THE QUATERMASS EXPERIMENT
UK, 1955, 82 minutes, Black and white.
Brian Donlevy, Jack Warner, Margia Dean, Thora Hird, Gordon Jackson, David King- Wood, Lionel Jeffries, Sam Kydd, Richard Wordsworth, Jane Asher.
Directed by Val Guest.
The Quaterass Experiment is based on a series for television created by Nigel Kneale. It began in the early 50s and was developed into several series. There were also two films in the 1950s, a sequel to this film, also with Brian Donlevy. (There was a further film in 1967, Five Million Miles to Earth. The themes were used again in the early 21st century for television films.
At this time in the United States, there were quite a number of B-budget horror thrillers as well as science fiction films. This is an English equivalent – but done with something of the panache of British film-making rather than B‑budget American style. However, Brian Donlevy and Margia Dean were brought over to the United Kingdom – Donlevy is particularly stolid as Quatermass and Margia Dean does not make a good impression as the wife of the infected astronaut. However, the solid British cast led by Jack Warner as a Scotland Yard inspector (just as he was in The Blue Lamp and Dixon of Dock Green) with Thora Hird doing a comedy role, Gordon Jackson as a television producer, Lionel Jeffries as a representative of the Ministry of Defence. Jane Asher appears as the little girl who encounters the astronaut, played by Richard Wordsworth.
The film was directed by Val Guest, a prolific writer and director in British films from the 40s to the 80s. He directed the sequel as well as such science fiction films as The Day the Earth Caught Fire.
1.The impact of the film in the 1950s? Audiences unfamiliar with these themes? Space training and exploration in the 1950s, before the launch of Sputnik? The mysteries of outer space? The film capitalising on the unknown and the mystery as well as the threats?
2.The black and white photography, the London locations, the sets especially the zoo, the hospitals, Westminster Abbey? The musical score?
3.The title, the focus on Professor Quatermass? Quatermass as a scientist, rigorous with science, not wanting to speculate? With the hat and overcoat in the British style? The American actor and his rather stolid performance? His response to the missile crashing to Earth, inspecting the missile, the mystery of the disappearing astronauts? With the doctor, in the hospital? His work with Inspector Lomax? The gradual revelation of what had happened, his scientific theories? Working with the police? The laboratory mice and their expansion? The final confrontation in Westminster Abbey? His solution to electrocute the monster? The end with his going forward to start again?
4.The opening, the crash-landing of the missile, the people running into the house? The Ministry of Defence and its representative? His observations, his being part of the inquiry? The hosing down of the missile, opening it, the survivor coming out and collapsing? The disappearance of the other astronauts? The recovery of the camera and the film? The development of the film? Its being played, Quatermass watching it, his conclusions?
5.The survivor, his being infected, the revelation from the film footage? His being cared for by the doctor, asking for help? His absorbing creatures including the cactus? His being helped to escape from the hospital, his wife? His killing the helper in the lift? Frightening his wife in the car? His going through the city, killing the man in the shop, going to the zoo, killing the guard, absorbing the animals? His encounter with the little girl, taking her doll but sparing her? His finally being transformed into the monster? His death?
6.The doctor, his trying to deal with the situation? Speculations? The pressure from the wife, from Quatermass?
7.The police, Inspector Lomax, the sturdy man from Scotland Yard? In action, what was expected from a British bobby?
8.The wife, the mystery, her grief, helping her husband escape?
9.The episode with the little girl – the echoes of the Frankenstein incident, the monster with the little girl?
10.The science background of the period? Space exploration? Mysteries of the universe? A British take on these themes?
