Classic science fiction stuff
Andre Villemaire | Canada | 05/26/2006
(3 out of 5 stars)
"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."
Too Dopey to be Fun
Martin Asiner | Jersey City, NJ | 12/09/2007
(2 out of 5 stars)
"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."
Fun to laugh at...
danger ex machina | Philadelphia, PA | 04/04/2006
(2 out of 5 stars)
"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."