This is a commendable effort at portraying early humans within a fantastical setting. The story follows a group of cave dwellers who, after an attack by Neanderthals, send three individuals (Everett McGill, Ron Perlman and Nicholas Kadi) out to find fire—something they lack the ability to produce themselves. During their search, they encounter various dangers including saber-toothed tigers, cannibalistic people, a woman adorned with body paint (Rae Dawn Chong), woolly mammoths, and eventually, Ika’s tribe, where the leader is preoccupied with selective breeding. "Quest for Fire," released in 1981, aims to realistically represent prehistoric people, similar to “One Million Years BC” from fifteen years prior—though dinosaurs are notably absent. Like that earlier film, dialogue is nonexistent; communication consists solely of grunts and basic sounds. This lack of spoken conversation unfortunately makes the movie less engaging or enjoyable in terms of conversations between characters, resulting in a dramatically slow-paced experience despite its impressive scenery and visuals. However, there are some memorable moments, like when a member of the Ivaka tribe demonstrates to Naoh their sophisticated method for creating fire using a hand drill. The special effects were achieved practically, without any digital enhancements added later. The saber-toothed tigers were clearly lions with artificial canine teeth attached, and the woolly mammoths were portrayed by trained circus elephants. Rae Dawn Chong performs adequately in her part as the agile woman, but she doesn't quite reach the level of visual impact that Lisa Thomas brought to the role of Sura in “One Million Years BC” or Beth Rogan in the 1961 adaptation of "Mysterious Island." The film’s length is one hour and thirty-nine minutes. Filming took place across several locations: Greig's Caves on the Bruce Peninsula near Lion's Head, Ontario; Cathedral Grove on Vancouver Island, both in Canada; Lake Magadi in Kenya; and the Highlands and Tsavo National Park in Scotland. I understand that the mammoth scenes were filmed in Iceland. GRADE: B-

Source on TMDB