The Quatermass Xperiment (1955)

Director:

Val Guest

Writers:

Richard H. Landau (screenplay) &
Val Guest (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

June 1956 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

Beware of "THE CREEPING UNKNOWN!"

Plot:

A missile, launched by the team led by Prof. Quatermass, lands in the English countryside. Of the three members of the crew...

Plot Keywords:

Rocket | Alien | Hospital | Astronaut | Rocket Crash

Cast

Brian Donlevy	...	Prof. Bernard Quatermass
Jack Warner	...	Insp. Lomax
Margia Dean	...	Mrs. Judith Carroon
Thora Hird	...	Rosemary 'Rosie' Elizabeth Rigly
Gordon Jackson	...	BBC TV producer
David King-Wood	...	Dr. Gordon Briscoe (Quatermass' associate)
Harold Lang	...	Christie (man who helps Victor escape)
Lionel Jeffries	...	Blake
Sam Kydd	...	Police sergeant questioning Rosie
Richard Wordsworth	...	Victor Carroon (spaceship crew member)

Also Known As:

Shock
The Creeping Unknown (USA)
The Quatermass Experiment (USA)
X the Experiment (UK) (informal alternative title)

Runtime:

82 min | USA:78 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Italy:T | UK:PG | USA:Unrated | West Germany:12 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Bray Studios, Down Place, Oakley Green, Berkshire, England, UK

Company:

Hammer Film Productions

Trivia:

The British Board of Film Censors had instituted the use of the "X" certificate in 1951 to indicate that certain films had themes that might be too strong or intense for persons under the age of 16. The film's title exploited the fact of receiving this "honor" by the spelling of the word "Xperiment".

Goofs:

Continuity: When Victor Caroon's wife tries to get him out of the hospital, she and her friend Christie are standing outside in the rain, and you can clearly see that Christie's lab coat is getting wet. When he walks in the hospital, it is dry. He walks in and out a couple of times, but inside the hospital his lab coat is always dry.

Quotes:

Insp. Lomax: Nobody ever wins a cold war.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Bring Something Back: The Making of 'The Quatermass Experiment' (2005) (V)

Richard Wordsworth is extraordinary

Horror/science fiction films have rarely been singled out for the quality of the acting in them. Over the decades, a couple of "monsters" have been tapped for praise: Fredric March won an Oscar for his turn at Jekyll and Hyde, & Jeff Goldblum was rightly seen as an example of "inspired casting" in David Cronenberg's remake of _The Fly_.

But I think Richard Wordsworth has them both beat.

I enjoy _The Creeping Unknown_ overall, but it is Wordsworth's performance as Victor Caroon that lifts it into the stratosphere for me. I mean, sheesh, _look_ at him! This is an incredibly painful and, yes, passionate portrait of a man whose _body_ is being taken over and is changing into something else, even as he fights to retain possession of it. What might such a battle _feel_ like? Wordsworth lets you know, and in doing so anchors an almost cliché science-fiction "what if ...?" in raw human nerve endings. Watch him battle the frightening desires that overcome him; watch him try to stay ... human. He's first class, and why his career never really took off ...

I am probably all alone on a windswept plain in this, but I think Wordsworth's acting here is as frenzied and solid as that of Klaus Kinski in any of the great movies he did with Werner Herzog. So shoot me! :)