A rocket ship returns to earth with two of its crew missing, their space suits empty, and the third in a state of collapse, unable to tell anyone what has happened. He is rushed to the headquarters of Professor Quatermass, the leader of the space programme, where tests reveal he is undergoing some sort of change. As both Quatermass’s and the police investigations proceed, the astronaut escapes from hospital and his metamorphosis accelerates, transforming him into a rampaging alien life form which threatens to destroy all life on earth…
Production Details
A Hammer production released by Exclusive Films (UK) and United Artists (USA)
Copyright MCMLV by Exclusive Films Ltd.
“The Producers wish to thank the following for their co-operation – B.B.C. Television Service, The Air Ministry, Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company, The British Interplanetary Society, The Port of London Authority, General Radiological Limited”
Produced at Bray Studios
Black & White 82 minutes
Filming Began: 14th October 1954
UK Release: 20th November 1955
Studio:
Bray Studios, Down Place, Oakley Green, Berkshire
Locations:
Chessington Zoo, Chessington, Surrey
Maidenhead, Berkshire
Deptford, London
Westminster Abbey, Westminster, London
Windsor, Berkshire
Bray, Berkshire
Stills from film
Click an image for enlarged slideshow
Original Poster
Click to enlarge
Footnotes
With this taut sci-fi thriller, Hammer at last found the direction which would lead them to their eminent place in cinema history. Two more of the team which would help them get there play a prominent role in the production of this film – Les Bowie, special effects wizard, and James Bernard, whose distinctive music would accompany so many of Hammer’s great moments of suspense and terror.
In a scenario reminiscent of a Hammer horror film, Jack Warner’s character George Dixon, who was shot and killed in Ealing’s “The Blue Lamp” (1949), was resurrected from the dead and haunted television screens for many years in the BBC TV series “Dixon of Dock Green”.