dozens of sci-fi films seemingly every month in the '50s capitalizing on both the space race and atomic fears, 
other countries were all too eager to throw in their hat as well. In particular, British filmmakers delivered a wide spectrum of offerings ranging from masterpieces like the Quatermass films to beloved overachievers like Fiend without a Face and amusing goofs like Devil Girl from Mars. Definitely belonging to that last category is Fire Maidens of Outer Space (or Fire Maidens from Outer Space if you caught it in American theaters), a memorable contribution to the "space babe" cycle of films about astronauts who land somewhere in space and encounter a society run by model-worthy women. Eventually pushed to the height of absurdity in Nude on the Moon and lampooned in Amazon Women on the Moon, the formula was never really meant to be taken seriously and still provides plenty of amusement in this film today-- especially once the interpretive dancing and classical music kick in.Hestia (Shaw), one of the inhabitants of what they learn is the relocated population of the lost civilization of Atlantis. In fact, all but one of 
the scant survivors are female, and their days are spent fending off a strange creature lurking nearby and holding dance performances. The one male inhabitant, the aged Prasus (Berry), seems to be harmless enough, but there's more to this alien society than meets the eye.
the framing difference doesn't matter much given how rudimentary the compositions are, though most of the wide group shots indicate this was meant to be shown matted and could even be masked off as tightly as 1.85:1 without losing 
much. The DTS-HD MA 2.0 English mono track sounds solid and features optional English SDH subtitles. The reliable team of Jonathan Rigby and Kevin Lyons provide an entertaining and informative audio commentary covering the major players here including American director Cy Roth, the actual filming locations, the film's place in British sci-fi, the pronounced lack of urgency in the proceedings, and the general narrative tropes being adopted here. A second track with Chris Shields and Sarah Fensom takes the Rifftrax approach, delivering a scripted comedy accompaniment that has some funny bits but features pretty rough sound quality (they're recorded low and have the film playing loudly over them). The video essay "One Step Back: Sci-Fi’s Regressive Outliers" (12m6s) by Dr. Sabina Stent looks at where the film falls on the continuum between depictions of women as intelligent professionals and as throwback glamour objects, in particular looking at the contributions of the two stars. "The Fire Maidens: Another Look at the Starlets" (6m29s) by Benjamin Tucker delivers a flood of trivia about all of the actresses playing the aliens, including some surprising background about their day jobs and their overall lives around the time they made the film.VINEGAR SYNDROME (Blu-ray)
OLIVE FILMS (Blu-ray)
