So amazing you won't believe your eyes!
1940-04-05
N/A
80 min
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 Victor Mature as protagonist Tumak, a young cave man who strives to unite the uncivilized Rock Tribe and the peaceful Shell Tribe, Carole Landis as Loana, daughter of the Shell Tribe chief and Tumak's love interest, and Lon Chaney, Jr. as Tumak's stern father and leader of the Rock Tribe.
Told by way of a retrospective, this is quite a fun story of prehistoric man and for once, Victor Mature is pretty much in his element. He plays "Tumak" who is exiled by his "Rock" tribe and takes refuge with the far more refined "Shell" people where he settles down and marries "Loana" (Carole Landis). Unfortunately for him, he manages to get exiled from there too - so returns to his old tribe, with his new wife, and tries to pacify them and their nasty leader Lon Chaney Jr - all under the menacing threat of an active volcano. It has precious little dialogue for the star to chew his way through, and the special effects are actually quite decent - plenty of dinosaurs (lizards in close-up), wooly mammoths etc. with enough action to keep it moving along quite well until a lively conclusion.
