Sunday, August 25, 2013

Movie review - "When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth" (1970) **1/2

The success of She and One Million Years BC kicked off a fantasy cycle for Hammer, of which is one of the best. It repeats One Million Years' formula of hot cave women and cave men running around wearing not much fighting each other and some dinosaurs.

Victoria Vetri was selected to fill Raquel Welch's fur bikini as a woman who is about to be burned at the stake but escapes and falls for a man from another tribe, Robin Hawdon. He's got dark hair, so have the women who want to get off with him and Vetri is a blonde (there's a bit of pro-blonde propaganda in these films eg Slave Girl).

The story is silly - Vetri and Hawdon running around, clambering over cliffs, trying to escape nasty cavemen, the elements and dinosaurs (who are constantly used as a deux ex machina). This is a bit more "sea-oriented" than other entries - several times characters clamber on to rafts and people almost drown.

The dinosaur stuff is pretty good: lizards, birds, snakes, crabs and what-not. It is hard to tell the actors apart at times but Vetri is very statuesque and the cast is extremely good looking. This is one of the sexiest movies in the series - Vetri and Hawdon are really into each other and they go for it in that cave (there's a version with a nude swim too).

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