The Abominable Snowman – 1957

A Hammer production released by Warner Brothers (UK) and Twentieth Century-Fox (USA)
RCA Sound Recording
Produced at Bray Studios, England
A Hammerscope production
Black & White 81 mins
Storyline
Ignoring the advice of the Lhama and against the wishes of his wife, scientist John Rollason joins an expedition led by Tom Friend in search of the yeti, the legendary abominable snowman of the Himalayas. But Friend is not all he makes himself out to be and something in the mountains somehow seems to know the true nature of the expedition…..
Watch the trailer on YouTube
Crew
Function | Credited | Age at Release | Birth | Death | Age | Hammer Credits | |
Art Director | Ted Marshall | 1 | |||||
Assistant Director | Robert Lynn | 38 | 9 Jun 1918 | 15 Jan 1982 | 63 | 7 | |
Associate Producer | Anthony Nelson-Keys | 45 | 13 Nov 1911 | 19 Mar 1985 | 73 | 41 | |
Camera Operator | Len Harris | 40 | 19 May 1916 | 21 Feb 1995 | 78 | 52 | |
Composed by | Humphrey Searle | 41 | 26 Aug 1915 | 12 May 1982 | 66 | 1 | |
Continuity | Doreen Soan | 31 | 1926 | 96 | 3 | ||
Directed by | Val Guest | 45 | 11 Dec 1911 | 10 May 2006 | 94 | 29 | |
Director of Photography | Arthur Grant, BSc | 42 | 1915 | 1972 | 57 | 30 | |
Dress Designer | Beatrice Dawson | 48 | 26 Jan 1908 | 16 Apr 1976 | 68 | 2 | |
Editor | Bill Lenny | 29 | 1928 | 2002 | 74 | 10 | |
Executive Producer | Michael Carreras | 29 | 21 Dec 1927 | 19 Apr 1994 | 66 | 82 | |
Hairdressing | Henry Montsash | 51 | 17 Sep 1905 | 29 Sep 1974 | 69 | 16 | |
Make-up | Phil Leakey | 48 | 4 May 1908 | 26 Nov 1992 | 84 | 48 | |
Musical Director | John Hollingsworth | 40 | 20 Mar 1916 | 29 Dec 1963 | 47 | 36 | |
Produced by | Aubrey Baring | 44 | 3 May 1912 | 30 Apr 1987 | 74 | 1 | |
Production Designer | Bernard Robinson | 44 | 28 Jul 1912 | 2 Mar 1970 | 57 | 46 | |
Production Manager | Don Weeks | 52 | 15 Nov 1904 | 1 Mar 1988 | 83 | 30 | |
Sound Recordist | Jock May | 52 | 1905 | 8 Jan 1991 | 86 | 30 | |
Story and Screenplay | Nigel Kneale | 34 | 18 Apr 1922 | 29 Oct 2006 | 84 | 6 | |
Wardrobe | Molly Arbuthnot | 48 | 19 Dec 1908 | 31 Oct 2001 | 92 | 48 |
Cast
Character | Actor | Age at Release | Birth | Death | Age | Hammer Appearances | |
Ed Shelley | Robert Brown | 35 | 23 Jul 1921 | 11 Nov 2003 | 82 | 6 | |
Helen Rollason | Maureen Connell | 25 | 2 Aug 1931 | 90 | 1 | ||
John Rollason | Peter Cushing | 43 | 26 May 1913 | 11 Aug 1994 | 81 | 24 | |
Kusang | Wolfe Morris | 31 | 5 Jan 1925 | 21 Jul 1996 | 71 | 5 | |
Lhama | Arnold Marle | 69 | 15 Sep 1887 | 21 Feb 1970 | 82 | 4 | |
Major Domo | Anthony Chin | 27 | 1930 | 22 Oct 2000 | 70 | 2 | |
McNee | Michael Brill | 29 | 1928 | 13 Apr 2011 | 83 | 2 | |
Peter Fox | Richard Wattis | 44 | 25 Feb 1912 | 1 Feb 1975 | 62 | 6 | |
Tom Friend | Forrest Tucker | 37 | 12 Feb 1919 | 25 Oct 1986 | 67 | 2 |
Production
FILMING BEGAN | 5 March 1957 | |
UK RELEASE | 26 August 1957 | |
STUDIO | Bray Studios, Down Place, Oakley Green, Berkshire, England | |
Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England | Additional studio filming | |
LOCATION | Pyrenees, France |
Footnotes
Sci-fi/fantasy writer Nigel Kneale’s most famous creation was Professor Quatermass and he wrote all three of the BBC TV series on which the Hammer films were based.
Apart from “The Abominable Snowman”, his other work for Hammer is the screenplay for “The Witches” (1966).
For the BBC, he also wrote the eerie play “The Stone Tape”.
Details were complied viewing the actual film.
Source of viewing copy – The Hammer Graveyard Collection