United Artists [1940] 80′
country: United States
director: HAL ROACH / HAL ROACH JR.
cast: VICTOR MATURE, CAROLE LANDIS,
cast: LON CHANEY JR., JOHN HUBBARD
Producer / writer / director Hal Roach was nothing if not prolific, with over 1100 production credits to his name and writer and director credits each numbering over 150. Having worked predominantly in the highly profitable genre of comedy since first stepping into the industry in 1914, he moved on to higher end productions in 1937, resulting in such classics as the TOPPER films and OF MICE AND MEN, as well as the odd prehistoric spectacle reviewed here today.
ONE MILLION B.C. begins with a brief modern framing sequence, in which a friendly professor relates his interpretation of some cave drawings to a group of rain-drenched hikers – but the rest of the film is based squarely in a fantasy prehistory in which primitive man walked the same world as the dinosaurs. Tumak [strapping young Victor Mature in his first starring role] is a young hunter and son of the leader of the Rock people, who spend their days watching their friends fall off of cliffs and fighting over whatever food they happen to come across. After a slight disagreement with his dictatorial father, Tumak is banished from the tribe and cast, unconscious, into a river near their cave home.
