''Mesa of Lost Women'' is a 1953 American low-budget black-and-white

science fiction film Science fiction (or sci-fi) is a film genre that uses speculative, fictional science-based depictions of phenomena that are not fully accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial lifeforms, spacecraft, robots, cyborgs, interstellar ...

directed by Herbert Tevos and

Ron Ormond Ron Ormond (born Vittorio Di Naro, August 29, 1910 – May 11, 1981) was an American author, showman, screenwriter, film producer, and film director of Western, musical, and exploitation films. Following his survival of a 1968 plane crash, Ormo ...

from a screenplay by Tevos and

Orville H. Hampton Orville H. Hampton (May 21, 1917 – August 8, 1997) was an American screenwriter who worked mostly in low-budget films, particularly for producers Robert E. Kent and Edward Small. A screenplay that he and Raphael Hayes wrote for ''One Potato, T ...

who is given on-screen credit only for dialogue supervision.

Plot

Feminine hands with huge, non-human claws caress "Doc" Tucker. The next shot includes the face of the woman, Tarantella. A brief kiss between her and Tucker ends with his lifeless body collapsing. A disembodied voice asks the audience: "Have you ever been kissed by a girl like this?" The proper narrative begins in the desert. The narrator mocks humanity, a race of puny bipeds claiming to own everything on

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

. Yet, insects outnumber them, and the

hexapoda The subphylum Hexapoda (from Greek for 'six legs') comprises most species of arthropods and includes the insects as well as three much smaller groups of wingless arthropods: Collembola, Protura, and Diplura (all of these were once considered inse ...

are likely to survive longer than humans. The narrator then claims that when men or women venture off ''"the well-beaten path of civilization''" and deal with the unknown, the price of survival is the loss of sanity. The film introduces its protagonists, Grant Phillips and Doreen Culbertson, lost in the " Muerto Desert." They are nearly dead from

dehydration In physiology, dehydration is a lack of total body water, with an accompanying disruption of metabolic processes. It occurs when free water loss exceeds free water intake, usually due to exercise, disease, or high environmental temperature. Mil ...

and

sunburn Sunburn is a form of radiation burn that affects living tissue, such as skin, that results from an overexposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation, usually from the Sun. Common symptoms in humans and animals include: red or reddish skin that is ho ...

when discovered by Frank, an American oil surveyor, and his Mexican companion, Pepe. The two victims recover in the "Amer-Exico Field Hospital" somewhere in Mexico. Grant starts narrating his story to "Doc" Tucker, foreman Dan Mulcahey, and Pepe. The film flashes back a year earlier in Zarpa

Mesa A mesa is an isolated, flat-topped elevation, ridge or hill, which is bounded from all sides by steep escarpments and stands distinctly above a surrounding plain. Mesas characteristically consist of flat-lying soft sedimentary rocks capped by ...

. Famous scientist Leland Masterson arrives, having accepted an invitation from a fellow scientist named Dr. Aranya. Aranya has reportedly penned "brilliant" scientific

treatise A treatise is a formal and systematic written discourse on some subject, generally longer and treating it in greater depth than an essay, and more concerned with investigating or exposing the principles of the subject and its conclusions."Treat ...

s, and Masterson looks forward to meeting him. Aranya's theories genuinely intrigue Masterson, but Aranya states his work is not theoretical. He has already completed successful experiments creating both human-sized

tarantula Tarantulas comprise a group of large and often hairy spiders of the family Theraphosidae. , 1,040 species have been identified, with 156 genera. The term "tarantula" is usually used to describe members of the family Theraphosidae, although ...

spiders and human women with the abilities and instincts of spiders. His creation, Tarantella, has regenerative abilities sufficient to regrow severed limbs. He expects her to have a lifespan of several centuries. His experiments have had less success in male humans, who become afflicted with disfiguring

dwarfism Dwarfism is a condition wherein an organism is exceptionally small, and mostly occurs in the animal kingdom. In humans, it is sometimes defined as an adult height of less than , regardless of sex; the average adult height among people with dw ...

. A horrified Masterson denounces Aranya and his creations. In response, Aranya, with the help of his henchman, injects him with a drug, turning him into a doddering simpleton. The front page of the ''Southwest Journal'' explains that Masterson was found wandering in the desert. He was declared insane and placed in a

psychiatric hospital Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociative ...

. Sometime later, Masterson escapes the "Muerto State Asylum." He is next seen two days later in an unnamed American town on the U.S.-Mexico border. Also present are Tarantella, businessman Jan van Croft, and his fiancée, Doreen. They were heading to Mexico for their wedding day, but their private airplane had engine problems and stranded them there. Jan's servant Wu exchanges glances with Tarantella. It serves as the first sign he is working with her. Masterson's nurse at the asylum, George, tracks him to the bar. The entire bar, its patrons and the bartender observe Tarantella perform an energetic dance. Masterson recognizes her, pulls a handgun, and shoots her. He then takes Jan, Doreen, and George hostage. He heads for Jan's private airplane and forces pilot Grant to prepare for

takeoff Takeoff is the phase of flight in which an aerospace vehicle leaves the ground and becomes airborne. For aircraft traveling vertically, this is known as liftoff. For aircraft that take off horizontally, this usually involves starting with a t ...

despite the pilot's protests that only one engine is fully functional. The aircraft departs with Doreen, George, Grant, Jan, Masterson, and Wu aboard. Meanwhile, Tarantella regenerates following her apparent death and leaves the bar. Grant discovers that someone sabotaged the

gyrocompass A gyrocompass is a type of non-magnetic compass which is based on a fast-spinning disc and the rotation of the Earth (or another planetary body if used elsewhere in the universe) to find geographical direction automatically. The use of a gyroc ...

, resulting in their flying in the wrong direction (Wu's facial expression reveals the saboteur). The airplane

crash-lands An emergency landing is a premature landing made by an aircraft in response to an emergency involving an imminent or ongoing threat to the safety and operation of the aircraft, or involving a sudden need for a passenger or crew on board to term ...

atop Zarpa Mesa, where Aranya's creations were expecting them. There is

sexual tension Sexual tension is a social phenomenon that occurs when two individuals interact and one or both feel sexual desire, but the consummation is postponed or never happens. A common scenario is where the two individuals function in proximity, such as c ...

between Grant and Doreen culminating in a passionate kiss. Meanwhile, the group dwindles with the deaths of George, Wu, and lastly, Jan. Wu is confirmed to have served as an agent of Aranya, but one who outlived his usefulness. The last three members of the group are then captured. Grant soon recognizes their captor's name is identical to the Spanish term for spider, "araña." Aranya cures Masterson of drug-induced imbecility, hoping to recruit him, which backfires as Masterson performs a

suicide attack A suicide attack is any violent Strike (attack), attack, usually entailing the attacker detonating an explosive, where the attacker has suicide, accepted their own death as a direct result of the attacking method used. Suicide attacks have oc ...

. He allows Doreen and Grant to escape, then causes an explosion that kills them all. The flashback ends. At the hospital, Grant fails to convince anyone but Pepe of the truth in his story. Yet the finale reveals at least one of Aranya's spider-women has survived.

End narration by Lyle Talbot

"Yes, you're right, Dan. Common sense tells you there isn't anything to his story, doesn't it? Giant spiders on a desert mesa — fantastic. Pepe is just a superstitious native. True, no one has ever been on Zarpa Mesa, but it's just like any other bit of table land — not a thing different about it or uh... is there?"

Cast

Opening credits

Jackie Coogan John Leslie Coogan (October 26, 1914 – March 1, 1984) was an American actor and comedian who began his film career as a child actor in silent films. Charlie Chaplin's film classic ''The Kid'' (1921) made him one of the first child stars in the ...

Allan Nixon Allan Hobbs Nixon (August 17, 1915 – April 13, 1995) was an American actor and novelist. Career Nixon was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1915. He studied journalism the University of Richmond but left college to play football professiona ...

Richard Travis Richard Charles Travis, (born Dickson Cornelius Savage; 6 April 1884 – 25 July 1918) was a New Zealand soldier who fought during the First World War and was posthumously decorated with the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest award for gallantry ...

*''Narrated by''

Lyle Talbot Lyle Florenz Talbot (born Lisle Henderson, also credited Lysle Talbot; February 8, 1902 – March 2, 1996) was an American stage, screen and television actor. His career in films spanned three decades, from 1931 to 1960, and he performed on ...

*Mary Hill * Robert Knapp *Tandra Quinn * Chris Pin Martin *Harmon Stevens *Nico Lek *Kelly Drake *John Martin * George Burrows *Candy Collins *

Delores Fuller Dolores Agnes Fuller ( Eble, later Chamberlin; March 10, 1923 – May 9, 2011) was an American actress and songwriter best known as the one-time girlfriend of the low-budget film director Ed Wood. She played the protagonist's girlfriend in ' ...

Dean Reisner Dean Riesner (November 3, 1918 – August 18, 2002) was an American film and television writer. Biography Riesner was born in New Rochelle, New York. His father, Charles Reisner, was a German American silent film director, and Dean began acting ...

*Doris Lee Price *Mona McKinnon *Sherry Moreland *Ginger Sherry *Chris Randall *Dianne Fortier *Karna Greene *June Benbow * Katina Vea *

Fred Kelsey Frederick Alvin Kelsey (August 20, 1884 – September 2, 1961) was an American actor, film director, and screenwriter. Kelsey directed one- and two-reel films for Universal Film Manufacturing Company. He appeared in more than 400 films be ...

End credits

as Doctor Aranya *

as Dan Mulcahey *

as "Doc" Tucker *Mary Hill as Doreen * Robert Knapp as Grant Phillips * Chris Pin Martin as Pepe *Harmon Stevens as Masterson *Nico Lek as Van Croft *Samuel Wu as Wu *John Martin as Frank *Tandra Quinn as Tarantella Mesa of Lost Women--Masterson Tarantella Assistant

Mesa of Lost Women--Masterson Tarantella Assistant

Production

The film was originally made by Pergor Productions under the title ''Tarantula'' and was viewed and granted a

Motion Picture Production Code The Motion Picture Production Code was a set of industry guidelines for the self-censorship of content that was applied to most motion pictures released by major studios in the United States from 1934 to 1968. It is also popularly known as the ...

seal in October 1951. When the producers had difficulty in securing a distributor, Howco Productions Inc. bought the film in the spring of 1952 and assigned

to direct additional footage for the film. Tandra Quinn recalled that Ormond took several months after Tevos completed filming and shot additional sequences, including new ones with Jackie Coogan and Quinn's characters being shot, which was not in the original version. Katherine Victor remembered that she was hired by Ormond to have her desert sequences added to the film, as the original film was not able to be picked up for distribution. One of the dwarfs of the film was

Angelo Rossitto Angelo Salvatore Rossitto (February 18, 1908 – September 21, 1991) was an American actor and voice artist. He had dwarfism and was 2'11" (89 cm) tall, and was often billed as Little Angie or Moe. Angelo first appeared in silent films opp ...

, whose film career had started in the 1920s. He was a veteran of

Poverty Row Poverty Row is a slang term used to refer to Hollywood films produced from the 1920s to the 1950s by small (and mostly short-lived) B movie studios. Although many of them were based on (or near) today's Gower Street in Hollywood, the term did n ...

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

s.Johnson (1996), p. 261 Director Herbert Tevos, born Herbert Schoellenbach, reportedly claimed to have had a film career in his native Germany and to have directed films starring

Marlene Dietrich Marie Magdalene "Marlene" DietrichBorn as Maria Magdalena, not Marie Magdalene, according to Dietrich's biography by her daughter, Maria Riva ; however Dietrich's biography by Charlotte Chandler cites "Marie Magdalene" as her birth name . (, ; ...

and

Erich von Stroheim Erich Oswald Hans Carl Maria von Stroheim (born Erich Oswald Stroheim; September 22, 1885 – May 12, 1957) was an Austrian-American director, actor and producer, most noted as a film star and avant-garde, visionary director of the silent era. H ...

. He even claimed credit for supposedly directing the film ''

The Blue Angel ''The Blue Angel'' (german: Der blaue Engel) is a 1930 German musical comedy-drama film directed by Josef von Sternberg, and starring Marlene Dietrich, Emil Jannings and Kurt Gerron. Written by Carl Zuckmayer, Karl Vollmöller and Robert Lie ...

'' (1930). Actually, ''Mesa'' was his only known film credit.Weaver (2009), p. 212-231 The music of the film was composed by

Hoyt Curtin Hoyt Stoddard Curtin (September 9, 1922 – December 3, 2000) was an American composer and music producer, the primary musical director for the Hanna-Barbera animation studio from its beginnings with '' The Ruff & Reddy Show'' in 1957 until his re ...

. It makes use of a

flamenco guitar A flamenco guitar is a guitar similar to a classical guitar but with thinner tops and less internal bracing. It usually has nylon strings, like the classical guitar, but it generally possesses a livelier, more gritty sound compared to the clas ...

and a piano, with their sounds combined in what seems to be a

free jazz Free jazz is an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes. Musicians during ...

composition. It was later reused in the film '' Jail Bait'' (1954).Craig (2009), p. 69-82 The narrator

also appeared in various films by

Ed Wood Edward Davis Wood Jr. (October 10, 1924 – December 10, 1978) was an American filmmaker, actor, and pulp novel author. In the 1950s, Wood directed several low-budget science fiction, crime and horror films that later became cult cla ...

, such as ''

Plan 9 from Outer Space ''Plan 9 from Outer Space'' is a 1957 American independent science fiction-horror film produced, written, directed, and edited by Ed Wood. The film was shot in black-and-white in November 1956 and had a theatrical preview screening on March 15 ...

'' (1959). One of the various spider-women of Aranya is played by

Dolores Fuller Dolores Agnes Fuller ( Eble, later Chamberlin; March 10, 1923 – May 9, 2011) was an American actress and songwriter best known as the one-time girlfriend of the low-budget film director Ed Wood. She played the protagonist's girlfriend in ' ...

, who also appeared in Wood's films. The film also features the film debut of Katina Vea as the spider-woman who first drove Masterson to the desert. She later became better known as a regular in

Jerry Warren Jerry Warren (March 10, 1925 – August 21, 1988) was an American film director, producer, editor, screenwriter, cinematographer, and actor. Warren grew up wanting to get into the film business in Los Angeles, California. He appeared in s ...

films, using the stage name Katherine Victor.Weaver (2000), p. 385-386 While Tarantella is one of the key characters of the film, this was a silent part for actress Tandra Quinn. She also had a silent part in ''

The Neanderthal Man ''The Neanderthal Man'' is a 78-minute, 1953 American black-and-white science fiction film produced independently by Aubrey Wisberg and Jack Pollexfen, as Global Productions Inc., from their own original screenplay. It starred Robert Shayne, Ri ...

'' (1953), playing a

deaf-mute Deaf-mute is a term which was used historically to identify a person who was either deaf and used sign language or both deaf and could not speak. The term continues to be used to refer to deaf people who cannot speak an oral language or have som ...

. Decades later, Quinn recalled that she never received "a decent speaking part" in a film. She reportedly chose her stage name by modifying one suggested by Tevos. He had suggested the stage name Tandra Nova. She agreed to the first name "Tandra", but found the last name unsuitable and reminiscent of

Lou Nova Lou Nova (March 16, 1913 – September 29, 1991) also called ''Cosmic punch'' was an American boxer and actor. Born in Los Angeles, California, the Nova was the U.S. and World Amateur Boxing Champion in 1935. After turning pro, he remained ...

. She instead chose the last name "Quinn" in honor of dancer Joan Quinn. ''Mesa'' was one of six 1950s films to make use of wire-controlled giant spiders. The others were ''

Cat-Women of the Moon ''Cat-Women of the Moon'' is an independently made 1953 American black-and-white three-dimensional science-fiction film, produced by Jack Rabin and Al Zimbalist, directed by Arthur Hilton, that stars Sonny Tufts, Victor Jory, and Marie Winds ...

'' (1953), ''

Tarantula Tarantulas comprise a group of large and often hairy spiders of the family Theraphosidae. , 1,040 species have been identified, with 156 genera. The term "tarantula" is usually used to describe members of the family Theraphosidae, although ...

'' (1955), '' World Without End'' (1956), ''

Queen of Outer Space ''Queen of Outer Space'' is a 1958 American science fiction feature film shot in DeLuxe Color and CinemaScope. Produced by Ben Schwalb and directed by Edward Bernds, it stars Zsa Zsa Gabor, Eric Fleming, and Laurie Mitchell. The screenplay by C ...

'' (1958), and ''

Missile to the Moon ''Missile to the Moon'' is a 1958 independently made American black-and-white science fiction film drama, produced by Marc Frederic, directed by Richard E. Cunha, that stars Richard Travis, Cathy Downs, and K. T. Stevens. The film was distrib ...

'' (1958).Johnson (1996), p. 23 ''Mesa'' and ''Cat-Women'' made use of similar giant spider props. However the spider used in ''Mesa'' was limited in movement, a single jump being its greatest action feat. The one in ''Cat-Women'' was created by

Wah Chang Wah Ming Chang (August 2, 1917 – December 22, 2003) was an American designer, sculptor, and artist. With the encouragement of his adoptive father, James Blanding Sloan, he began exhibiting his prints and watercolors at the age of seven ...

and was more advanced. Both ''Mesa'' and ''Missile to the Moon'' were partially filmed in the Red Rock Canyon State Park.Johnson (1996), p. 357

Release

The film was distributed in the United States by Howco Productions Inc. and reissued in 1956 through Ron Ormond Enterprises.

Reception

The movie has been criticized for its low-quality production and acting, most notably that of Harmon Stevens and Jackie Coogan. The loud and repetitive musical score by Hoyt S. Curtin, melding flamenco guitar and piano, is described variously as maddening and "very able, a sustained inspiration" In his review of the film for

AllMovie AllMovie (previously All Movie Guide) is an online database with information about films, television programs, and screen actors. , AllMovie.com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by RhythmOne. History AllMovie was founded by popular-cult ...

, Richard Gilliam wrote that " e story is more incoherent than non-linear, the characters are woodenly constructed, and the overall film is a dull, tepid mess." Critic Nigel Honeybone described the film as "hopelessly muddled and misguided," claimed "the soundtrack will drive you insane as the same refrain is repeated again and again and again," and speculated that the film is "so bad you have to ask yourself, is it actually evil?"

References

Sources

* * * * * *

External links

* * {{Internet Archive film, id=MesaOfLostWomen, name=Mesa of Lost Women 1953 films 1953 horror films 1950s science fiction films American black-and-white films American exploitation films Films about spiders Films directed by Ron Ormond Films set in Mexico Films set in the United States Giant monster films Mad scientist films 1950s science fiction horror films Films scored by Hoyt Curtin American science fiction horror films Films shot in California 1950s monster movies American monster movies 1953 directorial debut films 1950s English-language films 1950s American films