The Quatermass Xperiment – 1955

Alternative titles: The Creeping Unknown;
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	Living	94	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	33
Editor	James Needs	35	17 Oct 1919	2003	83	111
Hairdresser	Monica Hustler	29	1926	Living	95	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	1 Nov 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	Living	98	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

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