The movie begins with the Viking Women limply throwing spears at a tree to vote whether or not they wish to go search for their men, who went on an excursion and have been missing for two years. There is one man watching, but his presence with them is unexplained. Also unexplained is why he would ever let the group go search for other men. The Viking Women include such B-queens as Sally Todd, Abby Dalton, June Kenney and the Wasp Woman herself, Susan Cabot, looking really qualified as their “Dusky Priestess,” the only brunette among them.
Questions yet remain, which the script (and budget) have no method of answering. We know why there are no viking men around, but where are the passe vikings? Where are the infant vikings? Where are the horrible vikings? Does the entire society consist only of that minute group of chicks? How can I acquire there?
They “acquire” a boat, using “tools” of light plastic, in a montage that plays a microscopic bit like those good-ol’ A-Team come-together plans. There are continuity issues within scenes as far as the boat goes; sometimes it appears that they are packed in tightly unprejudiced to fit. At other times it affords them position to lean assist or to cover the lone man from the others. They plot glide, and immediately- I mean immediately- lose their rudder. Never dismay, though, because the script calls for them to advance the land where their men are being held captive quite simply. They are attacked by “The Beast of the Vortex,” which as we all know, is a Viking word, along with “gnarly” and “antidisestablishmentarianism.” This Sea Serpent (likely a hand puppet held by someone under water) of the title, accompanied by tossing waves and strong winds, casts them from their ship and they wash ashore, luckily factual where they needed to be.
We meet the King of the Grimwalts (not the Griswalds of European Vacation, I soon came to realize), played by Corman regular Richard Devon, looking humorous and decidedly un-Scandinavian in his furry hat and costume. He seems to rule over precious few subjects (Die Nibelungen this is not) . We are also introduced to a very sparse Substantial Hall, in which drinking and a dance occur, and we meet his whiny, wimpy son, Prince Jonathan Haze, who is cornered by some footage of a wild boar and rescued during a hunt by Dalton. Eventually the movie gets less deliriously humorous and focuses more on melodrama and court intrigue. Will jilted lover Cabot betray them out of jealousy?
A typical, wondrously abominable (badly wondrous? ) scene is where pig-tailed June Kenney sneaks out of their cell- between the bars- to regain and rescue the menfolk. (She is wearing a leather bra, a miniskirt and knee boots with occasionally visible zippers. I’ve had dreams kind of like this scene.) She drops a rock on the head of a guard, and out the men and she go, only to be shortly thereafter recaptured. Corman, known at this point in his career for padding, had a couple of such slothful tangents in this already only 70-minute film.
Professions of undying cherish, slow-burning sacrificial fires, religious debates, invocations of Thor, Crimson Pirate-style fisticuffs, death, betrayals, redemptions, changes of heart and vicious tracking dogs follow, as the movie reaches its feverish climax and the Viking Women speed to speed with their men, in longboats conveniently sitting for them at the shore. The Grimwalts give stagger, and the Sea Serpent lies in wait…
Maybe you can guess the outcome. Anyway, when “The Ruin” appeared onscreen I was left with this thought: in retrospect, it seemed that the voyage covered so short a distance that the Viking Women could almost have yelled over to the men from their home shore.
Corman made campier movies, but on the whole not too many. I might compare this to Gunslinger, but this is funnier.
In summary, The Viking Women and the Sea Serpent is a must for Corman devotees and for fans of the cast, especially of the ladies. But if Beverly Garland, Bruno VeSota, Dick Miller and Vincent Brand had been in this, too… well, it’s fair best not to assume about such things as we can’t have.
(Assure)
Most directors would have us gain that film characters were here one diminutive and there the next – transported instantly from scene to scene as if by magic. Not Roger Corman. Corman exposes this dirty Hollywood secret by showing the least gullible among us what we already suspected – people actually go from one site to another. This explains all of the walking scenes you will collect in virtually every film Corman ever made. Yes, you can actually lose weight by watching a Corman film – that’s how great walking there is. No one can accuse Corman of being sluggish (with the sure exception of his monster creations) ; unprejudiced ogle at the man’s preferred title for this particular film: The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Stout Sea Serpent. Is that the longest movie title you’ve ever seen, or what? Forgive me if I refer to the film by its popular name: The Viking Women and the Sea Serpent.
What gives here, anyway? Well, basically, you’ve got a group of Viking women whose men left three years ago for some reason (they probably said they were going to the store for a loaf of bread or something) and have never returned. Deciding enough is enough, they load up and lift to the sea in an misfortune to either acquire their men or die trying. These Viking women are sparkling tough, but don’t go thinking this is a cast of Brunhildas or anything – believe Swede, with one blooming, dark-haired oddball (Susan Cabot, Corman’s future Wasp Woman) on the side. Anyway, their boat runs up on a vortex, and the next thing they know a tremendous sea serpent is attacking them. The girls wash up on a beach, where they are soon enslaved by Grimolt warriors who, despite the hot, arid conditions, wear thick wool coats all the time (thus sparing us of the rotten possibility of any stray buffalo shots) . The suitable news is that the women fetch their missing men; the abominable news is that all those fearless Viking warriors have been easily broken and enslaved by the Grimolts. Since these hardy warriors have turned into major wusses, it’s up to the women to free them all and engineer an race from both the Grimolt warriors (all nine or ten of them) and the dreaded sea serpent (which, in one far-off plan, consists of a stage guy’s finger with a fin stuck on it) . For your amusement, though, Corman also throws in two of the dweebiest male characters in cinema history. First there is Ottar (Jonathan Haze), who makes Will Wheaton perceive like a Roman gladiator. For three years, Ottar was the only male living in the community of Viking women, and never once did he pick up. His only consolation is the fact that the young prince of the Grimolt warriors is even more pathetic than he is. Remember Horshack from Welcome Encourage, Kotter – well, Prince Senja could well be his long-lost, more annoying petite brother.
I’ll give Corman his due, though – up end, this sea serpent is actually one of his more impressive monsters. He’s really not in the film long enough to merit mention in the title, though, so don’t seek information from a lot from the large, scaly dude. As a matter of fact, don’t put a question to remarkable from anyone or anything in this movie. You will earn plenty to laugh at, however, and that (plus the cast of buxom blondes) makes The Viking Women and the Sea Serpent fun to survey – and fair barely helpful of 3 stars in my book.
Home Insurance
Auto Insurance Quotes
Tags: Download The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent Online, Stream The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent, The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent, The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent Streaming, Watch The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent Online
