The time: Sometime in the very distant (nonexistent) past. A tribe of evil primitive cave folks sacrifice gorgeous blonde women to the gods in order to be protected from lethal predatory dinosaurs. The lovely and feisty Sanna (the remarkably shapely and beautiful Victoria Vetri, a delicious "Playboy" Playmate who looks totally smokin' in her skimpy two piece fur bikini) manages to escape from the evil tribe and joins a much nicer tribe where she meets and falls in love with the kind, noble Tara (handsome hunk Robin Hawdon). When the moon appears on the horizon for the first time poor Sanna gets blamed for it and is subsequently banished from the tribe. Writer/director Val Guest treats the endearingly silly story with admirable seriousness and elicits sincere performances from the attractive cast. This immensely entertaining film offers a little something for everyone: we've got insanely hot cave babes clad in revealing outfits, cool and convincing stop-motion animation dinosaurs done by Dave Allen and Jim Danforth, muscular young men running about in loincloths, an attack by a carnivorous tree, Vetri playing with a cute baby dinosaur, men with spears fighting giant deadly reptiles, big killer crabs, fierce torrential storms, a wild beachside catfight, and, best of all, Vetri displaying her awesomely ample body in both a cave love scene and skinny-dipping sequence (make sure to see the 100 minute full uncut version or else you'll miss this tasty latter stuff). Dick Bush's crisp cinematography delivers a few striking visuals while Mario Nascimbene's lush orchestral score hits the stirring spot. Patrick Allen glowers effectively as the brutish villain Khaku. The luscious Imogen Hassall also makes a strong impression as jealous brunette spitfire Ayak. A hugely enjoyable, if admittedly preposterous picture.

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.

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.