When Dinosaurs Ruled the World

Original title: When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth

1970
PG
1h 40m

IMDb RATING

5.1/10

YOUR RATING

Sanna escapes being sacrificed and meets Tara. Together, they live in a seaside tribe that worships the Sun God and survive the dangers of the creatures from the Mesozoic era.

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Dinosaur Adventure Adventure Fantasy Romance Sci-Fi

Sanna escapes being sacrificed and meets Tara. Together, they live in a seaside tribe that worships the Sun God and survive the dangers of the creatures from the Mesozoic Era.Sanna escapes being sacrificed and meets Tara. Together, they live in a seaside tribe that worships the Sun God and survive the dangers of the creatures from the Mesozoic Era.Sanna escapes being sacrificed and meets Tara. Together, they live in a seaside tribe that worships the Sun God and survive the dangers of the creatures from the Mesozoic Era.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

5.1/10

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 1 nomination total

Yani
(as Carol-Anne Hawkins)

Maria O'Brien

Omah

Connie Tilton

Sand Mother

Maggie Lynton

Rock Mother

Jimmy Lodge

Fisherman

Billy Cornelius

Hunter

Ray Ford

Hunter

Ann Barrass

Cavewoman
(uncredited)

Polly Dillon

Minor Role
(uncredited)

Director
- Val Guest
Writers
- Val Guest
- J.G. Ballard
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
A 27-word "caveman language" was created for this film, supposedly drawing on Phoenician, Latin and Sanskrit sources. Some of the key words in this language are "Neecha", meaning "Stop" or "Come back"; "zak", meaning "gone" or "left"; "Akita", meaning "Look" or "See"; "neecro", meaning "bad" or "evil"; "m'kan", meaning "kill" or "killed"; "mata", meaning "dead"; "Yo Kita", meaning "Go".

Goofs
Dinosaurs had already been extinct for millions of years before human beings in their now-recognizable form first appeared on Earth.

Quotes
[first lines]
Narrator: A time of beginnings, of darkness, of light, of the Sun, the Earth, the sea, of man. The beginnings of man living with man, by the sea, in the mountains. The beginnings of love...

Alternate versions
Several nude scenes were made for the film, but were cut from the original U.S. theatrical release of it in order to ensure a "G" rating. They include a scene of Tara (Robin Hawdon) and Sanna (Victoria Vetri) making love in a cave, a scene where they both go skinny-dipping in a lake and a scene of Tara taking off Sanna's clothes on the beach. The aforementioned nude scenes remained in the uncut UK version, however (as Vetri revealed in a 1984 interview). This version has also officially been released in the U.S. at last on Blu-ray on February 28, 2017 and on DVD-R on April 4, 2017 by Warner Archive.

Connections
Edited from The Lost World (1960)

User reviews73

Review

Featured review

babes & beaches

I saw this film when it was first released. I must've been 10--and I was a real dino freak. I was totally jazzed when I found it on video many years later.

Someone else mentioned getting a translation book at the theatre...I never got one. The magazine Castle of Frankenstein (real mag title, folks!) ran a translation guide that month. I still have that mag somewhere--they also ran a pin-up of Victoria Vetri in the movie bikini, wielding a spear (I had that page on my wall for months).

As I recall (and is pretty evident from the 1,004 times it's used in the film) "neecro" means evil. So "Sanna neecro" means the blonde chick is evil. Of course, she's not really evil. "Neecro" should mean totally hot, but these were cave days. And they had only 26 words. I'm pretty sure Superfragilisticexpialidotious wasn't one of them

The effects by Jim Danforth (not David Allen) are excellent--right up there with Harryhausen. They still hold up against 3D computer effects.

While the story has genuine dramatic underpinnings, the cave-language kinda gets in the way of clarity. Too often the viewer has no idea what's being said. That aside, it's a fun movie with great effects and british babes in skimpy outfits sharing a beach with dinosaurs.

Oddly, for a dino pic, there's a LOT of stage sets, and I don't mean the dino FX shots. They had a bit of trouble matching shots between set and location work. And it shows.

That aside, it's a fun movie with great effects. Any dino fan should check it out. It's not Jurassic Park, but then again Laura Dern didn't show cleavage.