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{{Short description|1970 film by Val Guest}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2013}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}
{{Infobox film
{{Infobox film
| name = When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth
| name = When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth
| image = When dinosaurs ruled the earth.jpg
| image = When dinosaurs ruled the earth.jpg
| caption = U.S. Theatrical release poster<br>by [[Tom Chantrell]]
| image size =
| caption = [[Film poster|Theatrical release poster]]<br >by [[Tom Chantrell]]
| director = [[Val Guest]]
| director = [[Val Guest]]
| producer = [[Aida Young]]
| producer = [[Aida Young]]
| writer = '''Screenplay:'''<br>[[Val Guest]]<br>'''Treatment:'''<br>[[J.G. Ballard]]
| writer = Val Guest
| story = [[J. G. Ballard]]<br>{{small|(Treatment)}}
| narrator =
| starring = [[Victoria Vetri]]<br>[[Robin Hawdon]]<br>[[Patrick Allen (actor)|Patrick Allen]]<br>[[Imogen Hassall]]
| starring =
| music = [[Mario Nascimbene]]
| music = [[Mario Nascimbene]]
| cinematography = [[Dick Bush]]
| cinematography = [[Dick Bush]]
| editing =
| editing = [[Peter Curran (director)|Peter Curran]]
| studio = [[Hammer Film Productions|Hammer Films]]
| studio = [[Hammer Film Productions|Hammer Films]]
| distributor = [[Warner Bros.]]
| distributor = [[Warner Bros.]]
| released = {{film date|df=y|1970|10|01|London premiere|1970|10|25|United Kingdom}}<ref>{{cite web|title=When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54167-WHEN-DINOSAURSRULEDTHEEARTH?sid=691dc5cb-603f-4f0b-8178-c11a1fec77ec&sr=3.6041284&cp=1&pos=0|publisher=[[American Film Institute]]|access-date=6 September 2019}}</ref><ref name="Maxford">{{cite book|title=Hammer Complete: The Films, the Personnel, the Company|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l_p1DwAAQBAJ&q=when+dinosaurs+ruled+UK+releases+october+1970&pg=PA856|first=Howard|last=Maxford|date = 17 December 2018| publisher=McFarland |isbn = 9781476670072|access-date=6 September 2019}}</ref>
| released = October 25, 1970 (UK)
| runtime = 96 min. (USA) 100 min. (UK)
| runtime = 100 minutes {{small|(United Kingdom)}}<br>96 minutes {{small|(United States)}}
| country = United Kingdom<br>United States<ref>{{cite web|title=When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth|url=http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=54167|website=American Film Institute|accessdate=30 June 2016}}</ref>
| country = United Kingdom<br>United States<ref name="When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth">{{cite web|title=When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54167-WHEN-DINOSAURSRULEDTHEEARTH?sid=691dc5cb-603f-4f0b-8178-c11a1fec77ec&sr=3.6041284&cp=1&pos=0|publisher=[[American Film Institute]]|access-date=3 April 2020}}</ref>
| language = [[Indigenous peoples|Aboriginal]] / English
| language = Aboriginal languages<br>English
| budget = £566,000<ref>Bruce G. Hallenbeck, ''British Cult Cinema: Hammer Fantasy and Sci-Fi'', Hemlock Books 2011 p204</ref>
| budget = £566,000<ref>Bruce G. Hallenbeck, ''British Cult Cinema: Hammer Fantasy and Sci-Fi'', Hemlock Books 2011 p204</ref> or £2.5 million<ref>{{cite book|title= Hammer Films: The Elstree Studio Years|first=Wayne|last= Kinsey |year=2007|page=136}}</ref>
}}
}}
'''''When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth''''' (titled '''''When Dinosaurs Ruled the World''''' in the U.K.<ref name="When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth">{{cite web|title=When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54167-WHEN-DINOSAURSRULEDTHEEARTH?sid=691dc5cb-603f-4f0b-8178-c11a1fec77ec&sr=3.6041284&cp=1&pos=0|publisher=[[American Film Institute]]|access-date=3 April 2020}}</ref>) is a 1970 British [[fantasy film]] from [[Hammer Film Productions|Hammer Films]], written and directed by [[Val Guest]], and starring [[Victoria Vetri]]. It was produced by [[Aida Young]]. This was the third in Hammer's "Cave Girl" series, preceded by ''[[One Million Years B.C.]]'' (1966) and ''[[Prehistoric Women (1967 film)|Prehistoric Women]]'' (1967); it was followed by ''[[Creatures the World Forgot]]'' (1971).<ref>{{Cite book|first=Sinclair|last= McKay|year=2007|title=A Thing of Unspeakable Horror: The History of Hammer Films|page= 105}}</ref>

'''''When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth''''' is a 1970 British prehistoric [[monster film|monster]] [[horror film]] from [[Hammer Film Productions]], produced by [[Aida Young]], written and directed by [[Val Guest]], that stars [[Victoria Vetri]]. Guest's screenplay was based on a treatment by [[J. G. Ballard]] (author of ''[[Empire of the Sun]]''), and nominated for an [[Academy Awards|Oscar]] for its visual effects.[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066561/awards] This was the third in Hammer's "Cave Girl" series, preceded by ''One Million Years B.C.'' (1966) and ''[[Prehistoric Women (1967 film)|Slave Girls]]'' (1967). It was followed by ''[[Creatures the World Forgot]]'' (1971).<ref>Sinclair McKay (2007): ''A Thing of Unspeakable Horror: The History of Hammer Films'': 105</ref>

The film's characters talk in a language that was specially constructed for the film, albeit of only a dozen words or so, a frequent one being "neekro", which means "kill".

Like Hammer's other prehistoric films, ''When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth'' anachronistically portrays dinosaurs and humans living alongside each other in the time of cavemen.

The special effects are considered a benchmark in realistic [[stop-motion animation]], and the film is referenced in [[Steven Spielberg]]'s ''[[Jurassic Park (film)|Jurassic Park]]''. The stop-motion creature effects were created by [[Jim Danforth]], assisted by [[David W. Allen]] and Roger Dickens.

The landscapes of Earth during the [[Quaternary]] period were filmed in [[Gran Canaria]] and [[Fuerteventura]] ([[Canary Islands]]). Locations included Maspalomas beach, Ansite Mountain, Amurga, and Caldera de Tejeda.

The film was released on DVD as an exclusive from Best Buy with a G-rating, but was quickly recalled because it was the original uncut version and contained nudity; it is now a collector's item.


==Plot==
==Plot==
{{Quote box
<!-- Per WP:FILMPLOT, plot summaries range between 400-700 words. Please be aware that all edits or adding detail to this section are logged and reviewed. Thank you. -->
|title=Opening narration:
|quote =A time of beginnings, of darkness, of light, of the Sun, the Earth, the sea, of man! The beginnings of man living with man, by the sea, in the mountains. The beginning of love, hate, and fear. Man's fear of the unknown. Man's fear lest the Sun should leave him, leave him alone in everlasting darkness. A time when the color of a woman's hair condemned her to sacrifice to the Sun. A time when there was as yet no Moon.
|width =25%
|align =center
}}
<!-- Per WP:FILMPLOT, the plot summary should be 400-700 words. -->
The Cliff Tribe led by Kingsor are about to sacrifice three [[Blond hair|blonde]] women to their [[Solar deity|Sun God]], but one of the women, Sanna, escapes and is rescued by fishermen of the Seaside Tribe, among whom is Tara, who becomes enamoured with her.
[[File:When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (1970) trailer - Rhamphorhynchus 2.png|thumb|left|Tara battles the ''[[Rhamphorhynchus]]'']]
Tara takes Sanna to his people, who also worship the Sun God, but without sacrifices. After building a hut for herself, she joins them at a celebration of a successful hunt, in which the men have captured a [[plesiosaur]]. The plesiosaur breaks free, but is subsequently killed and butchered. Ayak, a brunette woman who is jealous of Tara's feelings for Sanna, denounces Sanna as a witch and incites the elder women against her.


Kingsor and his men arrive, looking for Sanna. She flees, and hunters of her former tribe, led by Kane, give chase. During the search, the hunters are attacked by a ''[[Chasmosaurus]]'', which gores Kane. When Tara seeks Sanna, the ''Chasmosaurus'' charges him and injures Khaku, one of his companions. He is chased to a cliff, where the ''Chasmosaurus'' loses its footing and plunges to its death. Khaku dies of his injuries shortly after, while Kane's wounds are tended to by the Seaside tribeswoman Ulido.
A tribe on a cliff are about to sacrifice three blonde women. Three priests, wearing [[dinosaur]] hides, are about to kill them for their [[Sun God]], but one of them, Sanna, escapes and jumps off the cliff. She is rescued by Tara and some men on a raft.


Khaku's funeral pyre at the shore is followed by a tribal frenzy during which an enraged Ayak burns down Sanna's hut. Sanna meanwhile becomes trapped by a carnivorous plant, and cuts off a portion of her hair in order to escape. As Tara goes looking for Sanna, he finds her hair trapped beneath the plant and assumes she is dead. Satisfied by this, Sanna's former tribe stop hunting her and join with Tara's tribe, with Kane, now healed, marrying Ulido.
Tara takes Sanna to his seaside tribe, who also worship the Sun God. After building a hut for herself, She joins them at a feast and celebration of a successful hunt. An ''[[Elasmosaurus]]'' attacks the seaside tribe until it is lured to a store of oil and immolated. The feast continues, and a brunette woman, Ayak, is interested in Tara, but he is too fascinated with Sanna. He brings her food. After a ritual fight between Sanna and Ayak in the water, Sanna's former tribe arrives, looking for her. She flees and they give chase. Hiding in a tree, a large [[Boidae|boa]] sees her, but attacks and kills one of the men instead. They think Sanna is in a nearby cave, but a ''[[Chasmosaurus]]'' makes its lair there and disembowels one man before injuring another with a deep gash. [[Vulture]]s, drawn by the carcasses, jab, bite and slash at the wounded man. When Tara seeks Sanna, he finds the one man dead and, after the ''Chasmosaurus'' charges him. He is chased to a cliff, where he hides on a small ledge as the ''Chasmosaurus'' loses its footing and plunges to its death.


Sanna seeks shelter in a ''[[Megalosaurus]]'' nest, fooling the mother and its baby into thinking she is one of them. Sanna grows attached to the baby and plays hide-and-seek with it, as well as teaching it to sit. Tara meanwhile sees one of the women in Sanna's tribe dyeing her daughter's hair with tar, in an attempt to prevent her from being sacrificed like Sanna.
A funeral pyre at the shore is followed by a tribal frenzy during which an enraged Ayak burns down Sanna's hut. Sanna meanwhile, running through a [[rainforest]], sees a [[reptile]] and runs before it notices her. She becomes trapped by a [[carnivorous plant]], and she cuts off her hair to escape. Tara unfortunately thinks Sanna has been eaten by the carnivorous plant.


Some weeks later, while Tara is hiking back to his tribe, which has been taken over by the overzealous Kingsor, he is carried off by a giant ''[[Rhamphorhynchus]]''. After killing the pterosaur, he finds Sanna and her tamed dinosaur. They are subsequently discovered and Tara is sacrificed to a ''[[Tylosaurus]]'' by Kingsor. Tara manages to escape and returns to Sanna.
Sanna sleeps in a large ''[[Megalosaurus]]'' [[eggshell]]. The other egg hatches, and the ''Megalosaurus'' (of a nonexistent species of quadrupedal predator — all predatory dinosaurs are [[Theropods|bipedal by default]]) thinks Sanna is its sibling. The parent, thinking Sanna is one of its own, brings her a [[deer]] carcass. Sanna, enamored by the beast, plays hide-and-seek with it, and teaches it to sit. She dives into a nearby lake and catches a [[fish]] in her teeth. She returns and finds the mother ''Megalosaurus'' in a fight with two men, but she distracts it so they can escape.


The tribe then goes searching for Sanna again, and the two run away into a forest, where Sanna's dinosaur "parent" rescues her, but Tara is recaptured and the tribe prepare to burn him. The coastline, however, begins to recede, and the tribe is attacked by giant crabs. As a [[tsunami]] looms overhead, Sanna arrives to save Tara and they escape with Kane and Ulido aboard a raft. Kingsor tries to command the water to heal in a last effort to appease his deities, only to be swept away. While Ayak is running towards the raft, she steps into a trap of [[quicksand]] and is sucked down to her death. As the waters calm, the four survivors stop to witness a [[lunar eclipse]], left in awe by the creation of the [[Moon]] above them.
While Tara is hiking back to his tribe after getting a drink of water, he is carried off by a giant ''[[Rhamphorhynchus]]'' with a thirty-foot wingspan. At its nest, he kills it by ripping its wing, and then knocking it off its nest when it lands. Tara sees Sanna being followed by the dinosaur and assumes she is being chased, but he runs to her and finds she has domesticated it. They reunite at Sanna's cave where they express their love for one another and have passionate sex.

They are seen by a lookout, however, and when Tara returns to the tribe he is sacrificed to another ''Elasmosaurus''. Ayak cries as he is set adrift on a burning raft to the animal, held in place by another woman and forced to watch. However, when they are gone, he re-emerges from the water still alive. Seeing they have left and somehow having evaded the beast, he escapes to Sanna.

But the tribe is still searching for Sanna, and see smoke from her fire. The two run away into a forest, where Sanna's dinosaur "parent" rescues her, but as for Tara they prepare to burn him again. Giant [[fiddler crab]]s kill and consume a few people as the weather grows ominous again. The Moon seems to be forming, and a tidal wave looms. Sanna arrives to save Tara from one of the giant crabs, and a raft escape begins to take shape. The tribal leader tries commanding the water to heel, and is swept away and (presumably) drowns. While Ayak is running on the sand, she steps into a trap of quicksand and is sucked down to her death. Giant waves hit the shore, but Tara, Sanna and a few others survive on a raft. As the waters calm, the survivors stop to witness a lunar eclipse, as the Moon exists.


==Cast==
==Cast==
{{div col}}
* [[Victoria Vetri]] as Sanna
* [[Victoria Vetri]] as Sanna
* Robin Hawdon as Tara
* [[Robin Hawdon]] as Tara
* [[Patrick Allen]] as Kingsor / Narrator
* [[Patrick Allen (actor)|Patrick Allen]] as Kingsor / Narrator
* [[Drewe Henley]] as Khaku
* [[Drewe Henley]] as Khaku
* [[Sean Caffrey]] as Kane
* [[Sean Caffrey]] as Kane
Line 62: Line 55:
* [[Imogen Hassall]] as Ayak
* [[Imogen Hassall]] as Ayak
* [[Patrick Holt]] as Ammon
* [[Patrick Holt]] as Ammon
* Jan Rossini as Rock Girl
* [[Carol Hawkins]] as Yani
* [[Carol Hawkins]] as Yani

{{div col end}}
==Production==
{{quote box|align=right|width=33%|quoted=1|[The film] was a giggle, that was Hammer and they asked me if I’d like to do a prehistoric one, as I'd never done a prehistoric one, I said "Yes, why not, let's have a go," [...] As there was no language in it, it was all made-up language, nobody had to learn their lines.|Val Guest<ref name="val">{{cite web|url=https://historyproject.org.uk/interview/val-guest|publisher=British Entertainment History Project|first=Roy|last=Fowler|date=1988|title=Interview with Val Guest}}</ref>}}

===Writing===
Director Val Guest's screenplay was based on a [[Film treatment|treatment]] by [[J. G. Ballard]] (author of ''[[Empire of the Sun (novel)|Empire of the Sun]]'').<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6ba8b46a|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160224215857/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6ba8b46a|url-status=dead|archive-date=24 February 2016|title = When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (1970)}}</ref> But like Hammer's other prehistoric films, ''When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth'' anachronistically portrays the dinosaurs of the [[Mesozoic|Mesozoic Era]] from about {{ma|Mesozoic|Cenozoic|million years ago|round=0}} living alongside ''[[Homo sapiens]]'' of the Late [[Quaternary]] Period (±200,000 years ago). The film's characters use a language that was specially written for the film, albeit of only a dozen words or so, a frequent one being "neekro", which means "kill", and also "akita", which is heard many times.

===Special effects===
[[File:When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (1970) trailer - Plesiosaurus 1.png|thumb|The stop-motion plesiosaur, sculpted by Roger Dicken and animated by Jim Danforth]]
The effects unit at [[Bray Studios (UK)|Bray Studios]] was used on the production.<ref name="Maxford 2019 70">{{cite book|author=Howard Maxford|title=Hammer Complete: The Films, the Personnel, the Company|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lfp1DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA70|date=8 November 2019|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-1-4766-2914-8|pages=70–71}}</ref> The [[Stop motion|stop-motion animation]] creature effects were created by [[Jim Danforth]], assisted by [[David W. Allen]] and [[Roger Dicken]], with each model costing over $3,000 each on average.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Jim Danforth Interview |magazine=Fantascene |volume=1 |issue=2 |date=Summer 1976}}</ref> Allen made the crab puppet, which was made from a real crab shell, though Dicken modified it with horns and spikes in order to make it look less plain. Dicken sculpted the plesiosaur, the ''Tylosaurus'', the feet of the ''Rhamphorhynchus'' and model humans used in scenes where characters interacted directly with the creatures.<ref name=dicken>{{Cite web|url=https://monsterzone.org/2022/01/30/roger-dicken-monster-maker/|title=Roger Dicken: Monster Maker!|work=Monster Zone|date=30 January 2022 |access-date=10 August 2022}}</ref>

Due to lack of time and money, and a violent altercation between Danforth and [[James Carreras]],<ref>''"[...] ricordo che ci fu un violento scontro tra l'animatore Jim Danforth e Carreras, che praticamente lo mandò via perché stava impiegando troppo tempo a completare i trucchi: quel film è infatti uscito con alcune sequenze di effetti ottici tagliate, perché la lavorazione fu appunto interrotta."''<br>[[Luigi Cozzi|Cozzi, L.]] (1999), ''Hammer. La fabbrica dei mostri'', Profondo Rosso, p. 149, ISBN 88-89084-09-X</ref> many scenes were cancelled, including one that featured giant ants which would have been portrayed through an articulated, dog-sized model created by Dicken for close-up shots.<ref name=dicken/>

===Filming===
Exteriors were shot on [[Gran Canaria]] and [[Fuerteventura]] in the [[Canary Islands]]. Locations included Maspalomas beach, Ansite Mountain, Amurga, and Caldera de Tejeda. Guest recalled, "there was one enormous German hotel and practically nothing else on the island, there was one awful road, that you went by jeep; you got there by boat, there was no airport or anything. [...] We planned very, very, carefully."<ref name="val"/>

==Release==
The film had its world premiere on 1 October 1970 in [[London]] with a U.K. general release on 25 October 1970.<ref>{{cite web|title=When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54167-WHEN-DINOSAURSRULEDTHEEARTH?sid=691dc5cb-603f-4f0b-8178-c11a1fec77ec&sr=3.6041284&cp=1&pos=0|publisher=American Film Institute|access-date=6 September 2019}}</ref><ref name="Maxford">{{cite book|title=Hammer Complete: The Films, the Personnel, the Company|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l_p1DwAAQBAJ&q=when+dinosaurs+ruled+UK+releases+october+1970&pg=PA856|first=Howard|last=Maxford|date = 17 December 2018| publisher=McFarland |isbn = 9781476670072|access-date=6 September 2019}}</ref> It was released in the United States debuting in [[San Francisco]] on 10
February 1971.<ref name="Maxford">{{cite book|title=Hammer Complete: The Films, the Personnel, the Company|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l_p1DwAAQBAJ&q=when+dinosaurs+ruled+UK+releases+october+1970&pg=PA856|first=Howard|last=Maxford|date = 17 December 2018| publisher=McFarland |isbn = 9781476670072|access-date=6 September 2019}}</ref>

===Home media===
The film was released on DVD as an exclusive from [[Best Buy]] with a [[Motion Picture Association of America film rating system#MPAA film ratings|G rating]], but was quickly recalled because it was the original uncut version and contained nudity; it is now a collector's item. The uncut version was also released on [[Blu-ray]] in the United States on 28 February 2017 and DVD on 4 April by [[Warner Archive]].<ref>[https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/When-Dinosaurs-Ruled-the-Earth-Blu-ray/172025/ When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth] | Blu-ray | United States | Warner Archive Collection
Warner Bros. | 1970 | 100 min | Not rated | 28 Feb. 2017</ref><ref>[https://www.blu-ray.com/dvd/When-Dinosaurs-Ruled-the-Earth-DVD/137993/ When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth] | DVD | United States | Warner Archive Collection
Warner Bros. | 1970 | 100 min | Rated G | 4 April 2017</ref>


==Reception==
==Reception==
The film was popular at the box office.<ref name="vault">Marcus Hearn, ''The Hammer Vault'', Titan Books, 2011 p111</ref>


== References ==
===Box office===
The film was popular at the box office.<ref name="vault">Marcus Hearn, ''The Hammer Vault'', Titan Books, 2011 p111</ref> In the United States the film grossed $1.25 million at the box office.<ref>{{cite book|title=Hammer Complete: The Films, the Personnel, the Company|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l_p1DwAAQBAJ&q=when+dinosaurs+ruled+UK+releases+october+1970&pg=PA856|first= Howard| last= Maxford|date = 17 December 2018| publisher=McFarland |isbn = 9781476670072|access-date=6 September 2019}}</ref>

==Award and nominations==
The film was nominated for [[Academy Award for Best Visual Effects|Best Visual Effects]] at the [[44th Academy Awards]] in 1971. It lost to the Disney film ''[[Bedknobs and Broomsticks]]''. The nomination was given to [[Jim Danforth]] and [[Roger Dicken]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=The 44th Academy Awards (1972) Nominees and Winners|url=https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1972|access-date=24 April 2022|publisher=[[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]]|date=5 October 2014 }}</ref>

==Homage and tributes==
The special effects are considered a benchmark in portraying realistic stop-motion animation effects. The film's title is referenced in [[Steven Spielberg]]'s ''[[Jurassic Park (film)|Jurassic Park]]'' with a large rectangular banner hanging in the island's visitors' center. The banner later plays a visibly prominent role in the final action sequence as the film ends.

==See also==
* [[List of films featuring dinosaurs]]

==References==
{{reflist}}
{{reflist}}


==External links==
==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* {{IMDb title|id=0066561}}
* {{AllRovi movie|54129}}
* {{IMDb title|0066561}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160224215857/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6ba8b46a ''When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth''] at the [[British Film Institute]]{{better source needed|reason=Help request: a live link can be searched for at https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/search/expert – if available, replace the archive URL with the live link. Or if none found, remove this 'better source needed' template. | date=October 2023}}


{{Hammer Film Productions films}}
{{J. G. Ballard}}
{{J. G. Ballard}}
{{Hammer Horror}}


[[Category:1970 animated films]]
[[Category:1970 animated films]]
[[Category:1970 horror films]]
[[Category:1970 films]]
[[Category:1970s adventure films]]
[[Category:1970s fantasy adventure films]]
[[Category:1970s fantasy films]]
[[Category:1970s English-language films]]
[[Category:Animated films set in prehistory]]
[[Category:1970s monster movies]]
[[Category:British films]]
[[Category:British fantasy adventure films]]
[[Category:British fantasy adventure films]]
[[Category:British science fiction films]]
[[Category:Films about dinosaurs]]
[[Category:English-language films]]
[[Category:Dinosaur films]]
[[Category:Fictional-language films]]
[[Category:Fictional-language films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Val Guest]]
[[Category:Films directed by Val Guest]]
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[[Category:Giant monster films]]
[[Category:Giant monster films]]
[[Category:Hammer Film Productions films]]
[[Category:Hammer Film Productions films]]
[[Category:Natural horror films]]
[[Category:Prehistoric people in popular culture]]
[[Category:Prehistoric people in popular culture]]
[[Category:Warner Bros. films]]
[[Category:Films based on works by J. G. Ballard]]
[[Category:Films based on works by J. G. Ballard]]
[[Category:Films scored by Mario Nascimbene]]
[[Category:Films produced by Aida Young]]
[[Category:1970s British films]]
[[Category:English-language fantasy adventure films]]

Latest revision as of 05:36, 24 December 2024

When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth
U.S. Theatrical release poster
by Tom Chantrell
Directed byVal Guest
Written byVal Guest
Story byJ. G. Ballard
(Treatment)
Produced byAida Young
StarringVictoria Vetri
Robin Hawdon
Patrick Allen
Imogen Hassall
CinematographyDick Bush
Edited byPeter Curran
Music byMario Nascimbene
Production
company
Distributed byWarner Bros.
Release dates
  • 1 October 1970 (1970-10-01) (London premiere)
  • 25 October 1970 (1970-10-25) (United Kingdom)
[1][2]
Running time
100 minutes (United Kingdom)
96 minutes (United States)
CountriesUnited Kingdom
United States[3]
LanguagesAboriginal languages
English
Budget£566,000[4] or £2.5 million[5]

When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (titled When Dinosaurs Ruled the World in the U.K.[3]) is a 1970 British fantasy film from Hammer Films, written and directed by Val Guest, and starring Victoria Vetri. It was produced by Aida Young. This was the third in Hammer's "Cave Girl" series, preceded by One Million Years B.C. (1966) and Prehistoric Women (1967); it was followed by Creatures the World Forgot (1971).[6]

Plot

[edit]
Opening narration:

A time of beginnings, of darkness, of light, of the Sun, the Earth, the sea, of man! The beginnings of man living with man, by the sea, in the mountains. The beginning of love, hate, and fear. Man's fear of the unknown. Man's fear lest the Sun should leave him, leave him alone in everlasting darkness. A time when the color of a woman's hair condemned her to sacrifice to the Sun. A time when there was as yet no Moon.

The Cliff Tribe led by Kingsor are about to sacrifice three blonde women to their Sun God, but one of the women, Sanna, escapes and is rescued by fishermen of the Seaside Tribe, among whom is Tara, who becomes enamoured with her.

Tara battles the Rhamphorhynchus

Tara takes Sanna to his people, who also worship the Sun God, but without sacrifices. After building a hut for herself, she joins them at a celebration of a successful hunt, in which the men have captured a plesiosaur. The plesiosaur breaks free, but is subsequently killed and butchered. Ayak, a brunette woman who is jealous of Tara's feelings for Sanna, denounces Sanna as a witch and incites the elder women against her.

Kingsor and his men arrive, looking for Sanna. She flees, and hunters of her former tribe, led by Kane, give chase. During the search, the hunters are attacked by a Chasmosaurus, which gores Kane. When Tara seeks Sanna, the Chasmosaurus charges him and injures Khaku, one of his companions. He is chased to a cliff, where the Chasmosaurus loses its footing and plunges to its death. Khaku dies of his injuries shortly after, while Kane's wounds are tended to by the Seaside tribeswoman Ulido.

Khaku's funeral pyre at the shore is followed by a tribal frenzy during which an enraged Ayak burns down Sanna's hut. Sanna meanwhile becomes trapped by a carnivorous plant, and cuts off a portion of her hair in order to escape. As Tara goes looking for Sanna, he finds her hair trapped beneath the plant and assumes she is dead. Satisfied by this, Sanna's former tribe stop hunting her and join with Tara's tribe, with Kane, now healed, marrying Ulido.

Sanna seeks shelter in a Megalosaurus nest, fooling the mother and its baby into thinking she is one of them. Sanna grows attached to the baby and plays hide-and-seek with it, as well as teaching it to sit. Tara meanwhile sees one of the women in Sanna's tribe dyeing her daughter's hair with tar, in an attempt to prevent her from being sacrificed like Sanna.

Some weeks later, while Tara is hiking back to his tribe, which has been taken over by the overzealous Kingsor, he is carried off by a giant Rhamphorhynchus. After killing the pterosaur, he finds Sanna and her tamed dinosaur. They are subsequently discovered and Tara is sacrificed to a Tylosaurus by Kingsor. Tara manages to escape and returns to Sanna.

The tribe then goes searching for Sanna again, and the two run away into a forest, where Sanna's dinosaur "parent" rescues her, but Tara is recaptured and the tribe prepare to burn him. The coastline, however, begins to recede, and the tribe is attacked by giant crabs. As a tsunami looms overhead, Sanna arrives to save Tara and they escape with Kane and Ulido aboard a raft. Kingsor tries to command the water to heal in a last effort to appease his deities, only to be swept away. While Ayak is running towards the raft, she steps into a trap of quicksand and is sucked down to her death. As the waters calm, the four survivors stop to witness a lunar eclipse, left in awe by the creation of the Moon above them.

Cast

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Production

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[The film] was a giggle, that was Hammer and they asked me if I’d like to do a prehistoric one, as I'd never done a prehistoric one, I said "Yes, why not, let's have a go," [...] As there was no language in it, it was all made-up language, nobody had to learn their lines.

Val Guest[7]

Writing

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Director Val Guest's screenplay was based on a treatment by J. G. Ballard (author of Empire of the Sun).[8] But like Hammer's other prehistoric films, When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth anachronistically portrays the dinosaurs of the Mesozoic Era from about 252 to 66 million years ago living alongside Homo sapiens of the Late Quaternary Period (±200,000 years ago). The film's characters use a language that was specially written for the film, albeit of only a dozen words or so, a frequent one being "neekro", which means "kill", and also "akita", which is heard many times.

Special effects

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The stop-motion plesiosaur, sculpted by Roger Dicken and animated by Jim Danforth

The effects unit at Bray Studios was used on the production.[9] The stop-motion animation creature effects were created by Jim Danforth, assisted by David W. Allen and Roger Dicken, with each model costing over $3,000 each on average.[10] Allen made the crab puppet, which was made from a real crab shell, though Dicken modified it with horns and spikes in order to make it look less plain. Dicken sculpted the plesiosaur, the Tylosaurus, the feet of the Rhamphorhynchus and model humans used in scenes where characters interacted directly with the creatures.[11]

Due to lack of time and money, and a violent altercation between Danforth and James Carreras,[12] many scenes were cancelled, including one that featured giant ants which would have been portrayed through an articulated, dog-sized model created by Dicken for close-up shots.[11]

Filming

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Exteriors were shot on Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands. Locations included Maspalomas beach, Ansite Mountain, Amurga, and Caldera de Tejeda. Guest recalled, "there was one enormous German hotel and practically nothing else on the island, there was one awful road, that you went by jeep; you got there by boat, there was no airport or anything. [...] We planned very, very, carefully."[7]

Release

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The film had its world premiere on 1 October 1970 in London with a U.K. general release on 25 October 1970.[13][2] It was released in the United States debuting in San Francisco on 10 February 1971.[2]

Home media

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The film was released on DVD as an exclusive from Best Buy with a G rating, but was quickly recalled because it was the original uncut version and contained nudity; it is now a collector's item. The uncut version was also released on Blu-ray in the United States on 28 February 2017 and DVD on 4 April by Warner Archive.[14][15]

Reception

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Box office

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The film was popular at the box office.[16] In the United States the film grossed $1.25 million at the box office.[17]

Award and nominations

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The film was nominated for Best Visual Effects at the 44th Academy Awards in 1971. It lost to the Disney film Bedknobs and Broomsticks. The nomination was given to Jim Danforth and Roger Dicken.[18]

Homage and tributes

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The special effects are considered a benchmark in portraying realistic stop-motion animation effects. The film's title is referenced in Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park with a large rectangular banner hanging in the island's visitors' center. The banner later plays a visibly prominent role in the final action sequence as the film ends.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth". American Film Institute. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
  2. ^ a b c Maxford, Howard (17 December 2018). Hammer Complete: The Films, the Personnel, the Company. McFarland. ISBN 9781476670072. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
  3. ^ a b "When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth". American Film Institute. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  4. ^ Bruce G. Hallenbeck, British Cult Cinema: Hammer Fantasy and Sci-Fi, Hemlock Books 2011 p204
  5. ^ Kinsey, Wayne (2007). Hammer Films: The Elstree Studio Years. p. 136.
  6. ^ McKay, Sinclair (2007). A Thing of Unspeakable Horror: The History of Hammer Films. p. 105.
  7. ^ a b Fowler, Roy (1988). "Interview with Val Guest". British Entertainment History Project.
  8. ^ "When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (1970)". Archived from the original on 24 February 2016.
  9. ^ Howard Maxford (8 November 2019). Hammer Complete: The Films, the Personnel, the Company. McFarland. pp. 70–71. ISBN 978-1-4766-2914-8.
  10. ^ "Jim Danforth Interview". Fantascene. Vol. 1, no. 2. Summer 1976.
  11. ^ a b "Roger Dicken: Monster Maker!". Monster Zone. 30 January 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  12. ^ "[...] ricordo che ci fu un violento scontro tra l'animatore Jim Danforth e Carreras, che praticamente lo mandò via perché stava impiegando troppo tempo a completare i trucchi: quel film è infatti uscito con alcune sequenze di effetti ottici tagliate, perché la lavorazione fu appunto interrotta."
    Cozzi, L. (1999), Hammer. La fabbrica dei mostri, Profondo Rosso, p. 149, ISBN 88-89084-09-X
  13. ^ "When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth". American Film Institute. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
  14. ^ When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth | Blu-ray | United States | Warner Archive Collection Warner Bros. | 1970 | 100 min | Not rated | 28 Feb. 2017
  15. ^ When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth | DVD | United States | Warner Archive Collection Warner Bros. | 1970 | 100 min | Rated G | 4 April 2017
  16. ^ Marcus Hearn, The Hammer Vault, Titan Books, 2011 p111
  17. ^ Maxford, Howard (17 December 2018). Hammer Complete: The Films, the Personnel, the Company. McFarland. ISBN 9781476670072. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
  18. ^ "The 44th Academy Awards (1972) Nominees and Winners". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 5 October 2014. Retrieved 24 April 2022.
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