The Quatermass Xperiment

The Quatermass Xperiment (1955)

Runtime: 78 minutes

Directed by: Val Guest

Starring: Brian Donlevy, Jack Warner, Richard Woodsworth, Margia Dean, Maurice Kaufmann

From: Hammer

What a coincidence that I am posting a review of a British movie today; no comment on Queen Elizabeth II passing away.

This seemed like a logical follow-up to The Andromeda Strain-and it was. What little I knew going in was that it also involved a space-borne substance making its way to Earth and threatening every person on the planet. A few years ago I saw 1967’s Quatermass and the Pit via TCM, a film I definitely enjoyed; for this it was via a different medium: a YouTube channel I won’t name has put together some videos replicating the drive-in experience; that included two films, trailers, ads, a short subject, etc. I did not watch the second movie in the video (1953’s Spaceways) as despite the cool title/poster, I’ve heard it’s more a murder mystery that only is loosely tied to outer space. Maybe one day, but it won’t be anytime soon.

Another thing I heard about The Quatermass Xperiment was that the titular character was a real SOB, which did make me ponder how I would tolerate such a lead. Turns out, he was a sanctimonious jerk, an SOB who loved interrupting people and not only launched the first manned rocket to space without proper authorization as he was tired of bureaucratic meddling, he wasn’t horrified that on the rocket’s return, it crashed in the field and of the three crew members, two vanished and the third was in rough shape. His brusque manner and standoffish demeanor wasn’t always great yet he wasn’t such a turn-off that I hated the guy or even worse, felt repelled against Xperiment.

As a whole, the movie was a pretty good time in that this Hammer effort took its time in telling the story and the scares mainly came from either the body horror (at times this reminded me of more than one popular 80’s genre effort) or the mystery behind this threat. The general 50’s British vibe of Xperiment was charming to me, a dumb Yankee. The performances are all at least fine although I do have to note that Richard Woodsworth played the surviving astronaut; as it was a silent performance from him, he had to use all the other methods to portray his deterioration… which he did pull off. Overall, it was a 78 minute movie that kept me captivated for its entirety.