When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth

When I was a kid, 8 or so, I liked this film. I had taped it from TV and I watched it quite often. I was in awe with those dinosaurs, even though I didn't get much of the film. Now I've seen the movie again after many years and I couldn't help but to laugh at the whole seriousness of the film. There's a short narrative in English in the beginning, but the rest of the film is spoken in Cavemannish, in where the most common word seemed to be "Akita". There were subtitles on the film, so you keep up with the story, even though it's not extremely hard to follow. Blonde chick Sanna (Victoria Vetri), who is going to be sacrificed to the sun, escapes after a some sort of lunar upheaval. So the frightened leader Kingsor (Patrick Allen) starts to hunt her, but a good caveman Tara (Robin Hawdon) fells in love with the girl and tries to protect her. The world is habituated by humans and dinosaurs side by side. Big monsters attack, even tough some of them seem to be vegetarians instead of flesh eaters, seemingly randomly in several scenes just to bring in some action to the film. As an effect film "When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth" is hopelessly aged, despite this some scenes look actually quite nice. There is this campy feel in the film and it's hard to take it seriously, but you have to say, that it pretty brave to do a film, that uses some sort of mock up language as its main language. And the film is silly, you can't get around that.

I've got to say this film is a lot of fun. The dinosaur effects were excellent for 1970, and the integration of the stop-motion footage with the live-action still has me wondering "How did they do that?" The film's female lead, Victoria Vetri, is my easily my favorite ex-Playmate actress; she's relentlessly beautiful in the role of Sanna, and surprisingly enough, her performance is as engaging and convincing as one could hope for in a "prehistoric" role. The location shooting is also a plus. All in all, it's a film to enjoy in spite of its silliness, and to laugh along with; not exactly "Citizen Kane", but one of the finest bad movies in existence.

For starters, I'd like to thank the many reviewers who so astutely point out that, in fact, dinosaurs and humans did not co-exist. What a startling revelation--why didn't someone hip us up about this sooner? Now if they can maybe tell us how to spell DUH... This film will appeal to fans of the celebrated "cavegirl-meets- caveboy" genre. Its time-honored, trademark conventions are all there, the stop-motion animated dinosaur effects artistry, and general ambiance of geological upheaval and turmoil, and of course the primitive Stone Age language they speak (with its all- English phonics). Hokey? You bet. But... this genre is refreshing in general for its unflinching, unpretentious attitude about the sexes and human relations, plus its visual celebration of physical beauty as an icon of attraction. There is an exuberant defiance of repressed, "post- modern," pseudo-intellectual nerdiness in this genre, which fans rightly admire and appreciate. These films are not for Oprah, nor NPR. Of course, "One Million Years BC" with Raquel Welch is the definitive epic of this type. "When Dinosaurs Ruled..." is not quite as taut by comparison, but it still delivers. The dinosaur scenes are generally good, even if none of them have quite the punch of some of those from "One Million Years BC." Likewise, our leading cave lady Victoria Vetri is Very Nice, and indeed racks well in her cavegirl outfit, but for sheer screen presence she cannot really compare with Raquel. In fact, the cavegirl bikinis here have a bit less of the magnificently rough-hewn deerskin-rawhide look of "One Million..." But they make up for it as best they can by actually being even skimpier (hard to imagine, I know...). And Victoria and her cavegirl cohorts do a prodigious amount of running, jumping around, and just general jiggling, putting the best foot of these unbelievably teeny weeny bikinis firmly forward. For this film, its what's up front that counts, big time. I must say, those guys at Hammer studios sure do know how to costume, light, and photograph their cast. By the way, the guy's outfits are also extra skimpy (not sure what they were trying to prove with that exactly). Nothing offensive though, it is all within tasteful limits. Compared with "One Million Years BC," there is a generally lower energy, less crackling intensity to "When Dinosaurs Ruled..." The themes are intact, though -- we still get the catfights and violent interpersonal antagonisms over pecking order ranks, and access to mates that made "One Million ..." such riveting fun. But the characters here are not quite as sharply drawn compared to the standard set in "One Million..." They seem a bit pale--not as much personality, not as much charisma. That goes double for the guys, none of whom could have taken on single-handed the rowdy carnivorous therapod of "One Million..." that attacks in the orchard, the way John Richardson did. In fact, the guys are all pretty much a bunch of putzes in this movie, its hard to root for them. But still, if you liked "One Million Years BC" you will definitely want to take in this one, just don't expect it to be quite as good. Perhaps the only aspect in which "When Dinosaurs Ruled..." surpasses "One Million Years BC" is in its extensive use of bear tooth necklaces. Everyone has got them, and they are totally stylin'....

source: When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth

Trailer—When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth

When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth

Crisis-a-minute Hammer production about two young lovers trying to survive men and beasts in prehistoric times. Film eschews English dialogue for primitive talk - it might have sold better if every other word wasn't "akeeta" or "neekro". If early man had faced this many threats this often, the whole race would have been wiped out in a week or so. Final tidal wave sequence is as hokey as it gets; all that said, I think this is a charming film that trumps most of today's fare for pure entertainment.

I've got to say this film is a lot of fun. The dinosaur effects were excellent for 1970, and the integration of the stop-motion footage with the live-action still has me wondering "How did they do that?" The film's female lead, Victoria Vetri, is my easily my favorite ex-Playmate actress; she's relentlessly beautiful in the role of Sanna, and surprisingly enough, her performance is as engaging and convincing as one could hope for in a "prehistoric" role. The location shooting is also a plus. All in all, it's a film to enjoy in spite of its silliness, and to laugh along with; not exactly "Citizen Kane", but one of the finest bad movies in existence.

For B-Movie Fans, there's much to love here. You got your scantily clad hot-looking cavewoman(and well the lovely Victoria Vetri is certainly hard to beat when it comes to that category...only Miss Raquel Welch it seems to me is even in her league), cool stop-motion dinosaurs from Jim Danforth. Of course this film is a little too similar to ONE MILLION YEARS B.C. but nonetheless if you loved that one, you should very well enjoy this one too. Just grab some popcorn, sit back and enjoy.

The complete lack of any modern language helps enormously. Lots of pantomime and tasteful eye-candy for both sexes. The people are very athletic and attractive. Their movement over vast location sets is an impressive work-out. Never dawdles. Very good photography and effects -- for the time, well integrated. Not a low-budget hack-up job. More plausible than any opera I've seen; kinda like a ballet without a consistent musical score.