Studio Canal / Warner Home Video
Region : 2
Sound : Mono
Language : English - No Subtitles
Extras : Raquel Welch featurette; Ray Harryhausen Interview; trailer
Length : 96 Minutes
Raquel Welch .... Loana
John Richardson .... Tumak
Percy Herbert .... Sakana
Robert Brown .... Akhoba
Martine Beswick .... Nupondi
Jean Wladon .... Ahot
Lisa Thomas .... Sura
Malya Nappi .... Tohana
Richard James .... Young Rock Man
William Lyon Brown .... Payto
Terence Maidment .... 1st Shell Man
Frank Hayden .... 1st Rock Man
Micky De Rauch .... 1st Shell Girl
Yvonne Horner .... Ullah
Directed by Don Chaffey
Writing credits George Baker (1940 screenplay) Michael Carreras
Produced by Michael Carreras....producer
Hal Roach....associate producer (as Hal E. Roach Sr.)
Aida Young....associate producer
Original music by Mario Nascimbene
Cinematography by… Wilkie Cooper
Film Editing by… Tom Simpson
Art Direction by Robert Jones
Costume Design by Carl Toms
Makeup Department
Olga Angelinetta....hair stylist supervisor
Wally Schneiderman....makeup supervisor
John Wilcox...production manager
Dennis Bertera....assistant director
Kenneth McCallum Tait....assistant art director
Sound Department
Roy Baker....sound editor
Alfred Cox....sound editor
A.W. Lumkin....recording director
Bill Rowe....sound mixer
Len Shilton....sound mixer
George Blackwell....special effects
Ray Harryhausen....special visual effects
Ivy Baker....wardrobe mistress
Les Bowie....prologue designer
Gladys Goldsmith....continuity
David Harcourt....camera operator
Marjorie Lavelly....continuity
Pierre Luigi....still photographer (uncredited)
Philip Martell....music supervisor
Jack Mills....camera operator: second unit
James Needs....supervising edit
The
Rock People live in the mountains amongst a lot of rocks.
They have dark brown or black hair, with some grey hair to show there are
a few older people; they also mostly have blue eyes.
The Shell People live by the coast amongst shells. Presumably they eat whatever is in the shells. They have blond hair – even the older ones – but mostly appear to have brown eyes.
Neither lot know of the existence of the others and have a happy time living their lives and dodging giant insects, lizards and the odd dinosaur.
One day one of the Rock People, Tumak (John Richardson) (a younger son of the chief) has a fight and looses to the older son of the chief. He goes west to seek his fortune – and after a couple of encounters comes upon the coast and the Shell People; being a hero he saves some people from danger before spying Loana (Raquel Welch) and falls in love with her (well wouldn’t you?).
The
dialogue consists of “grunt, grunt, grunt (name) grunt”.
Which is actually a lot more meaningful and intelligible that most
dialogue coming out of Hollywood (or anything with Jean-Claude Van Damm in it)
One Million Years BC is not an ‘official’ Ray Harryhausen film, he made it between First Men in the Moon (1964) and Valley of the Gwangi (1969) however it was made by Hammer Films for Warner Brothers with a lot of the ‘Harryhausen regulars’ (Director Don Chaffey had directed Jason & the Argonauts, and cinematographer Wilkie Cooper had photographed Jason and First Men on the Moon). One Million Years B.C. is a remake of the 1940 film One Million B.C. which starred Victor Mature, Carole Landis and Lon Chaney Jr. which explains why Hal Roach has an Executive Producer credit.
The combination of F/x using real beasties (dinosaurs, pterodactyls etc) and Ray Harryhausen model work (spiders and lizards) – or was that the other way round – make for a surreal look to the film. The outdoor scenes filmed amongst the splendour of the volcanic mountains and (as they were in 1966) tourist free beaches of Tenerife; help to give a ‘real’ look that is impossible in a studio or with CGI. The picture quality of the DVD is beautiful; the colours are bright and clear, with solid black levels and no artifacing. The matching of the colours and photography of the model-work and the live action is as seamless as you can get. The Mono sound is perfectly clear – you can hear the grunts.
This
is a genuine ‘fun’ film that looks great; it has a story that can be
followed despite the lack of dialogue and it is a must for all Ray Harryhausen
fans.
On this disc the extras are called ‘Special Features’ and apart from a trailer there are two short conversations – Raquel Welch about 7 minutes and Ray Harryhausen about 10 minutes. These conversations are amongst the best you will come across on any DVD. Virtually all ‘making of’s’ are controlled by the marketing department of either the film company or distributor and are therefore bland ‘love-ins’ about how everyone loved everyone else and how very much they loved making the film, here we have a combined 17 minutes of honesty.
One
Million Years B.C. has one of the most recognisable poster images in cinema;
Raquel Welch in the ‘Fur Bikini’ standing with legs apart – looking as if
she is about to attack something. The
photo, taken by unit photographer Pierre Luigi, was un-posed. It was just one of
many photos taken one morning while Raquel Welch was waiting for a scene to be
ready. As she says in the
conversation it was only when they got back to the UK for the studio work that
she discovered that not only had she become a star, but also, much to her
annoyance, had become a sex symbol.
For the trivia buffs, this British film runs 100 minutes (96 on TV) – in the US 9 minutes was cut. The cuts included a scene where Nupondi (Martine Beswicke) does a provocative dance; Tumak (John Richardson) tastes from the container of paint in the Shell Tribe's cave; and an extended violent scene of a fight among the ape-men while Tumak and Loana (Raquel Welch) hide. In the British version John Richardson gets first billing, the American version gives Raquel Welch first billing.
According to the BBFC the certificate is PG “because of some mild violence”.
