You appreciate the full meaning of this title best if you express it as 1.002 million years B.P. (Before Present). - the extra 0.002 million years represents the bulk of all recorded history, and we are looking a very long way further back. But don't worry - this film does not claim any allegiance to known facts. I remember it from when it first appeared and, with most of my contemporaries, I particularly enjoyed it for the magnificent battling dinosaurs so vividly created by that special effects master Ray Harryhausen. But I also remember its total rejection by most of us later when maturity set in and we began to appreciate the difference between the Pliocene and Jurassic ages, recognising that the only mammals alive in the age of dinosaurs were no bigger than a modern rodent. Probably we also gradually became aware that Raquel Welch really looked a lot more attractive to us than we might have expected from the reconstructions of female skeletal fossils from the Pithecanthropus Erectus era which we can see in museums. However Raquel has had many more worth while roles than wearing a rabbit skin bikini and grunting at potential paramours from other tribes. This role was pure fun, but even without it the film would remain very watchable thanks to the magnificent dinosaur battle sequences generated in his backstage workshop by Harryhausen. Copies of the DVD are now beginning to be hard to find, but this film is also included in a Raquel Welch DVD collection, although not as far as I know in any Ray Harryhausen collection which would be equally appropriate. 20th Century Fox, now have the North American distribution rights for this British classic, and I urge them to ensure the contribution he made to cinematography as we know it today remains appreciated by modern film-goers by ensuring that this film (preferably also with others featuring his work) is released again soon in the form of one or more Blue-ray disks so that we can all continue to marvel at his gripping illusions which still match any CG sequences I have ever seen. .
"Quest for Fire", a later and equally memorable film with a similar theme but greater scientific credibility, perhaps provided more fascination but many also felt it gave less entertainment value - it had no RH to spice up its video sequences and it never achieved the fame of "One Million Years BC". Another work with a similar theme which was written almost like a film-script and has been crying out for filming is Jack London's book "Before Adam", but as yet no director has dared to accept this challenge. As for "One Million Years BC", let's forget the fur bikini, watching battles between these scaly monsters and our puny ancestors, followed by its dramatic volcanic sequences remains a cinematographic experience comparable with that from any average adventure film made today, so it still deserves an IMDb rating of at least 5 or 6. But it is now also a genuine classic which should increase the rating we give it by at least one star. If database users show clearly that this remains a realistic assessment of the film, it is hard to believe that it will ever be allowed to drop into total oblivion.
"Quest for Fire", a later and equally memorable film with a similar theme but greater scientific credibility, perhaps provided more fascination but many also felt it gave less entertainment value - it had no RH to spice up its video sequences and it never achieved the fame of "One Million Years BC". Another work with a similar theme which was written almost like a film-script and has been crying out for filming is Jack London's book "Before Adam", but as yet no director has dared to accept this challenge. As for "One Million Years BC", let's forget the fur bikini, watching battles between these scaly monsters and our puny ancestors, followed by its dramatic volcanic sequences remains a cinematographic experience comparable with that from any average adventure film made today, so it still deserves an IMDb rating of at least 5 or 6. But it is now also a genuine classic which should increase the rating we give it by at least one star. If database users show clearly that this remains a realistic assessment of the film, it is hard to believe that it will ever be allowed to drop into total oblivion.