Customer Reviews

Voyage to the Planet of the Prehistoric Women

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

You gotta hand it to American International Pictures and Roger Corman. In the mid 60s, Roger purchased a Russian sci-fi flick called "Planeta Burg" for a song and some Vodka, and footage from it was used for what turned out to be VOYAGE TO THE PREHISTORIC PLANET in 1965. That film added actors Basil Rathbone (in one of his final roles) and Faith (THIS ISLAND EARTH) Domergue. Directed by Curtis Harrington (under the pseudonym "John Sebastian"), it's a clumsy melange of veteran actors on cardboard sets trying to interact with a more impressively produced import.

Milking the bone dry, footage from this Soviet space saga was also transformed into something called VOYAGE TO THE PLANET OF PREHISTORIC WOMEN. Directed by Peter Bogdanovich (only a few years shy from his Oscar-nodded THE LAST PICTURE SHOW) under the name Derek Thomas, this patchwork was even more mind-numbing (but somehow more entertaining), and like its predecessor, sold straight to television. Bogdanovich also narrates the proceedings (with proper screen credit given) as one of the film's cosmonauts.

The plot has a group of male cosmonauts landing on a planet (Venus) searching for lost comrades. They encounter men in rubber dinosaur suits, a giant plant with vicious vines, and pterodactyl that looks like the cousin of THE GIANT CLAW. The new American footage features 50s blonde bombshell Mamie Van Doren and other actresses in blonde wigs as a tribe if women who lie around the seaside rocks. Sporting clamshell bras and gray paint around their wastes, they communicate through telepathy and worship the dead pterodactyl who is also represented as a rock sculpture.

The original Russian footage (dubbed into English) is superior, with dazzling sets and costumes, and great outdoor and cavern locations that give it a surreal fantasy look. They have an intimidating robot that looks like "Robbie" on steroids, and a cool land rover to get around. Some Toho-like miniatures are also on hand. The Bogdonavich-lensed stuff is much campier to say the least, with Mamie and the babes looking pretty and biting into rubber fishes filled with fake blood. Besides Van Doren, all the other girls are unknown except for Margot Hartman, wife of producer/director Del Tenney who was also in some of his films (CURSE OF THE LIVING CORPSE, PSYCHOMANIA).

Retromedia has presented VOYAGE TO THE PLANET OF PREHISTORIC WOMEN on DVD in a non-Anamorphic transfer that looks to be letterboxed at 1.66:1. Colors are pretty nice--the colors in the original Russian footage look muted to begin with, so the American footage fares much better in appearance. There are some nicks and scratches in the print source, and the picture jumps a bit in spots, but the transfer is satisfying overall. Audio is clear and free of any noticeable defects.

Extras include "Being Mamie," a new video interview with Mamie Van Doren that lasts over 20 minutes. At 71, Mamie is as sassy as ever, and the interview talks about most of the films she has acted in. There are some funny stories and interesting anecdotes told (apparently she was not crazy about Bogdonavich), so this disc is a must for her fans. Also included is a full reproduction of a Russian photo novel for the original film, as well as a brief still gallery. There are also some very sarcastically amusing liner notes by Thorn Sherman on the back cover. According to Retromedia, Bogdonavich declined an offer to do a commentary track.

Now I like theatrical cheese as much as the next person, but this is a moldy piece of stinky gouda. This film is essentially a bunch of often-seen stock footage (most of which came from behind the Iron Curtain) shown in glorious sepia and white. The box says the film is in color, but the reality is generally otherwise. This is a real chore to get through even for devoted fans of bad movies.

The plot, as much of it as there is, concerns three groups of voyagers to Venus, who find giant man-eating flowers, pterodactyl-like flying things (the earlier reviewer was spot on in his comparison to "The Giant Claw," which is, tragically, a much better movie), and the most ridiculous six foot tall tyrannosaurus creatures wrestling around in mud with astronauts (and a robot). About 35 minutes into the movie we finally see the women, headed up by Mamie Van Doren, who generally sing like Sirens, and incant for volcanic eruptions to thwart the intruding astronauts. The astronauts have particularly silly and incongruous equipment, especially their atomic powered flying car (that also doubles as a submarine), and are dubbed into English with some of the worst dialogue in film history.

The whole mess is narrated in flashback by one of the astronauts who, of course, is in love with a woman on Venus, and pines for her in a plot reminiscent of "Nude on the Moon," which, even more tragically, is also a better movie than this.

For mind-numbing bad film exposure this is tough to beat, but I still give it two stars for the audacious compilation of film from so many sources into a finished work that almost makes sense. Watch it at your own risk, because only the strong survive.

Alright, this movie started out as a straight-forward sci-fi epic about the first ship on venus. Filmed in eastern europe (I've heard it was made in hungary, poland, czechaslovachia, and / or russia; take your pick) in 1963 or so, Roger Corman got a hold of it, brought it to america, and "fixed" the film for american audiences. Some "dull" scenes were removed and scenes with Faith Demergue (floating in a spacestation) and Basil Rathbone (at a moonbase) were added. Both performers seem as bored as they are boring. This "new" movie was called VOYAGE TO THE PREHISTORIC PLANET. Next, in about 1967, Corman removed the Demergue / Rathbone scenes, turned over the camera to Derek Thomas (aka: a young Peter Bogdanovich), and inserted Mamie Van Doran and a host of scantilly-clad uber babes. Thus, the confoundingly confusing mess, VOYAGE TO THE PLANET OF PREHISTORIC WOMEN was born! Instead of a venusian adventure, it's a playboy bunny sunbathing contest, with a few astronauts and a robot running around! Unfortunately, there's a load of unnecessary narration in this one that's only slightly less painful than swallowing a porcupine. I'm not really complaining. I mean, I enjoy this type of hyper-schlock. If you like babes in seashell bras (and who doesn't), then this one's for you...

In 1965 Roger Corman and a small gang of others took a Soviet movie, added some scenes with Basil Rathbone and Faith Domergue, and created a reasonably serviceable science fiction movie titled "Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet." There were some strange moments and a few funny moments, but the movie was a reasonably campy, low-budget science fiction film. Apparently someone (Corman perhaps) decided the movie was insufficiently schlocky and gave it one more shot.

In the original movie we see two groups of men wandering around Venus. The first group crashed and is trying to get rescued. The second group of men is trying to find the first group of men. As both groups wander around they encounter a cheesy looking reptilian bird, a deluge, and an erupting volcano. In this movie Corman provides an explanation for these happenings; an explanation that probably would have been better left unexplained.

It turns out that there were a bunch of blond Barbie clones wandering the planet with telepathic powers and excessive chest development. These women, who spend a lot of time lying around with 60s-looking pants and shell tops, walk around acting like a coven of witches with too much makeup, false eyelashes, and too little in the way of prehistoric attributes. Their hair is, of course, perfectly styled, in spite of the fact that they spend a lot of time in the sea. Mamie Van Doren, one of the three M's of the 50s and 60s (Jayne Mansfield and Marilyn Monroe included), is the leader of the Venusian blonde babes, who include a cluster of women who may have been so embarrassed by this movie that most of them never appeared in a film again.

The movie switches between the men and the women, who (a rare-for me-plot spoiler here!) never meet each other. The women perform some mumbo-jumbo ritual, and some catastrophe hits the men. I was wondering in "Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet" why all these things happened right at the particular moment.

This movie was completely unnecessary. If "Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet" was unbelievable, this movie is pure fantasy. I am sure director Peter Bogdanovich looks back on his first feature(?) film with some fondness as well as with some embarrassment. If you buy this turkey be sure you have your sense of humor handy.

This movie was also titled "The Gill Women" and "The Gill Women of Venus," though gills were never evident to my disbelieving eyes. Now you have three movie titles to avoid. Let's hope no one ever gets the idea to remake this thing.

In VOYAGE TO THE PLANET OF PREHISTORIC WOMEN, director Peter Bogdanovich angled his camera to show Mamie Van Doren's buxum best as the leader of a Venusian woman cult of flying reptile worshippers. The plot is nonsense of course. A rocket from Earth arrives on Venus to explore. Many of the shots were stock footage of an earlier Soviet film, but in Bogdanovich's early hands, one does not see an iota of the genius that he would later show. The women are mostly blonde busty beauties who communicate telepathically. When they realize that their pterodactyl god is less powerful than a Robby the Robot type from earth, they gladly switch allegiance. This film takes itself too seriously for viewers to see any traces of camp. The sight of Miss Van Doren in sea shell bras and hip hugging capris palls pretty quickly. Pass on this one.

Its easy to understand why people dont like classic older movies,
no budget, bad acting, black and white...but for those who have
seen this movie and others 20 to 40 years ago, these movies were
gold, cheap yes, but they stirred the imagination of many, and better movies came out later. Even if this movie is almost a duplicate of the first voyage to a prehistoric planet, i still watched both with delight. The story, the monster, the robot and
greatest of all the weird atmospheric music.
I still love the stuff, too bad only so much got made.

One of my goals in life is to watch every piece of cinematic schlock from the twenty years before my birth...roughly 1959 to 1979. It's more realistic than breaking Wilt the Stilt's record (no, silly, not the 100 points...) or dropping acid and running around the State Department scaring foreign diplomats. I doubt I'll ever even have a panda bear as a pet. So I figure this one's my best shot, have at it. This particular film is a recut version of "Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet", itself a recut and dubbed version of a Russian flick called "Storm Planet". Now, "Storm Planet" or "Planeta Bur" is supposed to be good, but I can't say for sure, never having seen it. What Bogdonavich does here is the old Roger Corman trick of using a narrator (himself in this case) to make sense of, well, a story with holes big enough to drive a convoy of Hummers through. Basically, two cosmonauts and a robot crash on Venus. A second group of three cosmonauts is deployed to rescue them. Venus, it seems, is similar to prehistoric Earth, with dinosaurs and men in rubber lizard suits. Oh, and telepathic mer-woman in bellbottoms who worship a rubber pterodactyl that looks to have been bought at Family Dollar. Problems arise when the cosmonauts kill said dollar store rubber pterodactyl vis a vis the fact that said Venusian mer women worship him. Not to worry, soon they find a new idol...the robot, who is junked by volcanic lava. You a witty person, with witty friends, who likes to drink? Really? Me too. You may just enjoy this film with company then. Might I suggest the Tree Line Sci-Fi 50 film pack, which contains both "Voyage" films, instead of blowing a third of the price on just one movie? Yes indeedy.

Yes, I spent 10 bucks on this spoof after reading reviews and should say cover art looks good, everything else way below one star. the movie starts from lecture--did i pay money for a lecture or for movie? then, when their fake ship is on unknown location sea waves start rolling for kinda 20 minutes or so, and i have impression big chunks of film are missing. colors are appropriate for 1845 not later and as our cosmonauts struggling with nature some good looking chicks relaxing on friendly beach and once in a while catch fish and eat it raw. Fantastic!

It's one of the best BAD movies that I've seen for quite a while. I wonder what its director, Peter Bogdonivitch, thinks of this film. And I wonder WHY he made this film. The acting is dreadful, the costumes are awful and the flying 'thing' is a rubbery mess. To top it off, the story plot makes no sense.

All in all, a good time for the aficionado of truly bad films!

Although primitive and low-budget by modern standards, VTTPOPW is worth a watch, especially for fans of this sort of cinema.

This film was originally a 1962 Soviet release that was bought by a U.S. producer and then given to apprentice auteur Peter Bogdonavich to pad and repackage for U.S. consumption. As such, it is much less awkward a film than one would expect. There is continuity in the overall sound quality, in certain sonic elements, and in the element of water that smooths over the schisms, and for some inexplicable reason there is a certain otherworldly mood that prevails.

The cool science fiction elements such as the robot and the hovercar come exclusively from the Soviet film, and are generally more impressive than the kind of stuff you would have seen in a 1962 U.S. scifi film. The original film also establishes Venus as a moody, damp, cloudy place, and provides the original 'singing' background track.

The blond bombshells were added by the U.S. director, and although they should be silly, nonetheless seem to be plausible, mysterious and telepathic, just beyond the detection of the cosmonauts, with their hotpants and bare midriffs.

This is a tale of hapless group of men, lonely, struggling for survival, absolutely clueless as to the sense-shattering beauties just beyond, and the impossibly stunning maidens, led by goddess Mamie Van Doren, oblivious to their world's invasion. There is obviously a commentary on the male and female conditions within this scenario.