La serpiente del averno

At first glance, "The Saga Of The Viking Women and Their Blah Blah Blah..." looks like it will be a lot of fun. It's an early American-International movie, a studio that even back then pushed for exploitation entertainment in their movies. It's also directed by Roger Corman, whose movies usually prove to be a lot of fun. And the movie starts off being a lot of fun. In the first part of the movie, we get a lot of unintended laughs. The back projection of ocean when the ship is afloat makes it look like the ship is hovering hundreds of feet above the surface, the ship is pretty small yet a stowaway manages to sneak aboard and stay hidden for some time (but later, all of a sudden, he's with the crew, with his exposure never seen.) There's 21th century terms in the dialogue, and the sea serpent effects are laughable. That's the first part. Unfortunately, around the time the viking women wash ashore, the movie quickly turns around and becomes surprisingly boring. It's not campy, just dull. Had the movie kept its focus on the viking women, or the sea serpent for that matter (the movie forgets about the sea serpent after the first appearance until the very end), the movie would probably been a lot more entertaining. At least the movie is short (66 minutes.)

Despite a meager $65,000 budget, and thanks to Corman's skill in making a little money go a long way, the film looks far more expensive than its actual cost. True, despite his co-star status in the movie's title, the serpent figures very little in the film's action, most of the heavy's duties being taken over by the fascinatingly treacherous Richard Devon and the equally charming Susan Cabot (the Wasp Woman herself). Lithe Abby Dalton plays the Viking leader with appropriate girlish gusto, while twisted but surprisingly ungrateful Jay Sayer has his menacing moments as a petulant prince. The story is absolute nonsense from first to last, but Corman keeps the action moving at such a commendably fast clip from go to whoa, a total lack of conviction doesn't really amount to a factor that will upset rabid American-International fans.

I laughed myself silly watching this "epic" about several viking women going to sea to find their men, seemingly lost at sea. The women(all very good looking with their blonde hair flowing over their statuesque shoulders) construct a boat and sail only to be caught up in a whirlpool that sends them near a hideous sea serpent(looking like something bought at a five and ten store) and to the land of the Grimolts...a race of people that have enslaved all the unfortunate beings that land on their territory. The Grimolts are savages, and have enslaved the viking men. From here the film chronicles how the viking women get back with their viking men. As another reviewer stated, this is certainly not up to Roger Corman's standard good work with a small budget. Instead, this is a cheap movie with a ridiculous script, poorly acted leads(must be all that blonde hair going to everyone's head), and some of the most unbelievable costumes, sets, and special effects around. Yet, the film has a certain charm to it and I found myself enjoying it quite a bit. Some of the lines and situations are natural knee-slappers. Just wait till you see the scene at the Grimolt banquet when out of nowhere a pretty girl starts dancing to 50's style music in a sheepskin. The scene of the the fire-burning at the stakes is another belly-roller as the two lead vikings profess their love. Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent is a lot of fun to watch...some of the humour intentional and much of it unintentional.

With a proclamation of "Our Men Beckon" a group of beautiful Viking women cast their fates to the wind and sail out in search for the men of their village who have been gone for over 3 years. As luck would have it though, they sail upon "the great serpent of the vortex" which causes them to become shipwrecked on the land of savage barbarians known as the Grimaults. Anyway, with a storyline like this, and the fact that it was produced and directed by Roger Corman, it should come as little surprise that this has "Grade B" written all over it. But also true to form he manages to make the most of what little he has to work with to present something that is quite campy but yet fairly entertaining in spite of it all. And while it is hard to overlook the bad dialogue and the silly plot, the action is fast paced and the women were definitely attractive. I especially liked "Asmild" (June Kenney) and "Dagda" (Lynette Bernay) but they were all pleasing to the eye. Likewise, while I don't dislike movies in black and white this one would have been much better in color. But then I suppose that would have been quite a bit more expensive back in 1957 and it probably wasn't feasible at the time.

If you don't take it too seriously, you'll enjoy this film that ONLY Roger Corman, or at worst Bert I Gordon, could direct in those times; late fifties. It is totally crazy, daring, incredible, a mix up between historical, monster, and teenage genres. You have to watch it to believe it. It is not a dream, but a true Roger Coman's feature. Not his best, but you can't avoid this one, because in Corman's filmography, this movie is unique. Useless to say that with such a budget, you have to expect something very special. It is fun, never boring, laughable but a bit on purpose. Please watch it, please for Roger Corman's sake.