Mesa of Lost Women (1953)
Mesa of Lost Women is a 1953 American low-budget black-and-white science fiction film directed by Herbert Tevos and Ron Ormond from a screenplay by Tevos and Orville H. Hampton who is given on-screen credit only for dialogue supervision.
Directors – Ron Ormond, Herbert Tevos
Writers – Herbert Tevos (written for the screen by), Orville H. Hampton (uncredited)
Cast – Jackie Coogan, Allan Nixon, Richard Travis, Narrated by Lyle Talbot, Mary Hill, Robert Knapp, Tandra Quinn, Chris Pin Martin, Harmon Stevens, Nico Lek, Kelly Drake, John Martin, George Burrows, Candy Collins, Delores Fuller, Dean Reisner, Doris Lee Price, Mona McKinnon, Sherry Moreland, Ginger Sherry, Chris Randall, Dianne Fortier, Karna Greene, June Benbow, Katina Vea, Fred Kelsey
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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. Yet, insects outnumber them, and the hexapoda 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 and sunburn 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. Famous scientist Leland Masterson arrives, having accepted an invitation from a fellow scientist named Dr. Aranya. Aranya has reportedly penned “brilliant” scientific treatises, 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 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.
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. 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 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, resulting in their flying in the wrong direction (Wu’s facial expression reveals the saboteur). The airplane crash-lands atop Zarpa Mesa, where Aranya’s creations were expecting them. There is sexual tension 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. 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.