Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women

In 1965 Roger Corman produced Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet, and in 1967 he produced (uncredited) Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (VPPW). But the similarities do not end there. Both films are essentially recycles of Planeta Burg, a great Soviet sci fi adventure from the 1950s. Most of the footage from both films - and ALL of the coherent and interesting footage - comes from the original Soviet film.

VPPW is Peter Bogdanovich's first directorial effort, and unlike some of his later films, it's entirely disposable.

It is not the first, nor the last, time that an American director essentially plagiarized a good foreign film, but it is among one of the worst examples of Ameicanization I have ever seen. Even compared to what was done to Gojira, La Femme Nikita, Wings of Desire and Open Your Eyes, this is close to an all-time low.

Like the previous Voyage to a Prehistoric planet, but less seamlessly, Bogdanovich simply took a little new footage and added it to the original film. The story is essentially an adventure set on the planet Venus, where two cosmonauts and a robot await rescue, and follows the cosmonauts and their rescue team through a series of harrowing adventures involving giant carnivorous plants, lizard men, and geological hazards. Planeta Burg also introduced a little mystery by showing some evidence that Venus may once have been inhabited by an intelligent species capable of producing works of art.

The most interesting aspect of Bogdanovich's retelling of this story is his exploration of this mystery. It seems that the last remnants of Venusian civilization are scantily clad telepathic women who worship, among other things, a Pteradactyl which their earthling visitors have murdered. These women have apparently figured out how to reproduce without men, and to produce cotton pants and hats for themselves out of Venus' barren wastelands, but are otherwise quite primitive. Remarkably, despite the fact that there do not appear to be any Venusian men, the gods the women worship are referred to as "him". You get the picture, yes?

The basic idea of examining the Venusian perspective on the events depicted in Planeta Burg was a good one. But this was, apparently, the only good idea involved in the design of this film.

This film is worth seeing if you ever felt compelled to see Mamie van Doren chewing on a freshly caught raw fish, or if you are a fan of Planeta Burg and just have to see how it has been butchered in this final act of cinematic violence. Otherwise, I can't recommend it.

The special effects are way below the quality of those which appear in the 1950s film, the added content is poorly acted, badly edited, and adds very little to the film.

Probably one of the more haunting experiences and viewings as a child I remember because often it was aired at alternative times by it's previous venture, "Voyage to a Prehistoric Planet". I remember feeling confused as to the differences, but by far, "Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women" presents the better use of the original Russian footage. The closing scenes with the women surrounding their "new god" the lava-destroyed robot, "John", are simply eerie in contrast to the previous scenes from the 1962 Russian film. The voice-over dialog by Mamie Van Doren, while "hokey" in parts, sets the mood perfectly. To appreciate this film for what it is, one needs simply to view it ALONE...in the quiet dead of night. It gets under your skin and stays there. One of the more noteworthy and curious (in my opinion), albeit "lessor known" of Corman's "cut and paste" classics.

I saw this movie as a kid, around 1972 or so, and spent years trying to see it again. Yes, I know, I need a life. I finally found it on DVD in one of those 50 sci-fi movies for $20. The movie itself is pretty bad, but if one enjoys 'bad' sci-fi, then this one is perfect. I still can't figure out how they got their 'space-car' to float around like it did. It looked pretty real, as did a Brontosaurus, but the Pterydactyl looked very cheesy, like it was made by a bunch of 7th graders. Anyway, I watched "Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet", then I watched "Voyage to the Planet of the Prehistoric Women" back to back. There must have been a gun to my head, I know. The movies use the exact same dubbed Russian "Planet of Storms" footage, but each movie spliced in their own additional footage, and the results produce 2 similar, but different story lines. "Prehistoric Planet" has Basil Rathbone in separate footage, as well as Faith Domergue in her own footage-they are in different space stations.....making for a clumsy (but enjoyable) plot involving rescuing the men on Venus. The robot seems to have a bigger role in this movie, although it is used to some effect in the other. "Prehistoric Women" has Peter Bogdanovich's voice-over narration, and the spliced-in women in clam shell bathing suits (Mamie Van Doren is the leader), who communicate telepathically. I found this one to be much more interesting of the two. The Earth men and Venus women seemed destined to meet each other, they look for each other most of the movie, but alas because it is separate footage, they never do! A somewhat surprise ending makes the movie that more interesting. I do have to comment on the eerie female singing/crying throughout the movies, made it pretty haunting. Also, some of the noises coming from the console of the space-ships sounds exactly like those heard on the original Star Trek TV show. Well, I probably spent more time talking about this movie than the production crew who actually shot the movie!

You really can't appreciate Planet of Prehistoric Women (PoPW) if you don't know its roots. As you will have read in other reviews, much of PoPW is made out recycled footage from Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet (VPP). VPP itself is the English dubbed version of the 1962 Soviet film "Planeta Bur" (Planet of Storms). I managed to get copies of all three and watch them in chronological order. As a fan of 50s and 60s sci-fi, it was a great experience.

A foundational "fact" which many overlook is that a very early theory about the solar system presumed that it formed from the outside in. The further planets were older in their "evolution" than the inner ones. Hence, Mars is often depicted as an older "dying" world, with an ancient civilization which seeks escape (usually to earth). Venus, in that vein of thinking, was younger than earth, less developed. Hence the idea that you'd find dinosaurs, volcanoes and primitive beings (the lizard men, not the blonds). The woman were theorized to be the feral remnant of failed colony of an advanced people who came to Venus from "out there..."

First off, the primary donor film, Planeta Bur (I had an English subtitled version) is much more of a "A" grade sci-fi film. Given that it was produced in 1962, it was a pretty strong effort. Much more akin to Forbidden Planet than Plan 9. The sets and effects are a huge step up from the B-grade stuff of the late 50s, early 60s. The rocket interiors, the seriously industrial robot, and the very cool flying car, were not low budget products.

Since the premise of PoPW is that it's a flash back, reuse of the Planeta Bur (PB) footage works. In fact, the premise of PoPW is that it's a sort of parallel story to that of PB (and by extension, VPP). In PB the cosmonauts only hear the mysterious female voice singing -- except for the little sculpture of a woman's face that Alexes finds at the last. PoPW explores that other side of the story.

Interspersed with the original PB footage (still using its English dubbing via VPP version), are new clips of the women we never see in PB. Now, I grant you they're an obvious sop to the teenage boy movie goer. They're all 20-something beautiful blonds. But, look past that. They represent the remnant of the lost civilization which the cosmonauts in PB hypothesized about. The blonds eating raw fish and worshiping a pterodactyl statue peg them as primitives -- even if remarkably well groomed.

The women in PoPW are cast as the cause of some of the cosmonaut's disaster situations: the volcano, the flash flood, which were unexplained in PB.

What continues to be left unexplored is the source of the mysterious singing voice. In PB and the English remake VPP, the mystery voice saves the cosmonauts, giving warning cries to bring rescue from the tentacle plant, etc. The women in PoPW are cast as agents of mischief, so are not that protectress (who is seen at the end of PB reflected in a rocky pool).

A curious feature of PoPW is that it splices in even more footage from yet another Soviet sci- fi film than VPP did. The rockets are completely different, but clearly still Soviet. The big red star on the tail fin is hard to miss. I've not located this other old film, but it looks cool too.

Some details within PoPW make it interesting. One is "Marsha". In PB, there was a female cosmonaut named Masha. She stayed in orbit and was the love interest of the square faced cosmonaut. Hers was a minor foil role. In VPP, she was replaced altogether (not simply dubbed) with new footage of Faith Domergue acting out the exact same role. Faith's name, along with Basil Rathbone's, had more marquee power. However, in PoPW, even Faith's footage is dropped. Instead, we're told (only once) that "Marsha" is a nickname for mission control. This is to explain the cosmonauts often calling to "Marsha" for information, etc. A bit lame.

One scene in PoPW makes no sense w/o knowledge of the prior films. When the cosmonauts think they've lost contact with earth, the square-faced cosmonaut cries out mournfully, "Marsha, dearest Marsha..." Obviously a bizarre response for not hearing from mission control, but not if you've seen PB. Just a little of the original leaking through.

Watch PoPW with an open mind. If you can, watch PB first, then VPP, then PoPW. Yes, it's a low-budget movie that (like many B-films) used prior footage to pad itself out. Here, however, instead of stock military footage, Corman used obscure Soviet A film footage. That keeps PoPW above the truly banal B films of the 60s.

This film is so awful it's brilliant.

The film is actually a re-edit of a Soviet science fiction film with extra footage of young American girls. Very low budget. The two sets of actors never actually meet.

All the voices are dubbed on afterwards. This covers up the fact that the astronauts are speaking Russian. The "Prehistoric women" communicate through thought waves, so none of them have to talk and act at the same time! I watched this on Sumo TV in the UK. The version I saw still had all the cinema adds spliced in. The adverts for ice cream, popcorn and hot chocolate were still there. There was also an advert for CocaCola.

The whole thing looks like someone had filmed the thing from the stalls on an old Cine camera. Picture blurred and fuzzy, colour almost bleached away.

Unfortunately none of the US actors ever went on to do anything of any significance. The leading lady, Mamie Van Doren, seems to have built her reputation around being a former Hollywood starlet who was supposed to be the next Marylin Monroe and spent five years dating Howard Hughes, from the age of 15! Directed by Peter Bogdanovich (Famous director and also Dr. Elliot Kupferberg in The Sopranos TV series)

Any prospective actor/producer/director should see some of this.