After the announcement of 10,000 B.S. the other day, The Rev D.D., one of our regulars, remarked, “Prehistoric Women…I haven’t seen the Hammer one. I have seen the one from the early ’50s, though, and…MAN that one was pain. Except for the “dragon,” which was one of the GREATEST THINGS EVER FILMED.” – a comment posted, as far as I can figure, about four hours after I finished watching Prehistoric Women for the purposes of this Roundtable.
Truthfully…I am just a little creeped out right now.
In which the members of an all-female prehistoric tribe, who have been feeling – nudge, nudge – “restless”, are sent out by their Wise One to find themselves – nudge, nudge – “husbands”.
The result is a battle of the sexes dramatically highlighted by the savage attack on the tribespeople by a duck wearing a Halloween mask. As a bonus, the film comes with a narrator who helpfully explains EVERY SINGLE DETAIL OF EVERY SINGLE SCENE. Because, you know, the plot’s so complicated.
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#1 by Blake on February 6, 2010 - 5:33 am
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The other day I was wondering to myself what films I would choose if I were a B-Master. I figured I’d choose this one among others, since I could download it from Internet Movie Archive.
#2 by Todd on February 6, 2010 - 11:15 am
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I actually thought about writing this one up when Keith first mentioned this roundtable to me, which suggests the eerie possibility that there is some kind of “Prehistoric Women” hive mind in effect.
#3 by Todd on February 6, 2010 - 12:39 pm
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My question — one that I may find I didn’t want answered — is: Do you think they actually set the duck on fire? Because it kind of looked like they did.
#4 by Blake on February 6, 2010 - 12:50 pm
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I know that there’s a film, Women of a Prehistoric Planet I think, that has a scene of an iguana being set on fire.
#5 by lyzard on February 6, 2010 - 3:41 pm
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The idea that we may have had to fight for the right to review Prehistoric Women is just too bizarre to contemplate. (Look out! I scratch, and pull hair!)
Todd, they certainly did set something on fire, but – thankfully – the whole thing is so badly staged , and the print quality is so poor, that it’s impossible to tell.
#6 by Blake on February 6, 2010 - 6:51 pm
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I’d pay good money to see the looks on the filmmakers’ faces if they could see (probably from heaven…or maybe hell) you guys fighting over who gets to watch and review “Prehistoric Women”.
#7 by lyzard on February 6, 2010 - 7:01 pm
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What’s that quote from William Beaudine, when he was reprimanded for falling behind schedule on a shoot? “You mean someone’s waiting to see this!?” 🙂
#8 by El Santo on February 6, 2010 - 9:02 pm
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I’m inclined to say the big, silly bird is a cormorant of some kind. Ducks generally hold their necks out straight in flight, rather than in the s-shape posture seen in those screencaps, and I’ve never seen a duck with such a proportionately huge wingspan. Pelicans, meanwhile, normally have much larger beaks than that, and their bodies tend not to be so tubby.
#9 by Luke Blanchard on February 6, 2010 - 9:43 pm
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I had a look at an online version, so these comments are based on an image that’s likely even worse. I can’t tell if the wing towards which the hero strikes is real – it might be a model – but after the cut, when Korax catches fire, she has the look of an inserted image. There’s then a cut to a context-less image of Korax on fire. I think the fire is just a special effect laid over an image of a flying bird.
#10 by The Rev. D.D. on February 7, 2010 - 6:27 pm
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First my comments on Murders in the Zoo and now this…I’m not sure if I should be sad that I’m disturbing/creeping out Ms. Kingsley…or maybe just a teensy bit proud.
MUWHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA!!!
I recall the fire effect looking like Luke said…an overlay on the bird.
I always figured the bird was a duck or goose…cormorants tend to be dark in color and their bills are pretty long and thin. I lean toward duck just because a duck’d be a lot easier to dress up than a goose, although its wing and neck size make it seem more like the latter.
Either way…MADE OF AWESOME.
#11 by lyzard on February 7, 2010 - 6:50 pm
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It was mostly a case of me thinking something like, “Hmm…what cavemen films do I have? Ooh, Prehistoric Women! And it’s really obscure, so no-one will anticipate— Oh.”
I think the last shot of Korax is faked, but during the “attack” it certainly looks like they’re waving that torch horribly close to a real bird – as they do to a real boa, earlier.
In those first and last shots (which honestly you can’t see live with a good pause button and a little luck), it does look like a cormorant or something similar, but its movements in the middle sequence (the second and third shots) do seem very duck-like.
And no, I don’t have anything better to do with my time. 🙂
#12 by Todd on February 7, 2010 - 11:13 pm
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I’ll just tell myself that I chose When Women Lost Their Tails in order to preserve peace among the B-Masters.
#13 by The Rev. D.D. on February 8, 2010 - 10:54 am
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To be fair, I didn’t anticipate the movie being reviewed by one of the Cabal; it just came up.
OR DID IT!?!
You’re not the only one who feels like they need to go look at it again and figure out the mystery of the bird. Which means this stupid movie’s getting more attention than it deserves, really.
#14 by supersonic on February 8, 2010 - 4:24 pm
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The screen caps don’t look to me like the same bird from one shot to another. The first one looks rather like a pelican and the others look ducklike.
Cormorants (at least the double-crested cormorants that live in my area) have moderately sized straight beaks with a raptorlike hook at the tip. Their coloration is quite dark. And I believe they fly with their necks straight like a duck or goose, rather than folding them like a pelican or stork or crane or heron or egret.
#15 by Blake on February 8, 2010 - 7:06 pm
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Man, all of this makes me want to go back and dust off and touch up my old “Valley of the Dragons” review. Too bad I couldn’t contribute it to the Roundtable.