Quatermass 2
Bernard Quatermass is a man with a huge vision who is frustrated in his dealings with the ministry for whom he has been working as director of the rocket group, the Moon Project cancelled by their short-sightedness, his initial anger taken out on his colleagues when he arrives at the establishment to find they have been tracking an atypical meteor shower mollified when he realises he witnessed the aftermath of the fall on his journey, a fragmentary sample of the strange object in his pocket.
Having encountered a distressed and increasingly unmanageable man who had encountered one of the fallen rocks near Winnerden Flats and required medical attention, Quatermass and Marsh investigate only to find the way barred by fences; seeking higher vantage they observe pressure domes which seem identical to those of the proposed Moon Project, and when Marsh finds one of the objects which brought them he is infected by the caustic gas it releases, armed men arriving to seize him and evict Quatermass from the site before aid can be rendered.
Like its predecessor an abridged feature film remake of the influential television series, while The Quatermass Xperiment brought something back from orbit and the third in the series, Quatermass and the Pit, would eventually uncover an ancient alien presence buried on Earth, long extinct but still exerting an influence on the modern world, when released in 1957 Quatermass 2, adopting the Arabic rather than Roman numerals of the televised original, presented an active alien invasion, albeit an atypical one.
Titled the rather more descriptive Enemy from Space in the United States where the television series were not widely known, Nigel Kneale’s script was adapted by director Val Guest, cut down to around half the length of the original and streamlining the plot and eliminating characters, most notably that of Paula Quatermass and her relationships with her father and fiancé, the international aspects and an extraterrestrial excursion to the source of the menace, the focus on energy and action, a more immediately commercial proposition than the sinister conspiratorial creep of six episodes.
This is not to say that that Quatermass II is a small production; the budget increased following the international success of the first under the title The Creeping Unknown, it is a more advanced film both in terms of the production, with the private army of “zombies” barracked at Winnerden Flats entering into battle with the rebelling local villagers as the truth is exposed and in the technologies presented, the tracking station and rocket base and the control room where the siege takes place.
The scale of the production enhanced considerably by the cooperation of the Shell oil refinery in Stanford-le-Hope on the Thames Estuary, a sinister location in the home counties enhanced by the matte shots of the towering domes where the diaphanous presence of the alien entity has gathered itself together in monstrous alien flesh, the sight of armed men machine gunning civilians less than a decade after the end of the war would have been as shocking to contemporary audiences as was the missile crashing down in London in the first.
Brian Donlevy reprising his role as Quatermass, he is more reasonable here than during the Carroon incident, while John Longden takes over the role of Inspector Lomax, with Marsh played by Bryan Forbes, later director of Séance on a Wet Afternoon and The Stepford Wives, and Sid James as reporter Jimmy Hall, the equivalent of Roger Delgado’s Hugh Conrad but a very different character as suits the performer, and starlet Vera Day was given pride of place on promotional materials although her nippy barmaid Sheila appears in only one scene.
The breathless momentum maintained from the opening desperate mercy dash on country roads to the final scenes, like the previous film Quatermass 2 barrels along, the only pause the diversion to London, apparently serene and peaceful in the corridors of power where “synthetic food” and the perception of public spending are discussed, oblivious for whom the bells sounding in the background might be tolling, the agencies of government already compromised by an inconceivable enemy.
Restored in 4K and presented in UHD and on Blu-ray, the five-disc set includes three versions of the feature film in 1.66:1 widescreen, 1:37 fullscreen and as the alternative US version in 1:85 widescreen, new and archive commentaries with Toby Hadoke, biographer Andy Murray, film historian Stephen R Bissette, director Val Guest and many others, and new and archive features covering the production and the legacy of Donlevy’s interpretation of the character, many imported from previous editions, as well as ephemera, trailers, and reproduction posters, lobby cards and a comic adaptation.
In addition to this and the conclusion of Hadoke’s exploration of The Legend of Nigel Kneale, the set also carries the complete television production of Quatermass II, directed by Rudolph Cartier and starring John Robinson in the title role and running to around three hours, a more complex and compelling telling of the same story in all its nuance and detail, originally broadcast through October and November 1955 and in the opinion of the BBC, “not suitable for children or for those of you who may have a nervous disposition.”
Quatermass 2 will be available on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray from Hammer from Monday 14th July
