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X: The Unknown (1956) -- Radioactive mud-like creature terrorizes a Scottish village during the 1950's.

Overview

User Rating:
6.2/10   499 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
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Director:
Leslie Norman
Writers:
Jimmy Sangster (story)
Jimmy Sangster (screenplay)
Contact:
View company contact information for X: The Unknown on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
May 1957 (USA) more
Genre:
Sci-Fi | Mystery | Horror more
Tagline:
NOTHING CAN STOP IT! (original print ad - all caps) more
Plot:
Radioactive mud-like creature terrorizes a Scottish village during the 1950's. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
more
User Comments:
Hard SF classic creepy from start to finish more (26 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)
Dean Jagger ... Dr. Adam Royston
Edward Chapman ... John Elliott
Leo McKern ... Insp. McGill
Anthony Newley ... LCpl. 'Spider' Webb
Jameson Clark ... Jack Harding
William Lucas ... Peter Elliott
Peter Hammond ... Lt. Bannerman
Marianne Brauns ... Zena, the Nurse
Ian MacNaughton ... Haggis
Michael Ripper ... Sgt. Harry Grimsdyke
John Harvey ... Maj. Cartwright
Edwin Richfield ... Soldier Burned on Back
Jane Aird ... Vi Harding
Norman Macowan ... Old Tom
Neil Hallett ... Unwin
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Additional Details

Parents Guide:
View content advisory for parents
Runtime:
81 min
Country:
UK
Language:
English
Color:
Black and White
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (RCA Sound Recording)
Certification:
UK:PG | Finland:K-16 | USA:Unrated
Filming Locations:
Beaconsfield Gravel Pits, Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England, UK more
Company:
Hammer Film Productions more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
The movie began under the direction of Joseph Losey (working as Joseph Walton), exiled to England because of the Hollywood blacklist. However, when Dean Jagger arrived, he refused to work with a director he thought of as a Communist sympathizer, and Losey was replaced by Leslie Norman before shooting began. Losey's departure was publicly attributed to "illness". more
Goofs:
Continuity: Lansing watches the stick sinking in a pool of liquid, but in a later long shot the stick in seen firmly standing in dry ground. more
Quotes:
Peter Elliott: How do you explain it, sir? All this extraordinary damage just to steal an old sample container? more
Movie Connections:
Featured in "The World of Hammer: Sci-Fi (#1.7)" (1994) more

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User Comments

   (Comment on this title)
5 out of 6 people found the following comment useful.
Hard SF classic creepy from start to finish, 24 December 2002
Author: telepinus1525 from Fountain Valley, CA

Back in the days when "Prince Valiant" still covered most of a page in the Sunday funnies, I first saw this wonderfully creepy SF sleeper. From the opening scenes of a stretch of the Scottish moors opening up under a British soldier's feet, I was hooked. I was very lucky that my parents didn't send me to bed then(although they did right in the middle of "From Hell It Came", but that's another story); I was resolved to catch it again just to get that creepy feeling! The ominous P.O.V. shots of the "X" monster shambling through the barren woods at night, the outrageous "melting" death by hard radiation of the medical tech in the X-ray room, Dean Jagger as Dr. Royston, describing his new invention that can (theoretically) speed up decay of radioactive materials without causing flare-ups(!) simply by leeching away its' energy, and the film's creepy, near-ambiguous ending ("We did destroy it...didn't we?") showed just what you could--and can!--still do with a small budget and respect for the material.

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Related Links

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