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 | kaiju | 

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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

Did You Know?

Trivia

The telephone number of the Experimental Rocket Group is Camford 647.

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Goofs

At Winnerden Flats, when Quatermass is being escorted to his car, a guard, who has turned the car around, can be seen in the driver's seat. In the following shot, when you would expect the driver to get out and make way for Quatermass, another guard comes from the right and opens the driver's door to an empty car.

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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 Hammer: The Studio That Dripped Blood! (1987)

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Soundtracks

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

User Reviews

Very good second entry in the Quatermass series

The success of The Quatermass Xperiment (1955) was the factor that alerted the hitherto obscure British film studio Hammer that the future for them might be with horror movies. This follow up movie – incidentally, the first sequel to use '2' in its title – merely cemented this notion and by the end of the decade Hammer's hugely influential cycle of horror movies was truly underway. At this earlier stage in the mid-50's though, the fashion was not yet for Gothic horrors filmed in glorious colour but for sci-fi/horror in traditional black and white. With its story of a meteor shower that ultimately results with people being taken over by alien entities, it not only indicates the influence of the earlier Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) but more generally shows itself to be a product of the Cold War years, where people suddenly become roboticised by external forces (which was essentially what many folks from the day thought those dastardly communists were doing).

Its lower key British sensibilities, setting and plot-line make it feel like a definite precursor to the sci-fi series 'Dr Who', which would kick into gear at the beginning of the next decade. Similar to that, Quatermass 2 is an imaginative piece of work which benefits from a creative script from genre specialist Nigel Kneale. Val Guest who directed the first instalment returns here again, as does Brian Donlevy to reprise his role as the somewhat prickly title character. Less expectedly it also features 'Carry On' legend Sid James in a role which by his subsequent standards is very serious.

I think this sequel may in fact surpass the original. It seems to have a little more budget and it makes that count. The production is still a modest one but makes use of its locations, especially the power plant where the action orbits, while the big finale is pretty well executed with some nice special effects. I think over and above that, it has an effective slightly downbeat atmosphere which suits this story well and, on the whole, this can certainly be considered one of the upper bracket science fiction films of its day.

Details

Official Sites:

Hammer Films official page

Country:

UK Japan

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, Toho Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1