Earth Before Man, The (1956)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
This here is another amateur short from director Don Glut. This time out we see what was on Earth before us humans came along. This includes a wide range of dinosaurs, a living lizard and of course a volcano eruption. At just 4-minutes one really shouldn't come into this thing expecting some type of masterpiece but you do have to give Glut credit for having such an imagination at such a young age. I mean, after all he was just a kid when he made this movie yet it's clear that had he had a bigger budget then he probably could have challenged many of the directors working at producing horrid drive-in fair. The set is obviously homemade, the dinosaurs are all toys and the eventual erupting volcano looks like something a kid would have made for his science class but it all comes together considering the type of film this is. It's perfectly entertaining especially for those who enjoy moves like THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS and the countless other monster movies from this era. The fact that Glut used a real lizard also adds a smile to the film.