Friday, October 7, 2011

VIKING WOMEN AND THE SEA SERPENT / Malibu Productions - 1957

Welcome to Friday Night Halloween Countdown Drive-In with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. Tonite's feature is a film my dad took me to see in 1957! I'm pretty sure it played with CURUCU, BEAST OF THE AMAZON. Coincidently, I had a crush on Beverly Garland.

Roger Corman directs this story about a group of lonely Viking women who build a ship and set off across the sea to locate their missing menfolk. When they reach their destination they fall into the clutches of the Barbarians that also hold their men captive. They encounter the sea serpent on their journeys across the ocean...

At the time, this version may have had the longest movie title to date!

The music's by Mr. Big's favorite composer, the great Albert Glasser. Some of Al's earlier works were KLONDIKE KATE, THE MONSTER MAKER, THE CISCO KID RETURNS, LAW OF THE LASH, THE COBRA STRIKES, URUBU, I SHOT JESSE JAMES, I SHOT BILLY THE KID and OMOO-OMOO THE SHARK GOD.

Letz bring in our littlest of all Dungeon helpers and button pushers, correct, it's... Rufus The Gnat! Hi Rufus!.. Welp, the atomic clock on the wall sez itz tyme tue start der show, so... Push the big red 'GO' button located there just above the open box of Snausages, now, Rufus! Here's... VIKING WOMEN AND THE SEA SERPENT!

The Viking Women cast their votes whether to go across the ocean to look for their men, or not. Casting their votes with spears, naturally.

After they vote to go, a seemingly good luck omen appears in the sky!

Corman had to use what he had, I suppose, but, that is NOT a Viking vessel! Bottom pic looks like the girls are on an amusement ride!

During the voyage, the ship is destroyed when they're attacked by a giant Sea Serpent! They eventually wash up on the shores of Bronson Canyon...

These two shots actually look decent, way to go Roger!

There's Richard (THE UNDEAD) Devon as the Barbarian leader, Stark! Then, there's Jay (WAR OF THE SATELLITES) Sayer as Stark's son Senya, and Michael (BEAST FROM HAUNTED CAVE) Forest as Zarko! Jay was the guy in the car at the beginning of WOTS who was making out with his girlfriend.

On the other side we have Sally (FRANKENSTEIN'S DAUGHTER) Todd as Sanda, Betsy (LAST WOMAN ON EARTH) Jones-Moreland as Thyra and Jonathan (NOT OF THIS EARTH) Haze as Ottar! A few of the other women are played by Susan Cabot, Abby Dalton, June Kenney and a young uncredited Barboura Morris. I don't know who the guy in the back is.

While on a wild boar hunt, Desir saves little chicken Senya's life by tossing her spear right through the boar that had attacked him.

Then, he proceeds to tell Desir all about what its like to be the wimpy son of a sadistic tyrant!

Here's some of the stuff going on in the last part of the soundclip.

Place your bets!

Stark takes the girls to see their men.

Every cave needs a little atmosphere, looks like the sleepy skeleton is on duty in this one!

I even looked up the costume designer of this project just to see who was responsible for these horrible designs... Looks like Barbarian Bargain Basement to me, they suck!

Then I thought... Hey, maybe Corman only gave her like $75! Hell yeah, that's very possible! Poor Richard had to wear that monstrosity on the set! He looks like a weird bird.

Some old cowboy probably told Roger about this cool spot in Bronson Canyon.

The Vikings break away and head out to sea.

Stark and his gang follow in their boat, but the Sea Serpent uses them for appetizers!

The luckiest damn shot in the world!

Row, row, row your boat!.. Hey, we don't have any food!!

3 comments:

Prof. Grewbeard said...

every AIP babe you could ask for!

Eegah!! said...

I think I've watched too many movies, I could have sworn Beverly Garland was in this one too. If Bev and Allison Hayes would have been in it, it would have been even better!!

iain said...

That scene from which you've captured the horse and rider squeezing though a narrow pass wasn't shot in "a cool spot in Bronson Canyon"; although one or two scenes in Viking Women were shot in the Canyon, most of it was filmed on location at the Iverson Ranch.

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