One Million Years B.C. (U.S. and International Versions)

Good collectible movie for the family

The wait is finally over and with this Ray Harryhausen film making its Blu Ray debut and The Valley of Gwangi being released March 14th (MOD?!), the Master of Majick's film collection is complete on this format (excluding The Early Years Collection and Animal World).One Million Years B.C. is one of the odder Harryhausen films, there is little dialogue except in the narrative. The creatures in the film are mostly actual dinosaurs that lived at one time and the film just has a different feel with its melodramatic overtones.The story of Tumak the cave man and his adventures discovering new cultures and life threatening obstacles is both fun and humorous at times. It's easy to laugh at cavemen grunting and using only the simplest forms of communication. We know this, cave men like meat, they like women, are very competitive and don't give a Rat's A$$ about the weak or elderly.The real reason to enjoy this film is to marvel over Ray Harryhausen's wonderful special effects. I've been a fan of Ray's since I was a small child in the early 60's watching his early black and white films on TV. I was lucky enough to see many of his early color films on the big screen at Saturday Matinees in my local theater. Yes, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (double billed with Jack the Giant Killer, not Ray's work), Jason and the Argonauts and One Million Years B.C. were among the many to shape my youth and love for stop motion effects. It wouldn't be until The Golden Voyage of Sinbad that I would see a Ray Harryhausen film first run in a theater and actually go to see it because it was a Ray Harryhausen film.This new 2 disc blu ray release is near perfect, first and for most we get both the U.S. and original U.K. versions of the film looking their best ever. Each version of the film gets it's own disc with a few nice bonus features. The features include commentary on the U.K. version, U.K trailer (rough looking but it's here) and a poster and stills gallery On the U.S. version disc we get a 12minute interview with RH himself, an 8 minute one with Raquel Welch and a 16 minute one with Martine Beswick (one of the cave women, who shares some candid stories) and the U.S. trailer (also rough looking, but not as bad as the U.K. version) It would have been nice to include a featurette on the film, but if you own any of Harryhausen's documentaries you already have all that has been said about this extraordinary artist.The new 4K transfer for both films looks beautiful and identical with the exception of the added scenes. The U.K. cut, (which I do not believe I have seen before) is the superior version, fleshing out some scenes that seemed insignificant in the U.S. cut. The dinosaur scenes have some extra time and both intro and ending of the film are different, not so much as to change the story, but the way they are presented.I'm pleased they included both versions because they do have a little different feel to them. I grew up watching the U.S. version so it will save some shelf space to be able to discard my old DVD copy.If you're a fan of this film or Ray's work, this is a no brainer, I doubt we will see a better release of this film. the transfer looks virtually flawless with only a few shots of the landscape where the film appears soft. This is one of the best treatments of one of Mr. Harryhausen's films on blu ray and a must buy for fans.

I love science fiction (see my reviews) and beautiful,sexy women.I've seen One Million Years BC a few times on older media and loved it. Glad they put it on DVD. This DVD has great color and audio. No problems there.The plot is fairly simple. A member of the Rock clan (John Richardson) is driven out of his clan. He (Tomack) treks across volcanic land and encounters a giant prehistoric monster ( Iguana) and a giant spider. Later he finds water in a underground cave inhabited by ape beasts. He luckily escapes and passes out near a sea shore. A group of blond hair Shell people find him. We see Raquel Welch in her scantily clad fur bikini. Raquel (Lanona) helps fix his wounds and the Shell clan bring him to their cave. Later Tomack battles and kills what appears to be an Allosaurus dinosaur that is attacking and killing the Shell people. They are very grateful and welcome him. However Tomack tries to steal a spear and is thrown out of the Shell clan. Beautiful Lanona falls in love with Tomack and follows him back to his clan.There is a scene of a Triceratops and a Trex fighting. Also a Brontosaurs scene and a separate giant attacking turtle scene . Lanona is attacked and taken off by a giant Pterodactyl to be fed to its young. However the Pterodactyl is attacked by another one and Lanona is dropped and makes it back to her tribe. Several members of her tribe come to help find Tomack. There is a big battle between clans but then a volcano erupts. Earthquake, lava and destruction. I won't ruin the ending for you.Lots of exciting action in this movie. No English words. Just caveman grunts and simple caveman words. For an actor/actress this was a movie easy to learn your lines. The special effects were great.I would of given the movie 4 stars without Raquel Welch but with her in it... easily 5 stars. Raquel Welch exudes beautiful female sexuality in her fur bikini. INMO one of the hottest, best looking actresses of all time. Plus in other movies she proved she could act saying lines too. This movie made her a major star. Next I want to get Fantastic Voyage starring her.One million BC a good science fiction/caveman/dino movie but with Raquel in it is easily rated 5 stars. A classic! Don't try to analyse this movie. We all know the last of the dinosaurs died out about 65 million years ago, long, long before the first primative man. Just go with the flow and enjoy the movie.P.S.Someone told me they saw Raquel Welch (now 71) in a cooking/comedy short episode on TV. He marveled at how well she looked and still is a hotti. She obviously kept herself in good shape with diet and exercise. Way to go Raquel from a long time fan.