Quatermass and the Pit (film)
Encyclopedia
Quatermass and the Pit is a 1967 British
science fiction
horror film
. Made by Hammer Film Productions
it is a sequel
to the earlier Hammer films The Quatermass Xperiment
and Quatermass 2
. Like its predecessors it is based on a BBC Television
serial – Quatermass and the Pit
– written by Nigel Kneale
. It was directed by Roy Ward Baker
and stars Andrew Keir
in the title role as the eponymous professor, replacing Brian Donlevy
who played the role in the two earlier films. James Donald
, Barbara Shelley
and Julian Glover
appear in co-starring roles.
The plot, which is largely faithful to the original television production, centres around the discovery of a mysterious object buried in the ground at the site of an extension to the London Underground
. Also uncovered nearby are the remains of early human ancestors more than five million years old. Realising that the object is in fact an ancient Martian
spacecraft, Quatermass deduces that the aliens have influenced human evolution
and the development of human intelligence
. The spacecraft has an intelligence of its own and once uncovered begins to exert a malign influence, resurrecting Martian memories and instincts buried deep within the human psyche
. Mayhem breaks out on the streets of London as the alien force grows in strength. It is only defeated when a metal object – a building crane
– is swung into the centre of the force and the energy is discharged
.
Nigel Kneale wrote the first draft of the screenplay in 1961 but difficulties in attracting interest from American co-financiers meant the film did not go into production until 1967. The director, Roy Ward Baker, was chosen on account of his experience with technically demanding productions such as A Night to Remember
. This would be the first of many films he directed for Hammer. Andrew Keir, playing Quatermass, found making the film an unhappy experience, believing Baker had wanted Kenneth More
to play the role. Due to lack of space the film was shot at the MGM studios in Elstree
, Borehamwood
rather than Hammer's usual home at the time which was the Associated British Studios, also in Elstree.
The film opened in November 1967 to favourable reviews and remains generally well regarded. Hammer announced they would make a fourth Quatermass film but nothing ultimately came of this. A new adventure – titled simply Quatermass
– was eventually made in 1979 by ITV
television in 1979 and received a limited cinema release under the title The Quatermass Conclusion.
dig up skeletal remains. Palaeontologist Dr Matthew Roney (James Donald
) is called in and deduces that they are the remnants of a group of apemen
over five million years old, more ancient than any previous finds. One of Roney's assistants uncovers part of a metallic object. Believing it to be an unexploded bomb
, they call in an army bomb disposal
team.
Meanwhile, Professor Bernard Quatermass
(Andrew Keir
) is dismayed to learn that his plans for the colonisation of the Moon are to be taken over by the military. He gives a cold reception to Colonel Breen (Julian Glover
) who has been assigned to join Quatermass' British Experimental Rocket Group. When the bomb disposal team call for Breen's assistance, Quatermass accompanies him to the site. Breen concludes it is a V-weapon, but Quatermass disagrees. When another skeleton is found in an inner chamber, Quatermass and Roney realise that the object must also be five million years old. Quatermass suspects it is of alien origin, but Roney is certain the apemen are terrestrial.
Quatermass becomes intrigued by the name of the area, recalling that “hob” is an old name for the Devil
. Working with Roney's assistant, Barbara Judd (Barbara Shelley
), Quatermass finds historical accounts of hauntings and other spectral appearances going back over many centuries. They deduce that these events coincided with any disturbances of the ground around Hobbs End.
An attempt to open a sealed chamber using a borazon
drill fails to make any progress. However, a few moments after the drill is stopped, a small hole is seen, though the drill operator, Sladden (Duncan Lamont
), is certain it was not created by his machine. The hole widens to reveal the contents: the corpses of three-legged, insectoid creatures with horned heads. Roney and Judd work to preserve the bodies before they decay. An examination of the creatures' physiology suggests they came from the planet Mars
. Quatermass and Roney note the similarity between the appearance of the creatures and the Devil.
Sladden is overcome by a powerful telekinetic
force emanating from the missile and flees to the sanctuary of a church. Sladden tells Quatermass he saw a vision of hordes of the creatures from the missile. Quatermass believes this is a race memory. Seeking proof, he returns to Hobbs End, bringing a machine Roney has been working on which taps into the primeval psyche
. While trying to replicate the circumstances under which Sladden was affected, he notices that Judd has fallen under its influence. Using Roney's machine, he is able to record her thoughts.
Quatermass presents his theory to a government minister (Edwin Richfield
) and other officials. The occupants of the missile came from the dying Mars. Unable to survive on Earth, they chose to preserve some part of their race by creating a colony by proxy by significantly enhancing the intelligence of the natives. The descendants of these apemen evolved into modern humans but retain the vestiges of the Martian influence buried in their subconscious. He plays the recording of Judd's mind as evidence: it shows hordes of Martians engaged in what he interprets as a racial purge, cleansing the Martian hives of weaker members of the race. A disbelieving Breen offers an alternative theory: the missile is a Nazi propaganda
exercise designed to sow fear of an alien invasion among the populace. The minister rejects Quatermass' theory in favour of Breen's and decides to unveil the missile to the press.
Disaster strikes at the press event. The missile apparently draws power from the broadcasting equipment, and its influence is magnified. The streets of London erupt into violence as those affected go on a rampage. Breen becomes drawn towards the missile and is killed. Quatermass falls under alien control as well, but is snapped out of it by Roney, who is unaffected. The two men realise that a small portion of the population are immune. The psychic energy becomes stronger, ripping up streets and buildings, and the spectral image of a Martian towers over the city, centred on Hobbs End. Recalling stories about how the Devil could be defeated with iron and water, Quatermass theorises the alien energy could be discharged
into the earth. Roney climbs to the top of a building crane
and swings it into the spectre. The crane bursts into flames as it discharges the energy, killing Roney. The image disappears.
was first introduced to audiences in two BBC television serials – The Quatermass Experiment
(1953) and Quatermass II
(1955) – written by Nigel Kneale
. The rights to both these serials were acquired by Hammer Film Productions
and the film adaptations – The Quatermass Xperiment
and Quatermass 2
– both directed by Val Guest
and starring Brian Donlevy
as Quatermass were released in 1955 and 1957 respectively. Kneale went on to write a third Quatermass serial – Quatermass and the Pit
– for the BBC which was broadcast in December 1958 and January 1959. Hammer were once again interested in making a film adaptation and Kneale, who had by then left the BBC and was working as a freelance screenwriter, completed a script in 1961. It was intended that Val Guest would once again direct and Brian Donlevy would reprise the role of Quatermass with production to commence in 1963. However, securing finance for the new Quatermass film proved problematic. In 1957 Hammer had stuck a deal with Columbia Pictures
to distribute their pictures and the two companies would go on to collaborate on thirty films between 1957 and 1964. Columbia, who were not interested in Quatermass, passed on the script and production went into limbo for several years. In 1964 Kneale and Anthony Hinds
submitted a revised, lower budget, script to Columbia but by this time the relationship between Hammer and Columbia had begun to sour and the script was once again rejected. In 1966 Hammer entered into a new distribution deal with Seven Arts
, ABPC
and Twentieth Century Fox and Quatermass and the Pit finally entered production.
involving the journalist James Fullalove who does not appear in the film adaptation at all. The climax was altered slightly to make it more cinematic with Roney using a crane to short out the Martian influence whereas in the television version he merely throws a metal chain into the pit. The setting for the pit itself was changed from a building site to the London Underground. The closing scene of the television version, in which Quatermass pleads with humanity to prevent Earth becoming the “second dead planet”, was also dropped in favour of a shot of Quatermass and Judd sitting alone amid the devastation wrought by the Martian spacecraft. The script was sent to John Trevelyan of the British Board of Film Censors
in December 1966. Trevelyan replied that the film would require an ‘X’-Certificate and raised concerns regarding the sound of the vibrations from the alien ship, the scenes of the Martian massacre, the scenes of destruction and panic as the Martian influence takes hold and the image of the Devil.
Other actors appearing in the film include Robert Morris
, Bryan Marshall
, Edwin Richfield
and Peter Copley
. Duncan Lamont
, playing Sladden, had appeared in the original BBC production of The Quatermass Experiment in the key role of the hapless astronaut Victor Carroon. Quatermass and the Pit also features an early film role for Sheila Steafel
who makes a brief appearance as a journalist near the start of the movie.
(1967) and so directing duties went instead to Roy Ward Baker
. Baker's first film had been The October Man
(1947) and he was best known for The One That Got Away (1957) and A Night to Remember (1958). Following the failure of Two Left Feet
(1963), he moved into television directing episodes of The Human Jungle
(1963–64), The Saint
(1962–69) and The Avengers. Producer Anthony Nelson Keys chose Baker as director because he felt his experience on such films as A Night to Remember gave him the technical expertise to handle the film's significant special effects requirements. Baker, for his part, felt that his background on fact-based dramas such as A Night to Remember and The One That Got Away enabled him to give Quatermass and the Pit the air of realism it needed to be convincing to audiences. He was impressed by Nigel Kneale's screenplay, feeling the script was "taut, exciting and an intriguing story with excellent narrative drive. It needed no work at all. All one had to do was cast it and shoot it." He was also impressed with Hammer Films’ lean set-up: having been used to working for major studios with thousands of full-time employees, he was surprised to find that Hammer's core operation consisted of just five people and enjoyed how this made the decision making process fast and simple. Quatermass and the Pit was the first film the director was credited as “Roy Ward Baker”, having previously been credited as “Roy Baker”. The change was made to avoid confusion with another Roy Baker who was a sound editor. Baker later regretted making the change as many people assumed he was a new director.
Filming took place between 27 February and 25 April 1967. The budget was £275,000. At this time, Hammer was operating out of the Associated British Studios in Elstree
, Borehamwood
. However, a lack of space meant that production was relocated to the nearby MGM Borehamwood studio. There were no other productions working at the MGM Studios at this time so the Quatermass crew had full access to all the facilities of the studio. Roy Ward Baker was particularly pleased to be able to use MGM's extensive backlot
for the exteriors of the Underground station. The production team included many Hammer regulars, including production designer Bernard Robinson
who, as an in-joke
, incorporated a poster for Hammer's The Witches
(1966) into the dressing
of his set for the Hobbs End station. Another Hammer regular was special effects supervisor Les Bowie
. Roy Ward Baker recalled he had a row with Bowie, who believed the film was entirely a special effects picture, when he tried to run the first pre-production conference. Bowie's contribution to the film included the Martian massacre scene, which was achieved with a mixture of puppets and live locust
s, and model sequences of London's destruction, including the climatic scene of the crane swinging into the Martian apparition.
. He developed an interest in electronic music
while serving in the Royal Navy
as an electronics expert working on radar
during the Second World War. He became a professional composer in 1954, working in film, theatre, radio and television, with credits including The Ladykillers
(1955). He said of his assignment, “I was not mad about doing the film because Hammer wanted masses of electronic material and a great deal of orchestral music. But I had three kids, all of which were at fee-paying schools, so I needed every penny I could get!”. Cary also recalled that, “The main use of electronics in Quatermass, I think, was the violent shaking, vibrating sound that the “thing in the tunnel” gave off […] It was not a terribly challenging sound to do, though I never played it very loud because I didn't want to destroy my speakers – I did have hopes of destroying a few cinema loudspeaker systems, though it never happened”. Carey went on to write the score for another Hammer film, Blood from the Mummy's Tomb
, in 1971. Several orchestral and electronic cues from the film were released by GDI Records on a compilation titled The Quatermass Film Music Collection.
with Circus of Fear
on 19 November 1967. It was released under the title Five Million Years to Earth in the US in March 1968. The critical reception was generally positive. Writing in The Times
, John Russell Taylor
found that, “After a slowish beginning, which shows up the deficiencies of acting and direction, things really start hopping when a mysterious missile-like object discovered in a London excavation proves to be a relic of a prehistoric Martian attempt (successful. it would seem) to colonize Earth […] The development of this situation is scrupulously worked out and the film is genuinely gripping even when (a real test this) the Power of Evil is finally shown personified in hazy glowing outline, a spectacle as a rule more likely to provoke titters than gasps of horror.” Paul Errol of the Evening Standard
described the film as a “well-made, but wordy, blob of hokum”, a view echoed by William Hall of the Evening News who described the film as “entertaining hokum” with an “imaginative ending”. A slightly more critical view was espoused by Penelope Mortimer
in The Observer
who said, “This nonsense makes quite a good film, well put together, competently photographed, on the whole sturdily performed. What it totally lacks is imagination.”
, by ITV
television in 1979, an edited version of which was also given a limited cinema release under the title The Quatermass Conclusion. Quatermass and the Pit marked the return to directing for the cinema for Roy Ward Baker and he went on to direct such films as The Anniversary
(1968), Moon Zero Two
(1969), The Vampire Lovers
(1970), Scars of Dracula
(1970), Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde
(1971) and The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires
(1974) for Hammer. He also directed Asylum
(1972), And Now the Screaming Starts!
(1973) and The Vault of Horror
(1973) for Hammer's rivals Amicus Productions
.
Quatermass and the Pit continues to be generally well regarded among critics. John Baxter
notes in Science Fiction in the Cinema that “Baker's unravelling of this crisp thriller is tough and interesting. […] The film has moments of pure terror, perhaps the most effective that in which the drill operator, driven off the spaceship by the mysterious power within is caught up in a whirlwind that fills the excavation with a mass of flying papers.” John Brosnan
, writing in The Primal Scream, found that, “As a condensed version of the serial, the film is fine but the old black-and-white version, though understandably creaky in places and with inferior effects, still works surprisingly well, having more time to build up a disturbing atmosphere. Bill Warren
in Keep Watching the Skies! said, “The ambition of the storyline is contained in a well-constructed mystery that unfolds carefully and clearly”. Nigel Kneale had mixed feelings about the end result: he said, “I was very happy with Andrew Keir, who they eventually chose, and very happy with the film. There are, however, a few things that bother me... The special effects in Hammer films were always diabolical.”
release of Quatermass and the Pit from Anchor Bay
includes a commentary
from Nigel Kneale and Roy Ward Baker as well as trailers and an instalment of a documentary called The Worlds of Hammer devoted to Hammer's forays into science fiction.
Cinema of the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom has had a major influence on modern cinema. The first moving pictures developed on celluloid film were made in Hyde Park, London in 1889 by William Friese Greene, a British inventor, who patented the process in 1890. It is generally regarded that the British film industry...
science fiction
Science fiction film
Science fiction film is a film genre that uses science fiction: speculative, science-based depictions of phenomena that are not necessarily accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial life forms, alien worlds, extrasensory perception, and time travel, often along with futuristic...
horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
. Made by Hammer Film Productions
Hammer Film Productions
Hammer Film Productions is a film production company based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic "Hammer Horror" films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Hammer also produced science fiction, thrillers, film noir and comedies and in later...
it is a sequel
Sequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...
to the earlier Hammer films The Quatermass Xperiment
The Quatermass Xperiment
The Quatermass Xperiment is a 1955 British science fiction horror film. Made by Hammer Film Productions, it was based on the 1953 BBC Television serial The Quatermass Experiment written by Nigel Kneale. It was directed by Val Guest and stars Brian Donlevy as the eponymous Professor Bernard...
and Quatermass 2
Quatermass 2
Quatermass 2 is a 1957 British science fiction horror film. Made by Hammer Film Productions, it is a sequel to an earlier Hammer film The Quatermass Xperiment. Like its predecessor, it is based on a BBC Television serial – Quatermass II – written by Nigel Kneale...
. Like its predecessors it is based on a BBC Television
BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation, which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927, has produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television...
serial – Quatermass and the Pit
Quatermass and the Pit
Quatermass and the Pit is a British television science-fiction serial, originally transmitted live by BBC Television in December 1958 and January 1959. It was the third and last of the BBC's Quatermass serials, although the character would reappear in a 1979 ITV production simply entitled Quatermass...
– written by Nigel Kneale
Nigel Kneale
Nigel Kneale was a British screenwriter from the Isle of Man. Active in television, film, radio drama and prose fiction, he wrote professionally for over fifty years, was a winner of the Somerset Maugham Award and was twice nominated for the British Film Award for Best Screenplay...
. It was directed by Roy Ward Baker
Roy Ward Baker
Roy Ward Baker , born Roy Horace Baker, was an English film director, credited as Roy Baker for much of his career. His best known film is A Night to Remember which won a Golden Globe for Best English-Language Foreign Film in 1959...
and stars Andrew Keir
Andrew Keir
Andrew Keir was a Scottish actor, who rose to prominence featuring in a number of films from Hammer Film Productions in the 1960s. He was also active in television, and particularly in the theatre, in a professional career that lasted from the 1940s to the 1990s...
in the title role as the eponymous professor, replacing Brian Donlevy
Brian Donlevy
Brian Donlevy was an Irish-born American film actor, noted for playing tough guys from the 1930s to the 1960s. He usually appeared in supporting roles. Among his best known films are Beau Geste and The Great McGinty...
who played the role in the two earlier films. James Donald
James Donald
James Donald was a Scottish actor. Tall and thin, he usually specialised in playing authority figures.Donald was born in Aberdeen, and made his first professional stage appearance sometime in the late-1930s, having been educated at Rossall School on Lancashire's Fylde coast...
, Barbara Shelley
Barbara Shelley
Barbara Shelley is an English film and television actress.She is now retired, but was at her busiest in the late 1950s and 1960s when she became Hammer Horror's number one female star, with The Gorgon , Dracula, Prince of Darkness , Rasputin, the Mad Monk , andQuatermass and the Pit among her...
and Julian Glover
Julian Glover
Julian Wyatt Glover is a British actor best known for such roles as General Maximilian Veers in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, the Bond villain Aristotle Kristatos in For Your Eyes Only, and Walter Donovan in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.-Personal life:Glover was born in...
appear in co-starring roles.
The plot, which is largely faithful to the original television production, centres around the discovery of a mysterious object buried in the ground at the site of an extension to the London Underground
London Underground
The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...
. Also uncovered nearby are the remains of early human ancestors more than five million years old. Realising that the object is in fact an ancient Martian
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
spacecraft, Quatermass deduces that the aliens have influenced human evolution
Human evolution
Human evolution refers to the evolutionary history of the genus Homo, including the emergence of Homo sapiens as a distinct species and as a unique category of hominids and mammals...
and the development of human intelligence
Intelligence
Intelligence has been defined in different ways, including the abilities for abstract thought, understanding, communication, reasoning, learning, planning, emotional intelligence and problem solving....
. The spacecraft has an intelligence of its own and once uncovered begins to exert a malign influence, resurrecting Martian memories and instincts buried deep within the human psyche
Psyche (psychology)
The word psyche has a long history of use in psychology and philosophy, dating back to ancient times, and has been one of the fundamental concepts for understanding human nature from a scientific point of view. The English word soul is sometimes used synonymously, especially in older...
. Mayhem breaks out on the streets of London as the alien force grows in strength. It is only defeated when a metal object – a building crane
Crane (machine)
A crane is a type of machine, generally equipped with a hoist, wire ropes or chains, and sheaves, that can be used both to lift and lower materials and to move them horizontally. It uses one or more simple machines to create mechanical advantage and thus move loads beyond the normal capability of...
– is swung into the centre of the force and the energy is discharged
Ground (electricity)
In electrical engineering, ground or earth may be the reference point in an electrical circuit from which other voltages are measured, or a common return path for electric current, or a direct physical connection to the Earth....
.
Nigel Kneale wrote the first draft of the screenplay in 1961 but difficulties in attracting interest from American co-financiers meant the film did not go into production until 1967. The director, Roy Ward Baker, was chosen on account of his experience with technically demanding productions such as A Night to Remember
A Night to Remember (film)
A Night to Remember is a 1958 docudrama film adaptation of Walter Lord's book of the same name, recounting the final night of the RMS Titanic. It was adapted by Eric Ambler, directed by Roy Ward Baker, and filmed in the United Kingdom...
. This would be the first of many films he directed for Hammer. Andrew Keir, playing Quatermass, found making the film an unhappy experience, believing Baker had wanted Kenneth More
Kenneth More
Kenneth Gilbert More CBE was a highly successful English film actor during the post-World War II era and starred in many feature films, often in the role of an archetypal carefree and happy-go-lucky middle-class gentleman.-Early life:Kenneth More was born in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, the...
to play the role. Due to lack of space the film was shot at the MGM studios in Elstree
Elstree
Elstree is a village in the Hertsmere borough of Hertfordshire on the A5 road, about 10 miles north of London. In 2001, its population was 4,765, and forms part of the civil parish of Elstree and Borehamwood, originally known simply as Elstree....
, Borehamwood
Borehamwood
-Film industry:Since the 1920s, the town has been home to several film studios and many shots of its streets are included in final cuts of 20th century British films. This earned it the nickname of the "British Hollywood"...
rather than Hammer's usual home at the time which was the Associated British Studios, also in Elstree.
The film opened in November 1967 to favourable reviews and remains generally well regarded. Hammer announced they would make a fourth Quatermass film but nothing ultimately came of this. A new adventure – titled simply Quatermass
Quatermass (TV serial)
Quatermass is a British television science fiction serial produced by Euston Films for Thames Television and broadcast on the ITV network in October and November 1979. Like its three predecessors, Quatermass was written by Nigel Kneale...
– was eventually made in 1979 by ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
television in 1979 and received a limited cinema release under the title The Quatermass Conclusion.
Plot
Workers building an extension to the London Underground at Hobbs EndHobbs End
Hobbs End, sometimes Hobbs Lane, is the name of a fictional location used in several works of speculative fiction. Its name is possibly intended to convey a sense of unease, evil, or "wrongness", since "Hob" is an old nickname for the devil....
dig up skeletal remains. Palaeontologist Dr Matthew Roney (James Donald
James Donald
James Donald was a Scottish actor. Tall and thin, he usually specialised in playing authority figures.Donald was born in Aberdeen, and made his first professional stage appearance sometime in the late-1930s, having been educated at Rossall School on Lancashire's Fylde coast...
) is called in and deduces that they are the remnants of a group of apemen
Hominidae
The Hominidae or include them .), as the term is used here, form a taxonomic family, including four extant genera: chimpanzees , gorillas , humans , and orangutans ....
over five million years old, more ancient than any previous finds. One of Roney's assistants uncovers part of a metallic object. Believing it to be an unexploded bomb
Unexploded ordnance
Unexploded ordnance are explosive weapons that did not explode when they were employed and still pose a risk of detonation, potentially many decades after they were used or discarded.While "UXO" is widely and informally used, munitions and explosives of...
, they call in an army bomb disposal
Bomb disposal
Bomb disposal is the process by which hazardous explosive devices are rendered safe. Bomb disposal is an all encompassing term to describe the separate, but interrelated functions in the following fields:*Military:...
team.
Meanwhile, Professor Bernard Quatermass
Bernard Quatermass
Professor Bernard Quatermass is a fictional scientist, originally created by the writer Nigel Kneale for BBC Television. An intelligent and highly moral British scientist, Quatermass is a pioneer of the British space programme, heading up the British Experimental Rocket Group...
(Andrew Keir
Andrew Keir
Andrew Keir was a Scottish actor, who rose to prominence featuring in a number of films from Hammer Film Productions in the 1960s. He was also active in television, and particularly in the theatre, in a professional career that lasted from the 1940s to the 1990s...
) is dismayed to learn that his plans for the colonisation of the Moon are to be taken over by the military. He gives a cold reception to Colonel Breen (Julian Glover
Julian Glover
Julian Wyatt Glover is a British actor best known for such roles as General Maximilian Veers in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, the Bond villain Aristotle Kristatos in For Your Eyes Only, and Walter Donovan in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.-Personal life:Glover was born in...
) who has been assigned to join Quatermass' British Experimental Rocket Group. When the bomb disposal team call for Breen's assistance, Quatermass accompanies him to the site. Breen concludes it is a V-weapon, but Quatermass disagrees. When another skeleton is found in an inner chamber, Quatermass and Roney realise that the object must also be five million years old. Quatermass suspects it is of alien origin, but Roney is certain the apemen are terrestrial.
Quatermass becomes intrigued by the name of the area, recalling that “hob” is an old name for the Devil
Devil
The Devil is believed in many religions and cultures to be a powerful, supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly...
. Working with Roney's assistant, Barbara Judd (Barbara Shelley
Barbara Shelley
Barbara Shelley is an English film and television actress.She is now retired, but was at her busiest in the late 1950s and 1960s when she became Hammer Horror's number one female star, with The Gorgon , Dracula, Prince of Darkness , Rasputin, the Mad Monk , andQuatermass and the Pit among her...
), Quatermass finds historical accounts of hauntings and other spectral appearances going back over many centuries. They deduce that these events coincided with any disturbances of the ground around Hobbs End.
An attempt to open a sealed chamber using a borazon
Borazon
Borazon is a brand name of a cubic form of boron nitride . It is one of the hardest known materials, along with various forms of diamond and boron nitride. Borazon is a crystal created by heating equal quantities of boron and nitrogen at temperatures greater than 1800 °C at 7 GPa...
drill fails to make any progress. However, a few moments after the drill is stopped, a small hole is seen, though the drill operator, Sladden (Duncan Lamont
Duncan Lamont
Duncan William Ferguson Lamont was a British actor. Born in Lisbon, Portugal, but brought up in Scotland, he had a long and successful career in film and television, appearing in a variety of high-profile productions....
), is certain it was not created by his machine. The hole widens to reveal the contents: the corpses of three-legged, insectoid creatures with horned heads. Roney and Judd work to preserve the bodies before they decay. An examination of the creatures' physiology suggests they came from the planet Mars
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
. Quatermass and Roney note the similarity between the appearance of the creatures and the Devil.
Sladden is overcome by a powerful telekinetic
Psychokinesis
The term psychokinesis , also referred to as telekinesis with respect to strictly describing movement of matter, sometimes abbreviated PK and TK respectively, is a term...
force emanating from the missile and flees to the sanctuary of a church. Sladden tells Quatermass he saw a vision of hordes of the creatures from the missile. Quatermass believes this is a race memory. Seeking proof, he returns to Hobbs End, bringing a machine Roney has been working on which taps into the primeval psyche
Psyche (psychology)
The word psyche has a long history of use in psychology and philosophy, dating back to ancient times, and has been one of the fundamental concepts for understanding human nature from a scientific point of view. The English word soul is sometimes used synonymously, especially in older...
. While trying to replicate the circumstances under which Sladden was affected, he notices that Judd has fallen under its influence. Using Roney's machine, he is able to record her thoughts.
Quatermass presents his theory to a government minister (Edwin Richfield
Edwin Richfield
Edwin Richfield was an English actor.His film credits include: X the Unknown, Quatermass 2, The Camp on Blood Island, The Face of Fu Manchu and Quatermass and the Pit....
) and other officials. The occupants of the missile came from the dying Mars. Unable to survive on Earth, they chose to preserve some part of their race by creating a colony by proxy by significantly enhancing the intelligence of the natives. The descendants of these apemen evolved into modern humans but retain the vestiges of the Martian influence buried in their subconscious. He plays the recording of Judd's mind as evidence: it shows hordes of Martians engaged in what he interprets as a racial purge, cleansing the Martian hives of weaker members of the race. A disbelieving Breen offers an alternative theory: the missile is a Nazi propaganda
Nazi propaganda
Propaganda, the coordinated attempt to influence public opinion through the use of media, was skillfully used by the NSDAP in the years leading up to and during Adolf Hitler's leadership of Germany...
exercise designed to sow fear of an alien invasion among the populace. The minister rejects Quatermass' theory in favour of Breen's and decides to unveil the missile to the press.
Disaster strikes at the press event. The missile apparently draws power from the broadcasting equipment, and its influence is magnified. The streets of London erupt into violence as those affected go on a rampage. Breen becomes drawn towards the missile and is killed. Quatermass falls under alien control as well, but is snapped out of it by Roney, who is unaffected. The two men realise that a small portion of the population are immune. The psychic energy becomes stronger, ripping up streets and buildings, and the spectral image of a Martian towers over the city, centred on Hobbs End. Recalling stories about how the Devil could be defeated with iron and water, Quatermass theorises the alien energy could be discharged
Ground (electricity)
In electrical engineering, ground or earth may be the reference point in an electrical circuit from which other voltages are measured, or a common return path for electric current, or a direct physical connection to the Earth....
into the earth. Roney climbs to the top of a building crane
Crane (machine)
A crane is a type of machine, generally equipped with a hoist, wire ropes or chains, and sheaves, that can be used both to lift and lower materials and to move them horizontally. It uses one or more simple machines to create mechanical advantage and thus move loads beyond the normal capability of...
and swings it into the spectre. The crane bursts into flames as it discharges the energy, killing Roney. The image disappears.
Origins
Professor Bernard QuatermassBernard Quatermass
Professor Bernard Quatermass is a fictional scientist, originally created by the writer Nigel Kneale for BBC Television. An intelligent and highly moral British scientist, Quatermass is a pioneer of the British space programme, heading up the British Experimental Rocket Group...
was first introduced to audiences in two BBC television serials – The Quatermass Experiment
The Quatermass Experiment
The Quatermass Experiment is a British science-fiction serial broadcast by BBC Television in the summer of 1953 and re-staged by BBC Four in 2005. Set in the near future against the background of a British space programme, it tells the story of the first manned flight into space, overseen by...
(1953) and Quatermass II
Quatermass II
Quatermass II is a British science-fiction serial, originally broadcast by BBC Television in the autumn of 1955. It is the second in the Quatermass series by writer Nigel Kneale, and the first of those serials to survive in its entirety in the BBC archives...
(1955) – written by Nigel Kneale
Nigel Kneale
Nigel Kneale was a British screenwriter from the Isle of Man. Active in television, film, radio drama and prose fiction, he wrote professionally for over fifty years, was a winner of the Somerset Maugham Award and was twice nominated for the British Film Award for Best Screenplay...
. The rights to both these serials were acquired by Hammer Film Productions
Hammer Film Productions
Hammer Film Productions is a film production company based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic "Hammer Horror" films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Hammer also produced science fiction, thrillers, film noir and comedies and in later...
and the film adaptations – The Quatermass Xperiment
The Quatermass Xperiment
The Quatermass Xperiment is a 1955 British science fiction horror film. Made by Hammer Film Productions, it was based on the 1953 BBC Television serial The Quatermass Experiment written by Nigel Kneale. It was directed by Val Guest and stars Brian Donlevy as the eponymous Professor Bernard...
and Quatermass 2
Quatermass 2
Quatermass 2 is a 1957 British science fiction horror film. Made by Hammer Film Productions, it is a sequel to an earlier Hammer film The Quatermass Xperiment. Like its predecessor, it is based on a BBC Television serial – Quatermass II – written by Nigel Kneale...
– both directed by Val Guest
Val Guest
Val Guest was a British film director, best known for his science-fiction films for Hammer Film Productions in the 1950s, but who also enjoyed a long, varied and active career in the film industry from the early 1930s up until the early 1980s.-Early life and career:He was born Valmond Maurice...
and starring Brian Donlevy
Brian Donlevy
Brian Donlevy was an Irish-born American film actor, noted for playing tough guys from the 1930s to the 1960s. He usually appeared in supporting roles. Among his best known films are Beau Geste and The Great McGinty...
as Quatermass were released in 1955 and 1957 respectively. Kneale went on to write a third Quatermass serial – Quatermass and the Pit
Quatermass and the Pit
Quatermass and the Pit is a British television science-fiction serial, originally transmitted live by BBC Television in December 1958 and January 1959. It was the third and last of the BBC's Quatermass serials, although the character would reappear in a 1979 ITV production simply entitled Quatermass...
– for the BBC which was broadcast in December 1958 and January 1959. Hammer were once again interested in making a film adaptation and Kneale, who had by then left the BBC and was working as a freelance screenwriter, completed a script in 1961. It was intended that Val Guest would once again direct and Brian Donlevy would reprise the role of Quatermass with production to commence in 1963. However, securing finance for the new Quatermass film proved problematic. In 1957 Hammer had stuck a deal with Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
to distribute their pictures and the two companies would go on to collaborate on thirty films between 1957 and 1964. Columbia, who were not interested in Quatermass, passed on the script and production went into limbo for several years. In 1964 Kneale and Anthony Hinds
Anthony Hinds
Anthony Hinds , aka Tony Hinds, aka John Elder, is a British screenwriter and producer. He is the son of the founder of Hammer Film Productions, William Hinds.-Early life:Tony Hinds was educated at St Paul's School...
submitted a revised, lower budget, script to Columbia but by this time the relationship between Hammer and Columbia had begun to sour and the script was once again rejected. In 1966 Hammer entered into a new distribution deal with Seven Arts
Seven Arts Productions
Seven Arts Productions was founded in 1957 by Ray Stark and Eliot Hyman. The company was a frequent producer of movies for other studios, including The Misfits for United Artists, Gigot for Twentieth Century-Fox, Lolita for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and Is Paris Burning? for Paramount Pictures.Over...
, ABPC
Associated British Picture Corporation
Associated British Picture Corporation , originally British International Pictures , was a British film production, distribution and exhibition company active from 1927 until 1970...
and Twentieth Century Fox and Quatermass and the Pit finally entered production.
Writing
The script of Quatermass and the Pit is largely faithful to the television original. The plot was heavily condensed in order to fit the shorter running time of film with the main casualty being the removal of a subplotSubplot
A subplot is a secondary plot strand that is a supporting side story for any story or the main plot. Subplots may connect to main plots, in either time and place or in thematic significance...
involving the journalist James Fullalove who does not appear in the film adaptation at all. The climax was altered slightly to make it more cinematic with Roney using a crane to short out the Martian influence whereas in the television version he merely throws a metal chain into the pit. The setting for the pit itself was changed from a building site to the London Underground. The closing scene of the television version, in which Quatermass pleads with humanity to prevent Earth becoming the “second dead planet”, was also dropped in favour of a shot of Quatermass and Judd sitting alone amid the devastation wrought by the Martian spacecraft. The script was sent to John Trevelyan of the British Board of Film Censors
British Board of Film Classification
The British Board of Film Classification , originally British Board of Film Censors, is a non-governmental organisation, funded by the film industry and responsible for the national classification of films within the United Kingdom...
in December 1966. Trevelyan replied that the film would require an ‘X’-Certificate and raised concerns regarding the sound of the vibrations from the alien ship, the scenes of the Martian massacre, the scenes of destruction and panic as the Martian influence takes hold and the image of the Devil.
Casting
- James DonaldJames DonaldJames Donald was a Scottish actor. Tall and thin, he usually specialised in playing authority figures.Donald was born in Aberdeen, and made his first professional stage appearance sometime in the late-1930s, having been educated at Rossall School on Lancashire's Fylde coast...
as Doctor Roney: Donald first came to prominence playing Theo van GoghTheo van Gogh (art dealer)Theodorus "Theo" van Gogh was a Dutch art dealer. He was the younger brother of Vincent van Gogh, and Theo's unfailing financial and emotional support allowed his brother to devote himself entirely to painting...
in Lust for LifeLust for Life (film)Lust for Life is a MGM biographical film about the life of the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh, based on the 1934 novel by Irving Stone and adapted by Norman Corwin.It was directed by Vincente Minnelli and produced by John Houseman...
(1956) before going on to play a string of roles in the World War II prisoner of war films The Bridge on the River KwaiThe Bridge on the River KwaiThe Bridge on the River Kwai is a 1957 British World War II film by David Lean based on The Bridge over the River Kwai by French writer Pierre Boulle. The film is a work of fiction but borrows the construction of the Burma Railway in 1942–43 for its historical setting. It stars William...
(1957), The Great EscapeThe Great Escape (film)The Great Escape is a 1963 American film about an escape by Allied prisoners of war from a German POW camp during World War II, starring Steve McQueen, James Garner, and Richard Attenborough...
(1963) and King Rat (1965). Although not playing the title role, Donald was accorded top-billing status.
- Andrew KeirAndrew KeirAndrew Keir was a Scottish actor, who rose to prominence featuring in a number of films from Hammer Film Productions in the 1960s. He was also active in television, and particularly in the theatre, in a professional career that lasted from the 1940s to the 1990s...
as Quatermass: Nigel Kneale had long been highly critical of Brian Donlevy's interpretation of Quatermass and lobbied for the role to be recast, arguing that enough time had passed that audiences would not resist a change of actor. A number of actors were considered for the part including André MorellAndré MorellAndré Morell was a British actor. He appeared frequently in theatre, film and on television from the 1930s to the 1970s...
who had played Quatermass in the television version of Quatermass and the Pit. However, Morell was not interested in revisiting a role he had already played. The producers eventually settled on Scottish actor Andrew Keir who had appeared in supporting roles in a number of Hammer productions including Pirates of Blood RiverPirates of Blood RiverPirates of Blood River is a 1962 Hammer Film Productions pirate film starring Christopher Lee and Kerwin Matthews.While in a penal colony, Huguenot Jonathan Standish is captured by pirates led by Capt...
(1962), The Devil-Ship PiratesThe Devil-Ship PiratesThe Devil-Ship Pirates is a 1964 pirate adventure film made in the UK by Hammer Films. It concerned pirates from a vessel from the defeated Spanish Armada terrorizing citizens on the English coast. All goes well until the villagers realize the Spaniards have been defeated and revolt...
(1964) and Dracula: Prince of DarknessDracula: Prince of DarknessDracula: Prince of Darkness is a 1966 British horror film directed by Terence Fisher for Hammer Studios. The film was photographed in Techniscope by Michael Reed, designed by Bernard Robinson and scored by James Bernard.-Plot:...
(1966). Keir found the shoot an unhappy experience: he later recalled, “The director – Roy Ward Baker – didn't want me for the role. He wanted Kenneth MoreKenneth MoreKenneth Gilbert More CBE was a highly successful English film actor during the post-World War II era and starred in many feature films, often in the role of an archetypal carefree and happy-go-lucky middle-class gentleman.-Early life:Kenneth More was born in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, the...
... and it was a very unhappy shoot. […] Normally I enjoy going to work every day. But for seven and a half weeks it was sheer hell.” Roy Ward Baker denied he had wanted Kenneth More, who he felt would be “too nice” for the role, saying, “I had no idea he [Keir] was unhappy while we were shooting. His performance was absolutely right in every detail and I was presenting him as the star of the picture. Perhaps I should have interfered more”. Keir went on to appear for Hammer in The Viking QueenThe Viking QueenThe Viking Queen is a 1967 Hammer Films adventure film set in ancient Britain.-Synopsis:To honour her father's dying wish, Queen Salina shares the rule of Icena with Justinian, a fair and just Roman. This displeases the bloodthirsty Druids on one side and the more hard-line Romans on the other...
(1967) and Blood from the Mummy's TombBlood from the Mummy's TombBlood from the Mummy's Tomb is a 1971 British film starring Andrew Keir, Valerie Leon, and James Villiers. This was director Seth Holt's final film, and was adapted from Bram Stoker's novel The Jewel of Seven Stars. The film was released as the support feature to Dr...
(1971). He reprised the role of Quatermass for BBC Radio 3BBC Radio 3BBC Radio 3 is a national radio station operated by the BBC within the United Kingdom. Its output centres on classical music and opera, but jazz, world music, drama, culture and the arts also feature. The station is the world’s most significant commissioner of new music, and its New Generation...
in The Quatermass MemoirsThe Quatermass MemoirsThe Quatermass Memoirs is a British radio drama-documentary, originally broadcast in five episodes on BBC Radio 3 in March 1996. Written by Nigel Kneale, it was born out of his Quatermass series of films and television serials, which had first been broadcast in the 1950s...
(1996).
- Barbara ShelleyBarbara ShelleyBarbara Shelley is an English film and television actress.She is now retired, but was at her busiest in the late 1950s and 1960s when she became Hammer Horror's number one female star, with The Gorgon , Dracula, Prince of Darkness , Rasputin, the Mad Monk , andQuatermass and the Pit among her...
as Barbara Judd: Shelley was a regular leading lady for Hammer, having appeared in The Camp on Blood IslandThe Camp on Blood IslandThe Camp on Blood Island is a 1958 British World War II film, directed by Val Guest for Hammer Film Productions and starring Carl Möhner, André Morrel, Edward Underdown and Walter Fitzgerald....
(1958), Shadow of the CatShadow of the CatShadow of the Cat is a 1961 British horror film directed by John Gilling for Hammer Film Productions. It stars André Morell and Barbara Shelley...
(1961), The GorgonThe GorgonThe Gorgon is a 1964 British horror film directed by Terence Fisher for Hammer.It stars Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Barbara Shelley and Richard Pasco. The film was photographed by Michael Reed, and designed by Bernard Robinson. For the score James Bernard combined a soprano with a little-known...
(1964), The Secret of Blood Island (1964), Dracula: Prince of Darkness and Rasputin: The Mad Monk (1966) for them. Quatermass and the Pit was her last film for the company and she subsequently worked in television and the theatre. Roy Ward Baker was particularly taken with his leading lady, telling Bizarre Magazine in 1974 he was “mad about her in the sense of love. We used to waltz about the set together, a great love affair”.
- Julian GloverJulian GloverJulian Wyatt Glover is a British actor best known for such roles as General Maximilian Veers in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, the Bond villain Aristotle Kristatos in For Your Eyes Only, and Walter Donovan in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.-Personal life:Glover was born in...
as Colonel Breen: Roy Ward Baker first met Glover when he directed him in an episode of The AvengersThe Avengers (TV series)The Avengers is a spy-fi British television series set in the 1960s Britain. The Avengers initially focused on Dr. David Keel and his assistant John Steed . Hendry left after the first series and Steed became the main character, partnered with a succession of assistants...
(1961–69). Baker said of Glover's performance, “He turned in a tremendous character, forceful, autocratic but never over the top”. Glover recalled of the role, “I think I was too young for it. […] I think I played it all right. It was very straightforward. Bit of a stereotype. […] The obligatory asshole!”.
Other actors appearing in the film include Robert Morris
Robert Morris (actor)
Robert Morris is a British actor.His film credits include: Frankenstein Created Woman and Quatermass and the Pit....
, Bryan Marshall
Bryan Marshall
Bryan Marshall is an English actor, with a number of major credits in film and television to his name.Marshall was born in Clapham, London...
, Edwin Richfield
Edwin Richfield
Edwin Richfield was an English actor.His film credits include: X the Unknown, Quatermass 2, The Camp on Blood Island, The Face of Fu Manchu and Quatermass and the Pit....
and Peter Copley
Peter Copley
Peter Copley was a British television, film and stage actor.-Biography:Copley was born in Bushey, Hertfordshire, son of the printmakers, John Copley and Ethel Gabain....
. Duncan Lamont
Duncan Lamont
Duncan William Ferguson Lamont was a British actor. Born in Lisbon, Portugal, but brought up in Scotland, he had a long and successful career in film and television, appearing in a variety of high-profile productions....
, playing Sladden, had appeared in the original BBC production of The Quatermass Experiment in the key role of the hapless astronaut Victor Carroon. Quatermass and the Pit also features an early film role for Sheila Steafel
Sheila Steafel
Sheila Steafel is a South African-born actress who has lived all her adult life in the United Kingdom.Steafel, who was born in Johannesburg, appeared in many classic television series, including: The Frost Report, Z-Cars, Sykes, The Kenny Everett Television Show, Minder, The Ghosts of Motley Hall,...
who makes a brief appearance as a journalist near the start of the movie.
Filming
By the time Quatermass and the Pit finally entered production Val Guest was occupied on Casino RoyaleCasino Royale (1967 film)
Casino Royale is a 1967 comedy spy film originally produced by Columbia Pictures starring an ensemble cast of directors and actors. It is set as a satire of the James Bond film series and the spy genre, and is loosely based on Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel.The film stars David Niven as the...
(1967) and so directing duties went instead to Roy Ward Baker
Roy Ward Baker
Roy Ward Baker , born Roy Horace Baker, was an English film director, credited as Roy Baker for much of his career. His best known film is A Night to Remember which won a Golden Globe for Best English-Language Foreign Film in 1959...
. Baker's first film had been The October Man
The October Man
The October Man is a 1947 mystery film starring John Mills and Joan Greenwood, based on a novel by Eric Ambler, who also adapted it and produced...
(1947) and he was best known for The One That Got Away (1957) and A Night to Remember (1958). Following the failure of Two Left Feet
Two Left Feet (film)
Two Left Feet is a 1963 Comedy-drama film directed by Roy Ward Baker, starring Nyree Dawn Porter, Michael Crawford, David Hemmings and Julia Foster....
(1963), he moved into television directing episodes of The Human Jungle
The Human Jungle
The Human Jungle is a British TV series about a psychiatrist, made for ABC Weekend Television by the small production company Independent Artists and screened by the ITV Network...
(1963–64), The Saint
The Saint (TV series)
The Saint was an ITC mystery spy thriller television series that aired in the UK on ITV between 1962 and 1969. It centred on the Leslie Charteris literary character, Simon Templar, a Robin Hood-like adventurer with a penchant for disguise. The character may be nicknamed The Saint because the...
(1962–69) and The Avengers. Producer Anthony Nelson Keys chose Baker as director because he felt his experience on such films as A Night to Remember gave him the technical expertise to handle the film's significant special effects requirements. Baker, for his part, felt that his background on fact-based dramas such as A Night to Remember and The One That Got Away enabled him to give Quatermass and the Pit the air of realism it needed to be convincing to audiences. He was impressed by Nigel Kneale's screenplay, feeling the script was "taut, exciting and an intriguing story with excellent narrative drive. It needed no work at all. All one had to do was cast it and shoot it." He was also impressed with Hammer Films’ lean set-up: having been used to working for major studios with thousands of full-time employees, he was surprised to find that Hammer's core operation consisted of just five people and enjoyed how this made the decision making process fast and simple. Quatermass and the Pit was the first film the director was credited as “Roy Ward Baker”, having previously been credited as “Roy Baker”. The change was made to avoid confusion with another Roy Baker who was a sound editor. Baker later regretted making the change as many people assumed he was a new director.
Filming took place between 27 February and 25 April 1967. The budget was £275,000. At this time, Hammer was operating out of the Associated British Studios in Elstree
Elstree
Elstree is a village in the Hertsmere borough of Hertfordshire on the A5 road, about 10 miles north of London. In 2001, its population was 4,765, and forms part of the civil parish of Elstree and Borehamwood, originally known simply as Elstree....
, Borehamwood
Borehamwood
-Film industry:Since the 1920s, the town has been home to several film studios and many shots of its streets are included in final cuts of 20th century British films. This earned it the nickname of the "British Hollywood"...
. However, a lack of space meant that production was relocated to the nearby MGM Borehamwood studio. There were no other productions working at the MGM Studios at this time so the Quatermass crew had full access to all the facilities of the studio. Roy Ward Baker was particularly pleased to be able to use MGM's extensive backlot
Backlot
A backlot is an area behind or adjoining a movie studio, containing permanent exterior buildings for outdoor scenes in filmmaking or television productions, or space for temporary set construction....
for the exteriors of the Underground station. The production team included many Hammer regulars, including production designer Bernard Robinson
Bernard Robinson (production designer)
Bernard Robinson was born in Liverpool, England in 1912 and died in 1970. He designed sets for several of Hammer's films in their heyday, including The Curse of Frankenstein , Dracula , Curse of the Werewolf , The Phantom of the Opera , The Gorgon and Quatermass and the Pit...
who, as an in-joke
In-joke
An in-joke, also known as an inside joke or in joke, is a joke whose humour is clear only to people who are in a particular social group, occupation, or other community of common understanding...
, incorporated a poster for Hammer's The Witches
The Witches (1966 film)
The Witches is a 1966 British horror film made by Hammer Films. It was adapted by Nigel Kneale from the novel The Devil's Own by Norah Lofts, under the pseudonym Peter Curtis...
(1966) into the dressing
Set decorator
A set decorator is in charge of the set dressing on a film set, which includes the furnishings, wallpaper, lighting fixtures, and many of the other objects that will be seen in the film. Props and set dressing often overlap, but are provided by different departments...
of his set for the Hobbs End station. Another Hammer regular was special effects supervisor Les Bowie
Les Bowie
Les Bowie was a Canadian-born special effects artist working mainly in Britain.Bowie began his career as a matte painter at in 1946...
. Roy Ward Baker recalled he had a row with Bowie, who believed the film was entirely a special effects picture, when he tried to run the first pre-production conference. Bowie's contribution to the film included the Martian massacre scene, which was achieved with a mixture of puppets and live locust
Locust
Locusts are the swarming phase of short-horned grasshoppers of the family Acrididae. These are species that can breed rapidly under suitable conditions and subsequently become gregarious and migratory...
s, and model sequences of London's destruction, including the climatic scene of the crane swinging into the Martian apparition.
Music
Chosen to provide the score for Quatermass and the Pit was Tristram CaryTristram Cary
Tristram Ogilvie Cary, OAM was a pioneering English-Australian composer.-Early life:Cary was born in Oxford, England, and educated at the Dragon School in Oxford and Westminster School in London. He was the son of a pianist and the novelist, Joyce Cary, author of Mister Johnson...
. He developed an interest in electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
while serving in the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
as an electronics expert working on radar
Radar
Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...
during the Second World War. He became a professional composer in 1954, working in film, theatre, radio and television, with credits including The Ladykillers
The Ladykillers
The Ladykillers is a 1955 British black comedy film made by Ealing Studios. Directed by Alexander Mackendrick, it stars Alec Guinness, Cecil Parker, Herbert Lom, Peter Sellers, Danny Green, Jack Warner and Katie Johnson...
(1955). He said of his assignment, “I was not mad about doing the film because Hammer wanted masses of electronic material and a great deal of orchestral music. But I had three kids, all of which were at fee-paying schools, so I needed every penny I could get!”. Cary also recalled that, “The main use of electronics in Quatermass, I think, was the violent shaking, vibrating sound that the “thing in the tunnel” gave off […] It was not a terribly challenging sound to do, though I never played it very loud because I didn't want to destroy my speakers – I did have hopes of destroying a few cinema loudspeaker systems, though it never happened”. Carey went on to write the score for another Hammer film, Blood from the Mummy's Tomb
Blood from the Mummy's Tomb
Blood from the Mummy's Tomb is a 1971 British film starring Andrew Keir, Valerie Leon, and James Villiers. This was director Seth Holt's final film, and was adapted from Bram Stoker's novel The Jewel of Seven Stars. The film was released as the support feature to Dr...
, in 1971. Several orchestral and electronic cues from the film were released by GDI Records on a compilation titled The Quatermass Film Music Collection.
Reception
Quatermass and the Pit premiered on 9 November 1967 and went on general release in a double billDouble feature
The double feature, also known as a double bill, was a motion picture industry phenomenon in which theatre managers would exhibit two films for the price of one, supplanting an earlier format in which one feature film and various short subject reels would be shown.The double feature, also known as...
with Circus of Fear
Circus of Fear
Circus of Fear is a 1966 British-German international co-production thriller film starring Christopher Lee, Suzy Kendall, Cecil Parker and Victor Maddern. The U.S. title was Psycho-Circus. It was based on a novel by Edgar Wallace.-Plot:...
on 19 November 1967. It was released under the title Five Million Years to Earth in the US in March 1968. The critical reception was generally positive. Writing in The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, John Russell Taylor
John Russell Taylor
John Russell Taylor is an English critic and author. He is the author of critical studies of British theatre; of critical biographies of such important figures in Anglo-American film as Alfred Hitchcock, Alec Guinness, Orson Welles, Vivien Leigh, and Ingrid Bergman; of Strangers in Paradise: The...
found that, “After a slowish beginning, which shows up the deficiencies of acting and direction, things really start hopping when a mysterious missile-like object discovered in a London excavation proves to be a relic of a prehistoric Martian attempt (successful. it would seem) to colonize Earth […] The development of this situation is scrupulously worked out and the film is genuinely gripping even when (a real test this) the Power of Evil is finally shown personified in hazy glowing outline, a spectacle as a rule more likely to provoke titters than gasps of horror.” Paul Errol of the Evening Standard
Evening Standard
The Evening Standard, now styled the London Evening Standard, is a free local daily newspaper, published Monday–Friday in tabloid format in London. It is the dominant regional evening paper for London and the surrounding area, with coverage of national and international news and City of London...
described the film as a “well-made, but wordy, blob of hokum”, a view echoed by William Hall of the Evening News who described the film as “entertaining hokum” with an “imaginative ending”. A slightly more critical view was espoused by Penelope Mortimer
Penelope Mortimer
Penelope Ruth Mortimer , was a British journalist, biographer and novelist.-Early life:...
in The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
who said, “This nonsense makes quite a good film, well put together, competently photographed, on the whole sturdily performed. What it totally lacks is imagination.”
Legacy
The film was a success for Hammer and they quickly announced that Nigel Kneale was writing a new Quatermass story for them but the script never went further than a few prelimininary discussions. Kneale did eventually write a fourth Quatermass story, broadcast as a four-part serial, titled QuatermassQuatermass (TV serial)
Quatermass is a British television science fiction serial produced by Euston Films for Thames Television and broadcast on the ITV network in October and November 1979. Like its three predecessors, Quatermass was written by Nigel Kneale...
, by ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
television in 1979, an edited version of which was also given a limited cinema release under the title The Quatermass Conclusion. Quatermass and the Pit marked the return to directing for the cinema for Roy Ward Baker and he went on to direct such films as The Anniversary
The Anniversary (film)
The Anniversary is a 1968 British black comedy film directed by Roy Ward Baker. The screenplay by Jimmy Sangster is based on the 1966 play of the same title by Bill MacIlwraith.-Plot:...
(1968), Moon Zero Two
Moon Zero Two
Moon Zero Two is a science fiction film produced by Hammer Films and released in 1969. It was billed as a 'space western' and followed shortly after the release of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey in 1968...
(1969), The Vampire Lovers
The Vampire Lovers
The Vampire Lovers is a 1970 British Hammer Horror film directed by Roy Ward Baker and starring Peter Cushing, Ingrid Pitt, Madeline Smith, Kate O'Mara, and Jon Finch. It is based on the J. Sheridan Le Fanu novella Carmilla and is part of the so-called Karnstein Trilogy of films. The other films in...
(1970), Scars of Dracula
Scars of Dracula
Scars of Dracula is a 1970 British horror film directed by Roy Ward Baker for Hammer Studios.It stars Christopher Lee as Count Dracula, alongside Dennis Waterman, Jenny Hanley, Patrick Troughton, and Michael Gwynn...
(1970), Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde
Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde
Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde is a 1971 British film directed by Roy Ward Baker based on the short story Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. The film was made by British studio Hammer Film Productions and was their second adaptation of the story after their 1960 film The...
(1971) and The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires
The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires
The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires is a 1974 horror film produced by Hammer Studios and Shaw Brothers Studio. It was released in North America in an edited version as The Seven Brothers Meet Dracula, and alternatively known as The Seven Brothers And Their One Sister Meet Dracula.-Plot:Professor...
(1974) for Hammer. He also directed Asylum
Asylum (1972 film)
Asylum is a 1972 British horror film made by Amicus Productions. The film was directed by Roy Ward Baker, produced by Milton Subotsky, and scripted by Robert Bloch .It is a horror portmanteau film, one of several produced by Amicus during the 1960s to...
(1972), And Now the Screaming Starts!
And Now the Screaming Starts!
And Now the Screaming Starts! is a 1973 British gothic horror film. It is one of the few feature-length horror stories by Amicus, a company best-known for anthology or "portmanteau" films....
(1973) and The Vault of Horror
The Vault of Horror (film)
The Vault of Horror is a British portmanteau horror film made in 1973 by Amicus Productions. Like its predecessor, Tales from the Crypt, it is based on stories from the EC Comics series written by Al Feldstein and Bill Gaines...
(1973) for Hammer's rivals Amicus Productions
Amicus Productions
Amicus Productions is a British film production company, based at Shepperton Studios, England. It was founded by American producer and screenwriter Milton Subotsky and Max Rosenberg.-Horror:...
.
Quatermass and the Pit continues to be generally well regarded among critics. John Baxter
John Baxter (author)
John Baxter is an Australian-born writer, journalist, and film-maker.Baxter has lived in Britain and the United States as well as in his native Sydney, but has made his home in Paris since 1989, where he is married to the film-maker Marie-Dominique Montel...
notes in Science Fiction in the Cinema that “Baker's unravelling of this crisp thriller is tough and interesting. […] The film has moments of pure terror, perhaps the most effective that in which the drill operator, driven off the spaceship by the mysterious power within is caught up in a whirlwind that fills the excavation with a mass of flying papers.” John Brosnan
John Brosnan
John Raymond Brosnan was an Australian writer of both fiction and non-fiction works based around the fantasy and science fiction genres. He was born in Perth, Western Australia, and died in South Harrow, London, from acute pancreatitis...
, writing in The Primal Scream, found that, “As a condensed version of the serial, the film is fine but the old black-and-white version, though understandably creaky in places and with inferior effects, still works surprisingly well, having more time to build up a disturbing atmosphere. Bill Warren
Bill Warren
William Bond Warren , better known as Bill Warren, is an American film historian and critic generally regarded as one of the leading authorities on science fiction, horror and fantasy films....
in Keep Watching the Skies! said, “The ambition of the storyline is contained in a well-constructed mystery that unfolds carefully and clearly”. Nigel Kneale had mixed feelings about the end result: he said, “I was very happy with Andrew Keir, who they eventually chose, and very happy with the film. There are, however, a few things that bother me... The special effects in Hammer films were always diabolical.”
DVD release
The region 1DVD region code
DVD region codes are a digital-rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region...
release of Quatermass and the Pit from Anchor Bay
Anchor Bay Entertainment
Anchor Bay Entertainment is a U.S. based home entertainment and production company and is a division of Starz Media, which is a unit of Starz, LLC. It was previously owned by IDT Entertainment until 2006 when IDT was purchased by Starz Media. Anchor Bay markets and sells feature films, series,...
includes a commentary
Audio commentary
On disc-based video formats, an audio commentary is an additional audio track consisting of a lecture or comments by one or more speakers, that plays in real time with video...
from Nigel Kneale and Roy Ward Baker as well as trailers and an instalment of a documentary called The Worlds of Hammer devoted to Hammer's forays into science fiction.
External links
- Quatermass and the Pit at Britmovie