Devil Girl from Mars

Quite honestly I'd never bothered to check this movie out until recently and was really surprised! The special effects are very good for 1955 (or 1954 or 1958? Different sources have different dates for this film). The space ship alone is well worth checking out the film (minus the phallic landing gear which are good for a laugh). Her robot is really interesting too and has joined my top ten trippy sci fi robots list although his head does look like a light bulb. Impressive effects over all. True this film borrows heavily from Day The Earth Stood Still and only starts once the space ship arrives and does become very predictable by the end but if you're a collector of freaky cool space ship/aliens/robot movies then this is one worth owning. She arrives in a biogenic ship which is a concept decades away from Star Trek Next Generation. She sets up a force field around the Inn which is well done and the enterance to the space craft is so impressive I paused the DVD to figure out how they did it- it reminds me of the first Star Wars movie where R2 D2 is kidnapped in the desert by the Jawas(sp?). Way a head of the fifties in ideas although she dresses like an S/M Cat Woman and over explains her plans to the stupid humans, a character flaw that will lead to her demise! The funniest thing for me is she can easily travel in the 4th dimension with a blink of an eye and yet she constantly walks from her ship to the Inn. Sort of pointless don't you think?

A lonely inn Scottish highland is visited by a meteor. Also the usual collection of personalities. After we get all the introductions and drinks on the house, an unexpected visitor appears from the sky.

Yep looks like a neighboring planet is deficient of a certain commodity. Yep it is Nyah (Patricia Laffan) an aloof min-skirted man less female alien. To satisfy the sci-fi in all of us the mention antimatter (in so many words) and the nest dimension. Does the space vehicle look like a prototype of the familiar Spielberg vehicles?

Will Ellen Prestwick (Hazel Court) suddenly switch from tomato juice to whisky?
Will Robert Justin (Peter Reynolds) kill or make time?
Will Nyah get what she came for or more than she bargained for?

See Patricia Laffan in a more dangerous role as Miss Alice MacDonald in "23 Paces to Baker Street" (1956) adapted from the book "Warrant for X"

Devil Girl from Mars, an early effort of Harry and Edward Danziger, producers of dozens of British potboilers throughout the 50s and 60s, is one of those movies that inhabits that netherworld of not-really-good-enough-to-be-good-not-really-bad-enough-to-be-good. While the title and advertising materials promise a super-campy yuk-fest a la Queen of Outer Space, Catwomen of the Moon, etc., the movie really only delivers a mildy diverting, highly derivative tale of a butchy femalien (Nyah) and her clunky robot. At times stealing shamelessy from The Day the Earth Stood Still (to one-tenth the effect), the script consists mostly of lots of Earthbound dramatic and romantic subplots. Die-hards may find some faint amusement in the Devil Girl's imperious, slightly bitchy manner, her ungainly robot's all-too-brief appearances, and the vaguely Monty Pythonish reactions of the Scottish townsfolk to their cosmic visitors. Also on the plus side: Nyah's dominatrix-like leather/vinyl costume; the cool 50s-deco-look spaceship and robot; OK, if limited, special effects, and the absolutely radiant Hazel Court. What she's doing romancing that schmuck Hugh McDermott is a complete mystery. I really wanted to like this movie more, but honestly it's pretty dry overall. Unless you're already attuned to English 1950s SF you're likely to find this a bit on the dull side, and Quatermass fans, etc. will probably find it rather dumb as well. Ultimately, Devil Girl remains a passable time-waster for bad movie aficionados, but just not as much fun as it should be. They should have put Hazel Court in that leather suit and had HER be mean and bitchy!
The good news is that at least the DVD is worthy. There is some occasional light speckling (a little worse toward the beginning of the movie), but otherwise the source print is quite presentable, with little to no visible damage, good tonal values, sharpness, and detail. An OK if somewhat scratchy trailer and chapter stops are included. If you already love the movie, or are a Hazel Court fan or 50s completist, it's a pretty solid buy; the only-curious may want to see it first (somehow) before purchasing.