ONE MILLION B.C.

(vt Man and his Mate)

   Film (1940). Hal Roach/United Artists. Dir Hal Roach and Hal Roach Jr, starring Victor Mature, Carole Landis, Lon Chaney Jr. Screenplay Mickell Novak, George Baker, Joseph Frickert, based on a story by Eugene Roche. 85 mins, cut to 80 mins. B/w.

   In this not very distinguished prehistoric Romeo-and-Juliet soap opera a young caveman is exiled from the family cave and meets a girl from a rival tribe; together they face various prehistoric hazards, including an earthquake and an erupting volcano. Photographically enlarged lizards wearing rubber disguises play the anachronistic dinosaurs, and an elephant wearing a woolly coat stands in for a mammoth. D.W. Griffith (1875-1948) worked on portions of the film, but resigned in anger at the decision not to have the cavepeople speak modern English. The UK remake was ONE MILLION YEARS BC (1966).

   JB/PN

   See also: CINEMA.