Post by ultramattdroid on Aug 20, 2005 19:46:57 GMT -4
Cenizoic Cinema: When Mammals rule the screen.
At the time when dinosaurs (cavemen, and Paleozoic life forms) ruled
the screen, these weird beasts gave cinema audiences thrills, chills,
and laughs.
Mammal began sprawling the screen, in 1917 with the short Willis
O'Brien stop-motion flick, "The Dinosaur and the Missing Link: A
Prehistoric Tradgedy" the film involves a ficticious austrolopithicus
(under the name of Wild Willie), that is turning a group of
cavepeople's lives upside-down (until he gets clobbered by a
brontosaurus). The film includes a diatryma (a prehistoric big walking
bird like creature that is a combonation between a hawk and an
ostrich), which was reffered to as a desert quail. Willis O'Brein
called Wild Willie: "King Kong's Ancestor".
The 20's
As Willis O'Brien (or Obie for short), brought dinosaurs to life in
1925's "The Lost World", make up master, Cecil Holland did the make
for the ape-man (to me it's some kind of austrolopithicus), which was
played by Bull Montana.
The 30's
After a success of "The Lost World" Obie got involved in another
project which is a filmt that was unreleased to theatres nationwide
and around the globe. It was called "Creation"(1930). The film tells a
tale of a group of people who discovered an island inhabited by
prehistoric monsters. Nasties include, Brontosaurus (that attacks
people on a boat), Triceratops (that gores up a, man after shootin the
baby 3-horns), a Pterodactyl (that steals a young woman), a T-Rex, and
a mammal that looks like a rhinoceros with 2 horn stickin' out, called
Arsinoitherium meanin beast from Arsinoi Egypt (that rolls a log off
with a group of men on it). The unreleased film ended up as parts of
the elements for the original 1933 epic "King Kong". After KK was a
hit in 1933, a sequel was made that came on Christmas 1933 called "Son
of Kong". Creatures include, a dragon-like beast, stracosaurus, and a
cave-bear. And of course the cute, furry, and funny Little Kong.
The 40's
"One Million B.C."(1940) involved magnified lizards with horns a
spikes glued on, a man in an allosaurus suit, an Ice-age ox, and an
elephant covered with hair glued on its body. The film was a flop, and
got an Oscar Nominee for Best Music. In 1948, a giant ground sloth (or
megatherium) which was a guy in a suit fought a man clad rubber
creatosaurs suit in "Unkown Island". The film was a flop-a-roni, yet
it was shown in color.
The 50's
Saber-tooth tigers, and Mammoths were coexisting with dinos, in the
Looney Tunes cartoon, "Caveman Inki" (1950). The animated short
introduced a comic conception of a Cave lion. The technique that
brought mammoths to life in, "One Million B.C." was used again in the
1952 sci-fi color film, "The Jungle". The horror flick "The
Neanderthal Man" (1953), shown a sheer miconception a Neanderthal man
that looked hideous. The film inclued a mammoth. A false impression of
a caveman was used in the Jungle Jim flick "The Killer Ape" (1953) in
which the title looked a lot like a caveman. A flying bird like
creature (that was horrible in the film and by it's looks) terrorizes
NYC in "The Giant Claw" (1957). 1958 spawned a fake misconception of
prehitoric man and dog in "Monster on Campus".
The 60's
In Hanna Barbera cartoon series "The Flintstones" (1960-1966),
saber-tooth tigers were portrayed as domesticated house cats, and
mammoths and mastodons as sinks, water sprinklers, and hoses. (Funny
eh?) But the 1994 film adaptation of the show was a flop! A true
conception of a Neanderthal man was shown in the 1960 Universal
chiller, "Dinosaurus!" In one funny scene the caveman was looking at a
modern day house, and looked at a bathroom, ran away when he flushed a
toilet. Mammoths were shown coexisting with dinosaurs in "Journey to
the Beginning of Time" (1967). The film was from Czechoslovakia.
(Great Family Entertainment I do say!) Pronconsuls (the first
prehistoric man that looked like an ape), Smilodons, and Moeritheriums
(the first prehistoric elephant, that were portrayed by tapirs, and
that's what they scientifically look like), had a cinematic debut in
Stanly Kuberic's epic "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968) for the "Dawn of
Man" scene. The film includes skulls of mammoths. The first prehitoric
horse Eohipis (a.k.a. Hyracotherium) was shown being eaten by Gwangi
the allosaurus in "The Valley of Gwangi" (1969). Ray Harryhausen was
responsible for bringingthe stop-motion beasties to life in this
sci-fi western thriller.
The 70's
Disco, fine chicks, and fine guys, bell-bottoms, really big afros,
choppers, Mad Magazine, and really bad Godzilla flicks! A prehistoric
apeman (some kind of austrolopithicus), scared cinema viewers in Joan
Crawfords last film "Trog" (1970) A breif look on a Nederthal's
habitat in a scientific/fantasy sort of way was shown in "Land that
Time Forgot" (1975). A scientific/werid looking Homo Erectus was shown
(fighting a saber-tooth tiger or Smilodon) in "Sinbad and the Eye of
the Tiger" (1977). The 1976 Dino De laurentiis' remake of "King Kong",
inspired Hong Kong film studio, Shaws Borthers to make a spoof called
"Hsang Hsang Wang" which was released in the U.S. as "Mighty Peking
Man" (1977) (a.k.a. "Colossus of the Congo" and "The Goliathion")
which shown the tale of a gigantic Homo Erectus (since the Homo
Erectus was discovered in Peing, China, they call it that name) going
wild for a Tarzan type jungle girl, and turns Hong Kong upside-down.
Quinten Tarintino released the film in 1999, and came out on video and
DVD a year later. The film was a freaky flop.
Uintatherium from "Journey to the Beginning of Time"
(1967), reappears as an attacking monster in "The Last Dinosaur" (1977).
The 80's
"Clan of the Cave Bear" (1981), not actually shown cavepeople, but a
cave bear, portrayed by a real bear named Bart. Universal had two
prehistoric man flicks "Iceman" (1984) told a story about a defrosted
Neanderthal named Charoo (meaning Charlie), who couln't adapt to the
real world. You can see a spoof of it in "South Park" in an episode
called "Ice Mahn" only this time an man from the year 1996 is in the
year 1999. (Scary eh.) The documentery adventure "Missing Link"
(1988), where Peter Elliot plays the title Austrolopithicus robustus,
goes into an adventure across Afirica. Rick Baker was responsible for
the make up.
The 90's
The 1992 comedy classic with Brandin Fraiser, "Encino Man" (1992) told
a tale of a cavman being defrosted in their back yard, and all funny
stuff ensues. Brandin Fraiser played the funny caveman. At the time
when CGI dinos were big, BBC films gave birth to CGI prehitoric
mammals in the documentry mini-series "Walking with Beasts" (1999). It
shown all kinds of eye-popping species of prehistoric mammals, that
will knock your socks off, and leave your jaw touching the ground and
say, "That's so cool!" The documentry got released in the Discovery
Channel in December 9th 2001 as "Walking with Prehistoric Beasts".
In 2002 Dreamworks released "Ice Age", which was a box office smash and earned an Oscar nomination. This was all done through CGI.
Now since this film was so successful, a sequel is in the works, and is due out in spring 2006 entitled "Ice Age 2: Meltdown".
Let the mammals rule the screen.
At the time when dinosaurs (cavemen, and Paleozoic life forms) ruled
the screen, these weird beasts gave cinema audiences thrills, chills,
and laughs.
Mammal began sprawling the screen, in 1917 with the short Willis
O'Brien stop-motion flick, "The Dinosaur and the Missing Link: A
Prehistoric Tradgedy" the film involves a ficticious austrolopithicus
(under the name of Wild Willie), that is turning a group of
cavepeople's lives upside-down (until he gets clobbered by a
brontosaurus). The film includes a diatryma (a prehistoric big walking
bird like creature that is a combonation between a hawk and an
ostrich), which was reffered to as a desert quail. Willis O'Brein
called Wild Willie: "King Kong's Ancestor".
The 20's
As Willis O'Brien (or Obie for short), brought dinosaurs to life in
1925's "The Lost World", make up master, Cecil Holland did the make
for the ape-man (to me it's some kind of austrolopithicus), which was
played by Bull Montana.
The 30's
After a success of "The Lost World" Obie got involved in another
project which is a filmt that was unreleased to theatres nationwide
and around the globe. It was called "Creation"(1930). The film tells a
tale of a group of people who discovered an island inhabited by
prehistoric monsters. Nasties include, Brontosaurus (that attacks
people on a boat), Triceratops (that gores up a, man after shootin the
baby 3-horns), a Pterodactyl (that steals a young woman), a T-Rex, and
a mammal that looks like a rhinoceros with 2 horn stickin' out, called
Arsinoitherium meanin beast from Arsinoi Egypt (that rolls a log off
with a group of men on it). The unreleased film ended up as parts of
the elements for the original 1933 epic "King Kong". After KK was a
hit in 1933, a sequel was made that came on Christmas 1933 called "Son
of Kong". Creatures include, a dragon-like beast, stracosaurus, and a
cave-bear. And of course the cute, furry, and funny Little Kong.
The 40's
"One Million B.C."(1940) involved magnified lizards with horns a
spikes glued on, a man in an allosaurus suit, an Ice-age ox, and an
elephant covered with hair glued on its body. The film was a flop, and
got an Oscar Nominee for Best Music. In 1948, a giant ground sloth (or
megatherium) which was a guy in a suit fought a man clad rubber
creatosaurs suit in "Unkown Island". The film was a flop-a-roni, yet
it was shown in color.
The 50's
Saber-tooth tigers, and Mammoths were coexisting with dinos, in the
Looney Tunes cartoon, "Caveman Inki" (1950). The animated short
introduced a comic conception of a Cave lion. The technique that
brought mammoths to life in, "One Million B.C." was used again in the
1952 sci-fi color film, "The Jungle". The horror flick "The
Neanderthal Man" (1953), shown a sheer miconception a Neanderthal man
that looked hideous. The film inclued a mammoth. A false impression of
a caveman was used in the Jungle Jim flick "The Killer Ape" (1953) in
which the title looked a lot like a caveman. A flying bird like
creature (that was horrible in the film and by it's looks) terrorizes
NYC in "The Giant Claw" (1957). 1958 spawned a fake misconception of
prehitoric man and dog in "Monster on Campus".
The 60's
In Hanna Barbera cartoon series "The Flintstones" (1960-1966),
saber-tooth tigers were portrayed as domesticated house cats, and
mammoths and mastodons as sinks, water sprinklers, and hoses. (Funny
eh?) But the 1994 film adaptation of the show was a flop! A true
conception of a Neanderthal man was shown in the 1960 Universal
chiller, "Dinosaurus!" In one funny scene the caveman was looking at a
modern day house, and looked at a bathroom, ran away when he flushed a
toilet. Mammoths were shown coexisting with dinosaurs in "Journey to
the Beginning of Time" (1967). The film was from Czechoslovakia.
(Great Family Entertainment I do say!) Pronconsuls (the first
prehistoric man that looked like an ape), Smilodons, and Moeritheriums
(the first prehistoric elephant, that were portrayed by tapirs, and
that's what they scientifically look like), had a cinematic debut in
Stanly Kuberic's epic "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968) for the "Dawn of
Man" scene. The film includes skulls of mammoths. The first prehitoric
horse Eohipis (a.k.a. Hyracotherium) was shown being eaten by Gwangi
the allosaurus in "The Valley of Gwangi" (1969). Ray Harryhausen was
responsible for bringingthe stop-motion beasties to life in this
sci-fi western thriller.
The 70's
Disco, fine chicks, and fine guys, bell-bottoms, really big afros,
choppers, Mad Magazine, and really bad Godzilla flicks! A prehistoric
apeman (some kind of austrolopithicus), scared cinema viewers in Joan
Crawfords last film "Trog" (1970) A breif look on a Nederthal's
habitat in a scientific/fantasy sort of way was shown in "Land that
Time Forgot" (1975). A scientific/werid looking Homo Erectus was shown
(fighting a saber-tooth tiger or Smilodon) in "Sinbad and the Eye of
the Tiger" (1977). The 1976 Dino De laurentiis' remake of "King Kong",
inspired Hong Kong film studio, Shaws Borthers to make a spoof called
"Hsang Hsang Wang" which was released in the U.S. as "Mighty Peking
Man" (1977) (a.k.a. "Colossus of the Congo" and "The Goliathion")
which shown the tale of a gigantic Homo Erectus (since the Homo
Erectus was discovered in Peing, China, they call it that name) going
wild for a Tarzan type jungle girl, and turns Hong Kong upside-down.
Quinten Tarintino released the film in 1999, and came out on video and
DVD a year later. The film was a freaky flop.
Uintatherium from "Journey to the Beginning of Time"
(1967), reappears as an attacking monster in "The Last Dinosaur" (1977).
The 80's
"Clan of the Cave Bear" (1981), not actually shown cavepeople, but a
cave bear, portrayed by a real bear named Bart. Universal had two
prehistoric man flicks "Iceman" (1984) told a story about a defrosted
Neanderthal named Charoo (meaning Charlie), who couln't adapt to the
real world. You can see a spoof of it in "South Park" in an episode
called "Ice Mahn" only this time an man from the year 1996 is in the
year 1999. (Scary eh.) The documentery adventure "Missing Link"
(1988), where Peter Elliot plays the title Austrolopithicus robustus,
goes into an adventure across Afirica. Rick Baker was responsible for
the make up.
The 90's
The 1992 comedy classic with Brandin Fraiser, "Encino Man" (1992) told
a tale of a cavman being defrosted in their back yard, and all funny
stuff ensues. Brandin Fraiser played the funny caveman. At the time
when CGI dinos were big, BBC films gave birth to CGI prehitoric
mammals in the documentry mini-series "Walking with Beasts" (1999). It
shown all kinds of eye-popping species of prehistoric mammals, that
will knock your socks off, and leave your jaw touching the ground and
say, "That's so cool!" The documentry got released in the Discovery
Channel in December 9th 2001 as "Walking with Prehistoric Beasts".
In 2002 Dreamworks released "Ice Age", which was a box office smash and earned an Oscar nomination. This was all done through CGI.
Now since this film was so successful, a sequel is in the works, and is due out in spring 2006 entitled "Ice Age 2: Meltdown".
Let the mammals rule the screen.