Six jungle women have grown up in a tribe of only women. They are Tigri (Laurette Luez), Lotee (Joan Shawlee), Eras (Judy Landon), Arva (Mara Lynn), Nika (Jo-Carroll Dennison)and Tulle (Kerry Vaughn).The old wise one (Janet Scott) tells them the story of how they came to be a tribe of women.
Fifteen years ago they were part of a tribe ruled by men. The men were vicious. They abused the women and ordered them around. One day Tigri’s mother Tana (Jeanne Sorel) had enough and fought back. She hit the chief with a rock and knocked him unconscious. The women and the children fled knowing they would be punished. They eluded the men looking for them and eventually established their own tribe. They learned to fish and hunt by themselves. One day a nine foot tall giant called Guadi (Johann Petursson) attacked the women and took two of them away. Tana gets away but is mortally wounded and soon dies.
Fifteen years later the children have grown. The old wise one tells them that they need to overcome their hatred of men and go out and find mates or the tribe will not survive. The six women go off with their pet panther in search of mates. They come upon a small hunting party that has just killed a tiger. The smell of the tiger’s blood excites the panther and he attacks a man named Engor (Allan Nixon). The panther is killed and Engor is wounded. The women attack the men and tie them up. Engor escapes into the jungle. The women take their prisoners and their dead pet panther and return to their tribe. The old woman inspects the men and pronounces them suitable.
Engor makes it back to his tribe. His mother nurses him back to health. When he is fit again Engor vows to find the women that attacked them and captured his tribesmen. He intends on making them slaves. Instead he gets captured himself. All he can do is bide his time until he can find a way to escape his slavery.
“Prehistoric Women” AKA “The Virgin Goddess” was released in 1950 and was directed by Gregg C. Tallas. There are two movies called “Prehistoric Women”. The other was released in 1967. The film is a low budget independent movie. Since everyone in the movie only knows cave talk the film is narrated by David Vaile.
The movie is silly and simplistic. There’s really no plot and acting is not really required since no one has much dialogue above a grunt. Only slightly entertaining but indeed educational we learn how to use a log for leverage, make fire and cook meat. You also get to see the first marriage ceremony. Back in the fifties sex on screen was taboo. To replace it people danced. Of course there is the ever popular catfight to entertain the audience. Women in skimpy jungle outfits rolling around the ground is always a favorite. It’s also interesting to note that man discovered cooking. I’m not sure how it ended up being “woman’s work”.
The flying dragon, Courak the scourge of the skies, looks an awful lot like a pelican or a stork.
It’s a public domain film so there’s been no restoration. Some parts are a little dark but the movie is in color. The only available copies are formatted to television so the sides are cut off. It’s not a great movie, it just kind of plods along. Is it worth restoring? Sure. It’s misogynistic and misandristic so both sexes are objectified. It’s an equal opportunity offender.