Untamed Women
Entry updated 4 April 2017. Tagged: Film.
Film (1952). Jewell Enterprises, Inc/United Artists. Produced by Richard Kay. Directed by W Merle Connell. Written by George Wallace Sayre. Cast includes Mikel Conrad, Doris Merrick and Lyle Talbot. 70 minutes. Black and white.
During World War Two, US Air Force Officer Steven Holloway (Conrad) is found drifting on a raft in the Pacific ocean, in a weakened condition. In hospital Holloway is injected with a truth Drug by Air Force Dr Colonel Loring (Talbot), and gives an account of his bomber being shot down after a battle with a Japanese destroyer which left only himself and three companions alive. After drifting for several days they reach an Island inhabited by Sandra (Merrick) and a few female companions, last survivors of the Druids whose ancestors had arrived in ancient times after the Roman invasion of England. Sandra and her friends are under constant attack by the "Hairy Men", a tribe of apparent Neanderthals who have killed off her people's males and want to abduct the women as mates. Holloway and his friends help them battle the cavemen, as well as Dinosaurs, and other dangerous creatures on the island. A giant carnivorous plant briefly threatens one of the Air Force men. Finally the volcano erupts, wiping out the Druid women, the Neanderthals, and Holloway's friends, leaving him as the only survivor. Despite the truth serum, Colonel Loring doubts the veracity of the tale until Holloway produces a small gift given to him by Sandra.
Untamed Women is a mediocre example of Lost World genre Cinema; the dinosaurs are stock footage from One Million B.C. (1940), and other scenes including the volcanic eruption also appear to be stock footage from unidentified sources. Conrad had previously starred in The Flying Saucer (1950). [GSt]
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