Posters for One Million Years B.C. (1966)

Detail from Pakistani poster for One Million Years B.C.
Detail from Pakistani poster for One Million Years B.C.

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!

The iconic UK poster with art by Tom Chantrell
Japanese poster
Japanese poster
French poster
French poster
Polish poster
Polish poster
US one sheet
US one sheet
Italian rerelease poster
Italian rerelease poster
German poster
German poster
Australian poster
Australian poster
The glorious UK double bill quad poster
The glorious UK double bill quad poster. I used to have this on my bedroom wall!
US poster
US poster
Spanish poster
Spanish poster
US poster
US poster
Pakistani poster
Pakistani poster
Belgian poster - love this one!
Belgian poster – love this one!
Spanish poster
Spanish poster
Japanese poster
Japanese poster
insert poster
Insert (14″ X 36″) poster
Ghanaian hand-painted poster
Ghanaian hand-painted poster
Yugoslavian poster
Yugoslavian poster
Spanish poster
Poster from Argentina
Poster from Argentina
Ghanaian hand-painted poster
Ghanaian hand-painted poster
UK poster
UK poster
A gorgeous-looking take on the poster by Daryl Joyce
A gorgeous-looking take on the poster by Daryl Joyce

DVD covers…

DVD cover
UK DVD cover
Hungarian DVD cover
Hungarian DVD cover
UK steelbook Blu-ray cover
UK steelbook Blu-ray cover

Some lobby cards…

Bronto attack! (Doesn't happen in the movie)
Bronto attack! (Doesn’t happen in the movie)
Lobby card
B&W lobby card
Archelon!
Archelon!

Here are some fotobustas (which are the Italian version of lobby cards)…

Fotobusta
Fotobusta
Fotobusta
Fotobusta
Fotobusta
Fotobusta

Some home movie box art…

200′ colour sound
200′ black & white silent
200′ colour sound

A fun promo piece that was produced for the film…

Beauty kidnapped by winged monster!

A nice montage…

This montage (using illos from a previous poster) was created by Cyrus Rouhani
This montage (using illos from a previous poster) was created by Cyrus Rouhani

An amusing take from 2019, satirising the ‘This is the way it was’ slogan, by Jamie Chase

A fun take from 2019, satirising the 'This is the way it was' slogan, by Jamie Chase
“No one really knows what happened”

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…

Prototype poster
Prototype poster (before Raquel Welch was cast)
Concept art to help Hammer raise finance for the film
Concept art to help Hammer raise finance for the film
Concept art produced before Raquel Welch was cast in the lead role
Concept art produced before Raquel Welch was cast in the lead role
Preproduction publicity flyer
Preproduction publicity flyer
Prototype artwork used by Hammer to create interest in the project
Prototype artwork used by Hammer to create interest in the project (this was from before Raquel Welch was cast)
Preproduction Hammer flyer
Preproduction Hammer marketing brochure cover
Preproduction Hammer marketing brochure cover

Finally, here’s a sketch that Ray Harryhausen produced, exploring what he thought the poster could’ve looked like…

Ray emphasises the dinosaur in his design!
Ray emphasises the dinosaur in his design!
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