Quatermass 2 (1957)

Professor Quatermass, trying to gather support for his Lunar colonisation project, is intrigued by mysterious traces that have been showing up.

Director:

Val Guest

Writers:

Nigel Kneale (story), Nigel Kneale (screenplay)

Stars:

Brian Donlevy, John Longden, Sidney James

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Brian Donlevy	...	Quatermass
John Longden	...	Lomax (as John Longdon)
Sidney James	...	Jimmy Hall (as Sydney James)
Bryan Forbes	...	Marsh
William Franklyn	...	Brand
Vera Day	...	Sheila
Charles Lloyd Pack	...	Dawson
Tom Chatto	...	Broadhead
John Van Eyssen	...	The P.R.O.
Percy Herbert	...	Gorman
Michael Ripper	...	Ernie
John Rae	...	McLeod
Marianne Stone	...	Secretary
Ronald Wilson	...	Young Man
Jane Aird	...	Mrs. McLeod

Storyline

Professor Quatermass, trying to gather support for Moon colonisation his project to colonize the Moon, is intrigued by the mysterious traces that have been showing up on his radar - meteorites crashing down?. Following them to the place where they should be landing he finds a destroyed village, a mysterious factory too close to his designs for the Moon colony for comfort, and some strange, aerodynamic objects containing a mysterious, ammonia-based gas that infects one of his assistants. Officially, the factory is producing synthetic food; but despite the veil of secrecy surrounding it Quatermass succeeds in finding out it harbours aliens with deadly designs on the Earth... Second in Hammer Films' trio of screen versions for Nigel Kneale's classic 1950s BBC serials, with the same director and star as 1955's "The Quatermass Experiment".

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Plot Keywords:

london england | angry mob | explosion | character name as title | bernard qartermass character | 

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Taglines:

A horrible enemy from the unknown strikes terror across the earth!

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Genres:

Sci-Fi | Horror

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Official Sites:

Hammer Films official page

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

September 1957 (USA)

Also Known As:

Enemy from Space

Filming Locations:

New Elstree Studios, Elstree Road, Elstree, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

GBP92,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hammer Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.75 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The ruined town of Winnerden Flats is at Ivinghoe Beacon (along The Ridgeway), near the village of Ivinghoe in Buckinghamshire, and is owned and protected by the National Trust.

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Goofs

Brand plots the location of the objects falling 90/100 miles to the north but, for the apparent scale of the map he is using, his compass setting is much too small and would produce a radius of perhaps 10 miles at the most.

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Quotes

Marsh: Hey look at this Sir! Look at this! I think this- I think this is a- a whole one! Yes it is! It's exactly the same odd shape as the other. It isn't even cracked. It's...
Quatermass: What is it?
Marsh: That's funny, I thought I felt a sort of...
Quatermass: Put it down!
Marsh: -a sort of vibration.
Quatermass: Marsh, your face! There was something on your face! Are you alright? Let me take a look. You know, for a moment, I could have sworn I saw something that looked like a big black bubble.

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Alternate Versions

As was commonplace in the 1950s, Hammer filmed a racier "Continental" version, which included revealing shots of Vera Day. Nigel Kneale objected that it was entirely out of place, not to mention far too colorful, to have a topless waitress in a village pub.

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Connections

Featured in The World of Hammer: Hammer (1994)

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Soundtracks

Midsummer Mood
(uncredited)
Music by Kenneth Essex
Paxton Music Ltd

User Reviews

Excellent Brit shocker. One of the best in the underrated Quatermass series.

'Quatermass 2' is even better than the excellent 'The Quatermass Xperiment'. Like the first movie it was a remake of the original British TV production which I have sadly not seen (both are lost I think). Val Guest directs once again, Brian Donlevy reprises the role of the crusty Professor Quatermass, and this time Nigel Kneale was allowed to adapt his own original script, which probably explains why it improves on the first movie. Quatermass stumbles across a mysterious secret Government installation which is supposedly developing synthetic food, but is in fact something quite different and frightening. Donlevy isn't my favourite Quatermass but he is better here than in the first movie, and the supporting cast includes John Longden in the role originally played by Jack Warner, Bryan Forbes as Quatermass' assistant Marsh (another change of actor), comedian Sid James of 'Carry On' fame, and Hammer regular Michael Ripper. 'Quatermass 2' is a very entertaining and suspenseful thriller, which hasn't dated as half as much as you'd expect. It will particularly be interesting to fans of 'Invasion Of The Body Snatchers', which it shares certain themes with, and 'The X-Files', which many people, myself included, would argue owes this movie and the next in the series 'Quatermass and the Pit' a large debt. Nigel Kneale is one of the most underrated writers of SF and horror of our time (over 80 years old and still active!), and the Quatermass movies are his best known and enjoyable achievements. I highly recommend them all.