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: N/A
Runtime:
1 hr 40 min (United Kingdom)
1 hr 31 min (North America)
Background:
One Million Years B.C.
is a 1966 British film produced by Hammer Film Productions and Seven
Arts. It is a remake of the 1940 American film One Million B.C. which
was controversial for its use of live animals in staged fights. Filming
was done in Lanzarote and Tenerife on the Canary Islands during the
winter months and the stop-motion dinosaurs were animated by the
legendary Ray Harryhausen. Some live animals were used on Ray's
suggestion that it would help convince the audience that everything was
real. Several technically complex scenes were created, including one
where a live actor is plucked from the water by a dinosaur. All the
dinosaur models still exist today and many were re-purposed for use in
other films. The ceratosaurus and triceratops appear in The Valley of
Gwangi as the allosaurus and styracosaurus. Footage of the landslide was
later reused in the 1971 film, A Clockwork Orange.
Plot Summary:
Tumak,
the son of the Rock Tribe chief Akhoba, is given permission to take his
fist kill, a warthog, 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 spends the next couple of
days dodging giant iguanas, tarantulas, brontosaurs, and ape-men.
Eventually he collapses on a beach where Loana of the Shell Tribe finds
him and rescues him from an archelon.
Tumak 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, Ahot. For assaulting Ahot, the tribal leader banishes Tumak from the tribe, although he is allowed to keep the spear as a show of good will. Loana decides to follow Tumak into the wilderness where the two hide from ape-men. Later, a fight between a triceratops and a ceratosaurus trap the duo in a fissure. Meanwhile, Akhoba of the Rock Tribe has been left crippled after losing a fight to Sakana, his son and Tumak's brother. Sakana finds Loana, but is defeated by Tumak who takes over leadership of the tribe. Loana and Tumak's former lover Nupondi get into a physical altercation, but the two make up when Loana refuses to deal the finishing blow despite the tribe's encouragement.
During an outing at the river, Loana is abducted by a pteranodon to be used as food for its young. She is dropped into the sea when a rhamphorhynchus intervenes to steal the meal. Loana then returns to the Shell Tribe and leads them back to the Rock Tribe, where Sakana and a group of like-minded individuals have launched an armed revolt against Akhoba. In the midst of the battle a volcano erupts, engulfing members of both tribes. Sakana is speared to death and Akhoba is crushed by falling rock. The remaining members of both tribes unite and set off to find a new home.
Thoughts:
There are
enough changes from the original to make this retelling worth watching,
although I think I prefer the story in the original. The acting in the
remake is too muted at times for the message to always come across as
clearly as it did in the original. A lot of emotionally defining moments
from the original were also removed, such as Tumak mistaking Loana
bringing him food as an act of aggression, or the wholesomeness of Loana
introducing Tumak to her parents. Tumak then introducing Loana to his
mom, and reluctantly to his father - a broken man on the floor. It really
emphasized the cultural differences behind both tribes, while the
remake leans more into the physical differences. The original had a much
happier ending as well compared to the remake, which had many more
named characters die and left the future uncertain.
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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