Fire Maidens from Outer Space
| Fire Maidens from Outer Space | |
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One-sheet for American release as Fire Maidens of Outer Space film poster by Albert Kallis
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| Directed by | Cy Roth |
| Produced by | Cy Roth |
| Screenplay by | Cy Roth |
| Story by | Cy Roth |
| Starring |
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| Music by | Trevor Duncan |
| Cinematography | Ian D. Struthers |
| Edited by | Lito Carruthers |
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Production
companies |
Criterion Films
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| Distributed by | Eros |
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Release date
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Running time
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80 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Fire Maidens from Outer Space (1956), released in the United States as Fire Maidens of Outer Space, is an 80-minute black-and-white science fiction feature film. It was a British production, written, produced and directed by American filmmaker Cy Roth as a collaboration between Cy Roth Productions and Criterion Films, and distributed in the UK by Eros Films and in the USA by Topaz Film Co.. The film stars Anthony Dexter as the lead astronaut, Susan Shaw as a "fire maiden" who befriends him, Paul Carpenter as the expedition captain, and Jacqueline Curtis as the "fire maiden" leader. There were 13 additional "fire maidens". The music score features cues excerpted from the opera Prince Igor by Alexander Borodin.
Many film critics have dubbed the film the "worst movie ever made".
The discovery of signs of life on the 13th moon of Jupiter leads to the sending of a crew of five chain-smoking male astronauts, armed with handguns, to investigate. On the moon, they rescue Hestia, a beautiful girl, who is being attacked by a monster. They subsequently discover New Atlantis, a dying civilization, a colony of the original Atlantis. There are only seventeen people left, all women save for a single middle-aged man, Prasus, the girls' "father" (presumably adoptive). Prasus hopes the spacemen will stay and help him destroy the monster, "the man with the head of a beast".
Duessa, the leader of the women, determines to hold them captive to use as mates. The monster lurks outside the city's walls, but breaks into the city and kills Prasus along with several of the women, including Duessa. It is killed by the earthmen, and the remaining women decide to let them return to earth. Hestia returns with them, and the astronauts promise to send spaceships back with husbands for the rest.
A male hominid creature, around six feet tall from Jupiter's 13th moon, appears. Described as a "man with the head of a beast", the creature is slender, with dark, pitted skin and is impervious to bullets.
The Monthly Film Bulletin review credits Lito Carruthers as editor, and Scott MacGregor as assistant director. Although MacGregor is credited onscreen as production and art supervisor, John Pellatt receives screen credit as assistant director. The anonymous actor playing the creature wears dark, tight-fitting clothing with clearly visible zippers. Carruthers' contribution to the film has not been confirmed.
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Wikipedia