Untamed Women (1952)

This film begins with an Army pilot named "Captain Steve Holloway" (Mikel Conrad) undergoing treatment in a hospital after suffering from a head injury which has affected his memory. As it so happens his bomber was hit by Japanese flak and he and his crew were subsequently forced to ditch the plane somewhere in the Pacific. After drifting in a life raft for 8 days they finally come upon an uncharted island where they are taken prisoner by a small party of native women back to their camp. At first the high priestess named "Sandra" (Doris Merrick) wants to have them killed. However, after much dancing and deliberation the rest of the women convince her to have the men mate with them instead. Unfortunately, this idea doesn't appeal to Sandra who unties them and forces them into the wilderness where they encounter all sorts of dangerous prehistoric animals and flesh-eating plants—and it's then that things become even more hazardous for everyone concerned. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a rather low-quality B-movie from the 50's which suffered from substandard acting and an even worse script. Likewise, although the special effects weren't that bad for this particular time-period, it should be noted that much of it was acquired directly from a previous film "One Million B.C." which diminishes my regard for the imagination and talent of those involved in producing it even more in my view. That said, I don't consider this to be a very good film and I have rated it accordingly. Below average.

There's something rotten in the South Pacific, and it ain't Bloody Mary's teeth. One of the truly laughable movies of the 1950's yet not worth a cult following, this is truly a stinker. Man-hating women imprison fighters in World War II stranded on Druid Island, lost from.civilization for millennium yet complete with modern hairstyles and an uncanny ability to reproduce more women without a man around, at least one that lived to tell about it. Stock footage from One Million Years B.C. adds pre-historic creatures that are obviously enlarged mammals you'd see on a zoo, skewed to look creepy. These creatures give better performances than any of the human actors who were obviously reading cue cards. Actually, the male actors are reading the lines more realistically while the females are very one note in how they recite their lines. The explanation of how the women decide to free the men is pretty lame, although the leader of the Druids seems to know the dangers they might face. When one of the men is attacked by a supposed flesh eating plant, it actually appears to be two newspapers smacked over his face to emulate the obviously phony monster.The giant Jaramillo monster is perhaps the silliest looking of the critters, while what is supposed to be a dinosaur like critter is nothing more than a harmless gecko. The camera on the newly filmed footage moves at odd speeds at times, giving an impression of intended fast action. Stock footage of the volcano exploding is great, but I wanted to yell at the stupid characters, If the falling rocks don't get you, the lava will! Also laughable are "The hairy men" who look like residents of Dogpatch more than cavemen.If the film makes any point, it is the message that any female rib society will instantly collapse when men appear out of nowhere because no matter what their feminist leaders say, the others will ultimately be controlled by their hormones.

This movie's a variation on the "men-are-stranded-with-lost-civilization-of-sex-starved-women" theme. A WWII bomber is forced down in the ocean, and after paddling their raft for a few days, the surviving men come ashore on the usual uncharted island, which is ruled by a race of women descended from the Druids (!).That's only the beginning of the fun, as the women are constantly pestered by "The Hairy Men", who are a bunch of actors dressed in animal skins and covered by fake hair. A few of the usual shots of lizards from "One Million Years B.C." are thrown in, there are battles with the "Hairy Men", and a volcanic eruption climax predictably ends the movie. The whole implausible story is told by Conrad in flashback to serious doctor Lyle Talbot and a nurse, who find the whole story a bit wild until "evidence" of its veracity is uncovered in the final shot.This movie is entertaining due to its bizarre plot, laughable dialogue, and plentiful action sequences. There's nothing quite like it, to be sure, so watch with an open mind.P.S.: Nomination for the movie's best line: "Ed, stand guard. Shoot anything with hair on it that moves!"

Okay, so it's a notch or two below the works of Orson Welles, but connoisseurs of tacky B-movies from the 1950s will find much to enjoy in this tale of four Air Force men who crash their World War II plane in the South Pacific and who then wind up on an island inhabited by a colony of beautiful women dressed in cavewoman chic. Especially notable is the dialog spoken by these women. Here are my four favorite lines: (1) "Thy lips are parched and dry." (2) "The ways of men are strange to us, O Sandra our priestess and protector." (3) "The strange-tongued one speaketh in riddles." (4) "They be only four and ye be many." There are visual delights as well, such as the footage of nervous-looking lizards crawling around miniature rocks and trees in an attempt to palm themselves off as some kind of dinosaurs. And then there's the exploding volcano in the final reel! However, these charms can't equal those found in "Island of Lost Women" because that movie has a more attractive cast. The females in "Untamed Women," for example, look like runner-up beauty queens from a small high school in Oklahoma, and the men are routine specimens who keep their clothes on. On the other hand, the females in "Island of Lost Women" rank on the va-va-voom scale and the two men are hot-looking hunks who shed their shirts faster than gay strippers at a New Year's Eve party.And finally, would someone explain why a woman from a two-thousand-year-old Druid culture living on an uncharted Pacific island be called "Sandra?"