This was one of Hammer Films most expensive productions to date as they explored other genres away from their mainstay of gothic horror, and it turned out to be a great success. They lured American star Raquel Welch to wear scantily clad outfits and face the perils of Ray Harryhausen's stop motion effects with not one single piece of dialogue being uttered throughout. With that in mind it is surprisingly engaging and fun to watch as we see a bunch of cave men overcoming power struggles, trying to avoid dinosaurs and giant turtles in the harsh volcanic landscapes of Lanzarote and dealing with a tribe of cave women lead by Welch.
It's a colourful remake of One Million B. C. (1940) with the added bonus of Ray Harryhausen who had revolutionised stop motion techniques to great effect in films like the 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958) and Jason & the Argonauts (1963). For a modern audience though brought up on CGI expecting Jurassic Park they will be wondering what all the fuss is about and find the effects here to be crude, quaint and unconvincing but it doesn't really matter because director Don Chaffey moves things along at a brisk pace, transports you to a world of fantasy where you are not sure what is going to happen next and treats the struggles of early mankind with dignity and sincerity despite it's historical inaccuracies.
The big selling point in 1966 was undeniably Raquel Welch in a fur bikini being splashed all over the poster who went on to become an international sex symbol but here she proves to be much more than eye candy and holds her own in fights, battles with monsters and saving men. In fact all the actors, notably John Richardson and Martine Beswick, do well to pull off a primitive world with little more than grunts, gestures and physical stunts.
It's a colourful remake of One Million B. C. (1940) with the added bonus of Ray Harryhausen who had revolutionised stop motion techniques to great effect in films like the 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958) and Jason & the Argonauts (1963). For a modern audience though brought up on CGI expecting Jurassic Park they will be wondering what all the fuss is about and find the effects here to be crude, quaint and unconvincing but it doesn't really matter because director Don Chaffey moves things along at a brisk pace, transports you to a world of fantasy where you are not sure what is going to happen next and treats the struggles of early mankind with dignity and sincerity despite it's historical inaccuracies.
The big selling point in 1966 was undeniably Raquel Welch in a fur bikini being splashed all over the poster who went on to become an international sex symbol but here she proves to be much more than eye candy and holds her own in fights, battles with monsters and saving men. In fact all the actors, notably John Richardson and Martine Beswick, do well to pull off a primitive world with little more than grunts, gestures and physical stunts.