Devil Girl From Mars (1954)

A diverse group of guests are gathered at an inn in the Scottish countryside when a flying saucer makes an emergency landing near the inn. A leather clad alien (Patricia Laffan, QUO VADIS) threatens the guests while her ship is being repaired by her robot companion. Based on a play by James Eastwood (who also wrote the screenplay) and directed by David MacDonald (BAD LORD BYRON). Science fiction has been a popular genre since the days of silent cinema. But sci-fi plays? There's no record of Eastwood's play ever being performed so it might be an unpublished play. This low budget British "B" hokum takes place on an inn set with minimal action and the characters yakking away. It's difficult to decide which is worse. The dialogue or the acting. I'd call it a draw though only one performance is jaw dropping bad, Hugh McDermott as a London reporter.  There's a small degree of amusement to be derived from the awfulness of it all though it never quite manages to cross over into camp although Laffan's dominatrix costume is an eye popper. If you've an appetite for kitschy 1950s sci-fi, this should be right up your alley. For everyone else, I suspect it's rather dull. Also in the cast: Hazel Court, Adrienne Corri, Peter Reynolds and Joseph Tomelty.