When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (1970) Review

When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (1970) Review

Hammer Studios made a series of films, dubbed the “Cave Girl” series, in the late 60’s and early 70’s, mashing up dinosaurs and other prehistoric monsters with scantily clad cavewomen. It started with the remake One Million Years B.C., and When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth recreates much of what made that film awesome. 

It begins with a tribe of cavemen worshipping their god, the giant flaming ball in the sky (that thing we refer to as “the sun”), by sacrificing some blonde cavewomen. One woman jumps off a cliff and is rescued by another tribe on a raft. She’s brought back to their village, and from there she goes on a harrowing adventure through the prehistoric landscape, which is full of creatures both friendly and ferocious. 

When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth is another entertaining prehistoric adventure. Even though the stop motion dinosaurs weren’t done by Ray Harryhausen, they are as impressive as anything he ever brought to life—so impressive, in fact, the film earned an Oscar nomination for its visual effects. There is even less scientific accuracy this time, with a Megalosaurus (which gets the most screen time of all the dinos) depicted as a giant four-legged reptile, instead of a two-legged one. Even though the film has intense, memorable moments like an Elasmosaurus attack and a battle with a Chasmosaurus, unfortunately, it doesn’t feature as many dinosaur action scenes as its similar predecessor, One Million Years B.C.

 

But, in place of greater dinosaur scenes, they double down on sexy cavewomen. Playboy model Victoria Vetri is the main eye candy, and in one scene, she appears fully nude. Leave it up to Hammer Studios to make the sexiest dinosaur movie of its time (or perhaps of all time). 

At points it feels like they’re trying to outdo what was done in One Million Years B.C., especially at the end. There’s a massive tsunami, and the special effects are way too ambitious for this era of filmmaking, but despite the cheesiness, it makes for an epic finale that’s about as abrupt and random as the finale of One Million Years B.C.

 

When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth is great, if not quite as good as One Million Years B.C., just because it has less quality dinosaur action and repeats lots of the same elements. Watching both films back-to-back would make for a great double feature, but When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth is still very entertaining in its own right.