SHIP OF MONSTERS (1960)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *comedy*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTIONS: *cosmological*

Though there are a lot of rather silly Mexican comedies that appeared in the 1960s, SHIP OF MONSTERS is the stupidest one I've yet encountered.

SHIP follows the general trope of "female aliens seeking human mates." Opening scenes on Venus quickly establish that all males on the planet have died of radiation poisoning, so the Venusian ruler orders native Venusian Gamma (Ana Bertha Lepe) to go find more men to keep the race alive. Gamma takes off in her private rocket, accompanied by Tor, a giant robot swiped from another planet, and Beta (Lorena Velasquez). The introductory scene includes the curious detail that Beta, despite her name, is not a Venusian, but a native of a planet called Ur. I thought this might just be an irrelevant detail thrown in by a scriptwriter unfamiliar with science fiction concepts, but it turns out that Beta's different background actually serves a purpose in the narrative. That's about the last time anything coherent takes place, though.

The intro scene is followed by the usual opening roll of credits. However, when the movie picks up, the two emissaries have completed their mission, having collected five separate species of ET with whom the Venusian women are supposedly going to start a new race. However, there's a malfunction of the ship's engines, and it also affects one of the containment units holding a possible suitor. Beta almost immediately returns the captive to captivity, but he's seen just long enough for the audience to see that he's an ugly BEM. Later, we'll see the other four, who are all ugly BEMs. Clearly the scripters just thought it would be funny to have a couple of hot chick-aliens pick up a bunch of grisly ghouls for their race's prospective fathers, even though it's impossible to imagine any of said ghouls being genetically compatible with the Venusian babes.

In any case, the ship needs to land for repairs, and guess what planet they land on. They also happen to land in the Mexican countryside, near a mid-size city named Chihuahua, though all the action remains in the rural areas. The ladies reconnoiter while their robot works on the ship, and they come across a moderately handsome guy, Lauriano (Mexican comic Piporro). He flatters the alien babes, and every once in a while they paralyze him, completely without his knowledge, while they discuss his peculiar Earth lingo. Then they return to the ship.

Lauriano returns to his small ranch where he lives with his small brother. It's established at a cantina scene that other local ranchers think Lauriano is a born liar, and one would think this was a setup for the usual "boy who cried wolf" scenario, though the script does nothing with it. The girls then seek out Lauriano at his ranch, and he flirts with both. However, Gamma is a modest girl, while Beta is a "bad girl," fervently kissing Lauriano and putting him off his game.

Though Gamma expresses ambivalence, Beta likes the idea of sex with male Earthlings-- and then we learn the reason she's of a different species. Beta can transform into a bat-winged humanoid vampire, capable of sucking blood from humans. She decides to release the other aliens in order to subdue the whole human race-- though as I said, the action never leaves the Mexican countryside.

After a lot of silly antics, Lauriano pledges his love to Gamma and they manage to thwart Beta's evil plans. There's no significant combat to speak of, and Beta even manages to off herself in a spectacularly clumsy manner. This lame comedy's only asset is the glamour-appeal of Lorena Velasquez, for both Piporro and Lepe are dull performers at best. After watching this pokey puppy, I started wanting some comparatively deep SF-entertainment, like, say, ABBOTT AND COSTELLO GO TO MARS.