The first comedy about the Stone Age For a long time the worlds of art and science did not intersect. This explains why even in the middle of the XX century, films about prehistoric life reflected very backward views. Well, in 1912 and did unfold hilarious comedies without a detailed study of the disappeared worlds.
The title of the film is misleading because the appearance of man as a species is not shown here. Instead, director David Griffith draws an inept and rather strange parallel between a modern (at the time of filming) quarrel in a restaurant and a clash of Stone Age savages who want to take possession of a pretty girl. The costumes of actors depicting primitive people are the main absurdity of the film. Despite the fact that the location for the shooting was chosen wild and primitive, rags made of real fabric look too progressive in the frame. Can you imagine how surprised the colonizers of South America would be if they saw the natives dressed in the likeness of curtains?
In the center of the short story is the invention of the first weapon. Now it is obvious that there were several such inventors in different parts of the world, and the process proceeded very smoothly. Therefore, to look at how an ancient person with interest examines a stone already prepared with a hole drilled is also ridiculous. It's really comedy. The first prehistoric comedy in the history of cinema, the ideas of which were used by other directors for a long time. And what wins - mind or brute force - is easy to predict in advance.
Notable for the fact that it marked a new direction, now this film is not taken seriously.
5 out of 10