The Quatermass Xperiment – 1955

The Quatermass Experiment
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
Storyline
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…
Watch the trailer on YouTube
Crew
Function | Credited | Age at Release | Birth | Death | Age | Hammer Credits | |
Art Director | J. Elder Wills | 54 | 26 Apr 1900 | 1970 | 69 | 22 | |
Assistant Director | Bill Shore | 5 | |||||
Based on the B.B.C. Television play by | Nigel Kneale | 32 | 18 Apr 1922 | 29 Oct 2006 | 84 | 6 | |
Camera Operator | Len Harris | 38 | 19 May 1916 | 21 Feb 1995 | 78 | 52 | |
Conducted by | John Hollingsworth | 38 | 20 Mar 1916 | 29 Dec 1963 | 47 | 36 | |
Continuity | Renee Glynne | 28 | 3 Aug 1926 | 6 Apr 2022 | 95 | 38 | |
Directed by | Val Guest | 43 | 11 Dec 1911 | 10 May 2006 | 94 | 29 | |
Director of Photography | Walter Harvey Bsc | 51 | 9 Feb 1903 | 1979 | 75 | 34 | |
Editor | James Needs | 35 | 17 Oct 1919 | 2003 | 83 | 110 | |
Hairdresser | Monica Hustler | 29 | 1926 | 96 | 18 | ||
Make-up | Phil Leakey | 46 | 4 May 1908 | 26 Nov 1992 | 84 | 48 | |
Music Composed by | James Bernard | 29 | 20 Sep 1925 | 12 Jul 2001 | 75 | 24 | |
Produced by | Anthony Hinds | 32 | 18 Sep 1922 | 30 Sep 2013 | 91 | 84 | |
Production Manager | T.S. Lyndon-Haynes | 42 | 17 Oct 1912 | 1 Jan 1972 | 59 | 3 | |
Recordist | H.C. Pearson | 47 | 17 Aug 1907 | 1 May 2002 | 94 | 3 | |
Screenplay by | Richard Landau | 40 | 21 Feb 1914 | 18 Sep 1993 | 79 | 8 | |
Screenplay by | Val Guest | 43 | 11 Dec 1911 | 10 May 2006 | 94 | 29 | |
Special Effects | Les Bowie | 41 | 10 Nov 1913 | 27 Jan 1979 | 65 | 32 | |
Wardrobe | Molly Arbuthnot | 46 | 19 Dec 1908 | 31 Oct 2001 | 92 | 48 |
Cast
Character | Actor | Age at Release | Birth | Death | Age | Hammer Appearances | |
Blake | Lionel Jeffries | 28 | 10 Jun 1926 | 19 Feb 2010 | 83 | 5 | |
Briscoe | David King-Wood | 41 | 12 Sep 1913 | 3 Sep 2003 | 89 | 4 | |
Christie | Harold Lang | 31 | 1923 | 16 Nov 1970 | 47 | 8 | |
Desk Sergeant | Sam Kydd | 39 | 15 Feb 1915 | 26 Mar 1982 | 67 | 7 | |
Inspector Lomax | Jack Warner | 59 | 24 Oct 1895 | 24 May 1981 | 85 | 1 | |
Judith | Margia Dean | 32 | 7 Apr 1922 | 99 | 1 | ||
Marsh | Maurice Kaufmann | 27 | 29 Jun 1927 | 21 Sep 1997 | 70 | 4 | |
Professor Quatermass | Brian Donlevy | 53 | 9 Feb 1901 | 5 Apr 1972 | 71 | 2 | |
Rosie | Thora Hird | 43 | 28 May 1911 | 15 Mar 2003 | 91 | 4 | |
TV Producer | Gordon Jackson | 31 | 19 Dec 1923 | 15 Jan 1990 | 66 | 3 | |
Victor | Richard Wordsworth | 39 | 19 Jan 1915 | 21 Nov 1993 | 78 | 4 |
Jack Warner by arrangement with J.Arthur Rank Organisation
Production
FILMING BEGAN | 14 October 1954 | |
UK RELEASE | 20 November 1955 | |
STUDIO | Bray Studios, Down Place, Oakley Green, Berkshire, England | |
LOCATION | Chessington Zoo, Chessington, Surrey, England | |
Maidenhead, Berkshire, England | ||
Deptford, London, England | ||
Westminster Abbey, Westminster, London, England | ||
Windsor, Berkshire, England | ||
Bray, Berkshire, England |
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”.
Details were complied viewing the actual film.
Source of viewing copy – The Hammer Graveyard Collection