X the Unknown (Sublime, Sludge and Slime!)

X the Unknown is an immensely enjoyable would be ‘Quatermass’ film produced by Hammer Film productions in 1956. Scripted by reluctant screenplay writer (he was originally a Production Manager) and regular Hammer contributor Jimmy Sangster and starring an obligatory American lead (to ensure American distribution) in the form of actor Dean Jagger, playing Dr. Adam Royston, a character a bit like Professor Bernard Quatermass. There is a good reason for these similarities.  Following the success of Hammer’s ‘The Quatermass Xperiment’ the year prior (a film adaptation of the 1953 BBC serial ‘The Quatermass Experiment’ scripted by Nigel Kneale) the folks at Hammer were hoping for a quick return and the opportunity to cash in on that first film. Besides which they had also begun carving themselves a niche in the British horror/science fiction market and films such as this paved the way for the glossy gothic colour Hammer films that were to follow with pictures such as ‘The Curse of Frankenstein’ in 1957 and ‘Dracula’ in 1958.

The title card for 'X The Unknown' seen at the beginning of the picture

Although ‘X the Unknown’ is a Jimmy Sangster script it was hoped that Nigel Kneale would give the filmmakers permission to include the character of Professor Bernard Quatermass thus making it a Quatermass picture. Although Kneale would allow Hammer the rights for their three film adaptations of his Quatermass TV serials and his unrelated serial ‘The Creature’ (made by Hammer as ‘The Abominable Snowman’) he did not allow Hammer to use the character for this production. Thus the character of Dr. Adam Royston was born and in a way it’s a pity that Dean Jagger did not portray the role of Quatermass in the first two Hammer pictures, the aforementioned ‘The Quatermass Xperiment’ and ‘Quatermass 2’ because he is a lot better at portraying the curious, meticulous scientist Royston than fellow actor Brian Donlevy ever was at playing Quatermass....but that’s a story for a later blog post!

An original film poster featuring the face of Dean Jagger as Royston

Some spoilers here!

‘X the Unknown’ concerns a radiation hungry monster that appears in a Scottish gravel pit during a routine military exercise searching via Geiger counter for a harmless radiation source. Its forces create a fissure in the ground of the gravel pit at the start of the film and later its true power in unleashed. In traditional fashion it runs amok across the fictional Scottish village of Lochmouth, which also happens to be home to Dr. Royston who works at a nearby Atomic Energy Laboratory.  

The film is solidly directed by Leslie Norman (who’d later direct scores of ‘The Saint’ episodes starring Sir Roger Moore) and benefits from some atmospheric night shoots at Beaconsfield Gravel Pits in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire and St. Michaels Church in Bray, Berkshire where the villagers retreat to, to escape the wrath of the creature (in a scene reminiscent of the original ‘The War of the Worlds’ made in 1953). Incidentally the latter location was tracked down by yours truly (Screenprick) after some exhaustive research. In line with the supposed Scottish location of the film, a short sequence of a congregation leaving church (featuring a completely different church location) was lifted from the classic comedy film ‘Whisky Galore!’ filmed at Castlebay on the Isle of Barra (again tracked down by yours truly!) ‘X the Unknown’ is notably quite graphic for the time in which it was made, allowing the filmmakers to secure the desired X certificate that the ‘Quatermass’ pictures also enjoyed. At the time this gave the film a certain notoriety and the melted faces of the victims of ‘X’ are highly effective and predate the famous sequence from ‘Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark’ (namely the death of Major Arnold Toht) by 25 years. It is worth noting that the film’s original booked director was Joseph Losey, who went on to direct the classic Hammer film ‘The Damned’ in 1963. An American director, he had moved to the UK (initially working under the name of Joseph Walton) to avoid the Hollywood Blacklist after he was blacklisted for allegedly being a ‘Communist sympathiser’. This was not unusual for 1950’s Hollywood and many directors, producers and actors suffered under McCarthyism for simply having left wing leanings. Nevertheless actor Dean Jagger refused to work with Losey due to his politics and although a couple of his sequences appear in the film he was dropped (officially due to ‘illness’) during the picture’s first week in production.

A grisly death for Unwin (Neil Hallett) pushing the films X certificate and predating a similar sequence in 'Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark' by 25 years! 

The performances of Dean Jagger and the supporting cast are generally excellent but special mention must go to Australian actor Leo McKern as Inspector McGill. The actor would later find fame for his appearances in ‘The Prisoner’ and playing the lead in ‘Rumpole of the Bailey’. A young Kenneth Cope (later of ‘Randall and Hopkirk Deceased’ fame) appears here as the first victim of ‘X’ Private Lansing. An even younger Frazer Hines (credited here as Fraser Hines and just 11 years old at the time of filming) plays local boy Ian Osborne here. An accomplished little actor Hines would later appear as the longest running Doctor Who companion to date (alongside Second Doctor Patrick Troughton) from 1966-1969 and later as a long running regular character in ‘Emmerdale’.

The sludgy sight of 'X The Unknown'

The films main let down is the ridiculous sequence with Neil Hallett as Unwin and Marianne Brauns as Zena, a lustful Nurse who is after Dr. Unwin’s..erm..well she is certainly after Dr. Unwin. They are both at a hospital where a boy who had come into contact with ‘X’ has succumbed to the radiation burns caused by the incident. Marianne picks this moment to get close and personal with Unwin who ultimately meets the same fate as the young boy. The sequence is demeaning to one of the very few women to appear in the film (the scene was memorably made fun of in an episode of ‘Whose Line is it Anyway’ with Tony Slattery) and was clearly crassly included purely for the benefit of the ‘X’ certificate rating.  His death scene though is very well done.

Dean Jagger and his supporting cast, including Leo McKern (second right) as Inspector McGill

The special effects (for a Hammer film) are actually very successful throughout, ‘X’ itself is an oozing, slimy blob (predating the American film ‘The Blob’ by 2 years) and there are some memorable sequences, particularly when ‘X’ almost envelopes a small child, only to be saved by the local priest in the nick of time. The least effective shot is seen when ‘X’ ploughs through some power lines, but hey, this was made in 1956 after all!

James Bernard’s spooky, dissonant and minimal score (his second for Hammer following ‘The Quatermass Xperiment’) nicely counterpoints the action and all in all ‘X the Unknown’ is great fun. Sangster was always very self deprecating about his work but he was actually a very accomplished script writer and this, his debut script for Hammer showcases this. He treats the scientific subject matter with great seriousness and sincerity, and although it is inevitably pseudo-science it has believability and does not patronise its audience. It is also an unusual film in that the threat is not man made, but a natural occurrence, a refreshing change from the much repeated idea of man creating its own enemies by meddling with things it does not understand.

The cracked earth from where 'X' emerged 

Hierarchically this production is leagues above a great deal of the American (and some British) science fiction/horror product of the decade, not to mention the following three decades too and is no doubt one of Hammer’s best early Horror pictures. 

The end titles, produced at the now under threat Bray Studios

NOTE: All production stills and photographs used in this review are copyrighted to Hammer Productions and Icon Home Entertainment. Screenprick will be back in 2016!