The Quatermass Xperiment
The Quatermass Xperiment | |
---|---|
Directed by | Val Guest |
Screenplay by |
|
Based on | The Quatermass Experiment by Nigel Kneale |
Produced by | Anthony Hinds |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Exclusive Films |
Release date |
|
Running time | 82 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Budget | £42,000[1] or $140,000[2] |
The Quatermass Xperiment (a.k.a. The Creeping Unknown in the United States) is a 1955 British science fiction horror film from Hammer Film Productions, based on the 1953 BBC Television serial The Quatermass Experiment written by Nigel Kneale. The film was produced by Anthony Hinds, directed by Val Guest, and stars Brian Donlevy as the titular Professor Bernard Quatermass and Richard Wordsworth as the tormented Carroon. Jack Warner, David King-Wood, and Margia Dean appear in co-starring roles.
The film concerns three astronauts who have been launched into space aboard a single-stage-to-orbit rocket designed by Professor Quatermass. It crashlands with only one of its original crew, Victor Carroon (Richard Wordsworth), still aboard. He begins mutating into an alien organism, which, if it spawns, will engulf the Earth and destroy humanity. After Carroon escapes from custody Quatermass and Inspector Lomax (Jack Warner) of Scotland Yard have just hours to track him/it down and prevent a catastrophe.
Like its source TV serial, the film was a major success in the UK. It also brought public attention to Hammer Film Productions around the world. The film was released in the United States in a double feature with The Black Sleep.[3]
Plot
The British-American Rocket Group, headed by Professor Bernard Quatermass, launches its first manned rocket into outer space. Shortly thereafter, all contact is lost with the rocket and its three-man crew: Carroon, Reichenheim and Green. The large rocket later returns to Earth, crashing into an English country field. Quatermass and his assistant Marsh arrive at the scene. With them are the local emergency services, Carroon's wife Judith, Rocket Group physician Dr. Briscoe and Blake, a Ministry official who chides Quatermass repeatedly for launching the rocket without official permission. The rocket's hatch is finally opened, and the space-suited Carroon stumbles out. There is no sign of the other two crew. Carroon is in shock, only able to say the words, "Help me". Inside the rocket, Quatermass and Marsh find only the fastened but completely empty spacesuits of the two missing men.
Carroon is taken to Briscoe's laboratory facility on the grounds that conventional hospitals and doctors would have no idea how to evaluate or treat the world's first returned astronaut, now suffering from some sort of adverse outer space event. Even under Briscoe's attentive care, Carroon remains mute, generally immobile, but alert with eyes that now have a feral and cunning quality. Briscoe discovers an oddly disfigured area on his shoulder and notices changes in his face, suggesting some sort of mutation of the underlying bone structure. Meanwhile, Scotland Yard Inspector Lomax has undertaken investigation of the other two men's disappearance and, having surreptitiously fingerprinted Carroon as a suspect, alerts Quatermass that the prints are like nothing human.
At Judith's insistence that Briscoe is not helping her husband, Quatermass agrees to have Carroon transferred to a regular hospital, under guard. Marsh, meanwhile, has developed the film from the rocket's interior view camera, and Quatermass, Lomax and Briscoe watch it. The crew are seen for a time at their duties, then suddenly, something seems to buffet the ship heavily. After that, there is a nightmarish wavering distortion of the cabin's atmosphere, and the men react as if something frightening, yet not visible, is there with them. One by one they collapse, Carroon being the last.
Quatermass and Briscoe determine from the evidence that something living in outer space has entered the spaceship, dissolved Reichenheim and Green in their sealed spacesuits, and evidently entered Carroon, who is now in the process of being transformed by this unknown entity. Not knowing any of this, Carroon's wife, Judith, hires a private investigator, Christie, to break her husband out of the secured hospital. The escape is successful, but not before Carroon smashes a potted cactus in his hospital room, which fuses to his flesh. In the lift he kills Christie and absorbs the life force in his body, leaving a shrivelled husk. Judith quickly discovers what is happening to her husband. Carroon disappears into the London night, leaving her unharmed, but completely traumatized.
Inspector Lomax initiates a manhunt for Carroon, who goes to a nearby chemist's shop and kills the chemist, using his swollen, crusty, cactus-thorn-riddled hand and arm as a cudgel and leaving a twisted, empty man-husk to be found by the police. Quatermass theorizes that Carroon has taken select chemicals to "speed up a change going on inside of him". After hiding on a river barge, Carroon encounters a little girl, leaving her unharmed through sheer force of will. That night he is in the zoo, barely visible amongst some shadowed bushes, now with far less of his human form remaining. In the morning, scattered animal carcasses are found, their life forces having been absorbed, with a slime trail leading away from the zoo. Among the bushes, Quatermass and Briscoe also find a small but living remnant of Carroon, and take it back to their laboratory. Following an examination, Quatermass concludes that some kind of predatory alien life has completely taken over and will eventually release reproduction spores, endangering the entire planet.
The remnant, having now grown much larger, breaks out of its glass cage, but dies of starvation on the floor. On a police tip from a vagrant, Lomax and his men track the Carroon mutation to
The threat eliminated, Quatermass quickly walks out of the Abbey, preoccupied by his thoughts. He ignores all who ask questions. Marsh, his assistant, approaches and asks "What are you going to do?" Never breaking stride, Quatermass offhandedly replies, "I'm going to start again". He leaves Marsh behind, walking off into the dark, and sometime later a second manned rocketship roars into outer space.
Cast
- Brian Donlevy as Prof. Bernard Quatermass
- Richard Wordsworth as Victor Carroon
- Jack Warner as Inspector Lomax
- David King-Wood as Dr. Gordon Briscoe
- Margia Dean as Mrs. Judith Carroon
- Maurice Kaufmann as Marsh
- Harold Lang as Christie
- Lionel Jeffries as Mr. Blake
- John Wynn as Det. Sgt. Best
- Jane Asher as the Little Girl
- Toke Townley as the Chemist (Pharmacist)
- Bartlett Mullins as the Zookeeper
- Thora Hird as Rosemary 'Rosie' Elizabeth Wrigley
- Sam Kydd as the Police Station Sergeant
- Gordon Jackson as BBC TV Producer
Production
Development
Nigel Kneale was a BBC employee at the time, which meant that his scripts were owned entirely by the BBC. He received no extra payment for the sale of the film rights.
The film was
Writing
The first draft of the screenplay was written by Richard Landau, an American provided by Lippert who had worked on six previous Lippert-Hammer productions, including Spaceways (1953), one of the company's first forays into science fiction.[18] Landau made significant changes in condensing the action to less than half the length of the original teleplay.[11] The opening thirty minutes of the television version are covered in just two minutes in the Hammer film.[19] In the process Landau played up the horror elements of Kneale's original teleplay.[20] Aware that the film would be co-funded by American backers, Landau added a transatlantic dimension to the script: Quatermass's "British Rocket Group" became the "British-American Rocket Group" and the character of his assistant, Briscoe, was rewritten as a US Air Force flight surgeon.[11] Quatermass himself was demoted to a doctor and written much more as an action hero than the thoughtful scientist created by Nigel Kneale.[21] Some characters from the television version, such as the journalist James Fullalove, are omitted altogether.[22] Judith Carroon's role in the film version is reduced to little more than that of the stricken astronaut's anxious wife, whereas in the television version she is also a prominent member of Quatermass's Rocket Group.[23] A subplot involving an extramarital affair between her and Briscoe is also left out of the film version.[24] Kneale was particularly aggravated by the dropping from his original teleplay the notion that Carroon has absorbed not only the bodies but also the memories and the personalities of his two fellow astronauts.[18] This change leads to the most significant difference between the two versions: in the television version, Quatermass makes a personal appeal to the last vestiges that remain of the three absorbed astronauts to make the creature commit suicide before it can spore, whereas in the film version Quatermass kills the creature by electrocution.[25] Director Val Guest defended this change believing it was "filmically a better end to the story".[26] He also felt it unlikely that Brian Donlevy's gruff interpretation of Quatermass would lend itself to talking the creature into submission.[27]
Having fallen foul of the censors with some of their earlier films, Hammer had an informal agreement to submit scripts in advance of shooting for comment by the BBFC.[28] When the draft script for The Quatermass Xperiment was submitted, Board Secretary Arthur Watkins replied: "I must warn you at this stage that, while we accept this story in principle for the 'X' category, we could not certificate, even in that category, a film treatment in which the horrific element was so exaggerated as to be nauseating and revolting to adult audiences".[29] The BBFC were particularly concerned with the violence in the scenes where Carroon escapes from hospital and with how graphic the depiction would be of Caroon's transformation into the alien creature.[30]
The script was then much revised by director Val Guest, who cut 30 pages from Landau's script and enhanced suspense over graphic horror.[31] One of Guest's key script contributions was to tailor the dialogue to suit the brusque style of star Brian Donlevy.[32] With an American actor cast as Quatermass, Guest reverted Briscoe to a British character and reinstated Quatermass's title of professor.[21] Guest also adapted some sections of the script in response to the concerns of the BBFC.[31] Further stylistic changes were sought by the BBC, who retained a script approval option after the sale of the rights and asked Nigel Kneale to work on their suggested changes, much to his indignation.[6] Kneale was tasked with rewriting any scenes featuring BBC announcers to match the BBC's news reporting style.[6]
Casting
Irish-American actor
Inspector Lomax was played by
Another American star provided by Robert L. Lippert was
Among the other actors that appear in the film are Thora Hird, Gordon Jackson, David King-Wood, Harold Lang, Lionel Jeffries, and Sam Kydd, many of whom appeared regularly in films directed by Val Guest.[43] The Quatermass Xperiment also saw an early role for Jane Asher, who plays the little girl whom Carroon encounters when he is on the run.[54]
Filming
Makeup and special effects
The work of
Les Bowie provided the special effects: he had made his name perfecting an improved technique for matte painting, called the delineating matte, and formed a company with Vic Margutti that specialised in matte effects.[76] Bowie provided a number of matte paintings to enhance the scale of certain key shots in the film, including the crashed rocket, the Westminster Abbey set, and the shot of Quatermass walking away from the Abbey at the climax of the film.[77] Partly because of the concerns raised by the BBFC and partly on account of the low budget, Val Guest kept the creature largely off-screen for much of the film, feeling that audiences' imaginations would fill in the blanks more effectively than he and the special effects team could deliver on-screen.[78] For the climactic scenes at Westminster Abbey, Bowie created a monster from tripe and rubber and photographed it against a model of the Abbey.[67] There are also a couple of insert monster-closeup shots using an octopus, apparently fastened down out of water and with a few spikes appended to its sac, which is ultimately set afire. Sparks and fireworks were used for the shots of the creature being electrocuted.[79] Michael Carreras felt something was missing when he viewed the first cut of this scene: "There was this great glob of something hanging about on the scaffolding. And they had put in the best music they could and put the best effects on it, but it meant nothing as far as I was concerned … absolutely nothing at all".[80] "An eye was added to the model of the monster and a human scream added to the soundtrack" to give the creature some semblance of humanity in its final moments,[67] but this in fact is where the octopus was used. Models were also used for the rocket blasting off in the film's final shot.[81]
Music
John Hotchkis was originally hired to compose the music but, when he fell ill, Anthony Hinds asked conductor John Hollingsworth to recommend a replacement.[82] Hollingsworth suggested James Bernard, with whom he had worked on a number of BBC radio productions.[83] Bernard sent Hinds a tape of the score of one of these productions, an adaptation of The Duchess of Malfi, and was duly hired.[84] Bernard watched the film a number of times, stopping after each reel to make notes and discuss where the music would be needed.[82] Val Guest was not involved in any of the music sessions; Anthony Hinds supervised Bernard and made the final decisions as to where the music should occur.[85] Bernard composed the music at his piano and then worked out the orchestration, which was performed by the Royal Opera House Orchestra.[86] Hollingsworth restricted the arrangement of the score to just the string and percussion sections: Bernard recalled, "I had not written for film before and had only used strings for the BBC scores, so I think that John thought it would be better to see how I got on with these two sections before letting me loose with a full orchestra".[87] The score runs to 20 minutes and uses a rising and falling three-note semitone throughout.[88] Bernard's biographer, David Huckvale, argues that Bernard's use of atonal strings to create a sense of menace predates Bernard Herrmann's score for Psycho (1960), which is usually cited as the first film to employ the technique.[89] Remarking on the effectiveness of the score, the film critic John Brosnan said: "Of prime importance, is the contribution of the soundtrack, in this case supplied by James Bernard who never wrote a more unnerving, jangly score".[45] Bernard went on to become Hammer's most prolific composer, scoring 23 Hammer films between 1955 and 1974.[90] Several cues from The Quatermass Xperiment were released on CD in 1999 by GDI Records on a compilation titled The Quatermass Film Music Collection.[91]
Reception
Cinema release
As expected, The Quatermass Xperiment received an 'X' Certificate from the BBFC,[65] restricting admission to persons over the age of sixteen.[10] It was only the twelfth film to receive the certificate since its introduction in 1951.[92] Whereas most other studios were nervous of this new certificate, Hammer, who had noticed the success of the similarly 'X'-rated Les Diaboliques (1955),[93] chose to exploit it by dropping the "E" from "Experiment" in the title of the film.[52] "X is not an unknown quantity" was the tagline Exclusive Films used to sell the picture to cinema managers, urging them to "Xploit the Xcitement" of the film.[94] On subsequent re-releases, the film reverted to the title The Quatermass Experiment.[52]
The Quatermass Xperiment premièred on 26 August 1955 at the
In the United States, Robert L. Lippert attempted to interest
Critical response
The Times newspaper critic 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".[103] Positive reviews also came from Peter Burnup in the News of the World, who found that "with the added benefit of bluff, boisterous Brian Donlevy... all earnest addicts of science fiction will undoubtedly love every minute of it",[104] while the reviewer in The Manchester Guardian praised "a narrative style that quite neatly combines the horrific and the factual".[104] Today's Cinema called it "one of the best essays in science fiction to date".[52] Film historian Bruce G. Hallenbeck notes a degree of national pride in some of the positive reviews.[75] For instance, Paul Dehn in the News Chronicle said: "This is the best and nastiest horror film I have seen since the War. How jolly that it is also British"![52] Similarly, William Whitebait in the New Statesman, who found the film to be "better than either War of the Worlds or Them!",[95] also called for "a couple of cheers for the reassurance that British films can still, once in a while, come quick".[105]
On a less positive note, Frank Jackson of
Upon its release in the United States Variety praised the film as an "extravagant piece of science fiction. Despite its obvious horror angles, production is crammed with incident and suspense".[75] According to Hallenbeck, many US critics found Brian Donlevy's gruff Quatermass a breath of fresh air from the earnest hero scientists of American science fiction films, such as Gene Barry's character in War of the Worlds.[75]
Other US trade reviews were mixed. Harrison's Reports felt that "the story is, of course, quite fantastic but it has enough horrific ingredients to go over with those who enjoy scary doings".[107] Film Bulletin was not impressed: "Its strong point is an eerie atmosphere . . . but fails to build the suspense essential in this kind of film . . . Val Guest's direction is heavy with cliches".[108]
Among the critics and film historians who have reviewed The Quatermass Xperiment in the years since its release have been John Baxter who said, in Science Fiction in the Cinema (1970): "In its time, The Quatermass Experiment was a pioneering sf film... Brian Donlevy was stiff but convincing... Much of the film is saved, however, by Richard Wordsworth... one of the finest such performances since Karloff's triumphs of the Thirties".[109] This view was echoed by John Brosnan in The Primal Screen (1991): "One of the best of all alien possession movies",[110] he wrote, "not since Boris Karloff as Frankenstein's monster has an actor managed to create such a memorable, and sympathetic, monster out of mime alone".[45] Bill Warren in Keep Watching The Skies! (1982) found that "the buildup is slightly too long and too careful"[111] but also said that "it's an intelligent, taut and well-directed thriller; it showcases Nigel Kneale's ideas well; it's scary and exciting. It was made by people who cared about what they were doing, who were making entertainment for adults. It is still one of the best alien invasion films".[112] Steve Chibnall, writing for the British Film Institute's Screenonline, describes The Quatermass Xperiment as "one of the high points of British SF/horror cinema".[113] The horror fiction writer Stephen King praised the film in his non-fiction book Danse Macabre (1981) as one of his favourite horror movies between 1950 and 1980.[114] The film director John Carpenter, who later collaborated with Nigel Kneale on the film Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982), has claimed that The Quatermass Xperiment "had an enormous, enormous impact on me – and it continues to be one of my all-time favourite science-fiction movies".[115]
Legacy
The success of The Quatermass Xperiment came at an opportune time for Hammer. By 1955 the deal with Robert L. Lippert had expired and the company produced just one feature film that year, Women Without Men.[116] Many of the independent cinemas that provided the market for Hammer's films in the UK were struggling in the face of competition from television and faced closure.[116] The Quatermass Xperiment gave Hammer a much needed box office hit and was also the first film to bring the company to the attention of a major film distributor, in this case United Artists.[117] From this point onward, Hammer was increasingly able to deal directly with the major distributors and no longer needed intermediaries like Lippert.[117] This ultimately spelt the end for Exclusive Films, Hammer's own distribution company, which was wound down in the late 1950s.[118]
Hammer quickly sought to capitalise on its good fortune with a sequel. Staff member Jimmy Sangster pitched a story about a monster emerging from the Earth's core.[119] However, when the company asked Nigel Kneale for permission to use the character of Quatermass, he refused, not wanting to lose control of his creation.[120] Nevertheless, the film went ahead, as X the Unknown (1956), again capitalising on the 'X' Certificate in its title and featuring a newly created scientist character, very much in the Quatermass mould, played by Dean Jagger.[121] Quatermass did eventually return to cinema screens in Quatermass 2 (1957) and Quatermass and the Pit (1967), both of which had screenplays written by Nigel Kneale and based on serials originally written by him and presented by BBC Television.[122] Rival British film companies also tried to cash in with science fiction films of their own, including Satellite in the Sky, The Gamma People and Fire Maidens from Outer Space (all 1956).[123]
The Quatermass Xperiment was Hammer's first film to be adapted from a television drama.[124] Market research carried out by the company showed that it was the horror aspect of the film, rather than the science fiction, that most appealed to audiences.[125] Three of the four films Hammer made in 1956 were horror films: X the Unknown, Quatermass 2 and The Curse of Frankenstein.[126] The enormous success of the latter of these cemented Hammer's reputation for horror and the company became synonymous with the genre.[127] Michael Carreras later said: "The film that must take all the credit for the whole Hammer series of horror films was really The Quatermass Xperiment".[128]
Home media
The Quatermass Xperiment was released in 2003 by DD Video on
The film was adapted into a 16-page comic strip published in two parts in the March/April and June 1977 issues of the magazine
See Also
- The Quatermass Experiment (film) for the 2005 film
References
- ^ Vincent L. Barnett (2014) Hammering out a Deal: The Contractual and Commercial Contexts of The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and Dracula (1958), Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 34:2, 231-252, p 233 DOI: 10.1080/01439685.2013.847650
- ^ "Exclusive Films' Warner, UA Deal". Variety. 27 March 1957. p. 13.
- ISBN 978-1-59393-273-2. Page 254
- ^ BBC News Online & 1 November 2006.
- ^ Hearn & Rigby 2003, p. 8.
- ^ a b c Murray 2006, p. 43.
- ^ Pixley 2005, p. 14.
- ^ Murray 2006, p. 36.
- ^ Murray 2006, pp. 36–37.
- ^ a b Brooke 2011.
- ^ a b c d Hearn & Rigby 2003, p. 9.
- ^ Hearn 2011, p. 9.
- ^ Murray 2006, p. 37.
- ^ Murray 2006, p. 48.
- ^ Murray 2006, p. 98.
- ^ a b c Kinsey 2010, p. 20.
- ^ Hearn & Barnes 2007, p. 10.
- ^ a b Kinsey 2002, p. 32.
- ^ Guest & Hearn 2003, 02:26–02:45.
- ^ Hallenbeck 2011, p. 66.
- ^ a b Hearn 1999, p. 5.
- ^ Murray 2006, p. 44.
- ^ a b c d e Hallenbeck 2011, p. 68.
- ^ Warren 1982, p. 250.
- ^ a b Hearn & Rigby 2003, p. 10.
- ^ Guest & Hearn 2003, 1:14:28–1:14:35.
- ^ Guest & Hearn 2003, 1:14:55–1:15:12.
- ^ Kinsey 2010, p. 57.
- ^ Kinsey 2002, p. 33.
- ^ a b c d Kinsey 2002, p. 34.
- ^ a b Hearn & Rigby 2003, p. 11.
- ^ Hearn & Rigby 2003, p. 17.
- ^ Fowler, Roy (1988). "Interview with Val Guest". British Entertainment History Project.
- ^ Meikle 2009, p. 18.
- ^ Schlossheimer 2002, p. 170.
- ^ Schlossheimer 2002, p. 165.
- ^ Hearn & Rigby 2003, p. 7.
- ^ a b c d e Kinsey 2002, p. 35.
- ^ Guest & Hearn 2003, 09:14–09:55.
- ^ Kinsey 2010, p. 128.
- ^ Hearn & Barnes 2007, pp. 20, 117.
- ^ Kinsey 2002, p. 36.
- ^ a b c Hearn & Rigby 2003, p. 14.
- ^ Guest & Hearn 2003, 54:27–55:03.
- ^ a b c Brosnan 1991, p. 74.
- ^ Hearn & Rigby 2003, p. 15.
- ^ See, for example, Baxter 1970, p. 96; Warren 1982, p. 253; Brosnan 1991, p. 74.
- ^ Guest & Hearn 2003, 40:51–41:26.
- ^ Warren 1982, p. 253.
- ^ Meikle 2009, pp. 229–264.
- ^ Benedick 1993.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Hearn & Barnes 2007, p. 17.
- ^ Weaver 2003, p. 101.
- ^ Weaver 2003, p. 106.
- ^ Kinsey 2010, p. 127.
- ^ Hearn & Barnes 2007, p. 27.
- ^ Weaver 2003, p. 100.
- ^ Guest & Hearn 2003, 35:01–35:45.
- ^ Guest & Hearn 2003, 05:01–05:05.
- ^ Guest 2003, 04:00–04:29.
- ^ a b Weaver 2003, p. 103.
- ^ Guest 2003, 04:29–04:48.
- ^ Guest & Hearn 2003, 59:58–1:01:09.
- ^ a b c Kinsey 2010, p. 309.
- ^ a b Hearn & Barnes 2007, p. 16.
- ^ Brosnan 1991, p. 75.
- ^ a b c Kinsey 2002, p. 37.
- ^ a b Meikle 2009, p. 22.
- ^ Guest & Hearn 2003, 51:11–52:27.
- ^ Kinsey 2010, p. 43.
- ^ Edie 2010, p. 82.
- ^ a b c Johnson 1996, p. 146.
- ^ Johnson 1996, p. 145.
- ^ Kinsey 2010, p. 310.
- ^ a b c d e f g Hallenbeck 2011, p. 75.
- ^ Kinsey 2010, pp. 414–415.
- ^ Meikle 2009, pp. 22–23.
- ^ Guest & Hearn 2003, 1:01:23–1:02:21.
- ^ Kinsey 2010, p. 415.
- ^ a b Meikle 2009, p. 24.
- ^ Kinsey 2010, p. 426.
- ^ a b Kinsey 2010, p. 404.
- ^ Mansell 1999, p. 15.
- ^ Huckvale 2006, p. 46.
- ^ Guest & Hearn 2003, 44:03–44:36.
- ^ Huckvale 2006, pp. 46–49.
- ^ Mansell 1999, p. 16.
- ^ Huckvale 2006, pp. 49, 53.
- ^ Huckvale 2006, p. 49.
- ^ Mansell 1999, pp. 15–16.
- ^ Soundtrack Collector 2012.
- ^ Meikle 2009, p. 20.
- ^ Bansak 2003, p. 499.
- ^ Hearn 2011, p. 8.
- ^ a b c Kinsey 2002, p. 39.
- ^ a b c Meikle 2009, p. 26.
- ^ Lenera, Dr (10 May 2015). "DOC'S JOURNEY INTO HAMMER FILMS #26: THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT [1955]". Horror Cult Films. Archived from the original on 14 July 2017. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
Timed to coincide with the second TV Quatermass series Quatermass 2, the film went out on a double bill with either the short The Eric Winstone Band Show or Rififi, the latter becoming the most successful double bill release of 1955 in the UK.
- ^ Hearn & Rigby 2003, p. 19.
- ^ The Times & 15 December 1955.
- ^ Hallenbeck 2011, p. 76.
- ^ Meikle 2009, p. 27.
- ^ Hammer Films 2012.
- ^ The Times & 29 August 1955.
- ^ a b c d e f Hearn & Rigby 2003, p. 18.
- ^ Hearn & Rigby 2003, pp. 18–19.
- ^ Dixon 1983, pp. 79–80.
- ^ "Creeping Unknown". archive.org. Harrison's Reports. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
- ^ "Creeping Unknown". archive.org. Film Bulletin Company. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
- ^ Baxter 1970, p. 96.
- ^ Brosnan 1991, p. 72.
- ^ Warren 1982, p. 252.
- ^ Warren 1982, p. 254.
- ^ Chibnall 2011.
- ^ Murray 2006, p. 153.
- ^ Murray 2006, p. 154.
- ^ a b Meikle 2009, p. 19.
- ^ a b Hearn & Barnes 2007, p. 13.
- ^ Hearn & Barnes 2007, p. 14.
- ^ Kinsey 2002, p. 40.
- ^ Kinsey 2010, p. 108.
- ^ Hearn & Barnes 2007, pp. 18–19.
- ^ Kinsey 2010, pp. 108–109.
- ^ Hallenbeck 2011, pp. 77–78.
- ^ Bould et al. 2009, p. 123.
- ^ Dixon 2010, pp. 87–88.
- ^ Kinsey 2002, p. 41.
- ^ Meikle 2009, p. xiii.
- ^ Meikle 2009, p. 1.
- ^ Galbraith IV 2004.
- ^ Erickson 2011.
- ^ "The House of Hammer #v1#9", Grand Comics Database. Retrieved Dec. 29, 2020.
Bibliography
Books
- Bansak, Edmund G. (2003). Fearing The Dark: The Val Lewton Career. ISBN 978-0-7864-1709-4.
- ISBN 0-302-00476-9.
- Bould, Mark; ISBN 978-0-203-87470-7. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
- ISBN 0-356-20222-4.
- ISBN 978-0-253-31807-7. Retrieved 31 January 2012.
- ISBN 978-0-8135-4796-1. Retrieved 27 December 2011.
- Edie, Laurie N. (2010). British Film Design: A History. London: ISBN 978-1-84885-107-8. Retrieved 31 January 2012.
- Hallenbeck, Bruce G. (2011). Hammer Fantasy & Sci-Fi. British Cult Cinema. ISBN 978-0-9557774-4-8.
- Hearn, Marcus; ISBN 978-1-84576-185-1.
- Hearn, Marcus (2011). The Hammer Vault: Treasures from the archive of Hammer Films. London: Titan Books. ISBN 978-0-85768-117-1.
- Huckvale, David (2006). James Bernard, Composer to Count Dracula: A critical biography. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-2302-1. Retrieved 28 December 2011.
- Johnson, John "J. J." (1996). Cheap Tricks and Class Acts: Special effects, makeup and stunts from the films of the fantastic fifties. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-0093-5. Retrieved 1 January 2012.
- Kinsey, Wayne (2002). Hammer Films. The Bray Studio Years. London: Reynolds & Hearn. ISBN 978-1-903111-44-4.
- Kinsey, Wayne (2010). Hammer Films: The Unsung Heroes. ISBN 978-0-9557670-2-9.
- Meikle, Denis (2009). A History of Horrors: The rise and fall of the house of Hammer (Revised ed.). ISBN 978-0-8108-6354-5.
- Murray, Andy (2006). Into The Unknown: The Fantastic Life of Nigel Kneale. London: Headpress. ISBN 1-900486-50-4.
- Schlossheimer, Michael (2002). Gunmen and Gangsters: Profiles of nine actors who played memorable screen tough guys. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-0989-4. Retrieved 28 December 2011.
- ISBN 0-7864-0479-5.
- Weaver, Tom (2003). Double Feature Creature Attack: A monster merger of two more volumes of classic interviews. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-1366-2. Retrieved 28 December 2011.
CD and DVD liner notes and booklets
- Hearn, Marcus (1999). "Hammer's Quatermass Trilogy". The Quatermass Film Music Collection (CD liner). Various Artists. London: GDI Records. GDICD008.
- Hearn, Marcus; Rigby, Jonathan (2003). "Viewing Notes". The Quatermass Xperiment (DVD (booklet)). London: DD Video. DD06157.
- Mansell, James (1999). "James Bernard – The Quatermass Xperiment, Quatermass 2". The Quatermass Film Music Collection (CD liner). Various Artists. London: GDI Records. GDICD008.
- Pixley, Andrew (2005). "Viewing Notes". The Quatermass Collection (DVD (booklet)). London: BBC Worldwide. BBCDVD1478.
DVD commentaries and interviews
- Guest, Val; Hearn, Marcus (2003). "Audio commentary". The Quatermass Xperiment (DVD (Extra)). London: DD Video. DD06157.
- "Interview with Val Guest". The Quatermass Xperiment (DVD (Extra)). London: DD Video. 2003. DD06157.
Newspaper articles
- Benedick, Adam (29 November 1993). "Obituary: Richard Wordsworth". The Independent. London. Retrieved 28 December 2011.
- "Profitable Films: British Successes". The Times. 15 December 1955. p. 5.
- "Back to the Moulin Rouge: Jean Renoir's New Film". The Times. 29 August 1955. p. 10.
Online
- Brooke, Michael (2011). "The X Certificate". Screenonline. London: British Film Institute. Retrieved 27 December 2011.
- Chibnall, Steve (2011). "Guest, Val (1911–2006)". Screenonline. London: British Film Institute. Retrieved 27 December 2011.
- Erickson, Glenn (2011). "The Quatermass Xperiment Review". DVD Savant. Retrieved 3 January 2012.
- Galbraith IV, Stuart (2004). "The Quatermass Xperiment (Region 2)". DVD Talk. Retrieved 3 January 2012.
- "Quatermass creator dies, aged 84". BBC News Online. 1 November 2006. Retrieved 27 December 2011.
- "The Quatermass Xperiment". Hammer Films. Exclusive Media Group. 2012. Archived from the original on 6 January 2012. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
- "Quatermass Film Music Collection, The". Soundtrack Collector. 2012. Retrieved 2 January 2012.
External links
- The Quatermass Xperiment at IMDb
- The Quatermass Xperiment at AllMovie
- The Quatermass Xperiment at the TCM Movie Database
- The Creeping Unknown at the American Film Institute Catalog
- The Quatermass Xperiment at Rotten Tomatoes
- The Quatermass Xperiment at Hammer Films
- The Quatermass Xperiment at the British Film Institute's Screenonline
- The Quatermass Xperiment at The Quatermass Home Page
- Quatermass.org.uk – Nigel Kneale & Quatermass Appreciation Site
- The Creeping Unknown at Trailers From Hell
- The Quatermass Trilogy – A Controlled Paranoia