I love this movie.
I first saw it aged 5 in the cinema and again when it was rereleased in a double bill with Hammer’s SHE. I have vivid memories of being in the big Palace Cinema (now long gone) in Tamworth, being sucked into this prehistoric world via the intro sequence (created by Les Bowie.) As a dinosaur-mad kid this was (and remains) my favourite movie.
John Richardson and Raquel Welch are perfect for their roles – and Martine Beswick, Percy Herbert and Robert Brown are also good. The music by Mario Nascimbene is very memorable and distinctive, the location photography evokes a prehistoric vibe and, of course, Ray Harryhausen’s stop-motion creatures add thrills and action to the proceedings.
Director Don Chaffey handles the film (which pretty much has no dialogue) well, adding nice little touches, such as holding on a shot of Beswick’s smile as she watches Welch, her love rival, being taken away by a Pteranodon.
I’ve already mentioned the music, but I’ll mention it again: it really adds immeasurably to this film.
This prehistoric fantasy adventure really cemented my love for dinosaurs, creature features, the work of Ray Harryhausen and movies in general.
There have been many posters produced for this wonderful movie. Here are just some of them – feast your eyes!
DVD covers…
Some lobby cards…
Here are some fotobustas (which are the Italian version of lobby cards)…
Some home movie box art…
A fun promo piece that was produced for the film…
A nice montage…
An amusing take from 2019, satirising the ‘This is the way it was’ slogan, by Jamie Chase
Here’s a bunch of interesting pre-production artwork that was produced by Tom Chantrell for materials used by Hammer to pre-sell the movie…
Finally, here’s a sketch that Ray Harryhausen produced, exploring what he thought the poster could’ve looked like…
Monster Zone 