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Post by wmcclain on May 11, 2020 10:54:26 GMT
The Quatermass Xperiment (1955), directed by Val Guest. Aka The Creeping Unknown. The first Quatermass feature film. Like the sequel, Quatermass 2 (1957), the lead is played by Brian Donlevy, gruff and barking orders, acting nothing like a genius scientist. They needed an American for US sales and this is what they got. The first manned rocketship returns with a crash. Two crew members are missing and the third is acting alien. He mutates into the sort of blob/squid monster so much beloved in this type of story. The tone is just classic for British SF in general and Quatermass-style tales in particular: a low key, realistic presentation of ordinary life, people going about their business, when this weirdness emerges. Police, firemen and boffins deal with it competently. Die, monster, die. In those days early space exploration was exciting enough just talking about it without the need for much else. It was a big hit for Hammer Films. Jane Asher, age 9, is the uncredited "Little Girl". Besides Quatermass 2 (1957), I reviewed another entry in the series: Quatermass and the Pit (1967). MGM DVD-R, available for rent from ClassicFlix. (Later: on Blu-ray). 
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Post by wmcclain on May 11, 2020 10:54:43 GMT
Quatermass 2 (1957), directed by Val Guest. First reviewAka Enemy from Space and Quatermass II: Enemy from Space, but not to be confused with Quatermass II, the 1955 TV series not on DVD. (Later: all of the Quatermass TV series are now on home video). Bernard Quatermass was created in the 1950s and established a small UK-based science fiction sub-genre: the boffin attached to a military command who encounters aliens, strange forces, prehistoric survivals and all sorts of weird X-files stuff. Doctor Who always had a strong Quatermass influence. In this installment the Prof discovers that his canceled moon-base design has actually been built at the site of a destroyed town where meteorites have been showering down for months. Who would want a sealed base on Earth, and why are people changing? Looks like a monstrous conspiracy. Yes, we have a blob monster, for some reason very popular in these stories. It's kind of half-baked and kind of exciting. Brian Donlevy really doesn't suit as the lead but Hammer Films needed an American actor to get US distribution. He is grumpy and more of an office-manager-man-of-action than a brain. The disc is from Anchor Bay, but is manufactured on demand on DVD-R (media id: TYG03), available for rent from ClassicFlix. Commentary track by the writer. Second reviewIsn't turnabout fair play? If Quatermass expects to colonize other worlds can he complain when aliens establish their own beachhead on Earth? And if they are not paying royalties on his moonbase design: tough luck, Prof. It is a clever concept: the invaders arrive microscopically on meteorites, infect and zombify human hosts and eventually grow large enough to reassemble into their natural giant and hideous form. The local residents have gotten used to rocks falling from the sky: something to do with work at the local secret base. This is not part of the story, but does Quatermass ever consider that his own efforts have drawn the attention of the aliens? I'm still not buying Brian Donlevy in the role. His temper ranges from short to bad, he is easily distracted and doesn't listen to his people when he should. It helps a bit that they accept him and are loyal to him. His unfortunate head assistant is played by Bryan Forbes, later an important director and head of EMI Films. Available on Blu-ray from Shout Factory with two commentary tracks by film scholars and another edited together with thoughts by the writer and director. The fans tend to defend Brian Donlevy's performance. The writer says he was staggering drunk on the set but the director says his drinking did not affect his performance. The writer found it outrageous that an actor would ask that a scene be explained to him, but the director found it completely natural. 
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Post by wmcclain on May 11, 2020 10:55:09 GMT
Quatermass and the Pit (1967), directed by Roy Ward Baker. First reviewThis is the one people seem to remember. The first color Quatermass is a Hammer remake of a 1958 TV series of the same name. Aka Five Million Years to Earth. Construction workers discover fossilized human remains under London. They then uncover a strange object and call the bomb squad (always the cavalry in British pictures, for obvious reasons). It turns out to be a Martian spacecraft millions of years old. As it comes alive we see strange phenomena and people start changing. The area has always been a spooky, paranormal hot spot, with strong suggestions of the diabolic. The combination of straight science fiction with the dread of ancient evil builds to a dynamite climax. Quatermass is played differently here: he's honestly afraid of what he discovers and is vulnerable to Martian mind control. As always, and fortunately for us, the Martians left a hole in their defenses that the feeble earthlings can exploit. Slow buildup as the clues accumulate but that is part of the fun when the audience is ahead of the characters ("Don't go down there, fool!"), although the squabbling bits with the bureaucrats tend to drag. We have a pretty female scientist but no romance subplot. Something that struck me when I first saw this on TV as a boy were the closing credits, which are presented against the background of two survivors in the wreckage. They are just staring, gasping and trying to recover, but otherwise doing nothing. At the time it seemed to me that this was meant as an ominous postscript, that after the Martian influence was destroyed the human mind was also deactivated to some degree. But now I'm not sure. Available on region 2 PAL DVD. The region 1 NTSC versions seem to be out of print and are expensive on the used market. Second reviewA few additional notes and new thumbnails from the Blu-ray. - The Blu-ray makes it a much richer-looking film than I remember.
- Quatermass is idealistic here, leaking details of the find to the newspapers. He and the government are not at all happy with each other.
- I'm not sure I understood the plot when young. Millions of years ago insectoid Martians visited Earth and took away ape-like proto-humans, performed genetic modification on them and returned them to Earth again. They became ancestors of modern humans, at least in part. When the Martian influence grows strong the insectoid behavior emerges, with violent racial purges of all who are not of the pure hive. The latent alien influence is responsible for violent human behavior throughout history.
- Tobe Hooper's Lifeforce (1985) is a similar scenario, with space vampires instead of Martian insects.
- A shout-out to top-billed James Donald as a hero scientist. He was a familiar face in POW films: King Rat (1965), The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) and The Great Escape (1963).
- Hammer regular Barbara Shelley was last seen in Village of the Damned (1960). I did not know she had red hair!
Available on Blu-ray from Shout Factory with three commentary tracks. 
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Post by wmcclain on May 11, 2020 10:55:28 GMT
X: the Unknown (1956), directed by Leslie Norman Something uncanny is stalking a remote part of Scotland. Soldiers, doctors, kids out at night: all burned and melted by severe radiation. Scientist and military consultant not-Quatermass-but-just-like-him is present and on the case, if only they will listen to him. This Hammer Films title was meant to be a Quatermass story but they couldn't get permission to use the name. Nothing else is changed. It has the trademark Hammer seriousness and fine use of real gear and locations. The opening credits give thanks to the War Office. Only 80 minutes long, I know this sort of SF/mystery/horror doesn't appeal to everyone, but I've always liked down-to-earth, low budget science procedural plots. I also find the notion of mysterious entities emerging from deep within the earth to be pretty scary; I don't know where I get that, unless from seeing Superman and the Mole Men (1951) too many times as a kid. This is also of that intriguing sub-genre that has no "creature" or even "monster" in the strict sense, just hazardous natural phenomena. The Monolith Monsters (1957) is another example. Joseph Losey was the original director, replaced when he become ill (or because American Dean Jagger refused to work with the blacklisted director, or because Losey just didn't want to do the film). Leo McKern fan club! Available on DVD. 
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Post by wmcclain on May 11, 2020 10:55:46 GMT
The Crawling Eye (1958), directed by Quentin Lawrence. Aka The Trollenberg Terror. This is a typical low-budget British creature feature of the period and enjoyable on that level. The great flaming alien eyeballs at the climax are admittedly rudimentary special effects. Adapted from a TV show and written by Jimmy Sangster, who was a creative force at Hammer, but this was produced and distributed by "Tempean Films" and "Eros Films Ltd". As is customary for British SF back then they have an American lead (Forrest Tucker) in hopes of finding a US audience. It has a strong "Quatermass" tone with UN scientists confronting the alien menace. It's actually kind of a little Lovecraft plot, although I suspect most people who say that haven't read him. Endearing Janet Munro, in her second year in films, is in telepathic contact with the alien invaders. I have read that this was the first movie lampooned by Mystery Science Theater 3000. Available on DVD. 
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Post by london777 on May 11, 2020 13:22:44 GMT
It was funny when the first Quatermass was broadcast. Onscreen you could see the streets empty of people (in "shutdown" as ordained by the authorities). Step outside your house and where was everybody? Inside glued to their TV sets watching Quatermass. James Donald was Van Gogh's loyal and long-suffering brother in Lust for Life (1956) dir: Vincente Minnelli. He always played someone unselfish, supportive, correct, patient and philosophical, usually a doctor or military officer. I cannot think of a movie where he stepped outside of that persona. Can you? Maybe he was like that in real life?  |
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Post by wmcclain on May 11, 2020 17:14:57 GMT
James Donald: pretty shifty in The Vikings (1958).
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