One Million B.C.

One Million B.C.
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Hal Roach Hal Roach Jr.
Written by	Mickell Novack George Baker Joseph Frickert
Produced by	Hal Roach D. W. Griffith
Starring	Victor Mature Carole Landis Lon Chaney Jr.
Narrated by	Conrad Nagel
Cinematography	Norbert Brodine
Edited by	Ray Snyder
Music by	Werner R. Heymann
Production company	Hal Roach Studios
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date	April 5, 1940 (1940-04-05)[1]
Running time	80 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$462,730[2]

One Million B.C. is a 1940 American fantasy film produced by Hal Roach Studios and released by United Artists. It is also known by the titles Cave Man, Man and His Mate, and Tumak.

The film stars

The film was a popular success and was nominated for two Academy Awards for its special effects and musical score, although the film is controversial for its use of live animals dueling.

Plot

A group of modern-day hikers caught in a storm seek shelter in a cave. They encounter an anthropologist who interprets prehistoric carvings that introduce the story of a young caveman.

Akhoba, head of the Rock Tribe, leads a hunting party. His son Tumak begs the right to his first kill, a small

Tumak floats downstream unconscious and is found by Loana of the Shell Tribe. Her tribesmen answer her shell horn call and take Tumak to their cave. The tribe gathers for a meal of vegetables, shared orderly with the children, women, and elderly served first. Tumak awakes and Loana gives him food, which he guards as he eats, perplexing the tribe who share and do not fight. Tumak looks on, confused by the customs of the Shell Tribe.

Meanwhile, Akhoba leads a hunting party into the hills but is injured trying to take down a Muskox. As Akhoba lies injured, a younger hunter asserts authority over the others and takes Akhoba's place as leader, leaving Akhoba to die. Later, Akhoba, crippled, shows up at the cave but is treated with contempt.

Tumak adjusts slowly to life with the Shell Tribe. He helps the children gather food by shaking fruit out of a tree, and they teach him how to laugh. He tries to fish with Loana but grows frustrated, as spearfishing is not like land hunting. While he is fishing, an Allosaurus traps a child in a tree. Tumak uses a borrowed spear to kill the dinosaur and save the child, but does not want to return the spear to its owner. Later that night, Tumak steals the spear and a hammer from their maker, and attacks him when he tries to reclaim them. The tribal leader, Loana's father, banishes Tumak.

As Tumak departs, Loana, who has fallen in love with him, leaves her tribe to follow him, much to his dismay. Tumak pulls apples from a tree for himself, ignoring Loana. Seeing that she has trouble reaching apples herself, he relents and helps her. Along the way, they spot an Glyptodont, which chases them up a tree. Later, as Tumak and Loana reach Rock Tribe territory, they are trapped in a fissure during a fight between a Dimetrodon and a lizard-like dinosaur. Loana escapes, but is menaced by the leader who previously displaced Akhoba. She blows her shell horn, leading Tumak to her rescue. He saves her by defeating the leader, becoming the new leader.

Tumak has Loana handle the meals, which confuses the Rock Tribe, since she feeds the women and children first, then Akhoba whom she has sat on his former throne, and then the other elders. Lastly, Tumak and the able-bodied men are fed. The next day, Akhoba comes outside to see his tribe learning to gather fruits and vegetables, with Loana showing them which are good to eat and which are not. Loana and Tumak sit and talk, but Tumak is called away to help hunt a deer, while Loana helps search for a missing child.

A nearby volcano erupts, scattering the Rock Tribe after destroying their cave. A child's mother is engulfed by a lava flow; Loana saves the child but is cut off from the others by the lava flow. She and the child head to the Shell Tribe. Many animals fall into the crevasses opened by the volcanic eruption. Tumak searches for Loana but finds only a scrap of her clothing near the lava flow, and presumes her to be dead.

Later, a Shell tribesman seeks out Tumak and tells him that Loana is still alive, but the Shell Tribe is trapped in their cave by a large iguana-like dinosaur. Tumak leads his men to attack and kill the beast. Akohba and the women with the children follow. The Shell Tribe hold off the creature with torches. Tumak's direct spear attack is futile. Akhoba advises Tumak to distract the dinosaur while the rest of the men climb to higher ground. They start a rockslide that kills the beast. The formerly despised Akhoba becomes recognized for his experience and wisdom. As a result, both tribes unite as one. Tumak, Loana, and the rescued child are framed in the last scene as the dawn of a new day begins.

Cast

Production

Producer Hal Roach hired D. W. Griffith to produce this film and Of Mice and Men, writing to him, "I need help from the production side to select the proper writers, cast, etc. and to help me generally in the supervision of these pictures."^[3]

Griffith reportedly wrote a script based on a French novel by Eugene Roche.^[4]

Although Griffith eventually disagreed with Roach over the production and departed, Roach later insisted that some of the scenes in the completed film were directed by Griffith. This would make the film the final production in which Griffith was actively involved. But cast members recall Griffith directing only the screen tests and costume tests. When Roach advertised the film in late 1939 with Griffith listed as producer, Griffith asked that his name be removed.^[5][6]

Victor Mature had just made his film debut in Hal Roach's The Housekeeper's Daughter. Roach had signed him to a seven-year contract.^[7]

"Griffith did all the tests", recalled Mature. "He tested for six months. I don't know what he was looking for. They'd have been better off letting the old man direct the picture. One day, he just wasn't around any more."^[8]

Lon Chaney Jr. had just made Of Mice and Men for Roach.

"I had to 'ugh' my way through that picture", said Mature.^[9]

The film was nominated for two Academy Awards:

The film was remade as One Million Years B.C. (1966) starring John Richardson as Tumak and Raquel Welch as Loana. The external scenes were filmed in the Canary Islands.

The film features several scenes of animal cruelty, including a young American alligator with a Dimetrodon-like sail glued to its back made to fight against an Argentine black and white tegu, which is left severely injured.^[19] This film caused the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) to ban many of the treatments of animals that occurred during the production.^[20]

The film was later colorized for the modern market.

See also

• List of films featuring dinosaurs

References