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SHE-DEVIL (Fox-Regalscope, 1957) is a classic sci-fi B-movie, long overlooked by the media, due to its parent company going under in the early 1960s. It is based on a classic sci-fi story, "The Adaptive Ultimate" by Stanley G. Weinbaum, under the pseudonym "John Jessel", published way back in 1935.

The story was dramatized on the radio program "Escape", March 26, 1949 and later that year on the television program "Studio One" episode called "Kyra Zelas" (the name of the title character) which aired on September 12, 1949. It was dramatized on June 20, 1952 on the television show "Tales of Tomorrow" under the title "The Miraculous Serum" (Season 1, Episode 38), and again on December 3, 1955 on the classic ZIV-TV television series "Science Fiction Theatre" under the title "Beyond Return", starring Zachary Scott and Joan Vohs, with the story credited to John Jessel. It was then adapted for the big screen as SHE-DEVIL. And what a movie it is! One of the best sci-fi B-movies of the 1950s.

The problem for today's DVD video market with titles like this, is this was a Fox Regalscope picture, made by a company that went out of business 50 years ago in 1961. Fox was only contractually involved as the distributor, and Regalscope was the trademark name of movies made in the Wide Screen CinemaScope process by Regal Films Inc. from 1956 to 1961, with copyright permission given to Fox and Regal by Bausch & Lomb, manufacturers of the trademark anamorphic CinemaScope lenses. All Regalscope titles were made as low-budget B-pictures, and most were in black & white, which was unusual, to see a wide-screen movie made in black & white. (Probably the best CinemaScope black & white picture ever made was Darryl F. Zanuck's excellent WW2 drama THE LONGEST DAY (Fox, 1962).

This film is a standout from the usual dreck made by Regal Films, owned by producer Robert L. Lippert, who also had his own studio, Lippert Pictures.
Originally released on a double-feature bill with KRONOS (Fox Regalscope, 1957), another classic sci-fi B-movie, in the summer of 1957, which I saw on their first release then as a 10-year-old boy.

There are no current owners of these films, and they may be in public domain now, as far as I know. Only two that I know of, KRONOS, and COPPER SKY, are under current copyright. KRONOS is owned by Wade Williams III, purchased from Fox in 1980, and COPPER SKY was purchased by Fox for their library catalog. There may be other titles owned by Fox or current studios or producers which I do not know of. This was unfortunate for the large pool of talented actors and filmmakers and production people who starred in, appeared, and worked in these movies, because once the company was out of business, the only way these films were ever shown again was on television, and they did not receive any further royalties from their performances, and for all legal intents, were simply paid once as "work for hire" upon the films' initial release, by contract, and received no compensation after 1961 when the studio folded.

Shop the internet for this title on DVD, that's where I found my copy. The best master, from 35mm, is the one with the original movie poster art on the cover. Don't buy any of the others!

Dejael