UNTAMED WOMEN (1952)

UNTAMED WOMEN (1952)

Tagline: Prehistoric Monsters! Barbaric Women Raiders - In an Unbelievable World!

(Sci-Fi, A Random Island, Women That Like Dudes With An Ordinary Amount Of Facial Hair) [G]

Note – This movie did not originally have an MPAA rating, but I am pretty sure it would have been a G even with the scantily clad women. 

In this one, the sole survivor of an island being decimated by a volcano is found on a raft. His rescuers listen to his crazy tale about an ancient race of women, dinosaurs, and a battle to the death with loads of dudes that need to stand closer to the razor when they shave. Can this wild tale be true?  

First off, it should be noted that while we do get some cool “lizard dinosaur” footage in this movie. If all of the volcano stuff with the “lizard dinosaurs” feels familiar, that is because it was borrowed from 1940’s ONE MILLION B.C. I am sure the producers didn’t feel bad about it though. They did the same thing for TWO LOST WORLDS which was shot a year earlier. Needless to say, PETA is probably still freaking about any of these movies, because it seems near impossible that at least one real lizard wasn’t hurt or killed. 

If I have one complaint right off the bat for this thing, it’s the title. That title makes you think you are watching some movie about women that can barely speak and want to rip your eyes out. Instead, they are actually pretty civilized and know how to defend themselves. They are actually quite fluent in English as well all of the most modern terms aside. I think this movie should have been called PARADISE OF DOOM or THE LAND OF YESTERDAY or something like that.  

Acting-wise this is actually better than it’s probably getting credit for. Mikel Conrad best known for THE FLYING SAUCER is good in this as Steve Holloway. Like in that movie, the story here revolves mostly around him. Doris Merrick is pretty hardcore as Sandra but she does get a redemption story here which is pretty cool. Doris’s other big sci-fi flick of the 50s was THE NEANDERTHAL MAN. One cool fact about her is that she lived to be 100. It’s always awesome to me when people have a chance to live long and hopefully amazing lives. Midge Ware gets a bit of screen time as one of the other “UNTAMED WOMEN” named Myra. She is probably most famous for the TV show “Gunslinger” but wasn’t involved in any other sci-fi flicks that I can see. Morgan Jones is also solid in this as Andy. Jones is famous for the sci-fi flicks THE GIANT CLAW and FORBIDDEN PLANET. 

I am not going to go crazy here and say this was a good movie. At best it’s just okay, but it’s watchable and just the dialog alone is interesting. There are a lot of assumptions about speech in the writing that make it feel like it wasn’t well researched linguistically, but overall the score and pacing are fine.  The action sequences, bits of drama, and romance make this a bit more fun than I ever expected it to be. 

Overall I can say I would watch this again, but wouldn’t pay to own it unless it came as part of a larger 50’s sci-fi set or something. Fortunately, if you are curious you can stream this for free on a few different streaming services right now. 

This one lands at a 3 out of 7 with the caveat that it’s certainly not terrible, but go in with low expectations and you might have some fun with it.

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF JEWELL ENTERPRISES INC. AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY. 

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