cinemajesty Movie Review: "Quatermass: Enemy from Space" (1957) From Hammer Studios, Essex, England comes the second movie on the character of Scientist Quatermass, performed with ease and delight by actor Brian Donlevy (1901-1972), who gets directed by Val Guest (1911-2006) through a scenario of village people get burnt-marked out of a mysterious chemical factory plant in the desert. Quatermass, always on tight budget with his own research bureau/laboratory, starts to investigate and uncovers his stolen moon base plans put into reality, where again an extraterrestrial virus dwells to gigantic showdown-bringing proportions.The story-line created by writer/creator Nigel Kneale (1922-2006) may not be very new by the end of the 1950s with Hollywood productions already mass producing since the early days of that decade, yet under the direction of Val Guest, his uplifting professional cast and an impressive utilization of an estimate 100,000.00 Dollar budget making it appearing close to high-end standards in this time period of motion picture history, where this picture can be considered as well-crafted gem under a mass effect in times of excessive science fiction movie supply.© 2017 Felix Alexander Dausend (Cinemajesty Entertainments LLC)

Prismark10 Hammer Films remake the BBC television serial Quatermass 2 and this time Nigel Kneale adapts his own original story.Brian Donlevy who seemed too much like a tough guy than scientist in the original film reprises his role again. Here he is more softer, slightly more academic but still comes across as an action anti- hero.Professor Quatermass finds a secret Government base which is producing synthetic food but there seems to be something more sinister involved that could involve aliens and there is a government conspiracy to keep it all hushed up.I like the fact the he manages to zip up and down from London to Carlisle like it was a matter of minutes away rather than 4-5 hours on the motorway and there was no motorway at the time.There is a good supporting cast involved in this film with Bryan Forbes, William Franklyn and Sid James. Vera Day provides some sauciness.Its a little bit dated, although still spooky here and there. Its also a bit schlocky and some of the acting is on the hammy side. The character who gets blackened at the industrial plant and then carefully comes down the ladder is on the silly side.

AaronCapenBanner Director Val Guest and actor Brian Donlevy returned for this sequel. Bernard Quatermmass has a plan to build a moon colony, but is called upon to investigate the mysterious landing of meteorites in the English countryside, near a village. He is startled to discover that a factory has been built nearby, where most of the villagers work, that is heavily guarded. He is told that it produces synthetic food, but comes to learn that it is really controlled by alien invaders who plan on world conquest. How can he and Inspector Lomax(now played by John Longden) stop this insidious plan? Worthy sequel with some violent and intense scenes, though the miscasting of the too-abrasive Brian Donlevy is again a big detriment. Too bad Patrick Troughton wasn't cast in this(and the first) instead!

Spikeopath The Quatermass Xperiment had been a major success for Hammer upon its release in 1955, becoming the company's biggest grossing film up to that time. Moving quickly to capitalise, Hammer Film Productions put together the elements for the sequel, Quatermass 2 (AKA Enemy From Space). Val Guest once again directs and co writes with Quatermass creator Nigel Kneale, Brian Donlevy returns as the irrepressible professor Quatermass, James Bernard scores and Anthony Hinds is again on production duties. Joining Donlevy in the cast are John Longden, Sid James, Bryan Forbes, William Franklyn & Vera Day. The plot sees Quatermass investigating meteorites that have been falling at Winnerden Flats. Whilst up in the Winnerden Valley, Quatermass and his colleague, Marsh, discover a huge power plant complex that looks suspiciously like the model Quatermass has been working on as part of a potential colonisation of the Moon. When Marsh is burnt by one of the meteorites, guards appear from nowhere and take him away down in the valley. Just what is going on at this strange plant? Quartermass intends to find out, but Winnerden has many secrets, secrets that could spell doom for mankind.A sequel that is at least the equal of its predecessor, Quatermass 2 deals in politico paranoia and chilly alien invasion hysteria. Similar to Don Siegel's excellent Invasion Of The Body Snatchers from the previous year, the film doesn't rely on shlonky shocks to make its heart beat. There's much sci-fi discussion and jobs-worth like characters that are easy to follow, but all serve a purpose as Winnerden's secret starts to show its cards. As Quatermass' trail leads to the higher echelons of power, the paranoiac feel of the piece really kicks in, with the mood greatly enhanced by Gerald Gibbs' monochrome photography and Guest's imaginative use of hand held cameras for certain scenes. The effects work is clever and does its job, while the cast work hard to make the effective story work. Tho the film made good money it was overshadowed by the huge success of Hammer's release of The Curse Of Frankenstein the same year, while the film wasn't given much promotional help from Kneale who was very critical of the finished product. With much of his scorn directed towards Donlevy who he always felt was wrong for the role of the intrepid boffin. With that in mind, it's perhaps unsurprising to find the film still today is very divisive among critics and sci-fi fans alike. So you take your chance then. Personally I think it's one of the best sci-fi movies to have come out of Britian. As was the first film, and as was Quatermass And The Pit from 1967. Pretty great trilogy actually. 8/10