andyrobert

This was a very unusual British film, inasmuch as the cinema audience had an advantage over the characters in the film. In other words, those watching the film knew who the killer was right from the start.

It was nice to see Harry H. Corbett in one of his earlier performances, proving that he was a very good character actor, before being type cast as "Harold" in the much-appraised television series, "Steptoe and Son".

I have just watched this film this morning on Talking Pictures.

Some reviewers would say that it defies commercial logic as to why a film like this was ever made. It definitely was never ever meant to be a Box Office Smash, nor an All-Time Blockbuster. It could be determined as a classic - but a classic what?

A lot IMDB members have reviewed this film with heavy criticism and, to tell you the truth, I cannot find any reason to put up an argument against even some of the more scathing comments.

However, I suppose I could say that it paved the way for such commercial successes as: "2001 - A Space Odyssey", "Alien" and the film versions of "Quatermass" and "Doctor Who"; and as far as British Television Science Fiction is concerned, it has come a long way since the 1950s. Such programmes as: "Space 1999", "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" and "Red Dwarf" are now considered to be classics. All these would probably have benefited from the pioneering efforts of such, underfunded, films as "Fire Maidens From Outer Space".

"Fire Maidens From Outer Space" was probably a very low budget film, with contracted actors, and was made as a "Quota Quickie". In other words, it was a government-controlled way of making sure enough British films were available to ensure that cinemas were showing an ample amount of British films, which was, and has always been, dominated by the American market.

I personally enjoyed watching all the lovely "Fire Maidens", as they danced and fawned all over their captives.

I can only assume that, because of the production values of this film, was that it may have been made for an early television play. However, because of some of the frightening scenes, it would have to have been broadcasted very late at night, when the government was assured that all children would have gone to bed. This, in addition, to the period for which television airtime had been allowed, there would have been no slot to put it in. In 1956, television was forced to close down before 11 'o' clock at night, therefore, it would be impossible to show it.

The only thing that I could not understand about the film was why the Senior Astronaut, played by Anthony Dexter, had authority over the four ringed, senior Royal Naval Captain, played by Paul Carpenter. Surely the Captain is always in charge of the ship?

Finally, on a poignant note, I would like to say a few words in commemoration for Susan Shaw and Paul Carpenter: not big stars, but two reliable actors, who died so young.

5 for effort.

At first, I thought this film was going to be about an aristocratic Army officer returning from the Second World War, finding it hard to settle down into civilian life and coping with Peace, as opposed to War. However, as soon as the officer was reunited with his wife, you realised that there was going to be something wrong with their relationship.

His wife, having been alone in their Georgian mansion house with no staff to help her manage the estate, had a boring War and was having to do everything herself. While the husband wanted to settle down to a simple life in the country, she wanted to give up rural life, hoping that her husband would return to Politics, where she would be able to enjoy a more active and useful life in a London fancy apartment.

However, the film came to be more than just a social drama about a married couple adjusting to life after six years of War. Anna Neagle, playing the part of the wife, after being knocked unconscious seemed to start dreaming about her life being paralleled by married couples in the same situation, with the husband coming home from different wars stretching back over 100 years.

Each husband was played by a different actor wearing a different uniform associated with the war that they had just fought in. However, in every part of the anthology, Anna Neagle plays the wife. The parts of the husband's friend and wife's mother were also played by different actors and actresses.

The first husband was played by Nicholas Phipps, an actor who usually appeared in supporting roles in many British film comedies during the 1950s and 1960s. He wore the uniform of a cavalry officer who had just returned from the Crimean War in 1854 and was present at the Battle of Balaclava. This short part of the anthology is about the chauvinistic husband being very disturbed at his wife wanting to join Florence Nightingale as a nurse. He advocated that wives' and women belong in the home - looking beautiful - and not soaking up the dubious glory of life on the battlefield.

The second husband was played by Bernard Lee, who later became more famous as 'M' in the series of James Bond films. He wore the uniform of another cavalry officer, but this time he was an officer having just returned from the Boer War in 1903. This part of the anthology was about his disapproval of his wife having ably managed his estate by herself and her controversial support for Woman's Suffrage and her even more controversial lack of support for the War in South Africa, advocating that the Boers were quite justified in the way they were fighting for their farms, land and their own way of life.

The third husband was played by an actor called Michael Laurence in a rare film appearance. As well as looking like Errol Flynn, he wore the uniform of an army captain who had just returned from France, having experienced the grim realities of life in the trenches and the tragic aftermath of the First World War. This part of the anthology was about the husband coming home, from the worst war that had ever been fought up to that time. He was miserably greeted to an empty house and a wife who had become an amoral wastrel and flapper. Without giving to much away, this was the most tragic part of the film.

The last part of the film shows Anna Neagle regaining conscious and telling her husband about her dream and how they came to understand each other again, adjusting to each other's needs and how they both wished to spend their life together.

Throughout the film the underlying theme seemed to be about women's emancipation. In 1854 was about their subjugation; in 1903 it was about how women's freedom and independence was being fought for; and in 1919 it showed how it had all gone too far.

By 1945 the film seemed to be trying to say how everything had gone back to where it was before.

8 out of 10.