Queen of Outer Space (1958)

(On Cable TV, March 2020) If there’s any comfort in watching the mess of silliness, misogyny and terrible logic in Queen of Outer Space, it’s that the film was made—even then—as a parody and not as serious Science Fiction. No, our grandparents weren’t as dumb as the films of the era suggest: contemporary reviews state that they were aware that this wasn’t to be taken seriously at all. Still, watching from 2020, it can be difficult to accurately gauge what the filmmakers were trying to do. The science and plotting are terrible in ways that cannot be detailed succinctly, but suffice to say that our male protagonists go up in a rocket, crash-land on Venus after a missile attack, and discover that not only is Venus quite inhabitable, it’s host to a misandrist dictatorship solely in need of a revolution. Working with a courtier (Zsa Zsa Gabor!), they overthrow the queen, save Earth from destruction, restore a male-friendly regime and have to await rescue from Earth on a planet filled with beautiful women. Watching this film sixty years later, despite assurances that the filmmakers knew what they were doing (the film began as a proposal from legendary screenwriter Ben Hecht), it’s tough to differentiate between male-gaze power fantasy and barely sublimed eroticism, as the film parades miniskirts, tight tops and low décolletage in Technicolor detail. No matter the original intention, Queen of Outer Space is both laugh-out funny and unbearably misogynistic—the silliness isn’t always clearly intentional, and while the ineptness can be charming, it remains ineptness in the first place. It’s not without amusing moments or clever touches (it even nails the modern flatscreen monitor form factor!) but you’ll have to work harder than usual in putting this kitschy classic back into the context of the time. Although, if you’re looking for a visually striking example of terrible 1950s Science Fiction…