I rented Hammer's Quatermass Experiment movie last night.
2.49 pounds on You Tube [for some reason I can't get the pound sign to work on my new Lenovo laptop!]
This will be controversial but I preferred X The Unknown, which I saw last week.
Don't get me wrong, Quatermass Experiment aka The Creeping Flesh is a fabulous black and white sci-fi epic.
I found the acting a little stiff though and maybe a bit stereotyped. Did Jack Warner's copper really have to whistle when he walked to the phone - at home?
But I'm nit-picking. I doubt if this sort of brilliant eco-astro-radioactive sci fi could even be attempted anymore.
As a final point I loved the space rocket at the start. It reminded me of the Project SWORD Task Force 2!
Hammer's Quatermass II will be rented later in the week. Am I in for a treat?
Shame on you Woodstock!! You cant possibly diss the single finest sci flick of the fifties! What about that creature?! the close up of its extraterrestrial eye at the end beats the rampaging chocolate pudding hands down! X the Unknown is like an episode of Dr Who by comparison! Quatermass II is not nearly as good, as Neale leaves a lot more to the imagination again till the climax, until which time the FX are a bit lacklustre. Worth watching to get to the Pit and the all out alien demon extravaganza!
ReplyDeleteThe eye at the end is rather good. Quite sad really. I wonder how they did that? Is there a rubber jiggler of the one eyed creature?
DeleteI much prefer the BBC versions to the film- especially Quatermass and the Pit. For all its shortcomings I find it more unsettling.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean Andy. I suppose they are much more like TV plays than films. I have the Quatermass Experimemt series on a BBC video cassette.
DeleteThe Quatermass Experiment is a great film. I prefer certain elements in the serial since it reveals more of what happened to the other astronauts.
ReplyDeleteHave you seen Ringstone Round Will?
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