Teenage Cave Man (1958)

This one is an unusual contender for exploitation bookings in that it actually has a literate screenplay. In fact, the dialogue is far too convincing for cavemen (but that's another story). And it also carries a message that predates "Planet of the Apes". Roger Corman's direction is certainly efficient – the action scenes are convincingly staged – but lacks the imaginative flair he usually brings to these offerings. On the other hand, production values are reasonably impressive – even if we excuse a wobbly shot of dinosaurs and that all-too-familiar lizard fight footage from "One Million Years B.C." DeKova delivers a strong performance as the rabble- rousing heavy, while the heroine has just enough footage to look decorative – but not enough to slow down the action. Darah Marshall (in her only movie) certainly makes an attractive "blond maiden". Considering the heavy dialogue they have to handle, the rest of the players are fairly capable, although it's a bit of a shock to see Robert Shayne hiding behind a beard as the keeper of the flame. Vaughn is also not up to speed. He looks uncomfortable in his animal skin and his accent seems far too cultured for this setting. On the other hand, production credits, headed by Crosby's fine location photography, are rarely less than proficient.

I saw this as an MST episode, and it's one of the few where you might actually be able to watch the movie and stay interested if Joel and the bots weren't blabbing away. The commentary is hilarious but the story also manages to be somewhat intriguing.There are what seem to be obvious flaws in the plot and even the wardrobe and outfitting of the cavemen that make the whole film seem silly until you get a surprise ending that you wouldn't be able to predict. The acting is bad and the cavemen are far too clad, but you don't seem to care entirely I wouldn't recommend actually trying to watch this on it's own, you need MST to make it enjoyable but at least it was a serious film which didn't entirely fail to entertain you and get it's point across.As a side note, I saw quite a few ideas here that have been used by Jean M Auel in her Clan of the Cave Bear portrayal of the Clan, even down to the name of the people

***SPOILERS*** Roger Corman film about prehistoric man and what obstacles he faced back in prehistoric times and how he eventually overcame them.It took the rebellious and searching for the truth symbol makers-Leslie Bradley-son played by the young and energetic Robert Vaughan to finally find what it's really all about in what's beyond the great river where the monster who kills with one touch rules. Denied to go beyond the great river by caveman leader the black bearded one, Frank DeKova, the intuitive son of the symbol maker together with his fellow teenage cavemen travel there anyway with one of the the cave people the blond boy who can't float, Beach Dickerson, ending up dead by drowning in a nearby stream. It's the black-bearded one who then demands that the son of the symbol maker be put to death from not only breaking the law of the cave clan but being responsible for the blond boy's tragic death! After his dad, the symbol man, convinced the black-bearded one to give his son a second chance he despite risking his life for a second time goes beyond the land of the great river to find out what all these BS stories about the monster who kills with one touch is all about. It's when the son of the symbol maker finally confronts the monster that he realizes that he's in fact not trying to kill anyone but warn him and his fellow cavemen about what really happened way back then, in pre prehistoric times, and not let it happen again!***SPOILERS*** It was in fact the black-bearded one who in the end took out the monster who kills with one touch, by cracking his skull open with a boulder, which totally destroyed his made up stories about the monster being and indestructible God. It also had an outraged son of the symbol maker do in the black-bearded one with a arrow to the chest in him keeping the monster from telling the truth about what happened way back then and what exactly he had to do with it. Fortunately for the cave dwelling clan the dying monster had a book that exists thousand of years before man developed a written language and printing press to explain what really happened and why the world is in the sorry shape that it's in today in what seems like the year one million years B.C. But don't expect the cave people to be able to understand what the book is telling them since they, in not being able to read English or an other language, have no idea what's written in it!

This film, whose true name is not "Teenage Cave Man" but rather "The Prehistoric World", was released by AIP under said name to exploit the success of its own "I Was a Teenage...." series of films (which were actually produced by Herman Cohen in England). Viewed entirely on its own merits, this little film has a lot to offer, even beyond some of the obvious camp humor.There is some intriguing sci-fi here, most of which I won't give away for fear of *****SPOILERS***** giving away too much, but some of which definately predate and prefigure "Planet of the Apes" as Corman himself points out in his autobio. Robert Vaughn does a good job here, once more showing the strength of performance that should have made him another Robert Stack, rather than another John Saxon. There is a strong anti-establishment subtext in the film which definately places it just ahead of its time in prefiguring the political "message" sci-fi of the late 60s. Ignoring the cheap effects and some of the less accomplished actors in the film may result in a less entertaining viewing, but may reveal a film of greater depth than your typical saturday morning b.