Insel der unberührten Frauen

"Untamed Women" was a long forgotten United Artists release from 1952, its star Mikel Conrad having previously directed and starred in 1949's equally obscure "The Flying Saucer," which never suggests that its saucer comes from outer space. Director W. Merle Connell stayed on the fringes of Hollywood, usually as an editor, though among the films he photographed were John Carradine's "The Unearthly" and Phil Tucker's "The Cape Canaveral Monster." This was the last feature for screenwriter George Wallace Sayre, whose prior credits include the 1939 Boris Karloff vehicle "The Man They Could Not Hang," John Carradine's 1944 "Alaska" at Monogram, and the studio's 1945 Charlie Chan entry "The Shanghai Cobra." The late 40s and early 50s saw a rather large number of low grade 'Lost World' efforts like "Unknown World," "Two Lost Worlds," "Lost Continent," "The Jungle," and "Captive Women," all utilizing the same stock footage of lizards posing as dinosaurs from Hal Roach's 1940 "One Million B.C." "Untamed Women" is told in flashback by the only survivor of a WW2 bomber crew of four whose plane went down in the Pacific, drifting for days before reaching an island inhabited by scantily clad cave women, their first thought to capture the 'hairy men' who have a history of killing. Once the quartet prove to be friends, the girls fall all over each other to claim one as a mate, despite the protestations of high priestess Sandra (Doris Merrick). The boys survive attacks from a man eating plant and a single roaming dinosaur before a large number of cavemen appear to claim their brides (reliable Bronson Canyon again), most of their ammunition used to repel them. The entire pointless exercise concludes with a volcanic eruption that claims all the lives on the island, save the one man who overcomes his amnesia to tell the impossible tale. Lyle Talbot is the one familiar face, as the doctor who opens and closes the picture, his best known genre credits opposite Bela Lugosi, "One Body Too Many," "Glen or Glenda," and "Plan 9 from Outer Space." There's always camp value in seeing perfectly coiffed models trying to pass themselves off as prehistoric women, their tribal dances offering additional eye candy, and there is some attempt to meld live actors with stock footage but it's really a lost cause, these Untamed Women all looking quite docile to this viewer.

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?"

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.

Silly sexploitation offering concerning the Druids descendants whereof had relocated to South Pacific's island from Europe, turns out at WWII some aircraft crash survivors reached in this time-capsule spot of Jurassic era, firstly they get in touch with some kind of Amazons living for some years without any men around, the small US' crew members getting exiting times with so gorgeous girls, looks like a paradise.

Not so fast the woman leader forbidden any relationship with those men, including put them into a cave to aiming for any physical contact, it ends up useless of course due the human nature, they were spelled from there to be back at ocean, in the journey the astonished US's soldiers have to fighting for their own life against prehistoric monsters as lizards and even a giant armadillo for instance, not too bad as some reviewers implied in their comments.

Thanks for reading.

Resume:

First watch: 2024 / How many: 1 / Source: Youtube / Rating: 5.

During WWII, the survivors of a successful, but ill-fated bombing mission wind up on an uncharted island. They're soon taken captive by the feral females of the title. Much tribal dancing ensues.

UNTAMED WOMEN is just about as absurd as any movie of its type could possibly be. For their part, the male soldiers spend a lot of their time trapped in a cave. That, or being hounded by "prehistoric monsters" (lizards and armadillos with rubber horns and / or fins glued onto their backs). None of which is very exciting. Luckily, our heroes are equipped with those pistols that never run out of bullets. They also have deep discussions about their lives. None of which is very interesting.

Just wait until the secret of the women's origin is revealed! The introduction of the "hairy men" adds to the hilarity!

So, pop the corn and intoxicate some friends. Schlock of this caliber is rare indeed...