The Abominable Snowman (1957)

Director:

Val Guest

Writers:

Nigel Kneale (story)
Nigel Kneale (screenplay)

Release Date:

October 1957 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

See It With Someone Brave! -- A Timeless Terror to Freeze You to Your Seats!

Plot:

A kindly English botanist and a gruff American scientist lead an expedition to the Himalayas in search of the legendary Yeti.

Plot Keywords:

Yeti | Himalayas | Expedition | Snow | Botanist

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)

Forrest Tucker	...	Tom Friend
Peter Cushing	...	Dr. Rollason
Maureen Connell	...	Helen Rollason
Richard Wattis	...	Peter Fox
Robert Brown	...	Ed. Shelley
Michael Brill	...	McNee
Wolfe Morris	...	Kusang
Arnold Marlé	...	Lhama (as Arnold Marle)
Anthony Chinn	...	Majordomo (as Anthony Chin)

Also Known As:

The Abominable Snowman of the Himalayas

Runtime:

91 min | USA:85 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #18535) | Australia:PG (DVD rating) | UK:A (original rating) | Finland:K-16 | UK:PG | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Bray Studios, Down Place, Oakley Green, Berkshire, England, UK

Company:

Clarion Films

Trivia:

Like the "Quatermass" films produced by Hammer, this was also based on one of Nigel Kneale's television serials (mini-series) originally titled "The Creature".

Goofs:

Continuity: It’s day in the long shots, but then back to night in the close-ups of Forest Tucker.

Quotes:

Dr. John Rollason: You're nothing but a cheap fairground trickster!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Perfect Scary Movie (2005) (TV)

Terror at the top of the world

Another great thriller from Hammer Films and another in a long line of British horror flick in which Man turns out to be a bigger menace than the monsters.

Peter Cushing plays a botanist who uses a scientific expedition to Nepal as an excuse to further study rumors of the Yeti, better known as the Abominable Snowman. He is so intrigued that he joins a climbing expedition led by an unscrupulous American businessman played by Forrest Tucker (in his pre-"F-Troop" days). Arnold Marle is especially effective as the leader of the monastery where Cushing has been studying. He tries to warn off Cushing and Tucker and seems to know more about the Yeti than he lets on, especially since he can read both men like books.

Cushing, as always, is superb. Tucker is excellent, here playing essentially a boorish American bad guy as opposed to some of the unconvincing good guys he played in later films. Tucker and Cushing play off each other very well and you can almost see Cushing's dander rising for having joined up with what he calls a "fairground trickster."

What works best here, as opposed to American films, is that the producers decided not to actually show the Abominable snowmen. You hear the growls of the Yeti, even seen an arm, but not until the end do you truly comprehend just what the Yeti might be. Even then, much is left to the imagination.

The story is well-paced as members of the expedition slowly descend into a fit of fear and madness, fighting one another while foolishly clinging to the same personality traits that caused it in the first place.

By the end of the film, the viewer is left wondering who is really the monster.