Written by director Val Guest based on a treatment by J.G. Ballard, the Hammer production "When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth" is a good diversion that goes a long way based on the striking hotness of its young female cast members, its entertaining stop motion monsters created by Jim Danforth, and its convincing enough recreation of a prehistoric time (never *mind* the fact that we all know that cavemen and dinosaurs didn't really co-exist!). The luscious Victora Vetri, 1968 Playboy Playmate of the Year, stars as Sanna, cast out from her own tribe who develops an attachment to Tara (likable Robin Hawdon),who receives similar treatment from his own people. The admittedly episodic movie doesn't have a lot of story, but definitely delivers in the thrills department, especially in the scenes where the cavemen are interacting with the dinosaurs, among them a pterodactyl and a triceratops. One of the cutest of all has Sanna taming herself a young dinosaur. Partly filmed at Shepperton Studios and partly filmed in the Canary Islands, this always has a great look going for it, with art direction by John Blezard and cinematography by Dick Bush. The music by Mario Nascimbene is appropriately rousing. The characters, for the most part, are hard to discern from each other, except for a select few; lovely brunette Imogen Hassall is a hoot as the nasty Ayak. (If nothing else, the girl watching makes this a pleasure to watch. And it's worth noting that the Warner Bros. double feature DVD that pairs this with "Moon Zero Two" features the 100 minute long uncut UK version that features extremely delectable Vetri nudity.) The characters have a limited vocabulary, speaking 27 key words with "zak" meaning "gone" or "left" and "m'kan" meaning "kill" or "killed" (for example). Although it would help to have the translations, this is a story often told just as much with images as dialogue, so it doesn't matter too much. It still amounts to good visceral entertainment, with fine, consistent pacing, and creating one engaging sequence after another. Film fans who enjoy prehistoric era tales should find this enjoyable stuff, with some poignant moments amid its breathless mayhem. Eight out of 10.

A movie that just seems to get better with the passing years. The dialog is in "caveman" with no subtitles, which means the story is told almost entirely in visual terms. But, hey, that's how movies got started in the first place! Worth noting is the Canary Island scenery which is fresh and evocative. The human scenery is attractive as well with stars Victoria Vetri and Robin Hawdon spending the entire production in nothing more than fur bikinis. Hawdon's career in film acting never took off but he did a lot of stage work in England and a lot of writing as well. Worth reading is his 1984 novel, "A Rustle in the Grass" -- a delightful novel (a la "Watership Down") about a colony of ants. His most memorable scene in this movie consists of "beefcake-bondage" and it comes when he's tied spread-eagle-style between two wooden posts. Fuel for a fire is then piled between his spread-open legs. Curiously, though, his tormentors allow him to keep on his loincloth which certainly won't protect his more sensitive parts from the rising flames but which will, unfortunately, block some of the view and thus lessen the fun. Well, they were only cavemen and thus have a lot to learn about the nudity factor in torture and executions.

I'll readily admit that I'm not a huge fan of Hammer's prehistoric adventures. The distinct lack of English dialogue in these films always seem to me to hamper them too much, so that the story gets dumbed down to the level of 'us vs them' chasing and a literal caveman mentality. In the end, the only reason you can watch these is for the spectacle, and indeed that's the case when it comes to WHEN DINOSAURS RULED THE EARTH, a film that features some great and detailed sequences involving dinosaurs and not a lot else.

The somewhat broad storyline involves a blonde-haired cavegirl who escapes certain sacrifice only to fall in love with the member of another tribe. Eventually, she's outcast from there too, and then hunted down by her former neighbours, all of whom seem determined to see her killed. There's not a great deal more to it than that, I'm afraid.

There's not really any scope for acting here. Victoria Vetri was a Playboy pin-up, not an actress, so she fills the bikini readily enough and that's all that's required of her. Patrick Allen beats his chest and sports a masculine beard but is given little to do other than look menacing. The romance scenes between Vetri and Robin Hawdon are sweaty and laughable and, as I mentioned before, the only really enjoyable bits are those involving the dinosaurs. Jim Danforth was the man behind them, and a blinding job he does too.