Fire Maidens from Outer Space

{{Short description|1956 British film by Cy Roth}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2016}} {{Use British English|date=June 2016}} {{Infobox film | name = Fire Maidens from Outer Space | image = Firemaidens.jpg | alt = | caption = Theatrical release poster | native_name =  | director = Cy Roth<ref name="mfb" /> | producer = George Fowler<br>Cy Roth<ref>Bill Warren, Keep Watching The Skies! American Science Fiction Movies of the 1950s, Vol. 1 (New York: McFarland & Co, 1986), pg.417.</ref> | writer =  | screenplay = Cy Roth | story = Cy Roth | based_on =  | starring = {{plainlist|* Anthony Dexter * Paul Carpenter * Susan Shaw * Harry Fowler * Sydney Tafler * Jacqueline Curtis * Rodney Diak}} | narrator =  | music = Trevor Duncan | cinematography = Ian D. Struthers | editing = Lito Carruthers |production_companies = Criterion Films | distributor = Eros Films<br>Topaz Film Co. | released = {{Film date|1956|09|06|df=yes}} | runtime = 80 minutes | country = United Kingdom<ref name="mfb" /> | language = English | budget = | gross =  }}

'''''Fire Maidens from Outer Space''''' (or '''''Fire Maidens of Outer Space''''' in the US), is a 1956 British independent black-and-white science fiction feature film. It was written, produced and directed by American filmmaker Cy Roth as a collaboration between Cy Roth Productions and Great Britain's Criterion Films, and distributed in the UK by Eros Films and in the USA by Topaz Film Co. The film stars Anthony Dexter, Susan Shaw, Paul Carpenter and Jacqueline Curtis.<ref name="BFIsearch">{{Cite web |title=Fire Maidens from Outer Space |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150038587 |access-date=31 December 2024 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}</ref> There were 13 additional "fire maidens". The music score features cues excerpted from the opera ''Prince Igor'' by Alexander Borodin.

==Plot== The discovery of an Earth-like atmosphere on the 13th moon of Jupiter leads to the sending of a crew of five 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 remnant of the original Atlantis who escaped when that continent sank. There are only seventeen people left, all women save for a single elderly man, Prasus, whom the girls revere as "father". Prasus hopes the spacemen will stay and help him destroy the monster, which is a slender, male hominid creature, around six feet tall with dark, pitted skin, impervious to bullets, and described as a "man with the head of a beast".

Luther Blair learns from Hestia, however, that Prasus rules New Atlantis as a tyrant and wants to keep the earthmen there to mate with the girls. Duessa, one of the women, overhears Blair and Hestia conspiring to escape and encourages the other fire maidens to bind her and sacrifice her. The monster, which lurks outside the city's walls, breaks into the city and kills Prasus along with 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.

==Cast== * Anthony Dexter as Luther Blair * Susan Shaw as Hestia * Paul Carpenter as Captain Larson * Jacqueline Curtis as Duessa * Harry Fowler as Sydney Stanhope * Sydney Tafler as Dr Higgins * Rodney Diak as Anderson * Maya Koumani as Fire Maiden * Owen Berry as Prasus * Richard Walter as The Creature * Norma Arnould as Fire Maiden * Sylvia Burrows as Fire Maiden * Ann Elsden as Fire Maiden * Marcella Georgius as Fire Maiden * Corinne Gray as Fire Maiden * Gloria Haig as Fire Maiden * Jan Holden as Fire Maiden * Eunice Jebbett as Fire Maiden * Sonia Martin as Fire Maiden * Kim Parker as Fire Maiden * Barbara Pinney as Fire Maiden * Dinah Ann Rogers as Fire Maiden * Bill Nagy as US Major (uncredited)

==Production== The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' review credits Lito Carruthers as editor, and Scott MacGregor as assistant director.<ref name="mfb" /><ref name="AbiFI">[https://web.archive.org/web/20151208205345/http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=53843 "Detail: 'Fire Maidens of Outer Space."] ''American Film Institute'' Archived from the original December 8, 2015. Retrieved March 2, 2022.</ref> However, MacGregor is credited onscreen as production and art supervisor, John Pellatt receives screen credit as assistant director, and Lito Carruthers is credited as Lighting Cameraman (Director of Photography). Carruthers' contribution to the film has not been confirmed.<ref name="AbiFI" />

== Release == {{Expand section|date=October 2024}}

==Reception and reputation== In a contemporary review, ''The Monthly Film Bulletin'' stated: "Even the most dedicated connoisseurs of the artless are likely to find this British attempt at science-fiction something of a strain on their patience."<ref name="mfb">"Fire Maidens from Outer Space."] ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' (London), Volume 23, Issue 264, 1956, p. 104. ISSN 0027-0407.</ref> ''Kine Weekly'' wrote: "Science fiction extravaganza, decorated with lightly clad damsels. ... Its story far exceeds the bounds of credibility, but tongue-in-the-cheek presentation only disarms criticism. ... The picture, staged on a very modest, not to say meagre, scale, is, despite the presence of the monster, more of a folk dance display than an outer space thriller. Anthony Dexter, imported from America, Susan Shaw, Harry Fowler, Paul Carpenter, Sydney Tafler and other well-known players do their best to pep up the fantastic script, but retire defeated. Les girls are definitely the film's main attraction."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=5 July 1956 |title=Fire Maidens from Outer Space |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/2732603796 |journal=Kine Weekly |volume=471 |issue=2551 |pages=42 |id={{ProQuest|2732603796}} |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

From retrospective reviews, ''Halliwell's Film and Video Guide'' describes the film as "a strong contender for the title of the worst movie ever made, with diaphanously clad English gals striking embarrassed poses against cardboard sets".<ref>Walker 1999, p. 287.</ref>

In Phil Hardy's book ''Science Fiction'' (1984), a review described the film as "a bottom-of-the barrel piece of British Science Fiction", and that "the film's one claim to fame is its extensive use of classical music (mostly Borodin) as background music, a trick that Stanley Kubrick deployed with far more aplomb in ''2001: A Space Odyssey''".{{sfn|Hardy|1984|p=157}}

The DVD Talk website stated ''Fire Maidens from Outer Space'' "may be among the worst-ever professionally produced science fiction films"<ref>[http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/61441/fire-maidens-of-outer-space/ "Fire Maidens Of Outer Space."] ''DVD Talk'', 13 August 2013. Retrieved 27 May 2014.</ref>

In November 1992, ''Fire Maidens of Outer Space'' was featured as an episode of the movie-mocking television show ''Mystery Science Theater 3000''.

== Analysis of racism and colonial themes == Although the film Fire Maidens from Outer Space (1956) has primarily been mocked by critics for its low budget and poor technical quality, from the perspective of cultural and film studies, it reflects the racial biases and Eurocentric clichés of the 1950s.<ref name="Warren2009">Bill Warren. ''Keep Watching the Skies: American Science Fiction Films of the Fifties'', 21st Century Edition. McFarland & Company, 2009. {{ISBN|0-89950-032-3}}.</ref> The reflection of racism in this film can be analyzed through several layers:

=== Othering and dehumanization of "The Creature" === In this film, the antagonist, "The Creature," is described as a being with "dark, pitted skin." In the study of Cold War-era science fiction cinema, such creatures often served as symbols of the racial "Other" or as a threat to the purity of white Western women.<ref name="Biskind1983">Biskind, Peter. ''Seeing Is Believing: How Hollywood Taught Us to Stop Worrying and Love the Fifties''. Pantheon, 1983. {{ISBN|978-0394721156}}.</ref> The dehumanization of this creature and its description as a "savage" that must be destroyed by civilized armed men reflects the racial anxieties of that era regarding miscegenation and the perceived threat of primitive societies to Western civilization.<ref name="Warren2009"/>

=== White Savior cliché and colonialism === The narrative structure of the film is built upon the white savior trope. Five male astronauts (all of whom are white and represent Western powers) enter an unknown land to save a "dying" civilization. This civilization, described as a remnant of Atlantis, consists entirely of white women. This imagery, where white men use technology and weaponry to restore order to an "incapable" society, is rooted in 19th and 20th-century colonial thought, in which white people saw it as their duty to export civilization to other societies.<ref name="Biskind1983"/>

=== Intersection of racism and sexism === Racism in this film is intertwined with Sexism. The women of Atlantis are depicted as prizes for the white astronauts. The film's final promise to send spaceships back with "husbands for the rest" emphasizes that the survival and perfection of this civilization are only possible through union with civilized white men.<ref name="Biskind1983"/>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Bibliography== {{Refbegin}} * {{cite book |last=Hardy |first=Phil |title=Science fiction |date=1984 |publisher=Morrow |location=New York |isbn=978-1-8541-0382-6}} * Walker, John, ed. ''Halliwell's Film and Video Guide 2000''. London: HarperCollins, 1999. {{ISBN|978-0-0627-3692-5}}. * Warren, Bill. ''Keep Watching the Skies: American Science Fiction Films of the Fifties'', 21st Century Edition. (Greatly expanded edition) Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2009. {{ISBN|0-89950-032-3}}. {{Refend}}

==External links== * {{IMDb title|id=0046977|title=Fire Maidens from Outer Space}} * [http://trailersfromhell.com/fire-maidens-outer-space/ ''Fire Maidens from Outer Space''] at Trailers from Hell

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fire Maidens From Outer Space}} Category:1956 films Category:British science fiction films Category:Films about astronauts Category:Jupiter in film Category:Fiction set on Jupiter's moons Category:1956 English-language films Category:Films directed by Cy Roth Category:1956 British films Category:British black-and-white films Category:English-language science fiction films Category:1956 science fiction films