Ship of Monsters
Entry updated 26 September 2022. Tagged: Film.
Mexican film (1960); original title La Nave de los Monstruos. Producciones Sotomayor. Directed by Rogelio A González. Written by José María Fernández Unsáin and Alfredo Varela, Jr. Cast includes Eulalio González, Ana Bertha Lepe and Lorena Velázquez. 81 minutes. Black and white.
Because all their men have died from atomic radiation, the women of Venus organize an expedition to kidnap the most perfect males from other planets for breeding purposes (see Exogamy; Life on Other Worlds): the commander, Gamma (Lepe), promises to "bring the most beautiful male specimens to Venus". Beta (Velázquez), "foreigner to Venus, daughter of Ur, planet of shadows", will be her companion and navigator. They depart, roaming the galaxy and kidnapping specimens; but their Spaceship develops a fault and they have to land on Earth. During their travels they have commandeered Torr, a Robot from "Palis, the dead planet" (its fate due to atomic War), who explains his civilization had studied Earth and deemed it unworthy of exploring – its inhabitants are intelligent, but "They do not know what they want and seem to enjoy destroying each other." Whilst the robot repairs the ship, Gamma and Beta look around, meeting Laureano Gomez (González), a romantic singing cowboy and teller of tall tales: he explains they are in Chihuahua, Mexico.
The kidnapped Alien males were frozen (see Cryonics) whilst the ship approached Earth; in appearance they are Monsters, though one is also a Prince of Mars. Gamma unfreezes them to explain the delay: when they demand to be returned to their home planets, she apologizes: "You are Venus's guests, I'm sorry." They attack her but are promptly re-frozen. Laureano tells Gamma and Beta they can stay on his farm, enquiring, "Are you single, married, what? Don't tell me you swing the other way?" Finding Gamma, Beta and Torr know nothing of love or marriage, he explains these concepts through song (see Music); he has a jukebox to accompany him. Beta announces she wants Laureano for herself, Gamma points out it should be his choice. There is mutual attraction between her and Laureano, but she is torn by her loyalty to her people. Torr fancies the jukebox.
Beta is revealed to be a Vampire who has drained a local farmer: though Gamma begs for clemency, Venusian law demands she should be disintegrated. However Beta overpowers Gamma and steals her control belt, then frees the captive aliens, persuading them to join her in enslaving the Earth (see Invasion) – which she wants for her blood-sucking species, the Uranites. The monsters leave the spaceship: one devours Laureano's beloved cow, whilst he tries to warn the town – but his reputation as a fantasist means he is not believed. Torr Teleports him back to the spaceship, where Beta explains she desires him: pretending to be won over he steals her control belt and returns it to Gamma. Together Laureano and Torr fight and defeat the monsters, whilst Beta ends up impaled through the heart by a tree branch. Gamma stays on Earth with Laureano, telling her leader that Venus should solve its own problems and leave Earth alone. Torr departs in the spaceship, accompanied by the jukebox (which seems to be sentient).
Despite being a mish-mash of several genres – a science fiction comedy western Horror musical – Ship of Monsters is a likeable film. The plot is deliberately silly, Parodying sf B-movies. Having alien females seek human males is an amusing reversal of the usual Cliché – whose earliest appearance in film is probably When the Man in the Moon Seeks a Wife (1908) (see Percy Stow). Though the special effects budget is small and most of the hardware cheap-looking, the monsters' appearances are reasonably gruesome; they have also been given distinct personalities. The character of Laureano could easily have been grating, but González manages to imbue him with charm (he is not the first singing cowboy in sf; that honour probably rests with Gene Autry in The Phantom Empire [1935]). Though spending most of the film in swimsuits, Gamma and Beta are shown to be fully competent (if easily distracted by singing cowboys), with Velázquez giving a suitably wicked performance, particularly when flirting with the Prince of Mars. [SP]
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