

This is the earliest film I know of with aliens seeking Earthlings for breeding stock. It is played perfectly straight. Naya (Patricia Laffan) is an emotionless Martian space explorer. She has the Michael Rennie role here, but she is not visiting Earth for reasons that will benefit mankind. Still she is beautiful and her black leather costume and "Ming the Merciless" helmet must have caused quite a sensation back in 1954.

Like Rennie she arrives in a flying saucer with a robot. The saucer looks interesting but Chani the robot looks like a mailbox with a hood ornament.

It's one of a handful of 50's English science fiction films. It's real claim to fame is that it's the adaptation of a radio play. All the action (and there is not very much) takes place on the moors of Scotland and involves a varied collection of Earthlings staying at the remote Bonnie Charlie Inn whose proprietress speaks the immortal line: "While we're still alive, we might as well have a cup of tea".

Actually the film is not nearly as bad as its reputation. The film stock is excellent (at least judging by the 1990 Rhino VHS release) even if it does rely too much on wide master shots, with beautiful Hazel Court as one of the guests a few close-ups would have been nice. The production design and the special effects are more than adequate for the period of the film.

As a radio play the story by necessity adopts the remote house with an unlikely group of strangers dynamic. But it explores new territory by making a woman the invincible extraterrestrial visitor. She is a woman from a planet of women who indulges herself and the viewer with lengthy very humorous lectures on the inferiority of Earthlings. And she even expounds at length about the fusion reactor (probably films first reference to this) that powers her ship.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.