La Martienne Diabolique

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!!!

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.

Nyah(Patricia Laffan), a Martian woman, is forced to land her ship in the Scottish highlands instead of her intended target London but decides to continue her mission to select healthy male subjects, to be used for breeding purposes, to return with her to Mars.

There's things I like about this movie. I like the hulking robot, even if it is a little clunky and clumsy-looking. I like the spaceship with its unique spinning top design. I like the ideas at work in the film including an organic spaceship, a self-perpetuating fuel source and the whole inward atomic fission bit. I like the look of the outdoors settings. And I like Patricia Laffan's portrayal of Nyah as a sort of Martian dominatrix clad in black leather. She certainly makes a lasting memorable impression on the viewer.

Then there's a number of things for which I do not care. I don't like that the film is so set-bound and talky, with far too many grand opening the curtain entrances by Nyah. A large part of the problem with this film is they seemed to be, most inadequately I must say, trying to add a comedic element to the proceedings when our performers were far more capable at playing it straight. Hugh McDermott is particularly bad at delivering his often over-the-top lines.

This could have been better but I have to admit I enjoy it more than most others I know. I suspect Patricia Laffan's leather clad dominatrix has something to do with that along with the luscious miss Hazel Court.

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.