I have discovered today that Raquel Welch is dead … I am in deep mourning. OK, I’m about a year too late, and she died at 82 with Alzheimer’s, so not a bad run, but I would still have loved to talk to her or any of the cast of the film about it.
On the positive side, I’ve discovered that there was a 1940 version of One Million Years BC starring Carole Landis in the same role as Raquel and Victor Mature as Tumak. His best known film roles include One Million B.C. (1940), My Darling Clementine (1946), Kiss of Death (1947), Samson and Delilah (1949), and The Robe (1953). He also appeared in many musicals opposite such stars as Rita Hayworth and Betty Grable.
For the female star Carole Landis the 1940 role was also her breakout role and she was then known as “The Ping Girl” and “The Chest” because of her curvy figure … which explains why Raquel got the part.
Bizarrely the two films, separated by 24 years of improvement in cinema technology show almost the same scenes with pet lizard portraying terrifying dinosaurs inhabiting the world with man. It’s as if the technology had stood still!
And today’s other news: the camper van party is in trouble.
