The Quatermass Xperiment
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| The Quatermass Xperiment | |
|---|---|
 The 1955 advertising poster for the film's UK release |
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| Directed by | Val Guest |
| Produced by | Anthony Hinds |
| Written by | Richard Landau Val Guest |
| Starring | Brian Donlevy Jack Warner Margia Dean Richard Wordsworth David King-Wood Gordon Jackson Thora Hird Lionel Jeffries |
| Music by | James Bernard |
| Cinematography | Walter Harvey |
| Editing by | James Needs |
| Release date(s) | 1955 |
| Running time | 82 min. |
| Country | UK |
| Followed by | Quatermass 2 |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Quatermass Xperiment is a 1955 British science-fiction/horror film, based on the 1953 BBC Television serial The Quatermass Experiment by Nigel Kneale.
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[edit] Overview
The feature film version was adapted by the director, Val Guest, working with American screenwriter Richard Landau. It was produced by Hammer Film Productions, who changed the title to The Quatermass Xperiment, with its unusual spelling, in order to play on the film's British X-certification (adults only) status.[1] In America, the film was distributed by United Artists under the title The Creeping Unknown in 1956, as the B-film to the American-made The Black Sleep. The title Shock! was initially considered for that territory, and an alternative opening title sequence with that name was prepared.[2] Some prints screened on British television have used the conventional spelling of "Experiment".
Hammer had contacted the BBC about the possibility of adapting the serial for the cinema on August 24, 1953, only two days after the broadcast of the final episode.[1] Filming took place from October 18, 1954 until just before Christmas, at Bray Studios.[1]
The film starred American actor Brian Donlevy as Professor Bernard Quatermass, the lead role having gone to him in an attempt to appeal to the North American audience. Robert L. Lippert, who helped finance the film, as he had many of Hammer's earlier films with the same casting stipulation, would distribute the British Hammers in the USA in exchange for the Hammer distribution arm, Exclusive Films, handling Lippert's films in the UK. Other actors starring included future Dixon of Dock Green star Jack Warner as Quatermass' nemesis, Police Inspector Lomax; David King-Wood as Quatermass' space medicine specialist, and Richard Wordsworth in a memorable performance as the film's central figure, Carroon, an astronaut whose body has been invaded by an alien life-form and is being transformed into something unearthly and dangerous. Also appearing were, in a small cameo as a local drunk, Dame Thora Hird (surprisingly given fifth billing); Lippert's girlfriend Margia Dean as Carroon's wife; and Lionel Jeffries as a bureaucrat. Jane Asher also made an uncredited appearance as a small child, her first screen role.
The film was popular at the time, successful enough for Hammer to produce adaptations of the following two Quatermass serials, releasing them to the cinema as Quatermass 2 (1957) and Quatermass and the Pit (1967). It is also of special interest today as a complete copy of the original BBC television version of the story no longer exists.
[edit] Reaction and influence
Quatermass creator Nigel Kneale disliked the film version of his scripts, and was especially critical of the casting of and performance by Brian Donlevy as Quatermass. "He was then really on the skids and didn't care what he was doing. He took very little interest in the making of the films or in playing the part. It was a case of take the money and run. Or in the case of Mr Donlevy, waddle," he told an interviewer in 1986.[3]
Contemporary critical reaction was somewhat kinder. The Times newspaper gave the film a generally favourable assessment: "Mr. Val Guest, the director, certainly knows his business when it comes to providing the more horrid brand of thrills... The first part of this particular film is well up to standard. Mr. Brian Donlevy, as the American scientist responsible for the experiment, is a little brusque in his treatment of British institutions but he is clearly a man who knows what he is doing. Mr. Jack Warner, representing Scotland Yard, is indeed a comfort to have at hand when Things are on the rampage."[4]
The plot of the film bears similarities to the 1999 Johnny Depp movie The Astronaut's Wife,[5][6] although it is not known whether the film really was an inspiration or whether this is coincidence.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Pixley, Andrew (2005). The Quatermass Collection — Viewing Notes. London: BBC Worldwide. BBCDVD1478.
- ^ The Quatermass Xperiment. British Film Institute. Retrieved on 2007-01-26.
- ^ Pixley, Andrew; Nigel Kneale (1986). Nigel Kneale — Behind the Dark Door. The Quatermass Home Page. Retrieved on 2007-01-26.
- ^ "Back To The Moulin Rouge: Jean Renoir's New Film", The Times, 1955-08-29, p. 10.
- ^ Trivia. bbc.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-01-27.
- ^ French, Philip. "Arts: OTHER FILMS: We've waited 40 years for this. Was it worth it?", The Observer, 1999-11-28, p. 10.
[edit] External links
- Page on the film at The Quatermass Home Page
- The Quatermass Xperiment at the Internet Movie Database
| TV Serials | The Quatermass Experiment | Quatermass II | Quatermass and the Pit | Quatermass |
| Movies | The Quatermass Xperiment | Quatermass 2 | Quatermass and the Pit |
| Radio | The Quatermass Memoirs |
The Quatermass Xperiment (1955) • X the Unknown (1956) • Quatermass 2 (1957) • Quatermass and the Pit (1967)
