‘There’s no room for personal feelings in science, Judith!’
The thing I love the most about the work of Nigel Kneale is that every conversation is an argument. The spectacularly named eponymous hero Professor Bernard Quatarmass spends the entire run time of this film furiously engaged in verbal conflict. It’s great fun. As with The Stone Tape, this film mixes horror and sci-fi and while both films have moments that have not aged particularly well, they also both contain scenes that retain their unsettling power…
After firing a rocket containing three astronauts into space, Quatarmass (Brian Donlevy) must deal with the fallout when the rocket crash lands in middle England and only one of the astronauts remains. Aiding Quatarmass and also arguing with him at regular intervals are local policeman Inspector Lomax (Jack Warner) and Dr. Gordon Briscoe (David King-Wood).
The key to the continued success of The Quatarmass Xperiment lies in the quality of Kneale’s writing but also in the special effects. The use of make-up and prosthetics still holds up and because director Val Guest doesn’t attempt anything more ambitious than those modest physical effects, the whole thing has aged gracefully. The frightening moments are genuinely frightening and the whole thing feels surprisingly modern for a film released in 1955 (and based on a television series that was even older).
The Quatarmass Xperiment is a compelling and frantic alien invasion film that is much more prestigious and effective than other films in this subgenre from the same era. Thoroughly enjoyable.