First
introduced to audiences in 1953 with the six episode long television series The Quatermass Experiment with Reginald
Tate in the leading role as Professor Quatermass, the series was a hit and
spawned two more serials in 1955 with Quatermass
II and once more between 1958 and 1959 with Quatermass and the Pit. Each
iteration due to unforeseen circumstances recast the lead actor in each serial,
the second featuring quick replacement John Robinson in the part and André
Morell reluctantly taking on the role for the third.
While
the television serials proving to be massively commercially appealing, it was
only a matter of time before interest in translating the adventures of
Professor Bernard Quatermass from the small screen to the big one began to take
hold. Almost immediately, Hammer Film
Productions best known for their ongoing horror film series prominently
featuring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, bought up the rights to the
Quatermass series and quickly began reshaping the hit serials into feature
films. Back to back in 1955 and 1957,
British writer-director Val Guest (The
Day the Earth Caught Fire) churned out the first two Quatermass serials as theatrical features with American actor Brian
Donlevy taking on the role of Professor Quatermass.
The
three televised serials and the first two feature films telling the tales of
Professor Quatermass proved to be highly successful and critically revered
though many, particularly the character’s creator Nigel Keale, expressed dismay
at Brian Donlevy’s take on the character.
Meanwhile Keale and Hammer Film Productions were steadfast at work on
producing a feature film version of the third and final Quatermass serial with Keale’s screenplay ready to go in 1961, but
problems finding an American co-financier delayed production until 1967 which
left a large gap between the second and third pictures. Despite the delays, the time in between meant
(much to Keale’s delight) Donlevy would not be able to reprise the part for a
third time. In addition, Val Guest also
would not return as director, leaving ample room to start from scratch with a
new filmmaker helming the piece and a new actor to play the lead closer to
Keale’s intentions.
Given
a go-ahead with A Night to Remember
director Roy Ward Baker and Andrew Keir in the role of Professor Quatermass in
place, Quatermass and the Pit went
into production. Ultimately it proved to
be not only one of Hammer Film Productions’ most technically ambitious science
fiction horror films to date but also proved to be closest to Keale’s vision of
the character yet portrayed on the silver screen. Cited among many horror filmgoers as the best
of the Quatermass series, it
instantly served as the basis for many likeminded end-of-the-world pictures
dealing with the occult and the extraterrestrial such as Prince of Darkness (John Carpenter’s screenplay credited to Martin
Quatermass) and Lifeforce.
Exceedingly
simple in premise yet grandiose in the size and scope of its execution, Quatermass and the Pit (retitled Five Million Years to Earth in the US)
opens on a London subway under construction when a mysterious artifact though by
the military to be an unexploded WWII missile surrounded by human skeletons is
discovered. Well into the excavation,
rocket scientist Professor Quatermass (Andrew Keir) joins the team and upon
closer inspection begins to believe their discovery may in fact be an alien
spacecraft which holds the key to human evolution. Unbeknownst to Quatermass and the military
team, there’s far more sinister and deadly machinations held inside this
strange artifact than meets the eye.
Much
like the aforementioned Prince of
Darkness and Lifeforce, Quatermass and the Pit is a supernatural
science fiction horror thriller gone completely berserk with many wild
scenarios played out on large set pieces adorned with still innovative and
eye-popping special effects wizardry.
Unlike the mid-80s sci-fi horror shows it inspired, however, Quatermass and the Pit is a methodically
paced freakout which takes its sweet old time building up to the inevitable
crescendo and outbreak of absolute pandemonium.
Also, much like the equally insane and unhinged British directed Ken
Russell shocker The Devils, Quatermass and the Pit is anchored by
the central protagonist guiding the viewer through the madness unfolding.
Shot
on MGM’s British Borehamwood sound stages (known for the set pieces on Kubrick’s
2001: A Space Odyssey) and aided by
an innovate score/soundscape designed by Tristram Cary, Quatermass and the Pit while a condensed adaptation of the original
televised miniseries is a truly epic Hammer Horror film with allegories about
the human condition that are far more frightening than a prototypical H.G.
Wells’ inspired alien invasion ala The
War of the Worlds. Rather than
simply turn the monsters loose, which look frankly like intergalactic
grasshoppers seen in surreal flashbacks, the real horrors of Quatermass and the Pit much like Robert
Wise’s The Day the Earth Stood Still and
the Twilight Zone episode The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street concern
mankind’s generally self-destructive response to such an otherworldly entity. In other worlds, any alien invasion and
eradication of humankind would be unnecessary when it’s so easy to influence
mankind towards destroying itself.
Even
without the allegorical context lending psychological weight to the
proceedings, from a purely visceral end Quatermass
and the Pit careens so rapidly into primordial chaos and disorder the
viewer quickly finds himself in the midst of a harrowing waking nightmare. While some optical effects do indeed show
their age, many of the on-set special effects created in camera in real time
still remain some of the most technically proficient and pioneering illusions
ever attempted. As with prior Hammer
Horror pictures, Quatermass and the Pit contains
its own fair share of blood and gore including a grisly moment where a military advisor's face is melted clean off, earning the film an X certificate rating
in the UK at the time though shown now the picture would likely earn a PG-13 in
the US.
While
there have been many varied iterations and explorations of the now beloved
Professor Bernard Quatermass over the years including but not limited to
remakes, loose tie-ins and a fourth official final Quatermass entry for Thames Television, the 1967 film Quatermass and the Pit is generally
regarded as the pinnacle of the series.
On its own the condensed theatrical film adaptation stands as a seminal
example of late ‘60s British science fiction horror. Though familiarity with the first two Quatermass pictures and/or the
television serials before them can be helpful, they’re not essential to
enjoying Quatermass and the Pit as an
indelible thriller of the supernatural and unknown. Much like the surviving characters regarding
the Hell, fire and brimstone unleashed all around them, by the film’s end you
won’t know what hit you!
Score:
- Andrew Kotwicki