Quatermass 2 (1957)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Val Guest

Writers:

Nigel Kneale (story)
Nigel Kneale (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

September 1957 (USA)

Genre:

Sci-Fi | Horror

Tagline:

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

Plot:

Professor Quatermass, still shook up from London's refusal to proceed with his project to colonize the Moon...

Plot Keywords:

Factory | Rocket | Meteor | Scientist | Alien Invasion

Cast

Brian Donlevy	...	Prof. Bernard Quatermass
John Longden	...	Lomax (as John Longdon)
Sid 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

Also Known As:

Enemy from Space (USA)
Quatermass II: Enemy from Space (USA)

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

UK:12 | Finland:K-16

Filming Locations:

Canvey Island, Essex, England, UK

Company:

Hammer Film Productions

Trivia:

One of the first films (if not the very first film) ever to use the number 2 as an indicator that it was the sequel to another film. In a DVD commentary Francis Ford Coppola makes a similar claim for The Godfather: Part II (1974). The Godfather Part II was released some 17 years after this movie.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The asteroid could not orbit as said. Short distance orbit implies several revolutions per day, while staying in Earth's shadow implies to revolve once per year, thus orbit about as far as the sun.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Alien 2 sulla Terra (1980)

The best SF Film I Have Seen. The Best Horror Film I Have Seen

One has to see this film in the context of when it was made. Britain was in the grip of science fever at the time. There were heavily attended science fairs all over the country; the space race was under starter's orders; and many people (even some scientists) still harboured the idea that there was intelligent life in the solar system.

A man of the times was the character of Prof Bernard Quatermass played by Brian Donlevy. He was the new breed of scientific hero: tough talking, hard-headed, as good with his fists as he was with his integral calculus, wilful, and armed with a can of bullshit repellent. At the time, it was thought that the scientists were going to solve all the world's problems; and Prof Quatermass was the British embodiment of this notion.

The Shell refinery setting is superb for one of the most frightening SF stories you are ever going to come across. It is not the aliens which are so frightening as the reactions of the authorities, and the lengths they will go to, to cover the whole thing up. Note that some of the uniforms worn by the authorities are even more frightening than the aliens in the domes.

It is not often that a sequel is better than the original; but this is such a case. The Quatermass Experiment is fine; but this one is much, much better.

It's still good. It could have been made only a couple of weeks ago.