A narrator tells us that archaeologists were able piece together the story of a stone-age tribe that lived in an ancient jungle area perhaps 20,000 years ago. What we are to see, the narrator continues, is that story.
The narrative begins with six young women dancing impulsively, sexually and with a primitive passion that they may fail to fully comprehend. The women who engage in the frenzied dance are named Tigri, Lotee, Eras, Arva, Nika and Tulle.
They gather around the only surviving adult female from their perilous journey 15-years earlier, who fills us in on the backstory (through the narrator) of how this all-female tribe came to be.
When Tigri was just a child her mother, Tana, led a revolt against the brutish men who had all but made the women of the tribe their slaves. Tana and her small clan find a safe enclave in the jungle, flourish and teach survival and hunting skills to the six young girls.
Tragedy strikes one day, we are told by the narrator, when the monstrous Guaddi, described as a “nine foot tall” merciless human beast comes upon the encampment, kills Tana and carries off two of the other adult women as a source of food. The “Wise One” gathers up the children and escapes … they survive.
As the six young women listen to their mentor speak, she concludes the story by telling them that they must put aside their hatred of men (Anir) and capture mates if they are to have a future. To that end, the next morning Tigri and her cohort embark upon such a mission, bringing along one of their “pet” panthers.
Elsewhere, cave-dwelling hunters by the names of Engor, Ruig, Kama and Adh are stalking a tiger, which they manage to lure into a spiked pit, killing the cat. As they celebrate, Tigri’s panther, smelling the fresh blood, breaks free and attacks Engor. Although mauled by the cat, he manages to kill it and while being attended to by the other members of his hunting party, Tigri launches a merciless attack on them using slings and rocks.
The women quickly subdue the men, beating them severely with clubs in the process ... the wounded Engor manages to escape. Back at their encampment, the “Wise One” inspects the three trophies that the women have captured and says that they will be suitable for mating purposes. As the women have their way with their slaves any attempts to escape are met with stones and clubs.
Meanwhile, Engor’s people find him and nurse him back to health. Weeks pass, Engor is fully healed and the tale of the savage women he encountered has been enshrined as paintings on the rocks of their cave walls. He vows revenge!Alone, he takes off through the jungle, but during an encounter with a bull elephant he loses his only weapon. While sharpening a rock for a new club, Engor accidently discovers a method to make fire, which he calls “pir” … while marveling at his new “pir” weapon (a torch that he has fashioned), he is suddenly attacked by a python, which he easily wards off with the flames from the torch.
The next day, as Engor makes his way into the jungle home of Tigri and her clan, he encounters Guaddi, but manages to hide in a tree and avoid detection. Later, Tigri, Tulle and Eras spot Engor coming their way … Tigri uses herself as bait and when Engor “surprises” her, he is quickly beaten unconscious by Tulle and Eras.
Once back at the women’s encampment, Engor is surprised to see that Ruig, Kama and Adh are free to roam about the camp. Apparently, night after night of the unchecked sexual savagery of the women has rendered Engor’s fellow hunters helpless slaves. Almost immediately Arva takes a liking to the new trophy, but Tigri makes her back down and takes the stunned Engor to her tree house lair. An attempt to escape that night fails.
The next morning Arva makes her move, but Tigri is having nothing to do with it and a fight ensues. Tigri prevails and Engor is now hers to do with as she pleases … she feeds her new pet a breakfast meal. Later she shows the befuddled Engor how to move a large rock by using a tree branch as leverage … he is impressed. Engor and his mates are in a clearing in one area of the camp, while the women go about their business. He uses this opportunity to try and make a “pir” weapon to ward off the women, but it is at this moment that Corax, a giant winged dragon-like creature begins circling the camp. It swoops in to make Tigri a meal, but Engor uses “pir” to drive the beast away (in flames) and then turns the tables on his tormentors. The women are now slaves.
After accidently discovering the delicious pleasure of cooked meat — as opposed to raw — Engor decides that they will trek through the jungle back to his home in the mountains.
As the group trudges through the jungle they encounter Guaddi, who pursues them to a natural cave in a clearing where they take refuge. His initial attempts to get at this new food source are repelled by clubs, so the monster takes to the roof of the cave and attempts to dislodge a large boulder hoping to crush his victims … dinner awaits!
Engor, realizing that their only chance is for him to make “pir” torches and use them as a weapon against Guaddi. He rushes out of the cave, burning Guaddi with one of the torches on his leg and while he howls in pain the others escape the trap and begin encircling their tormentor with fire. Trapped, Guaddi is burned to a crisp. The united group of cave-dwelling men and jungle-living women decide to return to the jungle encampment and start a new tribe of equals. Over a cooked meal that evening, the “Wise One” performs marriage ceremonies and a new tribe is born, not from the brute force of a club, but through romance. The women dance!
Production Credits
Director: Gregg G. Tallas, Assistant Director: Al Westen, Gregg G. Tallas, Producer: Albert J. Cohen, Associate Producer: Sam X. Abarbanal, Writer: Sam X. Abarbanal, Gregg G. Tallas, Cinematography: Lionel Linden, Editor: James W. Graham, Sound: Glen Glenn, Art Director: Jerome Pycha Jr., Production Manager: Rudolph E. Abel, Makeup: Sam Kaufman, Lillian Lashin, Music Composer: Raoul Kraushaar, Mort Glickman (uncredited), Special Effects: Howard A. Anderson, Dance Sequences: Bella Lewitzky, Wardrobe: Kitty Mager
Prehistoric Women … “This Piece of Trash”
Producer Albert J. Cohen was no stranger to the prehistoric landscape having produced Unknown Island in 1948, which came complete with a life-size mechanical dinosaur that was “living” in his backyard. During his 56-year career in the movie business he was a literary agent (ran his own shop), a film writer and a producer who knew a good thing when he saw it.The good thing that he saw was writer and fellow producer Sam X. Abarbanel’s Prehistoric Women script. When the film was finally finished and released theatrically Wanda Hale, the film reviewer for the Daily News, gave it one star and said, “How this piece of trash got a New York showing is beyond me.”
Trash? The film, once it opened in November of 1950, would play for a solid decade theatrically and earned Cohen a “trash bin” full of cash.
Prehistoric Women and a “Search” Begins
A one-paragraph “casting call” note appeared in the Los Angeles Times on Mar. 23, 1950. It read: “Albert J. Cohen will use 10 unknowns in the starring roles of his Cinecolor production, ‘Prehistoric Women’.”
This little note was immediately followed by an INS (International News Service) wire piece that began appearing nationally the following day. Again, short and to the point: “Producer Albert J. Cohen is looking for the world’s biggest man to play opposite 300 glamazons in ‘Prehistoric Women,’ a fantastic movie written by Sam Ararbanel.”
In the space of little more than 24 hours we’ve gone from ten unknowns to 300 “glamazons” (the dictionary says … an exceptionally glamorous, tall and sell-assured woman) and now Cohen is on the prowl for the world’s “biggest” man. Clearly, the production wheels are being greased.
As it turns out, that 300 figure were the number of applicants Cohen got from that one paragraph planted in the Los Angeles Times. Lloyd L. Sloan writing in the Los Angeles Evening Citizen News on Apr. 5 says: “Producer Albert Cohen has found an unexpected wealth of unknown talent in search for 10 gals to play important roles in a little thing called ‘Prehistoric Women.’ One-third of the 300 ladies who applied were given additional tests. Now it’s narrowed down to 35.”
Another of these one-paragraph PR plants first appears in the
Los Angeles Daily News on Apr. 9. It reads: “A world-wide search has been instituted for the six most beautiful women in the world and the six handsomest men, to portray the leading roles in Albert J. Cohen’s ‘Prehistoric Women’ for Eagle Lion.” This hunt for six most beautiful women in the world will be repeated in newspaper after newspaper nationwide over the next few weeks.
Former Miss America and recent ex-wife of Phil Silvers, Jo Carroll Dennison, is mentioned as “making her movie comeback in ‘Prehistoric Women’,” in Sheilah Graham’s syndicated column on Apr. 18.
Also on Apr. 18, Louella Parsons “In … Hollywood” syndicated column has some casting news as well: “Move over Vic Mature and Lex Barker — and you other he-men — make room. Here comes Alan (sic) Nixon, husband of Marie Wilson, who is being fitted for his leopard skin in the starring role in ‘Prehistoric Women’.”
Parsons continues, “In case you have forgotten, it was Albert Cohen, the producer, who introduced Alan (sic) and Marie 10 years ago.” And then the cat is truly out of the bag when Parsons reveals, “The story being made at Eagle-Lion deals with the belles of one million B.C. and Alan (sic) is the only male in the cast. One of the belles is Laurett (sic) Luez, the girl reported to be engaged to Samuel Goldwin Jr.”
If you are a well-known Hollywood gossip columnist you can be forgiven if you misspell the names. Alan Nixon is actually Allan Nixon and Laurett Luez is really Laurette Luez, plus having Jo-Carroll Dennison appearing in print as members of the cast means that Cohen is not casting “unknowns,” but experienced actors in Prehistoric Women.
All That Free Publicity
Cohen’s film actually went into production on April 27 on the sound stages at the General Service Studios on Las Palmas in Hollywood, but the news that Mara Lynn and Kerry Vaughn were also added to cast, plus Gregg Tallas was named as the director didn’t slip out until May 1.
An AP wire photo hits newspapers nationwide on May 2, Johann Petursson, a native of Iceland, has been cast in
Prehistoric Women. He is eight feet two inches tall and weighs 420 pounds! Gloria Yarbrough’s accompanying AP wire story dropped on May 2 as well, which gives background on the giant.
On May 2, Frank Neill files an INS wire story about his visit to set of Prehistoric Women. Actress-turned-chorographer Bella Lewitzky is guiding the six female actresses through a series of dance moves where “They were wearing long-haired wigs and not much else.” He points out that these women “hate men, and their secret weapon, the slingshot, is utilized to bump off citizens of the opposite sex who will not become their slaves.”
Cohen and director Gregg G. Tallas are well into production when the cast of the film, all of which are pros, is completely revealed. Indeed, by May 13 principal photography is actually completed, Petursson did his thing as “Guadi” the giant and went back home to Iceland.
In post-production a professional newsman, David Vaile, would come in and do the narration (he had the voice for it). The women just grunt, which technically makes this a foreign language film, so in lieu of subtitles there would be a narrator filling in the backstory and details.
June and July slip by, no announcements about when Cohen’s Stone Age masterpiece will be released. On Aug. 5, the Los Angeles Mirror runs a pictorial showcasing action shots from the film featuring Judy Landon as Eras, Jo-Carroll Dennison as Nika, Joan Shawlee as Lotee, Mara Lynn as Arva and Laurette Luez as Tigri. Certainly this must be the tipoff that Prehistoric Women will soon be in theatres.
Nothing. September and October drift by, nothing. And then in November, in Minnesota of all places, Prehistoric Women gets a Thanksgiving Day “World Premiere” (Turkey Day? Hmmmmm) at the RKO Pantages in Minneapolis.
Why the delay? The AFI Catalog reports, “According to a memo in file in the MPAA/PCA Collection at the AMPAS Library, the film was originally rejected because it ‘dealt with the subject of procreation of a race of women who steal men for that purpose solely.’”
The Film begins to rollout with play dates in Northern California and upstate New York on Dec. 15. New York City gets the film on Dec. 27 and the Los Angeles area had to wait until Mar. 8, 1951 to line up for tickets to see
Prehistoric Women.
Eagle-Lion Films moved prints of the film all around the country with bookings throughout 1951, 1952 … and, for that matter, the rest of the decade.
The Prehistoric Women Who Became Cinematically Immortal
Albert J. Cohen did a masterful job of turning Prehistoric Women into a phenomenal theatrical hit, not because it is great cinema — by today’s standards (maybe even back then … remember, Wanda Hale, film reviewer for the Daily News, called it “trash”) it is painful to watch — but because he knew how to generate mountains of consumer awareness through publicity pieces in the medium of the time, the local newspaper.
It went from a talent search to the use of actresses with experience, which was likely his intent from the get-go. Cohen did find the world’s “biggest” man, who was likely on the set for no more than three or four days of shooting. After he had long-since returned to Iceland, his image with one or two of the lovely ladies being carried over his back or in his arms would appear in newspaper after newspaper — both before and after the film has opened theatrically.
