ONE MILLION YEARS B.C. [1966 / 2016] [50th Anniversary] [Limited Edition SteelBook] [Blu-ray]
A Time When There Was No Law and Man . . . Woman . . . and Beast Roamed the Earth – Untamed!
To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of ‘ONE MILLION YEARS B.C.’ is the spectacular prehistoric adventure with a vivid view of prehistoric life, especially with a man named Tumak [John Richardson] who is a caveman and son of the leader from the mean-spirited and hostile Rock People is banished from his home after a fight. Wandering through brutal prehistoric lands he soon encounters terrifying dinosaurs, giant spiders and Apemen. Battered and bruised, he collapses on a remote beach weary and injured. Loana played by bikini-clad Raquel Welch, in the role that made her a major star, is the daughter of the chief of The Shell Tribe, stumbles upon him, taking pity on the injured and exhausted wanderer, and nursing him back to health. The highlight of the film was the stop motion dinosaurs, with stunning primeval imagery created by pioneering and legendary special effects animator wizard Ray Harryhausen. ‘ONE MILLION YEARS B.C.’ is a true science fiction classic that was Hammer Film Productions biggest commercial success. Narrated by Vic Perrin.
This 50th Anniversary ‘ONE MILLION YEARS B.C.’ Blu-ray release of this prehistoric classic has been stunningly and fully restored in 4K for the very first time and featuring brand new bonus features.
FILM FACT: Originally Hammer Film Productions offered the role of Loana to Ursula Andress. When Ursula Andress passed on the project due to commitments and salary demands, a search for a replacement resulted in the selection of Raquel Welch. The USA release was censored for a broader audience, losing around nine minutes. Deleted scenes included a provocative dance from Martine Beswick, a gruesome end to one of the ape-men in the cave and some footage of the Dinosaur Allosaurus attack on the Shell tribe. Nonetheless, the film was still popular and made $2.5 million in USA rentals during its first year of release. All the dinosaur models from this film still exist, although the Dinosaurs Ceratosaurus and Triceratops were repurposed for ‘The Valley of Gwangi’ [1969] film.
Cast: Raquel Welch, John Richardson, Percy Herbert, Robert Brown, Martine Beswick, Jean Wladon, Lisa Thomas, Malya Nappi, Richard James, William Lyon Brown, Frank Hayden, Terence Maidment, Micky De Rauch, Yvonne Horner, James Payne (uncredited), Vic Perrin (Narrator) (uncredited), Dido Plumb (uncredited) and Nikki Van der Zyl (voice) (uncredited)
Director: Don Chaffey
Producers: Aida Young, Michael Carreras and Hal Roach (uncredited)
Screenplay: George Baker [based on the 1940 screenplay], Joseph Frickert, Michael Carreras and Mickell Novack.
Composer: Mario Nascimbene
Cinematography: Wilkie Cooper, B.S.C. (Director of Photography)
Special Visual Effects: Ray Harryhausen
Image Resolution: 1080p (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Audio: English: 2.0 LPCM Stereo Audio
Subtitles: English HOH
Running Time: 100 minutes
Region: Region B/2
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Associated British-Pathé Limited / Hammer Film Productions / STUDIOCANAL
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: For those of you who get a little light-headed thinking about Wilma Flintstone will have to get a cold compress when viewing ‘ONE MILLION YEARS B.C.’ [1966]. Yes it is Raquel Welch in her infamous scantily clad fur bikini, especially for all you red blooded males out there. By the way did we mention there are dinosaurs as well as a bonus?
‘ONE MILLION YEARS B.C.’ was Hammer Film Productions attempt to cash in on the short-lived dinosaur exploitation trend, which thrived despite complaints and the scientific impossibility of humans co-existing with dinosaurs. You know how these films went: big lizards, scantily clad cave folk and lots of rocks. Told in pantomime with no spoken dialogue, except for occasional grunts, the fun in this film is catching all of the anachronisms from the cave peoples sophisticated hairstyles and flawless make-up to their perfect teeth. In the future, this type of film would lead to the various other films like ‘Quest for Fire’ [1981] and ‘Jurassic Park’ [1993] but at the same time ‘ONE MILLION B.C.’ was a drive-in favourite film of that genre and a definite firm favourite film of mine and proud of it, despite looking a bit camp for today’s modern audiences.
As the film opens, the narrator informs us, “This is a story of long, long ago; when the world was just beginning.” We get to meet our caveperson hero, Tumak [John Richardson], who fights with his father and gets kicked out of the Rock People tribe and wanders a bit before discovering the Shell People with Raquel Welch attached. The two youngsters fall in love while eventually a war ignites between the different tribes, making this perhaps a cave-dwelling Romeo and Juliet. Officially it is a remake of the 1940s film ‘One Million B.C.’ which starred Victor Mature, a one-time matinee idol whose bust could rival Ms. Raquel Welch's! Particularly memorable is the sequence where Raquel Welch emerges from a lake and is promptly snatched up and carried away by a flying reptile. While it is true that most of the creatures are animated models, there is one fight sequence featuring two live lizards disguised as Mesozoic creatures. This wasn't intended as homage to the original version, which did use lizards as dinosaur stand-ins, was due to budgetary necessity.
The effects themselves blend stop-motion animation and enlarged shots of real creatures. The first “dinosaur” to be seen is a real iguana. Ray Harryhausen claimed that a live reptile was used to persuade the audience that all the subsequent monsters they saw were real as well. This technique isn't particularly effective; the iguana harks back to the 1940 version, where all the dinosaurs were enhanced prosthetic reptiles.
Hammer Film Productions producer Michael Carreras, based the screenplay for ‘ONE MILLION YEARS B.C.’ very closely on Hal Roach’s original dinosaur film, but was determined the realisation of the dinosaur effects would be the best that Hammer Film Productions could afford: “We decided if we’re going to make the film at all, we had to have the latest technique of making these things look real.” Enter visual effects legend Ray Harryhausen, who’d just completed ‘The First Men in the Moon’ [1964] for Columbia and, with no further projects in the pipeline with his partner Charles Schneer’s Morningside Productions, accepted Hammer Film Productions offer to work on the film and recalls: “I hate remakes but I felt we could do better than the original 1940 version.”
‘ONE MILLION YEARS B.C.’ was filmed in the Canary Islands though the dinosaurs were the work of animation master Ray Harryhausen, which included ‘The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad’ [1958]. Holding this all together was director Don Chaffey, who cut his teeth on TV series ‘The Avengers’ and such films as ‘Jason and the Argonauts’ [1963]. As the location shoot in Tenerife, Lanzarote and Gran Canaria began, the crew were beset with harsh weather conditions. Rain lasted three days, the wind blew all the trees down, and, as Raquel Welch recalled, “a clear sunny sky would switch to dropping snow with no warning at all.” Despite the delays caused by the elements Don Chaffey and Ray Harryhausen choreographed their actors on the rugged, volcanic landscapes and, as Raquel Welch remarked, “told us the exact eye lines” to match the, as yet, unrealised stop-motion dinosaurs.
Principal photography completed on 6 January 1966, and Ray Harryhausen was already underway on a nine-month stint completing the stop-motion animation effects for the film. Pre-production work involved an intense period of research and model making in collaboration with Arthur Hayward of the British Museum of Natural History. With Arthur Hayward’s help, he was able to examine the fossils available to create very accurate representations of the extinct dinosaurs featured in the film.
Pre-production work involved an intense period of research and model making in collaboration with Arthur Hayward of the British Museum of Natural History. With Arthur Hayward’s help, he was able to examine the fossils available to create very accurate representations of the extinct dinosaurs featured in the film. Ray Harryhausen commented to Arthur Hayward: “We wanted the creatures accurate. He sculpted the clay models based on my drawings, and made moulds for me, and then I cast and built the animated models. He was a very good artist.” Although a brontosaurus is briefly glimpsed in the background as Tumak is cast out of his tribe and treks across the wasteland to encounter Loana and the Shell tribe, it’s the superb sequence where they encounter the Archelon, a giant turtle on the beach that first ushers in the Ray Harryhausen magic.
Hammer Film Productions studios was quite wise in capitalizing on Ms. Raquel Welch's natural attributes for this epic and even went so far as to send out over 10,000 Christmas cards of the practically naked Raquel Welch in her fur bikini to several theatre owners all over Europe and the U.S.A. The ploy obviously worked; the film's international take at the box-office was over $9 million, not bad for a film where the actors' chief line of dialogue was "ugh!" So if your Time Machine is broken you can always view this brilliant Blu-ray disc and get a trip to One Million Years B.C. with the assurance that you won't be squished between some T. Rex's toes and what a shame it was not made in 3D. Still despite this, I suppose you could say now that is what you call progress!
Blu-ray Image Quality – Hammer Film Productions and STUDIOCANAL presents us a brand new remastered in a wonderful 4K restoration upgrade encoded image, especially now being shown in glorious Technicolor process and an equally impressive 1.66:1 aspect ratio. This restoration captures the many creatures very well, adding a clear and well-defined aspect to them. Ray Harryhausen’s stop motion work on the creatures/monsters, that range from a giant iguana to a Triceratops, are great and how he, even in the 1960s, managed to mesh his work with the actors is impressive to this day. The film also gains from the restoration when the creatures aren’t on-screen, but with the many landscapes which are enhanced brilliantly. There’s a bleak colour scheme that dominates the early Tumak scenes, as he explores the land, which is nicely contrasted with the majestic greenery of Loana’s tribes land. Despite by today’s standards, the animation effects of the creatures were very basic; however, when you take into consideration that this film was released in 1966, but despite this, the work done by Ray Harryhausen is totally amazing. If it wasn’t for the breakthrough special effects Ray Harryhausen worked on this film, many of the modern CGI special effects that dominates cinema today would not have happened, as Ray Harryhausen was a total professional pioneer. Everyone has a huge debt to pay towards Ray Harryhausen, because he widened the boundaries of what cinema can do by introducing monsters and having them interact with the actual actors. Please Note: Playback Region B/2: This will not play on most Blu-ray players sold in North America, Central America, South America, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Learn more about Blu-ray region specifications.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – Hammer Film Productions and STUDIOCANAL has finally released this UK Blu-ray Release in an impressive brand new remastered wonderful 2.0 LPCM Stereo Audio, and despite the soundtrack only being in Mono, it is still very impressive and such shame it could not have been upgrade at least in stereo. What impressed me very much were the outstanding and surprisingly gripping bass levels heard almost from the beginning and notable throughout the film. The prehistoric dialogue by the actors has been spread across the front soundstage rather than being done directionally, but it’s always very clear and precise. You also get some interesting sound effects with the waves pounding on the shore, heavy winds whirling, and the avalanche-pounding rock slides when the volcano finally erupts. What are also very impressive sounds is when the prehistoric animals do battle with each other and you get that wonderful roar. When Raquel Welch emerges from a lake and is promptly snatched up and carried away by a flying reptile it is also a good screeching sound effect and with combination of Ray Harryhausen stop motion animation, you feel that the flying reptile is real. The composer Mario Nascimbene’s score gets woven impressively throughout the entire two channel sound mix experience, as well as the interpreted prehistoric musical instruments heard also throughout the film to give the film ‘ONE MILLION YEARS B.C.’ a touch authenticity.
Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Special Feature: Interview with Raquel Welch [2016] [1080p] [1.78:1] [12:14] Here we get to see for the very first time Raquel Welch since appearing in the film ‘ONE MILLION YEARS B.C.’ and boy does this lady looks really stunning for her age. Raquel Welch starts to talk about the start of her career in acting, and tells us that she was lucky enough to secure a contract with 20th Century Fox and at the time of just finishing shooting the film ‘Fantastic Voyage’ and of the blue Darryl F. Zanuck called her to his office and tells Raquel Welch that he has a fantastic part in a new film for her that he felt would be totally perfect for her and of course Raquel Welch was intrigued and want to know what the film was, so Darryl F. Zanuck tells her that it is called ‘ONE MILLION YEARS B.C.,’ but Raquel Welch immediately was not very impressed and very sceptical, and especially appearing with dinosaurs, so to put her mind at ease, he tells Raquel Welch that it will be a classic film, but was still very reluctant to appear in the film, but then Darryl F. Zanuck had to remind Raquel Welch that she was still under contract and on top of all that would be put under suspension, so with a big sigh, Raquel Welch agreed to appear in the film, then on top of all that Darryl F. Zanuck informs Raquel Welch that it is a British film and that Raquel Welch would be working at the Elstree Studios of Associated British Productions Limited, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England and also working on different locations on the Canary Islands, off the coast of Spain, but the other incentive for Raquel Welch is that she would be at the height of “Swinging London.” But one other problem Raquel Welch was concerned about is what type of clothing would she be wearing, being the setting is One Million Years B.C., so Raquel Welch then gets down to the experience of working on the location on the Canary Islands, and of course had to work where the volcano is located, and of course all you could view was lava rock and all in all it was not a fun experience, especially the fact that Raquel Welch had to wear the skimpy costume all the time, whereas all the crew were wearing lots of clothes, as the weather was freezing and at the same time the camera use to freeze up, so to solve the problem they hung a pot under the camera that was full of red hot coals that helped the film camera from freezing up. What Raquel Welch also didn’t like about the weather is that most of the time she was very ill and they had to have a doctor on call to keep Raquel Welch free from being ill. But despite this flawed experience, Raquel Welch found the Canary Islands was a total perfect location shooting and was so ideal to give the film the look of One Million Years B.C. and Raquel Welch also talks about the director Don Chaffey who she thought was a lovely person, but very tightly wrapped up into getting the film shot on schedule, as well as making sure you are in the right position when the camera rolls so you can be combined with the prehistoric animals that were added in afterwards with the finished film, but the only negative aspect Raquel Welch felt of the director is that he was very tight lipped with instructions on what he wanted out of his actors, but when Raquel Welch tried to talk to Don Chaffey on a personal level, again he was not very forthcoming, and was also very abrasive in wanting Raquel Welch do a certain scene in a certain way. Raquel Welch also talks about her then fiancé who was an aficionado on the brilliant stop motion animator Ray Harryhausen, who of course was at the time the master his animation technique, and was of course totally revered person in the film industry, and when the film was shot, Raquel Welch with her two small children Damon Welch and Tahnee Welch took a trip to Ray Harryhausen’s work shop and were all totally enthralled with Ray Harryhausen and his technique of moving the models when filming them and all in all they thought he was extraordinary. Raquel Welch gets round to talking about the costume designer Carl Toms OBE (1927 – 1999) who Raquel Welch thought was totally amazing, who also designed clothes for the Royal Shakespeare Company, and other London theatrical companies, and when Raquel Welch had to meet him for a costume fit, and found Carl very charming and showed Raquel Welch all the sketches he had done for the clothes for her character Loana and was totally amazed and bowled over by his clothes designs. Raquel Welch also talks about her fellow actor John Richardson, who Raquel Welch found to be a very nice and a very charming person to act with and on top of all that Raquel Welch thought he was a very handsome man and had very piercing blue eyes, and also the least vain man she ever met and told Raquel Welch in private that his big love was to be a photographer and would always carry his camera around with him all the time on location, As we come to near the end of this personal interview, Raquel Welch informs us that she really enjoyed working on the film, but also became very allergic to the drug penicillin, especially when Raquel got back home to Los Angeles, but despite this, it was still a great filming experience and met some really nice people, and became a very good friend to fellow actress Martine Beswick, but also met in London the famous photographer Terry O’Neal who took some fantastic photographs of Raquel Welch, and of course the famous fur lined bikini clad photograph caused a total sensation when released to the general public, but at this moment in time with this interview, and just about the end of this very interesting interview, it just finishes suddenly without warning, which was really sad, as Raquel Welch was getting to a really interesting point in the interview. So despite this, it was still a totally fascinating interview and well worth viewing and again I just couldn’t get over how wonderful Raquel Welch looked for her age and obviously time has been very good to this actress. This was a very interesting special feature.
Special Feature: Interview with Martine Beswick [2016] [1080p] [1.78:1] [15:54] Here we get to see Martine Beswick in a private cinema, and the first thing we find out is that Martine Beswick was born in Jamaica and lived there until getting work in the film industry and especially a part in ‘ONE MILLION YEARS B.C.’ and one day saw a bizarre advert in a newspaper saying a producer was scouting for actors in a new film, and with a load of other young ladies had an interview and was one of them that got the call, but all happened because a photographer took loads of photos of Martine Beswick in lots of locations in Jamaica and people in London contacted Martine Beswick as they were very impressed and received a letter from the MCA Agency inviting Martine Beswick to have an interview in London and when Martine Beswick arrived, was interviewed with 12 men in suits, and a James Bond film was mentioned, but Martine Beswick was very naïve about James Bond as she had never heard about it or the author Ian Fleming, so was none the wiser, and was actually shipped out to appear in the film ‘DR. NO’ but unfortunately never got to appear in the film as they told her she had not had enough acting experience, but if she did get some acting experience would be offered a part in the next James Bond film, and when ‘FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE’ was about to start shooting, Martine Beswick got the call to appear in the film and that experience started her film career, but also started a career working in television, and also had a modelling career. But out of the blue got another call from the James Bond people to ask her to appear in the film ‘THUNDERBALL’ and of course this was a first to appear in two James Bond films, which normally did not happen and because the films had such a status reputation, never had to audition for a part in the Hammer Film Productions of ‘ONE MILLION YEARS B.C.’ When Martine Beswick got to go to the Canary Islands it was in the middle of December and of course it kept raining all the time, but despite this Martine Beswick found it an amazing place to work in, and the location where they stayed had only one hotel and it all felt very primitive, and found people actually living in caves and the volcano like you see in the film. But the one person that really impressed Martine Beswick was Ray Harryhausen, who she really adored and just wanted to sit at his feet and hear all his anecdote stories and found him truly wonderful to work with and Martine Beswick also really felt Ray Harryhausen made the film and was totally amazed when Martine Beswick saw the finished film. When flying back to London after finishing the shoot Martine Beswick was invited to Ray Harryhausen’s work shop and watched Ray Harryhausen working all the models and filming them at the same time, and again really admired him and of course throughout the film industry classed as a genius, and Martine Beswick was very proud to have worked with Ray Harryhausen and also over time became good friends. Martine Beswick talks about the famous fight scene in the film with Raquel Welch and at one point they brought in two female stunt doubles, but both Martine Beswick and Raquel Welch while watching the scene pointed out it was not working, as they look nothing like both Martine Beswick and Raquel Welch and insisted they should do the fight scene themselves, but the studio said no because of the insurance problem, but they both put their foot down and were given the go ahead to appear in the famous scene and they both enjoyed the experience. Martine Beswick talks about the male actor John Richardson, and every time Martine Beswick saw him in a restaurant, Raquel Welch’s whole body would quiver, that is the effect John Richardson had on Raquel Welch, and when Martine Beswick heard Raquel Welch would be acting with him and was very reluctant, but when Martine Beswick finally met John Richardson, it felt like fireworks went off, that is the affect John Richardson had on Raquel Welch, but when Martine Beswick saw John Richardson without his beard, commented that Raquel Welch would not appear with him, as he was much prettier than the actress Martine Beswick, but of course it was a very tongue in cheek comment. Then at that precise moment and like the previous interview, the film suddenly stops abruptly and I feel this is very unprofessional attitude on the part of STUDIOCANAL and cannot understand why they allowed this to happen. But despite this slight negative comment, again like the previous interview, this again was totally fascinating and a must watch.
Special Feature: Ray Harryhausen Stills, Storyboard and Artwork [2016] [1080p] [1.78:1] [4:40] Here we get a selection of wonderful and brilliant original sketches, storyboards, location photography and model imagery that gives you a unique insight into how Ray Harryhausen conceptualised key sequences for the film ‘ONE MILLION YEARS B.C.’ during early production. What you get to view with each section is given “Chapter Headings” informing you what you are about to view and they are as follows: THE ARCHELON SEQUENCE; THE ALLOSARUS SEQUENCE; THE TRICERATOPS vs CERATOSAURUS SEQUENCE; THE PTERANODON SEQUENCE and THE BRONTOSAURUS – INCLUDING UNFILMED SEQUENCE. All photography was by Andy Johnson. All material and models were by kind permission of The Ray & Diana Harryhausen Foundation.
Special Feature: Production Stills Gallery [2016] [1080p] [1.78:1] Here you get to view a selection of 18 images, that consist of a Cinema Poster, Black-and-White and Colour promotional photographs, especially the famous one of Raquel Welch in her famous fur bikini and stills from the film. All in all this is a nice little feature, but sadly far too short.
Finally, ‘ONE MILLION YEARS B.C.’ whatever its merits when one looks at it today, demonstrated Hammer Film Productions was adept at turning its hand to genres other than Gothic horror and were equally as willing to embrace science fiction, psychological drama, crime noir, comedy, swashbucklers, and epic period adventure with its customary zeal. This film also marked a turning point. A month prior to its December release Hammer Film Productions ceased operating out of its original home at Bray Studios and was, for economic reasons, obliged to use the facilities at Elstree Studio and Pinewood Studio to fulfil its contracts with its distributors. While ‘ONE MILLION YEARS B.C.’ inspired a run of sequels, including ‘When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth’ [1970] and ‘The Creatures the World Forgot’ [1971], their diminishing returns perhaps signalled the eventual decline in Hammer Film Productions output. With this 50th Anniversary Blu-ray release from STUDIOCANAL, the film looks and sounds great in high-definition. The 4k restoration significantly improves the colour, contrast, and detailing, also there is an added richness in the costumes, faces, and landscapes. Granted, with the use of many processes and matte shots combining live action with animation, there are fluctuations in the picture quality as well as the film grain, but that is the consequence of the processes used at the time. Overall, this restoration is a very pleasurable viewing experience and is one of my all-time favourite films of that period in time that I will treasure forever. Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
