| Mesa of Lost Women | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by |
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| Written by | Herbert Tevos |
| Produced by |
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| Starring |
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| Narrated by | Lyle Talbot |
| Cinematography | |
| Edited by |
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| Music by | Hoyt S. Curtin |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Howco Productions, Inc. |
Release date |
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Running time | 70 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Mesa of Lost Women is a 1953 American low-budget black-and-whitescience fictionhorror film directed by Herbert Tevos andRon Ormond[1] from a screenplay and original story created by Tevos andOrville H. Hampton, who is given on-screen credit only for dialogue supervision. Critical response to the film was overwhelmingly negative.
A man and woman are found wandering theMuerto Desert on the US–Mexico border, suffering from extreme dehydration and exposure, and taken to an oil company field hospital. As he begins to recover, Grand Phillips excitedly asks for oil trucks to burn up "super bugs" from a secret underground laboratory on the isolated Zarpa Mesa. While he begins to tell his story from the beginning, a narrator speaks over him and shifts focus to his rescuer, Pepe, drawing attention to what the Mexicans know but the Americans would not believe.
Aflashback to a year earlier shows famous scientist Leeland Masterson arrive at Zarpa Mesa at the invitation of the reclusive Dr. Aranya, whose brilliant theories have intrigued Masterson. Aranya reveals his successful experimentation with growth hormones, creating human-sizedtarantulas he can control telepathically and human women with the abilities and instincts of spiders. His creation Tarantella can regenerate severed limbs and Aranya expects her to have a lifespan of several centuries. However, his experiments on male subjects have resulted indwarfism akin to drone insects. His end goal is to create spiders with human intellect, subject to his will, to control the world. Asked to assist, Masterson instead denounces Aranya's work as evil and blasphemous. In response, Tarantella injects him with a drug that turns him into a simpleton. Following experimentation, Masterson is found wandering the desert and placed in alunatic asylum from which he eventually escapes.
Masterson arrives in a lively bar on the border where businessman Jan van Croft and his fiancée Doreen find themselves when their private aircraft breaks down. Masterson joins the couple, and Tarantella performs a dance, mesmerizing everyone present – except for George, a nurse from the asylum who has come to collect Masterson. Masterson recognized Tarantella as evil and shoots her, then takes Jan, Doreen, and George hostage. They arrive at Jan's aircraft where pilot Grant Phillips and servant Wu are added to the hostages. Masterson forces them all to depart despite the aircraft's disrepair. Meanwhile, Tarantella regenerates following her apparent death and leaves the bar.
Grant discovers that the compass is reading incorrectly and, due to an engine failure, they crash-land on Zarpa Mesa. George is killed while exploring and Jan wounded. Grant and Doreen grow closer during the night. Jan sends Wu on a dangerous errand, allowing Wu to report to Aranya, having sabotaged the airplane in order to return Masterson; no longer needed, Wu is killed by the spider women. Blamed for Wu's death, Jan has a mental breakdown and is killed by a giant spider. The others are captured and Aranya restores Masterson's intellect, requiring his help. Grant and Doreen restrain Aranya and Tarantella, allowing Masterson to concoct an explosive in the laboratory. After Grant and Doreen escape, Masterson incinerates the laboratory, along with himself, Aranya, and Aranya's monsters.
At the field hospital, Grant fails to convince anyone but Pepe of the truth of his story. It is revealed that at least one of Aranya's spider-women has survived.
| John George | Aranya's dwarf servant |
| Angelo Rossitto | dwarf assistant in Aranya's laboratory |
| Julian Rivero | patron in cantina where Tarantella performs her dance |
| Suzanne Ridgeway | girl in cantina where Tarantella performs her dance |
| Margia Dean | Brunette girl in Aranya's laboratory |
An early version of the film titledTarantula was viewed and granted aMotion Picture Production Code seal in October 1951. Its director, Herbert Tevos (born Herbert Schoellenbach),[2] reportedly claimed to have had a film career in Germany and to have directed films starringMarlene Dietrich andErich von Stroheim, includingThe Blue Angel (1930), which was actually directed byJosef von Sternberg.Mesa of Lost Women is Tevos's only known film credit.[3]
Pergor Productions was unable to secure distribution forTarantula and sold the footage toHowco Productions Inc. in early 1952, withRon Ormond assigned to direct additional material.[4] Tandra Quinn recalled that among the new sequences created by Ormond were the scenes of the Aranya and Tarantella characters being killed.[5] Katherine Victor recalled being hired by Ormond in order to create her desert sequences.[6] Filming locations included theRed Rock Canyon State Park.[7]
Hoyt Curtin composed the score which makes use offlamenco guitar and piano, combined in an apparentfree jazz style. This music was later used inEd Wood'sJail Bait (1954).[8][9] The narratorLyle Talbot also appeared in several films by Wood, includingPlan 9 from Outer Space (1959), as did the "spider-woman" actressesDolores Fuller and Mona McKinnon.[8] The film also features the debut ofKatina Vea (as the spider-woman who first drove Masterson to the desert) who was later a regular inJerry Warren films using the stage name Katherine Victor.[10] One of the dwarfs in the film wasAngelo Rossitto, a veteran ofPoverty Rowhorror films whose film career had started in the 1920s.[11]
Although Tarantella is a key character of the film, it was a silent part. Decades later, Quinn recalled that she never received "a decent speaking part" in a film.[3] She reportedly chose her stage name by modifying Tevos's suggestion of Tandra Nova which she thought unsuitable and reminiscent ofLou Nova. She instead chose the last name Quinn in honor of dancer Joan Quinn.[3]
Mesa of Lost Women was noted for being one of several 1950s science fiction films that utilized wire-controlled giant spider props, the others beingCat-Women of the Moon (1953),Tarantula (1955),World Without End (1956),Queen of Outer Space (1958), and theCat-Women of the Moon remakeMissile to the Moon (1958).[12] The spider prop used inMesa of Lost Women was limited in movement, a single jump being its only action feat.[12]
The film was distributed in the United States byHowco Productions Inc. and reissued in 1956 throughRon Ormond Enterprises.
Critical response to the film was negative. Film criticGlenn Erickson wrote that "watching [the film] is like being on drugs ... [it has] lapses in judgment that boggle the mind."[13] In a review forAllMovie,Richard Gilliam wrote that "the overall film is a dull, tepid mess."[14] Critic Nigel Honeybone described the film as "so bad you have to ask yourself, is it actually evil?"[15]
Gilliam called the plot "incoherent"[14] while Honeybone found it "muddled and misguided"[15] and Erickson found that the "ridiculously complicated plot hides the fact that nothing really happens".[13] Gilliam found the characters to be lifeless[14] and Erickson felt that the performances did not fit with the narrative. He described the direction as "incompetent [and] awkward" in the style ofEd Wood.[13]
The loud and repetitive musical score byHoyt S. Curtin, melding flamenco guitar and piano, is described variously as "very able, a sustained inspiration"[16] and insanity-driving repetition.[15]
The film has been spoofed byRiffTrax.[17]
