When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (1970)

Director:

Val Guest

Writers:

J.G. Ballard (treatment)
Val Guest (screenplay)

Release Date:

17 March 1971 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Fantasy | Sci-Fi | Romance

Tagline:

A Hammer film greater than 'ONE MILLION YEARS B.C.'

Plot:

Set in a non-existant past when humans and dinosaurs lived together, a small tribe is struggling to...

Plot Keywords:

Dinosaur | Beefcake | Animal In Title | Remake | Cheesecake

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Victoria Vetri	...	Sanna
Robin Hawdon	...	Tara
Patrick Allen	...	Kingsor
Drewe Henley	...	Khaku
Sean Caffrey	...	Kane
Magda Konopka	...	Ulido
Imogen Hassall	...	Ayak
Patrick Holt	...	Ammon
Jan Rossini	...	Rock Girl
Carol Hawkins	...	Yani (as Carol-Anne Hawkins)
Maria O'Brien	...	Omah
Connie Tilton	...	Sand Mother
Maggie Lynton	...	Rock Mother
Jimmy Lodge	...	Fisherman
Billy Cornelius	...	Hunter

Runtime:

Germany:100 min | Portugal:97 min | USA:96 min

Country:

UK

Language:

Aboriginal | English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.75 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 (original rating) | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-12 | Portugal:M/12 | USA:G | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Fuerteventura, Canary Islands, Spain

Company:

Hammer Film Productions

Trivia:

A 27-word "caveman language" was devised for this movie, supposedly drawing on Phoenician, Latin, and Sanskrit sources. Some of the key words in this language are: "neecha" is "stop" or "come back"; "zak" is "gone" or "left"; "akita" is "look" or "see"; "neecro" is "bad" or "evil"; "m'kan" is "kill" or "killed"; "mata" is "dead"; "yo kita" is "go".

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Paul Merton: The Series: (#1.1)" (1991)

An enjoyable exercise in pure cinema

A movie that just seems to get better with the passing years. The dialog is in "caveman" with no subtitles, which means the story is told almost entirely in visual terms. But, hey, that's how movies got started in the first place! Worth noting is the Canary Island scenery which is fresh and evocative. The human scenery is attractive as well with stars Victoria Vetri and Robin Hawdon spending the entire production in nothing more than fur bikinis. Hawdon's career in film acting never took off but he did a lot of stage work in England and a lot of writing as well. Worth reading is his 1984 novel, "A Rustle in the Grass" -- a delightful novel (a la "Watership Down") about a colony of ants. His most memorable scene in this movie consists of "beefcake-bondage" and it comes when he's tied spread-eagle-style between two wooden posts. Fuel for a fire is then piled between his spread-open legs. Curiously, though, his tormentors allow him to keep on his loincloth which certainly won't protect his more sensitive parts from the rising flames but which will, unfortunately, block some of the view and thus lessen the fun. Well, they were only cavemen and thus have a lot to learn about the nudity factor in torture and executions.