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Posted by DexterBG on 4/1/2006, 2:15 am, in reply to "DBNS: It's Hammer Time...Again"
Unfortunately I've never seen this one. Just the first Quatermass
movie which precedes it. And I still have my notes made from that
time (with just a few new lines added). It's not as detailed
a review about it, as others have been. I didn't feel it
deserved a full blown deal. Here's what I wrote.
.
The Creeping Unknown 1956 Jun (US) U.A., 1955 Sep28 (UK)
by Hammer Films
.
First of the Quatermass movie series, and based on the BBC-Tv series.
But why was american movie actor (Brian Donlevy) chosen to portray a
british space scientist? He's also cast in the sequel of this film.
Obviously it's US defense politics at work. And that Donlevy had
earlier played the role of the US army general in "The Beginning or
the End" (1947). Are we to believe that Hammer couldn't find a
british actor appealing enough to please it's board members? Why not
George Sanders? Maybe Donlevy was cheaper. Wait, an american actor
working for less than a brit? Does that sound remotely plausible?
I'll stick with my first theory that the Pentagon cast this movie.
.
The plot is basically that of "The Blob", released two years
later (1958). Which probably got its ideas from this movie.
In the end, the brits electrocute the alien mass, in a church (Abbey),
rather than freezing it solid, in an ice skating rink.
.
Enemy From Space 1957 Sep (US) U.A., 1957 Jun17 (UK) by Hammer Films
(not seen yet)
.
However, I have seen the third movie, "Five Million Years
to Earth". Which has haunted me since the day I first saw just
the tail end of it (as a young lad) returning from an evening
out with the family. I wondered for years what that ghostly image
was that the guy crashes the crane into. Eventually I would
see the complete movie. Ah, the days of independent Tv stations,
running old movies. Kids today don't know what we lost.
.
The description of "Enemy From Space" sounds like it has
elements of the Roswell story. Facialy burns, recovered
debris, etc. Though not an exact match, of course. Hmmmm.
Do you think that this movie was the DoD's attempt at crafting
a plausible denile, in a movie plot? Or did Roswell residence
see this movie, and add it to their accounts? They later
added the "flexible material that couldn't be cut or burned"
feature to their story, after seeing Superman TMP (1978).
.
The thing about these two movies is that it implies that
there was some kind of manned space program going on, even before
the Russians put up their first Sputnik. Which just wasn't
true. I know it was "science fiction". But it was portrayed
as contemporary times, not a futuristic era (in the not too
distant future, that is). So both of these films were making
a pretty big leap in claiming that we had manned spacecraft being
tested, and rockets to the moon in the works. We didn't! Not
until after Sputnik. And the brits never had one. So why
was Hammer making movies about something that was totally
non-existant? I smell corporate propaganda at work.
.
"Enemy From Space" also sounds very similar to "They Came
From Beyond Space" (1967). Which I just remembered having seen
in that "SCI-FI4" 14 movie DVD 4-pack, I bought two years ago.
Just coincidental, it also takes place in England? I think
Amicus Productions ripped off Hammer Films earlier story.
Complete with an american (Robert Hutton) in charge of the
UK's space project (whatever it was).
-Dex
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