One Million B.C. is a 1940 American fantasy film produced by Hal Roach Studios and released by United Artists. It is also known by the titles Cave Man, Man and His Mate, and Tumak.
The film stars Victor Mature as protagonist Tumak, a young caveman who strives to unite the uncivilized Rock Tribe and the peaceful Shell Tribe, Carole Landis as Loana, daughter of the Shell Tribe chief and Tumak's love interest, and Lon Chaney Jr. as Tumak's stern father and leader of the Rock Tribe. Chaney's billing differs from that of his home studio Universal Pictures in that Hal Roach elected to retain the "Jr." instead of billing him under his father's name, possibly because Roach was co-directing the film with his own son Hal Roach Jr.
A group of modern-day hikers caught in a storm seek shelter in a cave. They encounter an anthropologist who interprets prehistoric carvings that introduce the story of a young caveman.
Akhoba, head of the Rock Tribe, leads a hunting party. His son Tumak begs the right to his first kill, a small Triceratops which he wrestles to death. An elderly man in the party falls from a cliff and is left to die. The party arrives at the Rock Tribe's cave with their prey. The beast is cooked on an open fire. When it is done, the strongest feed first, next the women and children, then the few elderly pick through the scraps. Tumak defends his portion from demands by Akhoba. They fight and Akhoba knocks Tumak over a cliff as his mother watches. Tumak recovers to find a mastodon attacking him. He runs and climbs a tree. The mastodon rams the tree and knocks it into a river.
Tumak floats downstream unconscious and is found by Loana of the Shell Tribe. Her tribesmen answer her shell horn call and take Tumak to their cave. The tribe gathers for a meal of vegetables, shared orderly with the children, women, and elderly served first. Tumak awakes and Loana gives him food, which he guards as he eats, perplexing the tribe who share and do not fight. Tumak looks on, confused by the customs of the Shell Tribe.
Meanwhile, Akhoba leads a hunting party into the hills but is injured trying to take down a muskox. As Akhoba lies injured, a younger hunter asserts authority over the others and takes Akhoba's place as leader, leaving Akhoba to die. Later, Akhoba, crippled, shows up at the cave but is treated with contempt.
Tumak adjusts slowly to life with the Shell Tribe. He helps the children gather food by shaking fruit out of a tree, and they teach him how to laugh. He tries to fish with Loana but grows frustrated, as spearfishing is not like land hunting. While he is fishing, an Allosaurus traps a child in a tree. Tumak uses a borrowed spear to kill the dinosaur and save the child, but does not want to return the spear to its owner. Later that night, Tumak steals the spear and a hammer from their maker, and attacks him when he tries to reclaim them. The tribal leader, Loana's father, banishes Tumak.
As Tumak departs, Loana, who has fallen in love with him, leaves her tribe to follow him, much to his dismay. Tumak pulls apples from a tree for himself, ignoring Loana. Seeing that she has trouble reaching apples herself, he relents and helps her. Along the way, they spot a giant armadillo, which chases them up a tree. Later, as Tumak and Loana reach Rock Tribe territory, they are trapped in a fissure during a fight between a sail-backed dinosaur and a lizard-like dinosaur. Loana escapes, but is menaced by the leader who previously displaced Akhoba. She blows her shell horn, leading Tumak to her rescue. He saves her by defeating the leader, becoming the new leader.
Tumak has Loana handle the meals, which confuses the Rock Tribe, since she feeds the women and children first, then Akhoba whom she has sat on his former throne, and then the other elders. Lastly, Tumak and the able-bodied men are fed. The next day, Akhoba comes outside to see his tribe learning to gather fruits and vegetables, with Loana showing them which are good to eat and which are not. Loana and Tumak sit and talk, but Tumak is called away to help hunt a deer, while Loana helps search for a missing child.
A nearby volcano erupts, scattering the Rock Tribe after destroying their cave. A child's mother is engulfed by a lava flow; Loana saves the child but is cut off from the others by the lava flow. She and the child head to the Shell Tribe. Many animals fall into the crevasses opened by the volcanic eruption. Tumak searches for Loana but finds only a scrap of her clothing near the lava flow, and presumes her to be dead.
Later, a Shell tribesman seeks out Tumak and tells him that Loana is still alive, but the Shell Tribe is trapped in their cave by a large iguana-like dinosaur. Tumak leads his men to attack and kill the beast. Akohba and the women with the children follow. The Shell Tribe hold off the creature with torches. Tumak's direct spear attack is futile. Akhoba advises Tumak to distract the dinosaur while the rest of the men climb to higher ground. They start a rockslide that kills the beast. The formerly despised Akhoba becomes recognized for his experience and wisdom. As a result, both tribes unite as one. Tumak, Loana, and the rescued child are framed in the last scene as the dawn of a new day begins.
Producer Hal Roach hired D. W. Griffith to produce this film and Of Mice and Men, writing to him, "I need help from the production side to select the proper writers, cast, etc. and to help me generally in the supervision of these pictures."[3]
Griffith reportedly wrote a script based on a French novel by Eugene Roche.[4]
Although Griffith eventually disagreed with Roach over the production and departed, Roach later insisted that some of the scenes in the completed film were directed by Griffith. This would make the film the final production in which Griffith was actively involved. But cast members recall Griffith directing only the screen tests and costume tests. When Roach advertised the film in late 1939 with Griffith listed as producer, Griffith asked that his name be removed.[5][6]
"Griffith did all the tests", recalled Mature. "He tested for six months. I don't know what he was looking for. They'd have been better off letting the old man direct the picture. One day, he just wasn't around any more."[8]
Lon Chaney Jr. had just made Of Mice and Men for Roach.
"I had to 'ugh' my way through that picture", said Mature.[9]
The film drew mixed reviews from critics. B. R. Crisler of The New York Times called the film "a masterpiece of imaginative fiction...You are almost certain to like something about 'One Million, B. C.'"[11]Variety called it "corny", adding, "There isn't much sense to the action nor much interest in the characters."[12]Harrison's Reports praised the "good technical work" and called the volcanic eruption "most thrilling", but said the storyline and romance were "slightly silly, and only tend to bore one."[13]Film Daily called the film a "decided novelty" that was "full of thrills" and had "excellent" direction.[14]John Mosher of The New Yorker wrote, "Being skimpy with its dinosaurs, 'One Million B.C.' won't tickle the gizzards of paleontologists."[15]
Legacy
Footage from this film, as well as numerous unused scenes and outtakes, went into a stock footage library. This footage was then used by numerous companies through the years by producers who wanted to save money on costly special effects shots in films with dinosaurs. Even a few Westerns used footage of rockslides and volcanoes from this film. Because of this, footage from this film appeared in numerous films throughout the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. These films include Tarzan's Desert Mystery (1943), one of the chapters of the serial film Superman (1948), Atom Man vs. Superman (1950), Two Lost Worlds (1950), The Lost Volcano (1950; one of the films in the Bomba, the Jungle Boy series), the American version of Godzilla Raids Again (1955) known as Gigantis the Fire Monster (1959), Jungle Manhunt (1951; one of the films in the Jungle Jim series), Smoky Canyon (1952), the "Yesterday's World" episode of The Schaefer Century Theatre (1952), Untamed Women (1952), Robot Monster (1953), The Lost Planet (1953), King Dinosaur (1955), the Three Stooges short film Space Ship Sappy (1957), Teenage Caveman (1958), She Demons (1958), Valley of the Dragons (1961), Journey to the Center of Time (1967), Horror of the Blood Monsters (1970; the stock footage was tinted in color for this film), the Mexican films Island of the Dinosaurs (La isla de los dinosaurios 1967), Adventure at the Center of the Earth (Aventura al centro de la tierra; 1966) and The Ghost Jesters (Los fantasmas burlones; 1964), One Million AC/DC (1969), TerrorVision (1986) and Attack of the B Movie Monster (1989).[16][17][18] The technique of using optically enlarged lizards and/or small crocodilians to represent dinosaurs has been given the nickname of slurpasaur by fans.[who?]
Of Mice and Men is a 1939 American drama film based on the 1937 play of the same name, which itself was based on the novella of the same name by author John Steinbeck. The film stars Burgess Meredith, Betty Field, and Lon Chaney Jr., and features Charles Bickford, Roman Bohnen, Bob Steele, and Noah Beery Jr. The film tells the story of two men, George and his intellectually disabled partner Lennie, trying to survive during the dustbowl of the 1930s and pursuing a dream of owning their own ranch instead of always working for others. Starring in the lead roles were relative Hollywood newcomer Burgess Meredith as George and veteran actor Lon Chaney Jr. as Lennie. Chaney had appeared in more than 50 films by that point in his career, but Of Mice and Men was his first major role. Betty Field's role as Mae was her breakthrough role in film.
Creighton Tull Chaney, known by his stage name Lon Chaney Jr., was an American actor known for playing Larry Talbot in the film The Wolf Man (1941) and its various crossovers, Count Alucard in Son of Dracula, Frankenstein's monster in The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942), the Mummy in three pictures, and various other roles in many Universal horror films, including six films in their 1940s Inner Sanctum series, making him a horror icon. He also portrayed Lennie Small in Of Mice and Men (1939) and played supporting parts in dozens of mainstream movies, including High Noon (1952), The Defiant Ones (1958), and numerous Westerns, musicals, comedies and dramas.
The year 1914 in film involved some significant events, including the debut of Cecil B. DeMille as a director.
Harold Eugene "Hal" Roach Sr. was an American film and television producer, director and screenwriter, who was the founder of the namesake Hal Roach Studios.
Victor John Mature was an American stage, film, and television actor who was a leading man in Hollywood during the 1940s and 1950s. His best known film roles include One Million B.C. (1940), My Darling Clementine (1946), Kiss of Death (1947), Samson and Delilah (1949), and The Robe (1953). He also appeared in many musicals opposite such stars as Rita Hayworth and Betty Grable.
One Million Years B.C. is a 1966 British adventure fantasy film directed by Don Chaffey. The film was produced by Hammer Film Productions and Seven Arts, and is a remake of the 1940 American fantasy film One Million B.C.. The film stars Raquel Welch and John Richardson, set in a fictional age of cavemen and dinosaurs coexisting together. Location scenes were filmed on the Canary Islands in the middle of winter, in late 1965. The UK release prints of this film were printed in dye transfer Technicolor. The U.S. version released by 20th Century Fox was cut by nine minutes, printed in DeLuxe Color, and released in 1967.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a 1923 American drama film starring Lon Chaney, directed by Wallace Worsley, and produced by Carl Laemmle and Irving Thalberg. The supporting cast includes Patsy Ruth Miller, Norman Kerry, Nigel de Brulier, and Brandon Hurst. Distributed by Universal Pictures, the film was the studio's "Super Jewel" of 1923 and was their most successful silent film, grossing $3.5 million. The film premiered on September 2, 1923, at the Astor Theatre in New York, New York, then went into release on September 6.
Flying Elephants is a two-reel silent film from 1928 directed by Frank Butler and co-written and produced by Hal Roach. It stars Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy as a pair of battling cavemen.
Untamed Women is a 1952 independently made American science fiction film, directed by W. Merle Connell, written by George Wallace Sayre, and starring Mikel Conrad and Doris Merrick. It was distributed by United Artists.
The Trap is a 1922 American silent Western film directed by Robert Thornby and starring Lon Chaney and Alan Hale. It was released by Universal Pictures. The film was released in the United Kingdom under the title Heart of a Wolf. One working title for the film was Wolfbreed. The film was re-released in the U.S. in 1926.
The Big City is a 1928 American silent crime film directed by Tod Browning and starring Lon Chaney. Waldemar Young wrote the screenplay, based on a story by Tod Browning. The film is now lost.
John Hubbard was an American television and film actor.
Pay Me! is a 1917 American silent drama film directed by Joe De Grasse and starring Lon Chaney, Dorothy Phillips, and William Stowell. In the United States, the film is also known as The Vengeance of the West. The screenplay was written by Bess Meredith, based on a story by Joe De Grasse. This film was Universal Pictures' first "Jewel Production" release. Once considered to be a lost film, an incomplete (23-minute) print was rediscovered in the Gosfilmofond archive in Russia in 2019. A still exists showing Lon Chaney in the role of the villainous Joe Lawson.
The Housekeeper's Daughter is a 1939 comedy/drama film directed and produced by Hal Roach. The film stars Joan Bennett, Adolphe Menjou and John Hubbard. The screenplay was written by Rian James, Gordon Douglas, Jack Jevne and Claude Martin, based on a novel by Donald Henderson Clarke.
13 Demon Street is a 1959 horror anthology TV series. Thirteen 25-minute episodes were produced in Sweden, filmed in English language. The cast was a mixture of American, British, and Swedish actors. The series never aired in American syndication. In 1962, three episodes of the series were edited together to form a theatrical feature called The Devil's Messenger with extra framing footage shot that reconfigured Chaney's character as Satan. Chaney filmed new wraparound segments to link the three episodes, which were "The Photograph", "The Girl in the Glacier" and "Condemned in Crystal".
Harold Eugene Roach Jr. was an American film and television producer.
Roy Seawright was a Hollywood special effects technician, principally with Hal Roach Studios.
A fur/hide bikini was worn by Raquel Welch in the 1966 British-made prehistoric saga One Million Years B.C. In that bikini, she was described as "wearing mankind's first bikini" and the fur bikini was described as a "definitive look of the 1960s".
Captain Caution is a 1940 American adventure film directed by Richard Wallace set during the War of 1812. The film stars Victor Mature, Bruce Cabot and Alan Ladd. It was based on the novel of the same name by Kenneth Roberts. Elmer Raguse was nominated for an Academy Award for Sound Recording.
Photoplay Productions is an independent film company, based in the UK, under the direction of Kevin Brownlow and Patrick Stanbury. Is one of the few independent companies to operate in the revival of interest in the lost world of silent cinema and has been recognised as a driving force in the subject.
References
↑ Hanson, Patricia King, ed. (1993). The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States: Feature Films, 1931–1940. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. p.1570. ISBN0-520-07908-6.
↑ Ward, Richard Lewis (2005) A History of the Hal Roach Studios, p. 109-110. Southern Illinois University. ISBN0-8093-2637-X. In his Biograph days, Griffith had directed two films with prehistoric settings: Man's Genesis (1912), and Brute Force (1913).
↑ DOUGLAS W. CHURCHILL (September 18, 1939). "SCREEN NEWS HERE AND IN HOLLYWOOD: Columbia Gets Miss Russell From Metro for the Lead in 'His Girl Friday' NEW FRENCH FILM TODAY 'Mademoiselle Ma Mere' at the 55th St. Playhouse--6 Other New Pictures This Week Roach to Direct Griffith Film Coast Scripts". New York Times. p.21.
↑ "Of Local Origin". New York Times. April 26, 1940. p.28.
↑ "Tentin' Tonight, As Usual, Vic Will Be a Star: Rebellious Young Man Quits Business to Starve, but Wins". The Washington Post. September 4, 1939. p.12.
↑ Thomas, Kevin (December 7, 1966). "Victor Mature Hits Stride". Los Angeles Times. p.D15.
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