R.F.D. 10,000 B.C.

This is a charming little short using stop motion animation. Amazingly good for 1917. It has a dinosaur in it, so what more could you ask for?

This being my third in a series of reviews of films involving the stop-motion animator Willis O'Brien, this particular one has an interesting sequence in which one of the cavemen is ripped apart between his bare chest and fur skirt with his bare chest part being thrown to a tree branch by the dinosaur that he was riding on! This short involves a mailman, a woman he tries to have his way with, and another man who she prefers. I'll stop there and just say that the particular sequence I just mentioned was the most entertaining part of this 12-minute film which I watched with no music score. (I had just previously watched a 4-minute version missing some of the beginning scenes with a piano score playing that confused me so I'm glad I got the watch the longer one right after that, both on YouTube.) So that's a recommendation of R.F.D 10,000 B.C.

I never realized that Willis O'Brien made any films for the Edison Company, but I found this one today on the internet. I assumed (incorrectly) that it must have been O'Brien's first film but he apparently made a couple the year before this. If, by the way, you don't know who he is, O'Brien was the man responsible for animating King Kong and is considered THE pioneer of stop-motion films.

As for "RFD 10,000 BC", it's a silly little film with a rather thin story. Instead, it seems more like a chance for O'Brien to hone his craft--though the story has a few laughs here and there as well as a rather revolting scene where one character is ripped in half. Fortunately, he got better! Cute and a film that fans of stop-motion, O'Brien or Ray Harryahausen (an apprentice of O'Brien) should see. It's available at the Library of Congress' site and can be viewed for free. And, it doesn't matter if you are in the US or not--it's free for everyone.

R.F.D. 10,000 B.C. (1916)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Edison short runs just under five minutes and doesn't really contain that much of a plot. A caveman, using a dinosaur to pull his wagon, delivers the mail while trying to get back to his girlfriend. Both The Dinosaur and the Missing Link as well as The Ghost of Slumber Mountain contain more of a story but this short still remains entertaining due to the special effects from O'Brien. There's really not too much action in this film but we get a lot of scenes with the dinosaur, which looks pretty good in its claymation form. There are three cave people here and they too look quite nice. This film might seem old or generic when looked at with today's eyes but the special effects, for their time, are very impressive and that will be the main reason for people tracking this film down. O'Brien would certainly go onto bigger and better things but his early work still manages to impress.