The Quatermass Xperiment (1956)

where's the Region 1 DVD???

As a teenager in the 1950's I discovered Hammer Films British Horror and Sci-Fi and have joyfully collected the DVD re-issues. Anchor Bay has done a wonderful job with great source material but where is this total classic?? The 2nd Quatermass film has been out for some time in America, Australia and Europe have released the first film in their DVD own formats, so why not in the U S of A???? Although a product of its time the suspense, moody black and white photography and decent make-up effects result in a lot of fun for the viewer who isn't spoiled by today's multi-million dollar gross-out clunkers. June 12, 2008

A Classic Science Fiction Film

Before a little British company called Hammer became famous for Dracula and Frankenstein, there were the adventures of Professor Bernard Quatermass. Based on the live BBC serial from 1953, The Quatermass Xperiment put Hammer on the film world map. How that happened it obvious from this tense, realistic, and gritty science fiction classic.

The film is immensely helped by an excellent cast. Brian Donlevy's Quatermass is the archetype science fiction film scientist: a scientist obsessed with their quest for science before turning having to deal with the consequences of that quest. Donlevy plays Quatermass to perfection as a scientist who is both horrified and fascinated by the events he has set in motion. It's a strong performance filled with realism. fascination and horror. The cast also includes terrific performances from Jack Warner as Scotland Yard's Inspector Lomax, Margia Dean who takes the potentially clichéd Judith Carroon and puts flesh and blood on the character, and David King-Wood as Quatermass's fellow scientist Doctor Briscoe. The best performance of the film may well be from the character who never speaks: Richard Wordsworth as Victor Carroon. Wordsworth perfectly plays both the horror of the lone surviving astronaut and also sympathy as the worst off victim of the Quatermass experiment. This is especially true in a scene where Caroon finds himself at a dock where a little girl approaches him with her doll. It reminds one of the scene from the Universal Frankenstein where the seemingly innocent takes on a darker meaning. Overall, the film has a terrific cast of actors bringing it to life.

At a time when science fiction films were defined by the clichéd and outrageous monster and alien invasion films, this film (and its TV counterpart) went in the exact opposite direction. Director Val Guest choose to do the film not in the style of the time but in a near documentary style. That's why the film work's fifty years later: it seems real in that it is a product of its time and place. If Britain had started the space race in the mid-1950's, one feels this is how it would have been.

The film is also helped by two very strong elements: the black and white cinematography and the music score. Doing the film in black and white adds atmosphere to a film that is part alien invasion and part manhunt. It helps especially in the film's fiery finale. The music score by James Bernard is terrific in adding to the atmosphere of the film and it never intrudes, but just helps to bring one a little bit closer to the edge of one's seat. The film wouldn't be the same without either one of these two elements.

Yet as much as I would like to call this film perfect, it isn't. There is one thing that the film hits and misses on: special effects. The downside of the film being so much a product of its time is that when the special effects are looked back at from a distance, they look primitive. That's not to say that the special effects are bad. The prosthetics work in particular looks good even by today's standards as far as I'm concerned. The finale of the film is the most obvious spot where the special effects are a bit of a let down by modern standards. Then again, it is hard to compare special effects from one era to another so this is an issue for the viewer to decide on.

While the special effects may hamper the film for some, one must admit that The Quatermass Xperiment is a classic of the genre. From the terrific performance (especially of Donlevy and Wordsworth), to the realistic style and tone, to the excellent cinematography, to the dark score by James Bernard, The Quatermass Xperiment is a tour de force for the more intelligent and less action based science fiction films. If you can put aside the mid-1950's special effects, you're going to find a tense, realistic, and gritty science fiction classic. May 21, 2008

A good movie to see

Only true fans of science fiction will appreciate the creeping unknown
a.k.a.The Quatermass Xperiment. I happen to be one of them. I remember
watching this fim at the age of eight and it scared me silly. Later on
I understood better and it didn't bother me.
Basicly I like the film. When you consider that this is mid 50's London
when true special effects weren't even around yet,I think the film super-
cedes itself into a wonderful smooth-flowing movie even if the plot is
somewhat typical of Sci-fi movies of the 50's. For what it's worth,even
the United States did't have the best sci-fi special effects like the
ones we see today with comperization. It actually took real crews of men
and women to produce those effects.
Brian Donlevy in his performance as the arrogant Professor Quatermass
is so hateful you have to love him. Another memorable one is Richard
Wordsworth who play Carroon. Absolutely brilliant. I also found amusing
the overly dramatic expresssion of the BBC announcer in the trailor who
witnesses this unknown thing with his own eyes. Only the TV announcer
in Gorgo did better. The only notables are King-Wood who play the good
doctor's assistant and Jack Warner who played Lomax. I liked his sarcasm
when talking to Quatermass. Actually brought Quatermass to his knees if
only in a figurative sense. Otherwise everyone else just essentially
played their parts. Still it is good science fiction fun. March 16, 2007

A Successful Xperiment

Although generally regarded as Hammer's first foray into the realm of science-fiction, two previous films THE FOUR SIDED TRIANGLE and SPACEWAYS had suggested with their overall ineptitude that genre films were perhaps something Hammer should steer clear of. But in re-making a BBC TV serial for the big screen Hammer had an ace up their sleeve and an audience ready made for the big screen adventures of Prof. Bernard Quatermass. Despite the terrible miscasting of Brian Donlevy as Quatermass, the film succeeds admirably. It still feels odd to watch a Hammer film in Black and White, but this adds to the documentary like quality that veteran director Val Guest was seeking (to aid this attempt at verisimilitude, we also have newspaper headlines and on a few occasions some hand-held camera work - very rare for 1955). With its dedication to actual scientific concepts and well written and researched source material by Nigel Kneale (a writer who is criminally under-rated) THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT retains a topical feel. In Quatermass' constant clashes with authority, Kneale threads in a number of critiques about modern society and its absurd predilection for red tape and bureaucracy. Despite these and other things, when reduced to its basic narrative, this film is an exploration of possession and feeds into the same paranoid fears that Don Siegel exposed so well with INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS. Gothic elements abound also, with the eerie isolated location that opens the film and the idea of double or multiple identities. Sadly Kneale over-emphasises Britain's importance in the world and the idea of the United Kingdom being the first country to send manned rockets into space is rather quaint and somewhat amusing. Donlevy's boorish and arrogant Quatermass is balanced well with the genuinely moving and upsetting performance by Richard Wordsworth as the invaded astronaut Caroon. For pure atmosphere and tension this remains a high watermark for Hammer, only bettered perhaps by the sequel QUATERMASS 2.
August 29, 2006

"I Saw It Crawling Up The Wall!"

Seen today, it seems incredible that THE QUATERMASS EXPERIMENT could have ever been rated "X"--even in stodgy old England of 1955. But so it was, and it proved extremely popular, and when it was released in the United States as THE CREEPING UNKNOWN it proved more popular still. In fact, the film was so popular that it essentially created England's Hammer Studios, and for the next decade or so "Hammer Horror" would prove a formidable box office draw.

Loosely based on a previously aired BBC series, QUATERMASS was hardly original even for 1955--but the basic idea has an almost timeless appeal; every sci-fi and horror writer from Lovecraft to Stephen King has created a variation at one time or another. In this instance, Dr. Quatermass (Brian Donlevy) has sent a rocket with three passengers into "outer space." But the rocket goes missing, and when it suddenly crashlands in the English countryside two of the astronauts are dead and one is--well, he is strange, to say the least.

Survivor Victor Carroon (Richard Wordsworth) is alternately comatose and spastic, and as time passes his skin begins to alter. Scientists soon realize the unpleasant truth: Victor is not alone in his own body; he has been infected by another life form that seems determined to reproduce and take over the world!

Shot on a shoestring budget in black and white, QUATERMASS is indeed an antiquated little film, but even so it still manages to cast a spell. It has mood, it has pace, and although it is really more interesting for its place in cinema history it is nonetheless quite a bit of fun to watch. Brian Donlevy seems a bit out of place in Merrie Old England, but his performance has lots of drive; Richard Wordsworth is memorable indeed as the very unfortunate astronaut; and the film is sprinkled through with the likes of character actress Thora Hird, who is a lot of fun because she's so good, and ingenue Margia Dean, who is a lot of fun because she's so bad. As for the monster--well, it's pure 1955, if you know what I mean.

In terms of film quality, QUATERMASS could certainly use a major remaster, but it's worth remembering that the film quality was probably never all that great to begin with, and all the prints I've seen of the film are about the same re quality. Recommended to fans of science-fiction and horror films of the period.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer June 8, 2006

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