The Abominable Snowman – 1957

Alternative Title: The Abominable Snowman of the Himalayas

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	6
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	01.01.1926		95	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	83
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	29
Story and Screenplay	Nigel Kneale	34	18 Apr 1922		29 Oct 2006	84	6
Wardrobe	Molly Arbuthnot	48	19 Dec 1908		1 Nov 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	02.08.1931		89	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