Customer Reviews

Journey to the Beginning of Time [VHS]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After having seen this movie dozens of times on television I can finally add it to my collection. Back in 1960 an attempt was made to make an accurate dinosaur film. One where the animals behaved as paleontologists believed, Journey was that movie.

Four young boys visit the American Museum of Natural History. They visit the dinosaur exhibit (of course) as well as the rest of the museum. In an exhibit of Native Alaskans, a shaman figure seems to be giving the boys the evil eye. The boys then rent a rowboat in central park. Here they row into a mysterious cave that leads to an even more mysterious river. As the boys travel along the river they also travel back through time. The further along the river, the further back in time until they reach the primordial ocean. All through the journey one of the boys keeps a journal of their adventures.

Throughout the movie there are explanations of the dinosaurs, prehistoric mammals, ages of the Earth and plenty of other educational information. The film ends with the boys staring out over the ocean and thinking about the volcanos forming continents on the other side and the eventual formation of the Earth. Suddenly the boys find themselves waking up in the museum by the Native Alaskan exhibit under the gaze of the Shaman. What a strange dream. But the journal...

This movie was intended to be entertaining and educational. Paleontologists made sure that the facts stood firm against the teachings of science making this possibly the most accurate science fiction movie of all time. Even though much of what we know about dinosaurs has changed since the movie was made, it still hold its charm.

Like most boomer males I saw this one in the early 60s and loved it. Of course it has aged (like we have) and nothing like this is as great when your 50 as when your 10, but it brings back some fond old memories that allow you to escape to a simpler and in many ways a better time than now, if only for an hour or so. For that its well worth owning and watching.

I remember so clearly watching this show many times on the "Garfield Goose" show in Chicago in the early 1960's. ALways wondered if I would ever see it again, and like others have mentioned it doesn't have quite the impact seeing it as an adult, but I was amazed by it back then. Thanks for bringing back a piece of my childhood. It was a very well done series for it's time.

I first saw this film as a child in the very early 1960's on the Don Dominix Cartoon Theatre Hour, which aired weekdays on Channel 10 WTHI-TV Terre Haute, IN. It was broken down into approx. 15 minute segements, each segement being aired weekly. I have been searching for it the past several years.
As a small child, the film brings back many memories. At the time (early 60's), it seemed to have a magical quality about it. Although that magic is gone now that I am an adult, it was still fun to see the film again.

I saw this film when I was maybe six, and ever since then, I have loved it. It is definitely a great movie, well worth the price. Take my advice: buy right now!

This VHS title is showings its age - however it was one I was never able to shake from my memory banks in over 40 years - it was shown in New Zealand around 1963/64.
The animation is not what you might have expected and some of the acting is a little light - to say nothing of an new piece tacked on the beginning to set the story in America.
None of these are real complaints - I'm enjoying watching this film again - and I'm glad I bought it.

Sure, I watched this on an old black & white television set when I was a kid, and I had memories of how "good" it was. I should have left those fond memories well enough alone. What impressed me at age 7 doesn't quite cut it at age 49. About half-way into the film last night, I started to say to myself outloud, "This is really bad!" I watched it all the way through, only to think, "my memory of it was better than the reality of it." It didn't help that I was "wise after the fact" about some details of the movie: it's a Czech film sandwiched inbetween American bits. The four kids at the beginning of the movie are like so many Raymond Burr's edited into Godzilla, or Bela Lugosi's edited into Plan 9 from Outer Space. They're not the same kids in the huge middle section of the movie (which is why you're not allowed to see their faces clearly except in the middle section -- otherwise, they're all deliberately faced away from the camera). English is dubbed into the Czech kids' mouths with poor synchronization. That dubbing made the gawky stop-motion photography seem good by comparison.

What was missing was the original sense of mystery and awe -- primarily because it was impossible to suspend disbelief. Other joys of my youth seem to have survived my maturity into adulthood unscathed, but this movie didn't. Some items from my youth I'd be happy to share with my children. This one, I'd be embarrassed to have them sit through. I'll check it out again when I turn 79 -- maybe I'll be far enough gone mentally that I'll be able to suspend disbelief again and re-enter this film's awe and mystery, which are now quite inaccessible to my rational self.