Classics Of 1950’s British Science Fiction Films
As I’ve said in a previous article, I am a Science Fiction fan. I have been since I was young and I hope that in my dotage (still years off, I hope) to remain one. Written, filmed, illustrated, I love it all. For me Science Fiction is the be-all of creative thought. And I hold a special place in my mind and heart for British Science Fiction, especially the three films that I have chosen to review here. Not too oddly, all three are by Hammer Films, one of the greatest companies in the history of genre cinema.
What makes these films – all black and white – so memorable, is the sensibility with which they are presented. Filmed in a Pseudo-documentary style, much like their contemporary, THEM! (the single greatest atomic radiation menace film ever, and I include Godzilla/Gojira here) that makes them so gripping and believable.
The Quatermass Xperiment (1955) was based on the teleplay of the same name. Written by the brilliant Nigel Kneale, it starred an American, Brian Donlevy (due to a production deal for US release) as Professor Bernard Quatermass, the no-nonsense, science above all, anti-hero of the film. It also stars a very underrated actor, Richard Wadsworth as the poor victim of the alien menace. I won’t recap the entire film here, only a few key points. Wadsworth is the only survivor of the first British mission into space. His ship has crash landed back in England, where it is discovered that the other two astronauts are gone, simply vanished. Wadsworth is catatonic and later it is discovered is infected (in a scene that may have inspired the film Species) by an alien spore that’s going to reproduce. Using a spore, one of the creatures is allowed to grow, and that’s where Quatermass discovers that this thing will reproduce by fission, which could possibly doom the entire Earth. Wadsworth meanwhile, assisted by his well meaning (but dense) wife, is no longer remotely human, having mutated into a blob-like thing creeping around Westminster Abbey.
A gripping, engrossing film, The Quatermass Xperiment still packs a punch today. Donlevy, a hard-drinker in real life, steals many of the scenes he’s in with his hard-headed determination. Wadsworth also dominates the screen with his quiet intensity.
Two years later, audiences were thrilled by Quatermass 2 (aka The Enemy From Space), Quatermass is incensed that his plans for a Moonbase have been cancelled, the funding taken away from him. Oddly enough, driving in rural England, he encounters a women whose boyfriend has been wounded, a strange black mark left on his face. Even odder, the angry professor discovers, on a moor in northern England, an exact duplicate of his base! Thus begins one of the most interesting alien invasion plots ever put on film. Coming to earth in meteors, each of the alien parasites links the infected to part of a hive-mind. But the infected are just drones, the real aliens being protected from Earth’s atmosphere inside Quatermass’ stolen Moonbase. Again, a thoroughly engrossing film. Donlevy’s Professor Q can be a pain in the ass at times, at other times he’s a bastard. All he does is in the name of science.
Personally, I love the guy. He’s one of my heroes of British SF, second only to the Third Doctor. He doesn’t take no for an answer, stopping the alien invasion with very little help from others. Professor Q is a dominant personality whose personality virtually overpowers everyone he encounters. But that’s the way he is. Again, this was also based on a tele-series that I would like to see, but never have.
The last film in this article could almost be a Quatermass, since it’s filmed in the same, pseudo-documentary style. Starring Dean Jagger and the fantastic Leo McKern (the most memorable number two from The Prisoner) this film is X the Unknown. While on military maneuvers in Wales, a British Army unit comes upon a strange radiation source. It turns out that a shapeless prehistoric creature that lives on radiation been released by a recent earthquake. This is a really well done effect, with the slimy creature flowing around (in one excellently staged scene it kills a nurse while absorbing a medical isotope).
Absorbing radiation before our amazed scientist, who, while less irascible than Quatermass, is cut from the same cloth (and very similar in tone to the first Doctor Who), he figures out a way to destroy the creature, thereby saving England and most likely, the rest of the world.
By today’s standards these three films would be given the dreadful “B” sobriquet. But who really cares about today’s less than stellar standards? These aren’t just Science Fiction films, they are a thinking fans science fiction films. These are Hammer films and at that time, Hammer meant quality, with every penny going on screen. All of them are intelligent, engrossing, well thought out, timeless films. A few years ago, Richard Donner and Warner Brothers were going to remake several Hammer films, including The Quatermass Xperiment. I’m glad these plans fell through. All of these films should be seen in their original format, not some glossy, overproduced remake.
So, gentle reader, if you have the good fortune to see these films, make some popcorn (or another favorite snack), sit back and be ready to be entertained. And if this is your first time, well I envy you, because all of these are a visual and mentally stimulating treat! I guarantee that these gems of British SF will not disappoint!
-- Rob Morganbesser
