Quatermass and the Pit was a movie i would watch over and over as a child. I've seen it again recently and i know a lot more now and i still find it fascinating.
@@cinemaforce1 Some? It’s still a total knock out from beginning to end. Even the closing credits, with disheveled, still in shock, silent Quatermass and Barbara amidst the destruction is evocative of the overwhelming intensity of the film’s climax
An excellent video essay on the series. Thank you. I have the first three Hammer films on Blu-ray. I first saw AND THE PIT as FIVE MILLION YEARS TO EARTH on TV back in the 70’s and scared the hell out of me. I have seen it many times since in various formats and it is still my absolute favorite. You did justice to this classic science fiction cosmic horror series.
I love that film! (see my comment above); it starts out weird right off the bat when they find that skull...then gets progressively weirder and weirder...until it achieves maximum weirdness! It's such a slow and steady build you can't help but get drawn in.
Quatermass was mostly before my time, but I remember being terrified by the movie version of Quatermass and The Pit as a small child. I recently rewatched it and still enjoyed it immensely, even after all these years.
I’m at an age and lucky enough to have watched all the Qautermass series, on film and TV. I’ve enjoyed them all and it is now time a reboot was on the cards. Thanks for posting 👍
Great walk through. Part 4 was the first watched on broadcast TV as a teenager, so struck me as deeply as Forbidden Planet did on the first viewing. It the took decades before seeing them again on DVD. The Stone Tape, another of Kneale's later works is a must watch; equally chilling as QM3 and 4.
@@cinemaforce1 Another Kneale work worth noting is 'The Road' from 1963. Like 'Quatermass and the Pit' it blends supernatural horror with science fiction. Sadly the TV version is lost, but it was remade as a BBC radio play in 2018, starring Mark Gatiss.
My first encounter with Quatermass was the third film. I was probably about 9 when I saw it, and was blown away by the whole thing. Then I watched the 70's TV series, and finally caught up with the first and second film. My favourite is still 'The Pit'. To me, the ship effects still hold up well, and the portrayal of Quatermass is more to my liking than any of the others. I must add that Richard Wordsworth, in the first movie, really put the wind up me when I first watched it. Filling me with dread!
I'm too young to have seen these films and shows when new, I was born in 1975, but my British mother, who turned 80 this year, told me about Quatermass and I was very interested to learn more. Thanks for that very comprehensive video - I really want to see parts 1 to 4 now.
They're well worth the effort. I only caught up with the BBC originals after seeing the films and the final instalment, but the TV Pit was a revelation for all my appreciation of the Hammer remake.
Enjoyable retrospective thanks - I actually like Brian Donlevy's blustery Quatermass -Sometimes I wonder about the world and the final parts of Quatermass and the pit
Nice to read an appreciative assessment of Nigel Kneale’s thoughtful, and sometimes prescient, works from a non-British perspective - if you hadn’t mentioned the parallels between the Texas bomb factory and Quatermass 2 I’d never have heard about it. Kneale did occasional TV plays for other British channels, that were usually both striking and fantastical. The one I remember best was The Road, from the 1960s or ‘70s, in which a group of 18th century philosophical dilettantes investigate a rural haunting. It turns out to be a premonition instead, of a horrifying nuclear attack in some future war; Kneale’s evocation of an event both terrible and incomprehensible was superb.
I've seen the film version of Quatermass and the Pit (1967), aka Five Million Years to Earth, on tv in the 1970s: the scenes of the mob riots, alien possession, and their telekinetic powers awakening was terrifying to me. I still enjoy the gripping plot. Plus I've seen the 1958 BBC serial on YT. The concepts of Martians advancing human evolution and changing matter into energy were quite different from your average sci-fi venture. Thank you so much for the retrospective, Michael, I enjoyed it a lot. 🇬🇧👽🚀🛸
One side of the label on my blu-ray is for 5 Million Years to Earth... take it out of the case and flip it over, and it's for Quatermass and the Pit! (The disc itself is labeled Quatermass and the Pit)
Grew up with Quatermass starting at age 12 and he's one of my Top Ten Favorite Characters of all time! Even did an essay on the miniseries & films for a Mass Communications course at my Alma Mater during my senior year!
The was a lot of speculation some years ago, that a revived Hammer Films would lead with an all-new production of Quatermass and the Pit. Sadly it wasn't to be. But it could still happen. It's a great story.
Thanks for sharing your work. I discovered Quatermass with Hammer films. I like them deeply for belonging the few lovecraftian films ever created. Actually, if the author seems not be influenced by Lovecraft work, the pacing of the story, the rationnalist characters facing the outerworld unkown, the slow reveal of an horrific and unspeakable truth far from academic human comprehension of the univers and the history, unimaginable antagonist lifeforms, the insignificance of humanity against cosmic horrors lurking in the darkness of space and time, the reveal of an unknown deadly threat against humanity, ... is truly lovecraftian in spirit.
Great doc ! But when you mentioned the other films inspired by Quatermass another Hammer film I think should be brought up is "X the Unknown" starring Dean Jagger and Leo McKern .
I certainly agree, the was Quatermass in all but name - of course Kneale turned down Hammer with regard to a third "x" film. One thing I always thought, Dean Jagger was much closer to my idea (and maybe Kneale's) of trhe Professor, indeed he is only surpassed by Andre Morrell's performance in the Pit
Given the liberties taken in re-imaginings and reboots of classical sci-fi (Star Trek, Star Wars, Dr Who, etc.) I'm hoping that Quatermass actually stays of their radar and never gets the same update for a "modern audience". Pity that the BBC lost most of the first series. Of all the Quatermass outings, the BBC's Quatermass and the Pit is my favourite - the final speech by Morell stands out as a great, old-school way to close a film.
I certainly have mixed emotions about a reboot. In one sense I dread it but in others like say in the hands of a Del Toro who has a great respect for cosmic horror he might be able to explore Kneal's ideas in a proper manner. But yes I hear you if in the wrong hands it could stain the good name.
Agreed. The period is intrinsic to the series (and WW2 and its aftermath were indeed central to Kneale's concept and an ideal backdrop for his style), and an update would reduce it to just standard "quirky boffin fights fusty officialdom to save world from goo / faulty alien tech" fare, which we can do quite adequately without having to drag the Prof into it. Agreed about the Beeb's Pit too: I love the subsequent Hammer adaptation, but the third serial nailed it - no wonder it's said to have emptied the streets when it was on air.
Interesting to note that an audio addition to Quatermass, Quatermass Memoirs(1996), featuring the return of Andrew Keir as Quatermass was released - foreshadowing the chaos prior to Quatermass Conclusion.
G'day, Yay Team ! Thanks for making and posting this...; I've long wondered what the Backstory was, behind the "Remaindered" copy of the "Spin-off" Paperback version of the 1979 TV version of "The Quatermass Conclusion". As a "Stand Alone" experience , never having encountered ANY of the previous iterations (I'm a 1961-vintage Australian - and the ABC never picked up on the Franchise...) ; I quite enjoyed the Book, as a Story. The idea of some ancient Alien Machine set up to attract and harvest large numbers of young Humans was a bit Off the Wall ; but the idea of Billions of Young Humans Turning on Tuning in & Dropping out From the Hyperselfish Fossil-fuelled Global Industrial-scale Broadacre AggroKult of Harvest Everything-ism...; That, Back in the 1970s..., Was at least as valid a work of Hard-Science Sociological Futurology - as was Mad Max..., and Mad Max 2 - the Road Warrior. Look around, now, 45 years down the Track ; and the People who MARKETED THEMSELVES As being the, "Greatest Generation", For having merely lived..., during WW-2 - & enjoyed the subsequent Deficit-Financed Global "Prosperity" (ability of average Western Democratic Nationalist Suburban Sheeples...; to afford unlimited Bright & Shiny Landfill, on demand) Having Successfully (Suck Cess Fully...?) Stolen and eaten the Grandchildren's Playlunch, For decades, and centuries, and Millenia... And THUSLY WE Trashed the Earth, TOTALLY... Maybe...(?) Quatermass, as an idea, Was a Gestalt Cry, Hoping the Older Wiser Heads Might Perhaps possibly Wake up to themselves - And try to do SOMETHING Which made Some kind of SENSE... Expressed in Science Fiction. But, Sadly... We got the likes of Trumpy, Murdoch, Reagan, Thatcher, the Bushes, PoohTin, NetinYaaahhHoot, and now Elon... The Rich old Farts have thus studiously Trashed the Biosphere ; And, soon their Grandchildren will Take Whatever, Revenge They may Contrive so to Manage...(?). Such is life, Have a good one... Stay safe. ;-p Ciao !
A splendidly intelligent, incisive and comprehensive retrospective: thank you. I do feel obliged, however, to mention the 2005 BBC production (remake?) of the first televised story, broadcast live as the original had been, starring Jason Flemyng as Quatermass.
Yes, we considered including it but ultimately decided it didn't really fit into the Hammer series which was the focus. Although I did think it was important to include Conclusion because it does have connective tissue after Pit. I think if we included it we may still be editing it. lol thanks for the comments! Much appreciated!
Fun fact: Jason Flemyng’s father, Gordon, was the director of both Doctor Who movies in the middle 1960’s - Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965) and Dr. Who: Daleks Invasion Earth 2150 AD. (1966). Both films were based on the first two Dalek stories from the TV show and starred Hammer icon Peter Cushing as Doctor Who (sic) who was depicted in the films as a doddery old scientist who was human and not an alien with two hearts. If anyone reading this hasn’t seen these two films, they’ll be in for a treat if they give them a chance and watch them. The second film IMO is better, with a bigger budget and better production values but sadly it didn’t do as well at the box office compared to the first film, and plans for a third film, based on the third Dalek serial shown on the BBC were shelved.
YES!!!! QUATERMASS!!! This channel does NOT disappoint!! Brian Donlevy had the pleasure to portray Dr. Quatermass AND fight the Daikaiju Gamera! Lucky dude. Great video. So glad i found this channel
I think the American title of Quatermass and the Pit (Five Million Years to Earth) was a better title. In any case, it’s one of my all-time favorite Sci-Fi movies and I’ve watched it many times. It’s a great story. 👍👌
I completely disagree. The Quatermass name in the title is for me what gives a continuity and that expertly ties all the films and tv series together and gives a brand to the quality of all the work.
There is also an audio play entitled the Quatermass Memoirs written by Kneale and starring Keir as the prof. It is set after the pit and leads into the Quatermass Conclusion.
Mike did originally include a mention of it but it felt a little out of place so I decided to take it out and also the live 2005 re-do of the original. I really just wanted to focus on the Hammer ones but the BBC shows are kinda important to those and Conclusion although not a Hammer production also was released theatrically and is a continuation of Pit. Thanks for the comments!
I was always a fan of Quatermass (born in 1953). The Brits had embraced the 'kitchen sink drama' (usually young men dissatisfied with their lives) and as a child I played in 'bomb sites' left over from the war. Everyone was only too aware how grim things could get and as a result there were some very dark elements in UK TV stuff. Even Dr Who in its early days was not about bright shiny people, in the first series with the Daleks the Doctor contemplates killing a wounded Thall companion with a rock as he is slowing them down. In the later series about Daleks invading earth the Robomen were truly horrific, just ordinary people in tattered clothing with a mind control helmet using whips to control the enslaved population. It was lightened up considerably for the film, which made the film far less awe inspiring.
but only if they can do it right, steer a careful course between a one-for-one remake (then why bother?) or get it so wrong, it's an insult the audience and the character. (PS: Quatermass and the Pit, aka 5 Million Years to Earth is absolutely one of my all time favorite films, I recommend it to everyone.)
No! Please God no. They will make it for 'Modern Audiences' and it will be a disaster of Woke ideology that will strip the original of everything that made it brilliant.
Quatermass 2 terrified me as a kid. For a start, beloved Comedian Sid James gets gunned down like a dog. Then there's the scene where Quatermass and his angry mob are holes up in the control room. They begin feeding oxygen into the silos to kill the creatures, while guards are attacking. Some of the villagers decide to go out and make peace with the guards. A moment passes. Then there's a sound like an unearthly scream and a shudder from the oxygen pipes. One of them cracks. Something starts dripping out. Blood.
Thank you for a well thought out and generous analysis. Personally I remain a fan of the Brian Donleavy interpretation. He represents what someone called "the scientific power dream of the 195Os" which came out of the role of scientists in World War 2. Werner von Braun might have been the model.
Kneale's influence extends far beyond sci-fi, along with that of his 50s BBC director Cartier: their naturalistic scripts and staging pioneered the British TV drama style of the 60s and beyond, influencing the period's cinema too:Z Cars, Dr Who, Cathy Come Home - there's a bit of Kneale & Cartier's legacy in all of them, as today with the best UK drama (and sci-fi of course). They made our TV as much as anyone did.
I first saw Quatermass and the Pit on late night TV in the 70's. At that moment, as a young man, with a girl present whom I was hoping to get closer to, I basically had a choice. Pursue the girl or finish watching The Pit. I can remember being absolutely absorbed by the film and feeling mildly uncomfortable during the insect swarm scenes. I had to see it through. Lost the girl. Loved the film. I have watched it several times since and it never fails to reel me in. I can't even remember the girl's name.
Nice one. A criminally underrated story and a great overview of this classic adventure. But I have a plea to make. I have a memory of watching what I thought was one of the Quatermass films / TV series from back around 1970 when i was a child. I've never been able to track down the one scene I remember, and having seen all the surviving Quatermass films etc, I remain desperate to watch it again. However, I am now convinced it cannot be a Quatermass scene because I just cannot find it. The scene involves a man sat at a desk, I think it's in black and white, he's wearing a suit - I think, or maybe a long sleeved shirt, and his hand / arm literally melts on to the desk into a kind of powder or sludge. If anyone knows the film / series I will be eternally grateful.
I think that's X the Unknown (1956), devised by Hammer as a Quatermass vehicle but rejected by Kneale and instead made as a standalone. It's not quite how the scene goes, but the romantically-involved hospital doc's hand is seen to disintegrate as he steadies himself against a cabinet before falling to the floor where his face melts (an early gruesome horror moment which may have put Kneale off, such flourishes not being to his taste).
@@awotnot It's a great yarn in its own right and would actually have made a good Quatermass instalment without Dean Jagger making an even less appropriate US lead than Donlevy.
@@awotnot Really? That's odd. The reference to powder (dust?) sounds like one of Dracula's (many) ends, but the only time I recall him at a desk his hand gets (slightly) burned by van Helsing smuggling a Bible into his papers, so it doesn't sound like that either.
This is wonderful. You do not talk about it but there was also a Quatermas and the Pit BBC series as well that inspired the Hammer film just like the first two. Cheers
I enjoyed Quatermass II. I wondered why they had an American in the lead. Donlevy has always provided workmanlike performances. I agree that making him a scientist was casting against type. Even low-budget British movies have an authenticity that US movies often lack. The acting, even with minor roles, seems more natural to me.
That's the one thing the UK does really well, and it was Kneale's writing and Cartier's direction that established the style on TV even before the films: British TV & cinema drama owes them a huge debt. US distributors' insistence on casting a Hollywood lead in quintessentially British productions sadly blighted much of the 50s.
I see the difference in films going back to the talkies. I think it is something that permeates their culture, perhaps because of centuries of engagement with literature and the theater.
@@fr57ujf I find the 30s & 40s stagier and more mannered, though you can see a grittier element (and enormous technical advance) emerging in the war years alongside the heroics. Kneale stripped out the heroes (or killed them off) and ramped up the realism, locating his outlandish yarns in a world that was all too familiar, bombsites and all. The cinema of the 40s provided the form, Kneale & Cartier gave it a distinctly modern content.
@@fr57ujf You're welcome: it's a period that fascinates me, both the cinema and TV (much of the latter sadly lost or screened live without recording). I think another difference is just that the war left the US in a position of unprecedented strength while showing Britain's vulnerabilities, so American writers and execs were reasonably battling beyond the stars while their British counterparts were fending off alien threats on London's plentiful postwar building-sites, an ideal vehicle for the realism that appeals across the decades.
On the BBC saying they would need more Quatermass shows... they certainly got that since they got over 60 years of Doctor Who. And let's just say it - The Quatermass Experiment was really a dress rehearsal for that show. Older man who is a genius fighting alien and paranormal threats using his cleverness - add in a police box and granddaughter and you have William Hartnell's Doctor.
@@cinemaforce1 sorry, don’t know who told you that, but they’re wrong. Kneale never wrote for the Doctor Who TV series. In fact he hated the show! He recounted once in an interview that he turned on his TV one Saturday evening to see that the programme he had tuned into was Doctor Who, and it was (though Kneale didn’t know it) the 1976 season 13 story “The Seeds of Doom,” starring Tom Baker as the 4th Doctor. The scene in question that he was seeing was of a man slowly turning into a vegetable. Angered that it looked like the Doctor Who production team had ripped off his “The Quatermass Experiment” teleplay, Kneale quickly turned the TV off!
The 1967 film version of Quatermass and the Pit, was made for an inflation adjusted £4.2m. This budget puts most bug bydget Hollywood science fiction films to shane. It shows what can be achieved by an intelligent story and goid acting
So where was the 1958 BBC serial of Quatermass and the Pit with Andre Morell? In my opinion, Morell was the best actor to play Quatermass and was only briefly shown in this show.
Even as a Brit I had always hoped back in the 1990’s that John Carpenter, being a Nigel Kneale fan, would have reinvented Bernard Quatermass for the silver screen, with a remake of The Quatermass Xperiment. No doubt the American studios would have wanted an established American film star playing Quatermass, but personally I always thought Sean Connery would have made a marvellous Quatermass. In 1995 Connery would have been the right age for the role (middle sixties) and done up in the right clothing, glasses and a beard (as he looked playing Henry Jones in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade) and Connery would have looked every inch a British Professor in charge of the British Experimental Rocket Group.
I'm afraid I thought Brian Donlevy's Quatermass was totally unconvincing; he would never have made it as a scientist of any stripe with an attitude such as his, which is more that of a dictatorial military type. The TV series of Quatermass & The Pit frightened the bejesus out of me as a child, I was literally watching from behind the sofa most of the time, especially when the engineer went back for his tools & the ground started shaking ...
Thank you for this wonderful review and retrospective. All praise to Kneale and Quatermass ... Except for the fourth. Even John Mills could not save it. The screenplay's archaic contempt for the "Sixties Generation", projected onto the Planet People, was cringe to the extreme. And sorry - but I must take issue with the musical score which to me sounded all "synth" with a church organ thrown in, which gives it a cheap, amateurish sound. Because of Quatermass's venerable character and the miniseries' length, a matching epic orchestral score was called for, but not delivered. Anyway, thank you for this respectful and eloquent treatment!
Bumper sticker latin? Per Ardura Ad Astra is the motto of the Royal Air Force since 1912. It is believed to be from the writings of Virgil - 'Sic Itur Ad Astra', (this is the way to the stars) or H Rider Haggard's novel 'The People of the Mist' (1894) 'Per Adura Ad Astra' (Through adversity/struggle to the stars)
Thoroughly enjoyed this production... Except for one thing. I realise that the focus is on the feature films rather than the original TV serials, but I'm surprised that you don't acknowledge the remake of the original story mounted by the BBC during its anniversary celebrations. Broadcast live in the spirit of the first shows, it stars Jason Flemyng as Quatermass, with performances from David Tennant, Mark Gatiss and Indira Varma. An obvious low budget is worn on its sleeve, but the production is solid nonetheless.
It was originally a thought but it felt very redundant in our coverage, so maybe someday we will do a side espied on just that. There was a lot to discuss there but it didn't fit into our adventure .
Hmm, one of the Doctors in the cast; I'd love to see it just for the frisson when Tennant appears - even though he's no longer The Doctor, he's entered the Quatermassverse!
The Hammer versions are all brilliant and probably improve on the TV versions greatly with excellent compression without losing the ideas. They all benefit from minimal but well done special effects and the Hammer seriousness of tone. Donlevy does a good job but Andrew Kier is better
I wasn't overly impressed with earlier black/white Quatermass films, the dialogue was flat, the actors wooden and SFX not very good. The 1967 Quartermass and the Pit scared the heck out of me. particularly the scenes with Martians corpses look like giant grasshoppers. And the possession of humans by psychic mental energy of Dead Martians
Like a lot of horror from that period, Quatermass has lost the ability to shock, and could even, at times, be a comedy. Even so, Quatermass and the Pit is still weirdly eery and the idea that Satan is a race memory is fun. NB I have watched QatP many times but watching your analysis was the first time I noticed that the late lamented Gareth Thomas was in it. He discovers the alien body in the mud ... must be why he had his mind wiped in the future.
I think Kneale made a bad choice in trying to deal with the youth movement for his final Quatermass story. this dates it terribly, and Kneale and his director seemed out of touch with the kinds of details and behaviors of young people, resulting in the kind of fake/inauthentic feeling that sunk so many films produced by older people about the 60's movement that always came off as, well, "off". A charade. Really wish he had gone in another direction as Q4 turned out a very disappointing final entry. Just my opinion, but...I've never come across anyone who thought it was especially memorable like the others.
It certainly is the outlier of the series but its ideas are still relevant considering you replace the hippies with cults. The ending is very definitive .
Found a wonderful old b&w movie starring Peter Graves, young but made up to look old -- distinguished scientist, whose made contact with Mars. "Red Planet Mars" [spoiler] Turns out Jesus Christ is alive and well and living on Mars.
AS MUCH AS I LIKE KNEALE AND HIS WORK...I think he was WAY off base re: Donlevy and his portrayal. Frankly, the actor in the tv serial, from what survives, struck me as utterly colorless, bland and the very opposite of compelling. Donlevy brought real drive and character to the part in the 2 films he did as Quatermass. The releasing studio did the first 2 films of Kneale's works a disservice by ret-titling them with those awful, cheap exploitation sounding titles 9THE CREEPING UNKNOWN and ENEMY FROM SPACE) and truly ridiculous poster art. Even as a kid of about 7 when I saw the poster and title for CREEPING UNKNOWN in the lobby of the theater announcing that this was going to be the next week's Saturday matinee movie, I decided to skip it, on the spot. It looked terrible. Boy, I regretted that, ie not seeing it in the theater at the time once I saw it on TV maybe 10-12 years later. Same ENEMY FROM SPACE, which I avoided based on the very simplistic and juvenile sounding title alone. ...Only to regret that decision years later when, again, like the first film, I saw it on TV decades later. Sure would have been great to have first seen them in the theater on the big screen, alas. Thanks for the great retrospect (love your FORGOTTEN HORRORS book). NOTE: I wonder if Kneale drew any inspiration from a book written by a BBC cohort of his, THE RED JOURNY BACK by John Keir Cross for his (Kneale's) QUATERMASS 2? We'll never know, I guess.
I've heard so much about 'Quatermass' so got The Quatermass Experiment / Quatermass 2 / Quatermass & the Pit on dvd. Boy, is this cheap-looking tripe! The stilted acting made me cringe so bad, I couldn't watch it and had to turn it off. I love Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Fly, Tarantula, Them!, Earth versus the Flying Saucers, and War of the Worlds (the original film not the crap Spielberg remake), but Quatermass was just not my cup of tea.
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The original BBC three series of Quatermass were by todays standards pretty basic but over the series the did become less tatty, the pit was first rate scary entertainment . Certainly it scared the pants off the 10 old kid watching it.
Quatermass and the Pit was a movie i would watch over and over as a child. I've seen it again recently and i know a lot more now and i still find it fascinating.
It's still got some power to it!
@@cinemaforce1 Some? It’s still a total knock out from beginning to end. Even the closing credits, with disheveled, still in shock, silent Quatermass and Barbara amidst the destruction is evocative of the overwhelming intensity of the film’s climax
An excellent video essay on the series. Thank you. I have the first three Hammer films on Blu-ray. I first saw AND THE PIT as FIVE MILLION YEARS TO EARTH on TV back in the 70’s and scared the hell out of me. I have seen it many times since in various formats and it is still my absolute favorite. You did justice to this classic science fiction cosmic horror series.
Thank you so much!!!
I love that film! (see my comment above); it starts out weird right off the bat when they find that skull...then gets progressively weirder and weirder...until it achieves maximum weirdness! It's such a slow and steady build you can't help but get drawn in.
A great retrospective. Thank you so much. When one of my favourite early sci-fi films gets such a treatment - it thrills the bones.
This was the first planned project for Cinema Force. It just took us a while to get it right. Thank you so much!
@@cinemaforce1 Well you did a great job.. I'm a huge fan of all the quatermass tv and films.. Well done.
About 20 years ago, the BBC did a live broadcast of a new adaption of The Quatermass Experiment. It was brilliant - as good today as it's always been.
Quatermass was mostly before my time, but I remember being terrified by the movie version of Quatermass and The Pit as a small child. I recently rewatched it and still enjoyed it immensely, even after all these years.
I’m at an age and lucky enough to have watched all the Qautermass series, on film and TV. I’ve enjoyed them all and it is now time a reboot was on the cards. Thanks for posting 👍
Awesome! Have fun!
This is the most extraordinary video. Well done Sir!
Thank you very much! Stay tuned for Hammer's Frankenstein essay coming soon....
Quatermass needs to be brought back. We need a good new Sf series coming from the UK, because the Doctor has dropped the ball.
Agreed but frightened at the same time.
No let the films and tv broadcasts remain without pollution.
I’ll drink to that
Great walk through. Part 4 was the first watched on broadcast TV as a teenager, so struck me as deeply as Forbidden Planet did on the first viewing. It the took decades before seeing them again on DVD. The Stone Tape, another of Kneale's later works is a must watch; equally chilling as QM3 and 4.
Thank you very much. We will consider the Stone Tape for an addendum episode.
@@cinemaforce1 Another Kneale work worth noting is 'The Road' from 1963. Like 'Quatermass and the Pit' it blends supernatural horror with science fiction. Sadly the TV version is lost, but it was remade as a BBC radio play in 2018, starring Mark Gatiss.
My first encounter with Quatermass was the third film. I was probably about 9 when I saw it, and was blown away by the whole thing. Then I watched the 70's TV series, and finally caught up with the first and second film.
My favourite is still 'The Pit'. To me, the ship effects still hold up well, and the portrayal of Quatermass is more to my liking than any of the others.
I must add that Richard Wordsworth, in the first movie, really put the wind up me when I first watched it. Filling me with dread!
His performance is underrated.
Quatermas and the pit, one great movie !I want a hobs lane tube sign.
I'm too young to have seen these films and shows when new, I was born in 1975, but my British mother, who turned 80 this year, told me about Quatermass and I was very interested to learn more. Thanks for that very comprehensive video - I really want to see parts 1 to 4 now.
They're well worth the effort. I only caught up with the BBC originals after seeing the films and the final instalment, but the TV Pit was a revelation for all my appreciation of the Hammer remake.
Wow thank you so much. Look forward to your journey!
Great analysis 👍 I love all the Quatermass tv series and movies, they're all excellent.
Thank you so much!
Excellent review of the Quatermass productions - TV series and films. Thank you for posting.
Glad you enjoyed it!
The parallels between the cultists of Quatermass 4 and the Heaven's Gate cult and their mass suicide are rather chilling.
ohhh good point.
Makes you think about Glastonbury festival in a different way as well...
Nothing compared to MAGA.
Enjoyable retrospective thanks - I actually like Brian Donlevy's blustery Quatermass -Sometimes I wonder about the world and the final parts of Quatermass and the pit
It does have some stuff that actually makes a lot of since out of things that sometimes don't.
Nice to read an appreciative assessment of Nigel Kneale’s thoughtful, and sometimes prescient, works from a non-British perspective - if you hadn’t mentioned the parallels between the Texas bomb factory and Quatermass 2 I’d never have heard about it.
Kneale did occasional TV plays for other British channels, that were usually both striking and fantastical. The one I remember best was The Road, from the 1960s or ‘70s, in which a group of 18th century philosophical dilettantes investigate a rural haunting. It turns out to be a premonition instead, of a horrifying nuclear attack in some future war; Kneale’s evocation of an event both terrible and incomprehensible was superb.
We will have to track those down!
I've seen the film version of Quatermass and the Pit (1967), aka Five Million Years to Earth, on tv in the 1970s: the scenes of the mob riots, alien possession, and their telekinetic powers awakening was terrifying to me. I still enjoy the gripping plot. Plus I've seen the 1958 BBC serial on YT. The concepts of Martians advancing human evolution and changing matter into energy were quite different from your average sci-fi venture.
Thank you so much for the retrospective, Michael, I enjoyed it a lot. 🇬🇧👽🚀🛸
Ahead of his time!
Thanks - as a long term Quatermass and Kneale fan, I enjoyed that a lot.
5 Million Years to Earth is what it was called here in the states. My all time favorite sci fi movie.
One side of the label on my blu-ray is for 5 Million Years to Earth... take it out of the case and flip it over, and it's for Quatermass and the Pit! (The disc itself is labeled Quatermass and the Pit)
Yeah for some reason we forgot to mention the US title . Oooppps
Grew up with Quatermass starting at age 12 and he's one of my Top Ten Favorite Characters of all time! Even did an essay on the miniseries & films for a Mass Communications course at my Alma Mater during my senior year!
Oh wow ! That is amazing!
I wish there was a reboot of Quatermass And The Pit. That's one of my all time favorites.
I think maybe cosmic horror is too much to ask for people to understand thee days. It takes some work and imagination on the audiences part.
No reboot is needed.
@@SciHeartJourney they would ruin it.
The was a lot of speculation some years ago, that a revived Hammer Films would lead with an all-new production of Quatermass and the Pit. Sadly it wasn't to be. But it could still happen. It's a great story.
The original BBC TV series is available and considering when it was made is far superior.
Thanks for sharing your work.
I discovered Quatermass with Hammer films. I like them deeply for belonging the few lovecraftian films ever created.
Actually, if the author seems not be influenced by Lovecraft work, the pacing of the story, the rationnalist characters facing the outerworld unkown, the slow reveal of an horrific and unspeakable truth far from academic human comprehension of the univers and the history, unimaginable antagonist lifeforms, the insignificance of humanity against cosmic horrors lurking in the darkness of space and time, the reveal of an unknown deadly threat against humanity, ... is truly lovecraftian in spirit.
Great doc ! But when you mentioned the other films inspired by Quatermass another Hammer film I think should be brought up is "X the Unknown" starring Dean Jagger and Leo McKern .
I certainly agree, the was Quatermass in all but name - of course Kneale turned down Hammer with regard to a third "x" film.
One thing I always thought, Dean Jagger was much closer to my idea (and maybe Kneale's) of trhe Professor, indeed he is only surpassed by Andre Morrell's performance in the Pit
Good point!
Given the liberties taken in re-imaginings and reboots of classical sci-fi (Star Trek, Star Wars, Dr Who, etc.) I'm hoping that Quatermass actually stays of their radar and never gets the same update for a "modern audience". Pity that the BBC lost most of the first series. Of all the Quatermass outings, the BBC's Quatermass and the Pit is my favourite - the final speech by Morell stands out as a great, old-school way to close a film.
I certainly have mixed emotions about a reboot. In one sense I dread it but in others like say in the hands of a Del Toro who has a great respect for cosmic horror he might be able to explore Kneal's ideas in a proper manner. But yes I hear you if in the wrong hands it could stain the good name.
Agreed. The period is intrinsic to the series (and WW2 and its aftermath were indeed central to Kneale's concept and an ideal backdrop for his style), and an update would reduce it to just standard "quirky boffin fights fusty officialdom to save world from goo / faulty alien tech" fare, which we can do quite adequately without having to drag the Prof into it.
Agreed about the Beeb's Pit too: I love the subsequent Hammer adaptation, but the third serial nailed it - no wonder it's said to have emptied the streets when it was on air.
Nothing like a shape war eh ;-)
Excellent, informative and expertly presented.
Thank you so much!
Interesting to note that an audio addition to Quatermass, Quatermass Memoirs(1996), featuring the return of Andrew Keir as Quatermass was released - foreshadowing the chaos prior to Quatermass Conclusion.
Yes, Mike had originally mentioned that but in the interest of time and lack of visual references it was decided to cut it out.
I'd love to hear that - Keir's performance as Quatermass was pitch-perfect. ("I never had a career - only work.")
G'day,
Yay Team !
Thanks for making and posting this...; I've long wondered what the Backstory was, behind the
"Remaindered" copy of the
"Spin-off"
Paperback version of the 1979 TV version of
"The Quatermass Conclusion".
As a "Stand Alone" experience , never having encountered ANY of the previous iterations (I'm a 1961-vintage Australian - and the ABC never picked up on the Franchise...) ; I quite enjoyed the Book, as a Story.
The idea of some ancient Alien Machine set up to attract and harvest large numbers of young Humans was a bit Off the Wall ; but the idea of Billions of Young Humans
Turning on
Tuning in &
Dropping out
From the
Hyperselfish Fossil-fuelled
Global Industrial-scale
Broadacre AggroKult of
Harvest Everything-ism...;
That,
Back in the 1970s...,
Was at least as valid a work of
Hard-Science Sociological Futurology - as was
Mad Max..., and
Mad Max 2 - the Road Warrior.
Look around, now, 45 years down the Track ; and the
People who
MARKETED THEMSELVES
As being the,
"Greatest Generation",
For having merely lived..., during WW-2 - & enjoyed the subsequent Deficit-Financed Global
"Prosperity"
(ability of average Western Democratic Nationalist Suburban Sheeples...; to afford unlimited Bright & Shiny Landfill, on demand)
Having
Successfully
(Suck Cess Fully...?)
Stolen and eaten the
Grandchildren's Playlunch,
For decades, and centuries, and
Millenia...
And
THUSLY
WE
Trashed the
Earth, TOTALLY...
Maybe...(?)
Quatermass, as an idea,
Was a
Gestalt Cry,
Hoping the
Older Wiser Heads
Might
Perhaps possibly
Wake up to themselves -
And try to do
SOMETHING
Which made
Some kind of
SENSE...
Expressed in
Science Fiction.
But,
Sadly...
We got the likes of
Trumpy, Murdoch, Reagan, Thatcher, the Bushes, PoohTin, NetinYaaahhHoot, and now Elon...
The Rich old Farts have thus studiously
Trashed the Biosphere ;
And, soon their Grandchildren will
Take
Whatever,
Revenge
They may
Contrive so to
Manage...(?).
Such is life,
Have a good one...
Stay safe.
;-p
Ciao !
A splendidly intelligent, incisive and comprehensive retrospective: thank you. I do feel obliged, however, to mention the 2005 BBC production (remake?) of the first televised story, broadcast live as the original had been, starring Jason Flemyng as Quatermass.
Yes, we considered including it but ultimately decided it didn't really fit into the Hammer series which was the focus. Although I did think it was important to include Conclusion because it does have connective tissue after Pit. I think if we included it we may still be editing it. lol thanks for the comments! Much appreciated!
Fun fact: Jason Flemyng’s father, Gordon, was the director of both Doctor Who movies in the middle 1960’s - Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965) and Dr. Who: Daleks Invasion Earth 2150 AD. (1966). Both films were based on the first two Dalek stories from the TV show and starred Hammer icon Peter Cushing as Doctor Who (sic) who was depicted in the films as a doddery old scientist who was human and not an alien with two hearts.
If anyone reading this hasn’t seen these two films, they’ll be in for a treat if they give them a chance and watch them. The second film IMO is better, with a bigger budget and better production values but sadly it didn’t do as well at the box office compared to the first film, and plans for a third film, based on the third Dalek serial shown on the BBC were shelved.
I’d been sitting on a similar video essay idea for a while but it’s nice to see someone beat me to the punch and with such brilliant wit.
Well please don't let us hold you back, we want to see yours as well!
Love Quatermass and the Pit, both the tv series and the movie
Me too. I still watch the movie from time to time.
YES!!!! QUATERMASS!!!
This channel does NOT disappoint!!
Brian Donlevy had the pleasure to portray Dr. Quatermass AND fight the Daikaiju Gamera!
Lucky dude.
Great video. So glad i found this channel
Thank you so much! That really does mean the world to us.
Thank you for this. I am a fan of the Forgotten Horrors podcast.
Thank you!
Great essay on this underrated series
Thanks for watching!
I think the American title of Quatermass and the Pit (Five Million Years to Earth) was a better title. In any case, it’s one of my all-time favorite Sci-Fi movies and I’ve watched it many times. It’s a great story. 👍👌
I completely disagree. The Quatermass name in the title is for me what gives a continuity and that expertly ties all the films and tv series together and gives a brand to the quality of all the work.
@@1funkyflyguy Your opinion is as valid as mine, but I think we can both agree that it’s a great movie. 😊👍👌✌️
There is also an audio play entitled the Quatermass Memoirs written by Kneale and starring Keir as the prof. It is set after the pit and leads into the Quatermass Conclusion.
Mike did originally include a mention of it but it felt a little out of place so I decided to take it out and also the live 2005 re-do of the original. I really just wanted to focus on the Hammer ones but the BBC shows are kinda important to those and Conclusion although not a Hammer production also was released theatrically and is a continuation of Pit. Thanks for the comments!
I was always a fan of Quatermass (born in 1953). The Brits had embraced the 'kitchen sink drama' (usually young men dissatisfied with their lives) and as a child I played in 'bomb sites' left over from the war. Everyone was only too aware how grim things could get and as a result there were some very dark elements in UK TV stuff. Even Dr Who in its early days was not about bright shiny people, in the first series with the Daleks the Doctor contemplates killing a wounded Thall companion with a rock as he is slowing them down. In the later series about Daleks invading earth the Robomen were truly horrific, just ordinary people in tattered clothing with a mind control helmet using whips to control the enslaved population. It was lightened up considerably for the film, which made the film far less awe inspiring.
Dr. Who and Quatermass are def cousins.
Quatermass is more cosmic horror than mere sci-fi
The movie Quatermass & the Pit was the only movie that scared me EVER as a kid
Its still a great horror film because of what you don't see.
We need a great remake of the Quatermass films.
Someone like Mark Gatiss could realise such remake and stay true to Kneale's ideas. Shame he has never had the chance,
The chap that made shin Godzilla could do a fabulous job of a re boot
but only if they can do it right, steer a careful course between a one-for-one remake (then why bother?) or get it so wrong, it's an insult the audience and the character. (PS: Quatermass and the Pit, aka 5 Million Years to Earth is absolutely one of my all time favorite films, I recommend it to everyone.)
@@joestrike8537 Same. One of the first and one of the very best British Si-Fi films ever made in my opinion
No! Please God no. They will make it for 'Modern Audiences' and it will be a disaster of Woke ideology that will strip the original of everything that made it brilliant.
Quatermass 2 terrified me as a kid. For a start, beloved Comedian Sid James gets gunned down like a dog. Then there's the scene where Quatermass and his angry mob are holes up in the control room. They begin feeding oxygen into the silos to kill the creatures, while guards are attacking.
Some of the villagers decide to go out and make peace with the guards.
A moment passes.
Then there's a sound like an unearthly scream and a shudder from the oxygen pipes. One of them cracks. Something starts dripping out.
Blood.
Crazy!
M fav Quatermass is the 1958 TV mini-series with followed by Quatermass 2.
Thank you for a well thought out and generous analysis. Personally I remain a fan of the Brian Donleavy interpretation. He represents what someone called "the scientific power dream of the 195Os" which came out of the role of scientists in World War 2. Werner von Braun might have been the model.
Thank you so much!
Great analysis
Thank you!
Nice retrospective
Thank you!
Kneale's influence extends far beyond sci-fi, along with that of his 50s BBC director Cartier: their naturalistic scripts and staging pioneered the British TV drama style of the 60s and beyond, influencing the period's cinema too:Z Cars, Dr Who, Cathy Come Home - there's a bit of Kneale & Cartier's legacy in all of them, as today with the best UK drama (and sci-fi of course). They made our TV as much as anyone did.
He was a special person and a unique talent.
Awesome vid!!! 👍😊
Thank you!
I first saw Quatermass and the Pit on late night TV in the 70's. At that moment, as a young man, with a girl present whom I was hoping to get closer to, I basically had a choice. Pursue the girl or finish watching The Pit. I can remember being absolutely absorbed by the film and feeling mildly uncomfortable during the insect swarm scenes. I had to see it through. Lost the girl. Loved the film. I have watched it several times since and it never fails to reel me in. I can't even remember the girl's name.
The Pit has a special magic about it.
Nice one.
A criminally underrated story and a great overview of this classic adventure.
But I have a plea to make. I have a memory of watching what I thought was one of the Quatermass films / TV series from back around 1970 when i was a child. I've never been able to track down the one scene I remember, and having seen all the surviving Quatermass films etc, I remain desperate to watch it again. However, I am now convinced it cannot be a Quatermass scene because I just cannot find it.
The scene involves a man sat at a desk, I think it's in black and white, he's wearing a suit - I think, or maybe a long sleeved shirt, and his hand / arm literally melts on to the desk into a kind of powder or sludge.
If anyone knows the film / series I will be eternally grateful.
I think that's X the Unknown (1956), devised by Hammer as a Quatermass vehicle but rejected by Kneale and instead made as a standalone. It's not quite how the scene goes, but the romantically-involved hospital doc's hand is seen to disintegrate as he steadies himself against a cabinet before falling to the floor where his face melts (an early gruesome horror moment which may have put Kneale off, such flourishes not being to his taste).
@@davepx1 Thanks.
I'll check it out.
@@awotnot It's a great yarn in its own right and would actually have made a good Quatermass instalment without Dean Jagger making an even less appropriate US lead than Donlevy.
@@davepx1Not it but thanks.
@@awotnot Really? That's odd. The reference to powder (dust?) sounds like one of Dracula's (many) ends, but the only time I recall him at a desk his hand gets (slightly) burned by van Helsing smuggling a Bible into his papers, so it doesn't sound like that either.
Quatermass and the pit is a classic I'd like to see....,
This is wonderful. You do not talk about it but there was also a Quatermas and the Pit BBC series as well that inspired the Hammer film just like the first two. Cheers
We actually talk about it quite a bit. Maybe you skipped over it?
I enjoyed Quatermass II. I wondered why they had an American in the lead. Donlevy has always provided workmanlike performances. I agree that making him a scientist was casting against type. Even low-budget British movies have an authenticity that US movies often lack. The acting, even with minor roles, seems more natural to me.
That's the one thing the UK does really well, and it was Kneale's writing and Cartier's direction that established the style on TV even before the films: British TV & cinema drama owes them a huge debt. US distributors' insistence on casting a Hollywood lead in quintessentially British productions sadly blighted much of the 50s.
I see the difference in films going back to the talkies. I think it is something that permeates their culture, perhaps because of centuries of engagement with literature and the theater.
@@fr57ujf I find the 30s & 40s stagier and more mannered, though you can see a grittier element (and enormous technical advance) emerging in the war years alongside the heroics.
Kneale stripped out the heroes (or killed them off) and ramped up the realism, locating his outlandish yarns in a world that was all too familiar, bombsites and all. The cinema of the 40s provided the form, Kneale & Cartier gave it a distinctly modern content.
I can see you know your stuff. Thanks.
@@fr57ujf You're welcome: it's a period that fascinates me, both the cinema and TV (much of the latter sadly lost or screened live without recording).
I think another difference is just that the war left the US in a position of unprecedented strength while showing Britain's vulnerabilities, so American writers and execs were reasonably battling beyond the stars while their British counterparts were fending off alien threats on London's plentiful postwar building-sites, an ideal vehicle for the realism that appeals across the decades.
This is very well done. Thanks.
Thank you very much!!!
multiple episodes of Doctor Who have hinted that Bernard Quatermas exists in the Whoiverse.
That's awesome
The early part of Jon Pertwee's tenure always felt to me like it was leaning heavily on Quatermass. I think Who owes BQ quite the debt.
Andrew Keir was terrific as the Prof !!
He was great!
Doctor Who Season 7 owes pretty much everything to Quatermas.
Yes!
On the BBC saying they would need more Quatermass shows... they certainly got that since they got over 60 years of Doctor Who. And let's just say it - The Quatermass Experiment was really a dress rehearsal for that show. Older man who is a genius fighting alien and paranormal threats using his cleverness - add in a police box and granddaughter and you have William Hartnell's Doctor.
Very true and Nigel did write some episodes .
@@cinemaforce1 sorry, don’t know who told you that, but they’re wrong. Kneale never wrote for the Doctor Who TV series. In fact he hated the show!
He recounted once in an interview that he turned on his TV one Saturday evening to see that the programme he had tuned into was Doctor Who, and it was (though Kneale didn’t know it) the 1976 season 13 story “The Seeds of Doom,” starring Tom Baker as the 4th Doctor.
The scene in question that he was seeing was of a man slowly turning into a vegetable. Angered that it looked like the Doctor Who production team had ripped off his “The Quatermass Experiment” teleplay, Kneale quickly turned the TV off!
The 1967 film version of Quatermass and the Pit, was made for an inflation adjusted £4.2m.
This budget puts most bug bydget Hollywood science fiction films to shane.
It shows what can be achieved by an intelligent story and goid acting
So where was the 1958 BBC serial of Quatermass and the Pit with Andre Morell? In my opinion, Morell was the best actor to play Quatermass and was only briefly shown in this show.
It's in there.
The misnomer is like Alan Quatermain in “King Solomon’s mines” being called Quartermain in a certain movie
Even as a Brit I had always hoped back in the 1990’s that John Carpenter, being a Nigel Kneale fan, would have reinvented Bernard Quatermass for the silver screen, with a remake of The Quatermass Xperiment. No doubt the American studios would have wanted an established American film star playing Quatermass, but personally I always thought Sean Connery would have made a marvellous Quatermass.
In 1995 Connery would have been the right age for the role (middle sixties) and done up in the right clothing, glasses and a beard (as he looked playing Henry Jones in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade) and Connery would have looked every inch a British Professor in charge of the British Experimental Rocket Group.
Epic idea!
As a child I was supposed to be asleep, but I crept downstairs, hid behind the sofa and watched Quatermass. For my sins I had nightmares for months.
It is a series of Nightmare fuel!
The alien installation in Quatermass 2 contained the germ of the idea for Area 51 in UFO culture.
there is a direct correlation
I'm afraid I thought Brian Donlevy's Quatermass was totally unconvincing; he would never have made it as a scientist of any stripe with an attitude such as his, which is more that of a dictatorial military type. The TV series of Quatermass & The Pit frightened the bejesus out of me as a child, I was literally watching from behind the sofa most of the time, especially when the engineer went back for his tools & the ground started shaking ...
Yeah he def was more of a Ward Cleaver type of guy instead of a curious scientist type but he held his ground.
Thank you for this wonderful review and retrospective. All praise to Kneale and Quatermass ...
Except for the fourth. Even John Mills could not save it. The screenplay's archaic contempt for the "Sixties Generation", projected onto the Planet People, was cringe to the extreme. And sorry - but I must take issue with the musical score which to me sounded all "synth" with a church organ thrown in, which gives it a cheap, amateurish sound. Because of Quatermass's venerable character and the miniseries' length, a matching epic orchestral score was called for, but not delivered.
Anyway, thank you for this respectful and eloquent treatment!
Thanks for your thoughts!
@@cinemaforce1 You're welcome - thanks for the great Q retrospective!
The pit is my favorite
quite rightly. Try 1985's "Life Force " for an equally bonkers thrill ride.
@jeffreycase9497 oh yeah great one.
Why wont this vid show up in my history?
we designed it this way by order of the grasshoppers
Bumper sticker latin? Per Ardura Ad Astra is the motto of the Royal Air Force since 1912. It is believed to be from the writings of Virgil - 'Sic Itur Ad Astra', (this is the way to the stars) or H Rider Haggard's novel 'The People of the Mist' (1894) 'Per Adura Ad Astra' (Through adversity/struggle to the stars)
I can see where the Half Life games got much of their inspiration
it def spread its influence all over sci fi
I believe the first of the series was "The Quatermass Experiment."
1:12 ? Is that the young Roj Blake
This is why spacemen shouldn’t be allowed to return from the moon😔
exactly
Thoroughly enjoyed this production... Except for one thing.
I realise that the focus is on the feature films rather than the original TV serials, but I'm surprised that you don't acknowledge the remake of the original story mounted by the BBC during its anniversary celebrations. Broadcast live in the spirit of the first shows, it stars Jason Flemyng as Quatermass, with performances from David Tennant, Mark Gatiss and Indira Varma. An obvious low budget is worn on its sleeve, but the production is solid nonetheless.
It was originally a thought but it felt very redundant in our coverage, so maybe someday we will do a side espied on just that. There was a lot to discuss there but it didn't fit into our adventure .
Hmm, one of the Doctors in the cast; I'd love to see it just for the frisson when Tennant appears - even though he's no longer The Doctor, he's entered the Quatermassverse!
The Hammer versions are all brilliant and probably improve on the TV versions greatly with excellent compression without losing the ideas. They all benefit from minimal but well done special effects and the Hammer seriousness of tone. Donlevy does a good job but Andrew Kier is better
Have seen all but conclusion one.
Its worth seeing
I wasn't overly impressed with earlier black/white Quatermass films, the dialogue was flat, the actors wooden and SFX not very good. The 1967 Quartermass and the Pit scared the heck out of me. particularly the scenes with Martians corpses look like giant grasshoppers. And the possession of humans by psychic mental energy of Dead Martians
those guys were creepy and cheesy all at once.
The ship was quite alive though their directives were on automatic.
Like a lot of horror from that period, Quatermass has lost the ability to shock, and could even, at times, be a comedy. Even so, Quatermass and the Pit is still weirdly eery and the idea that Satan is a race memory is fun.
NB I have watched QatP many times but watching your analysis was the first time I noticed that the late lamented Gareth Thomas was in it. He discovers the alien body in the mud ... must be why he had his mind wiped in the future.
They are great fun
Did you all forget C.S. Lewis?
thanks!!!
I think Kneale made a bad choice in trying to deal with the youth movement for his final Quatermass story. this dates it terribly, and Kneale and his director seemed out of touch with the kinds of details and behaviors of young people, resulting in the kind of fake/inauthentic feeling that sunk so many films produced by older people about the 60's movement that always came off as, well, "off". A charade. Really wish he had gone in another direction as Q4 turned out a very disappointing final entry. Just my opinion, but...I've never come across anyone who thought it was especially memorable like the others.
It certainly is the outlier of the series but its ideas are still relevant considering you replace the hippies with cults. The ending is very definitive .
Found a wonderful old b&w movie starring Peter Graves, young but made up to look old -- distinguished scientist, whose made contact with Mars. "Red Planet Mars"
[spoiler]
Turns out Jesus Christ is alive and well and living on Mars.
AS MUCH AS I LIKE KNEALE AND HIS WORK...I think he was WAY off base re: Donlevy and his portrayal. Frankly, the actor in the tv serial, from what survives, struck me as utterly colorless, bland and the very opposite of compelling. Donlevy brought real drive and character to the part in the 2 films he did as Quatermass.
The releasing studio did the first 2 films of Kneale's works a disservice by ret-titling them with those awful, cheap exploitation sounding titles 9THE CREEPING UNKNOWN and ENEMY FROM SPACE) and truly ridiculous poster art. Even as a kid of about 7 when I saw the poster and title for CREEPING UNKNOWN in the lobby of the theater announcing that this was going to be the next week's Saturday matinee movie, I decided to skip it, on the spot. It looked terrible. Boy, I regretted that, ie not seeing it in the theater at the time once I saw it on TV maybe 10-12 years later. Same ENEMY FROM SPACE, which I avoided based on the very simplistic and juvenile sounding title alone. ...Only to regret that decision years later when, again, like the first film, I saw it on TV decades later. Sure would have been great to have first seen them in the theater on the big screen, alas.
Thanks for the great retrospect (love your FORGOTTEN HORRORS book).
NOTE: I wonder if Kneale drew any inspiration from a book written by a BBC cohort of his, THE RED JOURNY BACK by John Keir Cross for his (Kneale's) QUATERMASS 2? We'll never know, I guess.
Thanks for checking it out!
Q4 looks awful. Q and the pit vgood
Q4 is quite good, especially the tv version.
I've heard so much about 'Quatermass' so got The Quatermass Experiment / Quatermass 2 / Quatermass & the Pit on dvd. Boy, is this cheap-looking tripe! The stilted acting made me cringe so bad, I couldn't watch it and had to turn it off. I love Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Fly, Tarantula, Them!, Earth versus the Flying Saucers, and War of the Worlds (the original film not the crap Spielberg remake), but Quatermass was just not my cup of tea.
The original BBC three series of Quatermass were by todays standards pretty basic but over the series the did become less tatty, the pit was first rate scary entertainment . Certainly it scared the pants off the 10 old kid watching it.
Pompous nonsense,