This is a series on old dinosaur movies. Specifically, I am looking at anything released before 1990; before Jurassic Park revolutionized cinema with its CGI animation. I will not be covering anything "dinosaur-adjacent", such as kaiju monsters like Godzilla or the creature from The Giant Behemoth, which are perhaps inspired by dinosaurs, but clearly not meant to represent any real world genus. I will also be skipping over films that are heavily dependent on "borrowed" footage from other films, such as the Valley of the Dragons / Prehistoric Valley.
Also known as:
Cave Man
Man and His Mate
Tumak
Runtime: 1 hr 20 min
Background:
One Million B.C. is a 1940 American film produced by Hal Roach Studios. Footage from this movie was often 'borrowed' by other productions well into the 1960s. The practice was so common that you have likley seen footage from this movie at some point in your life. Men in dinosaur suits alongside live animals in prosthetics were used to bring the prehistoric animals to life. Injuries and prolonged deaths sustained by the animals were commonplace, and prompted the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) to ban this kind of treatment in future productions. The release in Britain had to be heavily edited for this reason. A cruelty free remake in color was released in 1966 under the title, One Million Years B.C.
Plot Summary:
The story is told from the perspective of an anthropologist interpreting prehistoric carvings on a cave wall for hikers taking shelter from a storm. Tumak, the son of the Rock Tribe chief Akhoba, is given permission to take his fist kill - a triceratops (pig), which he wrestles to death. The kill is taken back to their cave where the strongest men feed first, followed by the women and children, and finally the elderly are left to fight over the scraps. When Akhoba tries to take food from Tumak, a fight ensues. Tumak is knocked over a cliff in the scuffle and then is chased by a woolly mammoth (Asian elephant) up a tree. The tree is subsequently knocked into the river were it floats downstream and is found by Loana of the Shell Tribe.
Tumak is accepted into the Shell Tribe, but is perplexed to see the women, children, and elderly being served food first without any fighting taking place. He gradually adjusts to a more peaceful lifestyle but struggles to learn spearfishing, a hunting technique not employed by the Rock Tribe. While learning, an allosaurus attacks the tribe, trapping a child in a tree. Tumak spears the dinosaur to death but then does not want to return the spear to its owner. He later steals the spear again, plus a hammer, and assaults the owner. This act forces the tribal leader - Loana's father, to banish Tumak from the tribe. Loana decides to follow Tumak into the wilderness where the two are chased by a glyptodon (six-banded armadillo) into a tree. Later, a fight between a dimetrodon (alligator) and a megalania (Argentine black and white tegu) trap the duo in a fissure. Meanwhile, Akhoba of the Rock Tribe has been left crippled after failing to take down a muskox (Brahman), allowing a younger hunter to assume leadership of the Rock Tribe. The new leader finds Loana, but is defeated by Tumak who takes over leadership of the tribe. Loana confuses the Rock Tribe with her softer ways but they gradually lean her ways, including what fruits and vegetables are safe.
A sudden volcanic eruption engulfs a mother in the lava flow. Loana manages to save the woman's child but is cut off from the others, and so returns to the Shell Tribe. Later, a Shell tribesman tells Tumak that Loana lives but that the Shell Tribe is trapped in their cave by a large rhinoceros iguana. Unable to pierce its hide, Akhoba advises the Rock Tribe to start a rockslide that buries the animal alive. Both tribes then unite and live peacefully.
Thoughts:
The plot is simplistic, but for a story told almost exclusively through its visuals that is exactly what you need. Too complex and you risk the audience being unable to follow the sequence of events or understanding the motives behind the silent characters. This type of storytelling is quite rare even today and doesn't get the kind of credit it should. Unfortunately, many animals were severely injured or killed during filming, and the animal abuse hangs like a dark cloud over an otherwise stellar (for the time) production. Sure animals fight all the time in the wild for food, mates, and territory but they should never be forced to fight for human amusement. That's basically dog fighting which is illegal worldwide with a few exceptions. Fortunately, a cruelty free remake exists for those who need it and the original remains a part of cinema history.
Related Articles:
- Journey to the Beginning of Time (1955)
One Million B.C. (1940)/ One Million Years B.C. (1966)- Dinosaurus! (1960)
- Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet (1965)
- The Last Dinosaur (1977)
- Legend of Dinosaurs & Monster Birds (1977)
- Planet of Dinosaurs (1977)
- Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend (1985)
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