Devil Girl from Mars

In a Scotish inn, the owners, employees and guests are reunited in the bar. Our of the blue, a flying saucer lands nearby and a woman dressed in black leather like a dominatrix with cape arrives in the bar armed with a ray-gun. She explains that she is Nyah (Patricia Laffan), from Mars, and she was heading to London. However her spacecraft collided with an airplane and was damaged; therefore she had to land to repair the saucer. She also explains that she is looking for men to breed her female race since the male population is dying after warfare between males and females and they need offspring. Nyah has the robot Chani to help her to capture men, but she wants that one of the men volunteers to go with her to Mars. Who might be the volunteer? "Devil Girl from Mars" is an awful campy film, but also a cult-movie. The main reason is the character Nyah, the alien from Mars, who dresses like a dominatrix. The storyline is funny since the Martians have high technology but are unable to develop artificial insemination. The romantic subplots are boring and the sacrifice of Robert Justin, alias Albert Simpson, is simply forgotten by the ungrateful survivors. My vote is three. Title (Brazil): "Mulher Diabólica de Marte" (Diabolic Woman from Mars") Note: On 26 February 2024, I saw this film again.

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'.

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 is one of the relatively few science fiction movies that the UK made in the 1950's. A motley collection of people at a remote hotel in the Scottish Highlands including a scientist, journalist, a small boy and an escaped murderer are visited by a female alien in a tight leather suit from Mars. She lands in a atomic powered flying saucer and is armed with a ray gun and is accompanied by a robot. She has come to Earth to collect men for breeding purposes on Mars! After terrorising everyone and putting a force field around the hotel, she takes the escaped murderer with her at the end and the flying saucer explodes. The cast includes horror regular Hazel Court (The Curse Of Frankenstein, The Masque of the Red Death), John Laurie (Dad's Army), Adrienne Corri (Corridors of Blood) and Patricia Laffan as the Devil Girl, Nyah. I found this movie quite enjoyable, despite the low budget and cheap looking props, especially that robot. A good way to spend just over an hour one evening. Rating: 3 stars out of 5.

Scottish sci-fi. Hmmm. This 1953 flying teapot extravaganza with a cranky martian chick really hits it's vinyl stride when She bursts through the lounge room doors at the local pub. Yes you are reading correctly. Originally a radio show no doubt inspired by a whimsical mix of the Orson Welles' War Of The Worlds event and the movie The Day The Earth Stood Still, DEVIL GIRL is pure cardigan sci fi staged by your local Presbyterian Church social club and filmed accordingly. There is even a big Gort style robot which looks here more like a washing machine or an old radio all painted glossy white. She who must be obeyed marches about, sneering orders and aiming her dime store torch style ray gun at hapless Gwendolyn or Bertie characters each who clutch each other or cringe. One gets to go with her back to Mars...until....... well, you will just have to see. DEVIL GIRL FROM MARS is an unmissable treat like THE QUEEN OF OUTER SPACE or even FLIGHT TO MARS. 2010 it ain't.

This was actually a stage play first. Can you imagine? And I'm sorry Joel & the 'bots never got a chance to pick this one apart. The potential for near-off-color jokes is amazing. Nyah smirks, struts, shows Mr. Spock what the eyebrow is really for, prepares a sperm bank for Mars, shows little Tommy "wonders of the universe you've never dreamed of," all while her giant refrigerator robot is in tow, disintegrating trees. If she had only made it to London, she'd have ruled the discotheques without all the fuss. I should hope there's no such thing as reincarnation, as I might not love this camp classic in the next life. Anakin Skywalker, you're a wuss.

The title might be puzzling but she was definitely the Granny of Darth Vader as the family resemblance is striking. I was expecting the usual "call for the army" type flying saucer alien invasion film but there was not a soldier to be seen. This was a great fun 50s Sci-Fi "B Movie" in great contrast to the other Star Wars' prequals which were anything but fun to watch. The Martians went about recruiting human males for their breeding programme in completely the wrong way. If they had landed their craft outside a school containing hundreds of teenage boys the flying saucer would have been full of willing volunteers within ten minutes. This would have resulted in a very short film of course so the film makers had to ignore this very obvious plot hole. Not as bad (good) as Plan 9 From Outer Space but a better film in every way, brilliant.

Its often the case that science fiction isn't about the science part of the thing. The otherworldliness it provides is often a cover for observations and explorations of one kind or another. This has three components, and they are so distinct I suspect three different authors. One piece is the enveloping flying saucer visitation. Ho hum. The main thing is the "locked house" dynamic of an unlikely group of strangers cast together to deal with peril. At the end, one must die so the others can live. Maybe. A scientist (so he can explain things), a reporter (natch), a beautiful model, an escaped murderer (misunderstood) together with the ordinary range of similarly ordinary British country folk. This is mendacious stuff. Ho hum again. The third piece is the interesting part. Our extraterrestrial visitor is a woman from a planet of women. They had a war with the men and won, so need more men. (They have male robots.) She's in faux leather, and the asexual dominatrix bit is played up. She obliges with many long, wordy explanations of what's going on, because of its origin as a radio play, I suppose. In those schoolmarmish rants are all sorts of references to the sexual imbalance on Mars. Lots of pseudoscience talk about "inversion" and negative attraction. All the yang opposites the script guy could find. Its played seriously, with no hint of sex or camp, and that fact alone makes this a sort of antiBarbarella. Sadly, the amazingly natural cinematic life of the Barbarella project is absent here. This actually looks like a filmed radio show. I wonder if science fiction can be sexless like this. You might want to explore the Coppola boy's "CQ" to find out. Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

The title role in Devil Girl From Mars is played by Patricia Laffan who is probably best known to film viewers as the sultry and evil Poppaea in Quo Vadis. That is all except those who favor camp science fiction. And this film is camp from the opening credits. As is the normal Mars is the infinitely superior planet to Earth, but they've divided their society by sex and the men lost the war to the women years ago. In being enslaved for generations, something's taken the old mating urge out of the male Martians (think about what happened in Zardoz). Patricia Laffan has been sent to Earth to bring back breeding stock and apparently her target is London. But she collides with a meteor and is forced to make a landing in the highlands of Scotland to make repairs. The ship lands on the property of the Bonnie Charlie Inn, a nice country establishment with a few guests, some of whom happen to be scientists. The film other than its Martian connection plays like one of those old closed circle English murder mysteries and this select group of people are going to try to save Earth from being enslaved for their male members. The film is a laugh riot with all the cast playing it so absolutely straight that it comes out funny. Patricia Laffan in that tight get up is an unforgettable sight. Could mating with her and others like her be all that bad? No great production values went into this, but someone in creating it had a great sense of humor.

They spend tons of time on the back stories of the characters and none of it matters. The "Devil Girl" can speak every language in the world but uses the word "semantics" as a measurement of speed. There's no scientists with guns but there is a reporter who is an expert on car engines. I've seen worse but this is really bad.