The Quatermass Xperiment.

Review #1917: The Quatermass Xperiment.

Cast: 

Brian Donlevy (Professor Bernard Quatermass), Richard Wordsworth (Victor Carroon), Jack Warner (Inspector Lomax), David King-Wood (Dr. Gordon Briscoe), Margia Dean (Mrs. Judith Carroon), Maurice Kaufmann (Marsh), Harold Lang (Christie), Lionel Jeffries (Mr. Blake), and John Wynn (Det. Sgt. Best) Directed by Val Guest (#224 - Casino Royale (1967))

Review: 

"It wasn’t quite like anything fans had seen before. The success of the picture helped put Hammer on the road to specializing in sci-fi and horror movies.”

You may know the film as The Creeping Unknown, since that was the issue title when released in America (with a run-time of 78 minutes as compared to the British 82 minutes). But we are talking about a film made by Hammer Film Productions as one of their first big hits, and the reason for the X is because that was the Certificate (rating) it got from the British Board of Film Censors. The film is adapted from the 1953 television serial The Quatermass Experiment, which was broadcast for six episodes from July 18 to August 22 on the BBC (who agreed to a deal with Hammer for the rights to do a film). The episodes were transmitted live, but only the first two episodes survive due to the other four not even being recorded on their live broadcast. Each episode was written by Nigel Kneale and directed by Rudolph Cartier. Hammer co-produced the movie with Robert L. Lippert, the distributor/producer behind a number of American and British movies that had seen him finance and supply American stars for certain Hammer films in exchange for distribution of his films in the UK. With this film, American star Brian Donlevy was brought in to serve as the main character, as originally played by Reginald Tate. At director was Val Guest, who actually started out as an actor before he became a writer, first for London's edition of the Hollywood Reporter before a challenge by an interviewee had him writing his first screenplay, which led to a comedy career for a time before becoming a director in 1943. A director for Hammer of fourteen films (starting with The Men of Sherwood Forest), Guest wanted to make the film look as if it was filmed by hand-held camera. Kneale would write three further television serials (1955, 1958-59, 1979), with each being turned into feature films in 1957, 1967, and 1979, respectively. Hammer also did X the Unknown (1956), which was meant to be a sequel to this film before they had to do a bit of re-branding when Kneale refused to allow the title character of this film to be included, but Hammer would later be behind the 1955 and 1967 Quatermass features, with Guest directing the former.

It should be noted that Kneale was not too big on this film, one he had no involvement in and one that he did not like the casting of Donlevy. The ending being modified for one with action to decide the climax rather than a "talking down" as per the original probably didn't help either. As a film though, it does work out pretty well, primarily because it makes for a fundamentally sound 82-minute feature in balancing procedure and the eventual horror with useful and chilly atmosphere. Yes, it is a movie involving British astronauts being spooked by a mass of space from out there, but it is a clinically useful movie, never wasting its time on anything too pointless, aside from a few quiet characters. Donlevy is firmly in the middle between the general scientist cliche: he isn't a mad doctor nor is he exactly the one envisioned by Kneale, which certainly tried to appeal to scientific and moral authority, although he has been quoted as wanting to write a strong character that counteracted the "horrible people" in American sci-fi films. Honestly, I understand where he is coming for in his sensibility (I mean, he has more written works than most ever dream of), but I found Donlevy to be the ideal fit for what the film needs: hard-set in ways, regardless of the terror provided. He may seem like he was pulled out of a noir, but it works to his beat because of how he maneuvers the situation without becoming beholden to gobbledygook. If it was this guy that had to "talk the creature to death", we would laugh at it, so he seems right for what the script really wants in. He looks like a guy who cares about what he does in terms of basic execution and nothing else, which makes for quality tension when compared to the others - so yes, moving forward matters most. Wordsworth is the one notable interesting supporting presence, if only because he is the key man besides Donlevy to make an impression because of what he is asked to do as a slowly mutating (and quivering) shape. I enjoy seeing him play out the fear required to make this horror a relevant one to bring terror to proper shape (which evidently used bovine entrails and tripe). The stunt of electricity at a set to double for Westminster Abbey is a quality climax to go with a movie that for all of its low budget surroundings is generally involving, and I especially like the final little shot of Donlevy walking back without saying much to get back to what matters most in the logical sense: Beginning again.

As a whole, it may not compare to the original serial it arose from, but it does manage to make a useful impression for its audience that wants to enjoy what Hammer set out to do in horror sci-fi entertainment. It set the stage for them to seep further into the world of horror to entertain audiences in ways that hadn't been seen before, and for that, I think it makes the film a useful curiosity to look into.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

Next Time: House of Usher.

The Abominable Dr. Phibes.

Review #1437: The Abominable Dr. Phibes.

Cast: 
Vincent Price (Dr. Anton Phibes), Joseph Cotten (Dr. Vesalius), Peter Jeffrey (Inspector Harry Trout), Virginia North (Vulnavia), Hugh Griffith (Rabbi), Terry-Thomas (Dr. Longstreet), Derek Godfrey (Crow), Norman Jones (Sgt. Tom Schenley), John Cater (Waverley), Aubrey Woods (Goldsmith), John Laurie (Darrow), and Maurice Kaufmann (Dr. Whitcombe) Directed by Robert Fuest.

Review: 
"I sometimes feel that I'm impersonating the dark unconscious of the whole human race. I know this sounds sick, but I love it."

Any time spent watching Vincent Price in a film is bound to be an interesting experience to watch, regardless of how the film as a whole turns out. This could also apply to films from American International Pictures, so it should only prove to be a match made in heaven to see Price in one of their films, having appeared in numerous films with the company since House of Usher (1960, the first of the eight Edgar Allen Poe stories adapted into films, which featured Price in seven of them). Price originally had an interest in fine arts (intending to study for a master's degree in the subject), but he soon found himself drawn to the theater, and he debuted in 1935. He is known for his horror work, but he had a versatile range that started from his character work in his films (starting in 1938), which could be in noir thrillers and comedy while also doing radio and television work. Although his career veered a bit towards stage and voicework with the 1970s, there was still room for Price to keep busy with film (fun fact: he also was an avid art collector and gourmet chef). Incidentally, Price would star in Theatre of Blood (1973), which was also a revenge story involving elaborate murders (in this case an actor emulating murder scenes from the plays of William Shakespeare). At the helm of director was set designer-turned-director Fuest, who would work on films such as And Soon the Darkness (1970) and the follow-up Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972).

One has an interesting time with a horror revenge film with shades of dark comedy in its methods of madness. The method of the killer this time around? Oh just the ten plagues of ancient times, which lend themselves to amusingly dark highlights such as a man being killed by a mechanical frog mask or being speared by a brass unicorn head horn. In a film that runs at 94 minutes, it certainly is interesting to have Price remain silent for the first third of the film (complete with an eerie voiceless intro), so he is mostly relying on his facial expressions with occasional moments of (literally) phone-in speech. In that sense, this makes for a performance worth viewing from Price. He might be playing a character that wants to bring about the plague to certain doctors, but it doesn't mean Price is playing just for hammy evil moments - he actually does a pretty creepy job for a role that he reportedly found to be very funny (to the point where he giggled and laughed while having plastic makeup on, which made it dissolve time and time again). The other actors stand fine with rolling in the quick paced black comedy, revolving from the strait-laced and composed Cotten to the effectively serious Jeffrey and Jones with not falling to all the bumbling stereotypes of authority. North makes a solemn but sound accompanying figure to the action. A lesser director would have likely presented the material broadly without subtlety or style, but Fuest (who re-wrote a significant part of the original screenplay that was done by James Whiton and William Goldstein) seems to have a touch for making dark ideas come out with their own sense of beauty. There is some creepy moments of horror that are spread out fine without dwelling on too much gore or seeming too tame for its time. On the whole, this is a serviceable film worthy for any purveyor of some creepy horror with a few chuckles alongside the madness with one fun actor in Price to make this a cult gem worth considering in its era.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

A Shot in the Dark.

Review #899: A Shot in the Dark.

Cast:
Peter Sellers (Jacques Clouseau), Elke Sommer (Maria Gambrelli), George Sanders (Benjamin Ballon), Herbert Lom (Charles Dreyfus), Tracy Reed (Dominique Ballon), Graham Stark (Hercule Lajoy), Moira Redmond (Simone), Vanda Godsell (Madame LaFarge), Maurice Kaufmann (Pierre), Ann Lynn (Dudu), David Lodge (Georges), André Maranne (François), Martin Benson (Maurice), and Burt Kwouk (Kato) Directed by Blake Edwards (#329 - The Pink Panther and #481 - The Party)

Review:
One thing that definitely can be said about this is that it certainly continues the laughs from The Pink Panther (released less with Sellers in control this time around as the main lead, with a more peculiar accent that became the hallmark of the character. With a great deal of slapstick and gags that combine with an engaging cast willing to have fun, A Shot in the Dark is also a fine sequel, while introducing newcomers that would become mainstays in the franchise, such as Lom as the long-suffering Dreyfus and Kwouk as Cato, the skilled servant used to "help" Clouseau in keeping his skills. Both are prime in their roles, with the latter getting especially more compelling the more the film goes on. It's also a pretty decent mystery as well, where the facts and allure balance handily with a movie that never veers too seriously but also never veers too ridiculously off-point, where every scene has something worth watching. Sellers and Sommer have a fair balance of chemistry together, right from their opening scene, where Clouseau catches on fire. Sellers seems at ease doing this role, with the right sense of bumbling incompetence that never ceases to entertain nor overstay its welcome, even when it repeats a gag or two a few times. I'd say some of the situations, but that just spoils the fun of what is a good romp. The movie gets wild, but it never goes completely off the rails, always having a sense of responsibility, with a fairly concocted climax as well.  At 102 minutes, A Shot in the Dark is also pretty well paced, having the right amount of gags and characters to make for a fun movie for anyone.

Countdown to #900: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Tomorrow night: Number Nine Hundred.

Overall, I give it 9 out of 10 stars.