Creatures the World Forgot [HD]

Classic Cave People Flik
It's great to finally have this Hammer prehistoric theme movie given a proper release on DVD. The previous offerings were limited to full frame versions and were pretty fuzzy transfers. This pressing preserves the original widescreen aspect ratio and is nice and sharp. 'Creatures the World Forgot' is a pretty obvious attempt by Hammer to cash in on the success of it's earlier effort 'One Million Years BC' and it's got a lot of the same elements in the plot department. What it doesn't have, sadly, is any Ray Harryhausen (or even Jim Danforth) dinosaurs to provide a menacing foil for the wandering prehistoric protagonists (gotta keep that budget under control!). It sort of 'makes up' for this lack by presenting a lot more nudity in the female cast (something we all might have wished for in the aforementioned stop-motion dino/caveman epics). The plot actually follows a couple of generations of the prehistoric tribe as they meander over some very attractive (if inhospitable)...

Hammer Film reconsidered
Sony's burn-on-demand DVD-R of CREATURES THE WORLD FORGOT (1971) is a sharp transfer of an unrestored, original dye-transfer 35mm negative. It is widescreen, anamorphic, in rich color, uncut and uncensored.

On the surface CREATURES THE WORLD FORGOT is pure exploitation. Savage cavemen hunt food, eat raw meat, fight over women, kill each other, deliver babies, observe rituals, and compete for leadership. The violence is constant, brutal, and bloody. In the absence of dinosaurs, the abundance of beautiful women and female nudity is sufficient reason to watch, but as the primitive society begins to take shape, and the two tribes start to barter, and the two brothers start fighting over the woman, it should become apparent there is more going on than mere titillation. This is a realistic story about primitives learning to govern their passions and violent instincts, to overcome their superstitions, and to mix with each other, so that they can survive in a relentlessly harsh...

Great Fun!
This Hammer Studio extravaganza is fantastic fun. Of course the reviewers love to dismiss it but if you like plenty of gorgeous male and female bodies, most of them wearing almost nothing, ravishing scenery (this was filled in the Canary Islands), this should be a definite addition to your movie shelf. The story is about two brothers, one good, one evil,(Tony Bonner and Robert John) who both lust after the same girl (Julie Ege). The scenery is a knockout with everything filmed in beautiful, Technicolor saturated colors, photographed by Vincent Cox. The version you see on American Movie Classics had been edited from the first frame to the last. The original version, which had an X-rating, seems to be lost. The TV version is still amazingly hot--showing all those sun-bronzed bodies in nearly the all-together. One can only imagine the good times enjoyed by all during the long shoot, beneath the blazing sun, and the lucky costume designer and make-up people whose jobs couldn't...

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