A kindly English botanist and a gruff American scientist lead an expedition to the Himalayas in search of the legendary Yeti.A kindly English botanist and a gruff American scientist lead an expedition to the Himalayas in search of the legendary Yeti.A kindly English botanist and a gruff American scientist lead an expedition to the Himalayas in search of the legendary Yeti.
Arnold Marlé
- Lhama
- (as Arnold Marle)
Anthony Chinn
- Majordomo
- (as Anthony Chin)
Jack Easton
- Yeti
- (uncredited)
Fred Johnson
- Yeti
- (uncredited)
Joe Powell
- Yeti
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- Nigel Kneale
- Val Guest(uncredited)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis was Peter Cushing's first of 22 Hammer films. However, the second Hammer film that he made, The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), was released first.
- GoofsIt's day in the long shots, but then back to night in the close-ups of Forrest Tucker.
- Quotes
Dr. John Rollason: This creature may have an affinity for man, something in common with ourselves. Let's remember that before we start shooting.
- Crazy creditsHammer shot this in an anamorphic widescreen process which they credited as "Hammerscope." When it was released in the United States, the promotional material credited it as "Regalscope."
- Alternate versionsThis was released in the United States in an edited version as "The Abominable Snowman of the Himalayas" (1957) with a running time of 85 minutes.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The World of Hammer: Hammer Stars: Peter Cushing (1994)
Featured review
Hammer's first horror
Hammer's first 'real' horror film – this one preceded THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN by a few months – is a quaint, quintessentially '50s monster movie, with a typical British slant: the focus is on the psychology of the characters involved, rather than pure action and thrills as you'd expect from the Hollywood equivalent. As a result, this film is quite slowly paced (although not leaden) and short on the actual adrenaline of man-vs-beast action, but nevertheless it proves to be an efficient exercise in increasing tension, helmed by the able Val Guest.
Peter Cushing takes the lead role of the kindly scientist, whose idea is to capture and study the Yeti, rather than use it to make money through entertainment. Essentially, he plays the same type of dedicated good guy as in most of his Hammer horror films, and he's great as usual. Forrest Tucker is the American co-star, his presence here to draw in the overseas markets; he's the mountaineer with a ruthless secret and essentially the film's villain. The rest of the cast are made up of pretty women (Cushing's wife), scared natives (the Sherpas) and stuffy British types (get a load of that guy 'Foxy').
The movie is well shot and has a fair few effects shots; all of them are cheap, and you can see how most were created, but they're nevertheless charming. The Yeti is wisely hidden for most of the film, only appearing in a brief shadowy instance at the climax, and is all the more thought-provoking and weirdly disturbing for it. The plot, when all is said and done, is little more than a threadbare mystery a la Agatha Christie, with the cast being picked off one by one whilst the Yetis lurk and howl in the background. The plus side is that Nigel Kneale's script is excellent and the human psychology of the key players is always true-to-life, just as in the QUATERMASS films; as a result, this low-budget movie is actually a lot better than it probably should be.
Peter Cushing takes the lead role of the kindly scientist, whose idea is to capture and study the Yeti, rather than use it to make money through entertainment. Essentially, he plays the same type of dedicated good guy as in most of his Hammer horror films, and he's great as usual. Forrest Tucker is the American co-star, his presence here to draw in the overseas markets; he's the mountaineer with a ruthless secret and essentially the film's villain. The rest of the cast are made up of pretty women (Cushing's wife), scared natives (the Sherpas) and stuffy British types (get a load of that guy 'Foxy').
The movie is well shot and has a fair few effects shots; all of them are cheap, and you can see how most were created, but they're nevertheless charming. The Yeti is wisely hidden for most of the film, only appearing in a brief shadowy instance at the climax, and is all the more thought-provoking and weirdly disturbing for it. The plot, when all is said and done, is little more than a threadbare mystery a la Agatha Christie, with the cast being picked off one by one whilst the Yetis lurk and howl in the background. The plus side is that Nigel Kneale's script is excellent and the human psychology of the key players is always true-to-life, just as in the QUATERMASS films; as a result, this low-budget movie is actually a lot better than it probably should be.
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- Leofwine_draca
- Jan 16, 2015
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Details
- Runtime1 hour 25 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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