One Million B.C. (1940)

Directors:

Hal Roach
Hal Roach Jr.

Writers:

Mickell Novack (original screenplay) &
George Baker (original screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

5 April 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Fantasy | Romance | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

UNBELIEVABLE! The World at the Dawn of Time!

Plot:

Tumak, member of the prehistoric Rock tribe, is exiled and makes his way to the more peaceful Shell tribe...

Plot Keywords:

Cave | Volcano | Prehistoric | Caveman | Avalanche

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars.

Cast

Victor Mature	...	Tumak
Carole Landis	...	Loana
Lon Chaney Jr.	...	Akhoba
Conrad Nagel	...	Narrating Archaeologist
John Hubbard	...	Ohtao
Nigel De Brulier	...	Peytow
Mamo Clark	...	Nupondi
Inez Palange	...	Tohana
Edgar Edwards	...	Skakana
Jacqueline Dalya	...	Ataf
Mary Gale Fisher	...	Wandi
Norman Budd	...	Rock Person
Harry Wilson	...	Rock Person
John Northpole	...	Rock Person
Lorraine Rivero	...	Rock Person
Harold Howard	...	Rock Person
Ricca Allen	...	Rock Person
Adda Gleason	...	Rock Person
Edward Coxen	...	Rock Person (as Ed Coxen)
Ben Hall	...	Shell Person
Creighton Hale	...	Shell Person
Audrey Manners	...	Shell Person
Rosemary Theby	...	Shell Person (as Rosemary Thebe)
Patricia Pope	...	Shell Person
Chuck Stubbs	...	Shell Person
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jimmy Boudwin	...	Shell Person (uncredited)
Ora May Carlson	...	Shell Person (uncredited)
James Coppedge	...	Rock Person (uncredited)
Katherine Frye	...	Shell Person (uncredited)
Betty Greco	...	Rock Person (uncredited)
Aida Hernandez	...	Rock Person (uncredited)
Robert Kent	...	Mountain Guide (uncredited)
Boots Lebaron	...	Shell Person (uncredited)
Jean Porter	...	Shell Person (uncredited)
Dick Simmons	...	Shell Person (uncredited)
Henry Sylvester	...	Rock Person (uncredited)
Frank Tinajero	...	Rock Person (uncredited)

Directed by
Hal Roach
Hal Roach Jr.

Writing credits
Mickell Novack		(original screenplay) &
George Baker		(original screenplay) &
Joseph Frickert		(original screenplay)
Grover Jones		(descriptive narration)

Produced by
D.W. Griffith	....	producer (uncredited)
Hal Roach	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Werner R. Heymann

Cinematography by
Norbert Brodine

Film Editing by
Ray Snyder

Art Direction by
Charles D. Hall

Set Decoration by
William Stevens		(as W.L. Stevens)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Bernard Carr	....	assistant director

Art Department
Nicolai Remisoff	....	associate art director

Sound Department
William Randall	....	sound recordist

Visual Effects by
Roy Seawright	....	photographic effects
Jack Shaw	....	matte artist (uncredited)

Stunts
Yakima Canutt	....	stunts (uncredited)
Paul Stader	....	stunts (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Harry Black	....	wardrobe supervisor

Music Department
Irvin Talbot	....	conductor (uncredited)

Other crew
Hal Roach	....	presenter

Production Companies

• Hal Roach Studios

Distributors

• United Artists (1940) (USA) (theatrical)
• Favorite Films (1946) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• 3M (laserdisc)
• Fox Hills Video (video)
• Media Home Entertainment (198?) (USA) (VHS) (as Nostalgia Merchant)
• VTI Home Vídeo (Brazil) (VHS)

Also Known As:

Battle of the Giants
Cave Man (USA) (reissue title)
Man and His Mate (UK)
The Cave Dwellers

Runtime:

80 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #6079) | USA:TV-PG (TV rating) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Iverson Ranch, Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Hal Roach Studios

Trivia:

The #1 Box Office attraction of 1940 (excluding the roll over receipts for Gone with the Wind (1939)).

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Costume Designer (1950)

The People United Can Never Be Defeated

All right enough already, so they got the order of prehistoric life wrong in One Million BC. But it sure looked good to have Victor Mature tangling with that T-Rex and saving the shell people. And that's what the movie-going public paid to see, Victor Mature and Carole Landis scantily clad in front of the camera.

Small studio producer Hal Roach busted the budget for this one, released by United Artists. Conrad Nagel as an archaeologist interprets the cave drawings for a group of weary young people on a hike who take shelter where he's doing some research. The two protagonists Louanna of the shell people and Tumac of the rock people look a whole lot like Carole and Vic.

Vic's from the savage rock clan who basically operate on a survival of the fittest basis. After a quarrel with the head of the clan, Lon Chaney, Jr. he's exiled and he's found in the primeval forest by Carole Landis who definitely likes what she sees.

Her shell people are a bit far up the evolutionary scale and she and the rest strive mightily to break Vic of his individualistic and isolationist ways.

And that's the key to One Million BC. Think of the time it came out and what the world was facing. There's a lot of aggressive wildlife in the forest primeval and the savage wildlife in 1940 had two legs instead of four. Time for the clan and rock people of the day to put aside their differences and face the common foe of nature.

This was supposed to be D.W. Griffith's comeback film and it's open to speculation as to how much he did shoot on this. I think the protagonists have an innocence about them, even the savage Mature before he gets housebroken so to speak the way Griffith protagonists do.

For the next 30 years the footage of One Million BC was used over and over again in every kind of monster film going. Those lizards got to be old friends after a while. It also launched the careers of both Victor Mature and Carole Landis. Though both of them did have considerably more dialog in later films.

After over 60 years One Million BC is still a great film to watch and be enthralled by the special effects as they were originally done. One Million BC got two Oscar nominations for Special Effects and Best Music Score.

Will the rock and shell people find they have a common foe? Watch and find out.