After seeing Cat-Women of the Moon and Missile to the Moon, why would anyone need to see Queen of Outer Space? After all it’s just a variation of the same story that I had already seen twice. What could possibly make a difference to make this one worth watching? First, I think they are all worth watching in spite of their quality. In this one, the spaceship is drawn to Venus instead of the moon. So they were expanding the universe where this film happens. They also expand the frame of the film since it is the first widescreen film in this genre. It is also in color. It also has the feel of being a bigger budget film. Maybe it seems like a bigger movie because it stars Zsa Zsa Gabor.
When I was a kid, I knew Zsa Zsa Gabor primarily from her appearances on talk shows like The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. I also confused her with her sister Eva, who appeared on the TV show Green Acres. I was young when Green Acres came out and I thought the Eva was Zsa Zsa. I was young enough that couldn’t read her name in the credits, and I assumed it was just the same person. I never remembered seeing Eva on a talk show and I don’t think I had seen Zsa Zsa anywhere else. Queen of Outer Space was the first time I saw Zsa Zsa acting.
I saw this film a few years before Zsa Zsa had her incident where she slapped a Beverly Hills cop in 1989. I was married when I first saw this movie. My wife rightfully rolled her eyes constantly at the sexist dialog of the men in the film. Zsa Zsa’s character, Talleah, is a rival to the evil queen. Talleah is helpful to the space crew while the evil queen lures the supposedly attractive male lead and captain of the crew into her room to control him. The queen wears a mask that the captain removes to reveal her disfigured face. This makes her mad and she decides to destroy the earth. She is defeated and Talleah becomes the new queen of outer space.
This film was released about 3 months before Missile to the Moon. Of the three films I’ve discussed, this one probably has the 2nd best title behind Cat-Women of the Moon. I think this would make a great triple feature.