Teenage Caveman One Sheet

The Cast: Robert Vaughn (the symbol maker's teenage son), Darah Marshall (the blonde maiden), Leslie Bradley (the symbol maker), Frank DeKova (the black-bearded one), June Jocelyn (the symbol maker's wife), Jonathan Haze (the curly-haired boy), Beach Dickerson (fair-haired boy / man from burning plains / tom-tom player / bear), Ed Nelson (blond tribe member), Robert Shayne (the keeper of the small fire), Charles Thompson, Marshall Bradford, Joseph H. Hamilton (members of the tribe), Barboura Morris (young female tribe member - uncredited) ; Produced and Directed by Roger Corman; Original Story and Screenplay by
R. Wright Campbell; Director of Photography: Floyd Crosby; Production Manager...Jack Bohrer; Assistant Director...Maurice Vaccarine; Property Master...Karl Braindard; Wardrobe...Marjorie Corso; Sound...Phil Mitchell. Music...Albert Glasser; Production began: Late April - mid August, 1958; Release date: July 1958 on a double bill with HOW TO MAKE A MONSTER; (Working title: PREHISTORIC WORLD). Released in England as OUT OF THE DARKNESS Running time, 65 minutes.
Darah Marshall's name was misspelled as Darrah on all the advertising and posters! Released in "Superama".
(According to director Joe Dante, Corman was said to have based this movie on the novella "By The Waters Of Babylon" by Stephen Vincent Benet).

In England, TEENAGE CAVE MAN had the title changed to OUT OF THE DARKNESS

The Plot: In a barren, rocky land dwells a primitive, superstitious people. They are bound by THE LAW, a semi-religious code that forbids them from going across the river to the lush lands beyond where there is much game and the promise of an easier life.
When his father is hurt in the hunt, the boy takes a group of other boys with him and goes beyond the river. One of the boys dies in quicksand and the others return home. The boy goes on and discovers many things, but is ambushed by a group of wild dogs. He is rescued just in time by his father ,who, in the meantime, has recovered from his hunting accident, and comes after him. The father takes him home and the tribe demands his death for breaking the law, but the father persuades the others to ease to silence the boy until he becomes a man.
Meanwhile, the boy makes love to a maiden and she promises to become his wife. Upon becoming a man, he is initiated into the tribe and takes the maiden for his wife. Still, however, he dreams of the land beyond the river, and when a man comes from the outside he decides to try again. The tribe follows him to kill him and they find that the monster they feared beyond the river is a man. It is explained at the end that the story actually takes place in the future and these people are the descendants are the survivors of the atom bomb. The man-monster is the lone survivor from another group, and this knowledge leads the tribe to cast aside their old laws and journey to a different land and a new life.

Press book pages for TEENAGE CAVEMAN

Roger Corman was not displeased with the film; he told Ed Naha, "Teenage Caveman" was a pretty good film; we shot it with the title PREHISTORIC WORLD, and I almost died when I saw it emerge with AIP's new title."
Vaughn may have been a little too hard on producer-director Corman when he called TEENAGE CAVEMAN "one of the best-worst films of all-time." It's not quite down there with the worst to be considered the best of the bunch . In fact, TEENAGE CAVEMAN isn't even half bad. Vaughn stars as the title teen, and as his love interest Darrah Marshall, as the maiden, is...appropriately enough... a one-time Miss Teenage America.
The "monster" outfit was borrowed from NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST. Tribesman Beach Dickerson plays four roles in the film. I would rate TEENAGE CAVEMAN as no worse than any other film of its kind. BTW the Spanish title was "Yo fui un cavernícola adolescente. (translation: I WAS A TEENAGE CAVEMAN)"

Disclaimer: TEENAGE CAVEMAN was copyright by Malibu Productions in 1958 and renewed by Selma Enterprises in 1986. All rights reserved. Do not use ay material in this website for commercial purposes without permission of the copyright owners.

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