X: The Unknown (1956)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Leslie Norman

Writers:

Jimmy Sangster (story)
Jimmy Sangster (screenplay)

Release Date:

May 1957 (USA)

Genre:

Sci-Fi | Mystery | Horror

Tagline:

NOTHING CAN STOP IT! (original print ad - all caps)

Plot:

Radioactive mud-like creature terrorizes a Scottish village during the 1950's.

Plot Keywords:

Radiation | Soldier | Geiger Counter | Hermit | Loss Of Son

Cast

Dean Jagger	...	Dr. Adam Royston
Edward Chapman	...	John Elliott
Leo McKern	...	Insp. McGill
Anthony Newley	...	LCpl. 'Spider' Webb
Jameson Clark	...	Jack Harding
William Lucas	...	Peter Elliott
Peter Hammond	...	Lt. Bannerman
Marianne Brauns	...	Zena, the Nurse
Ian MacNaughton	...	Haggis
Michael Ripper	...	Sgt. Harry Grimsdyke
John Harvey	...	Maj. Cartwright
Edwin Richfield	...	Soldier Burned on Back
Jane Aird	...	Vi Harding
Norman Macowan	...	Old Tom
Neil Hallett	...	Unwin
Kenneth Cope	...	Sapper Lansing
Michael Brooke	...	Willie Harding
Frazer Hines	...	Ian Osborn
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Max Brimmell	...	Hospital Director (uncredited)
Robert Bruce	...	Dr. Kelly (uncredited)
Angela Crow	...	Bit part (uncredited)
Brown Derby	...	Vicar (uncredited)
Raymond Dudley	...	Bit part (uncredited)
Archie Duncan	...	Sgt. Yeardye (uncredited)
Lawrence James	...	Gerard (uncredited)
Edward Judd	...	2nd Soldier (uncredited)
Stella Kemball	...	Willie's Room Nurse (uncredited)
Jack Lambert	...	(uncredited)
Stevenson Lang	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Philip Levene	...	Security man (uncredited)
Brian Peck	...	1st Soldier (uncredited)
Anthony Sagar	...	Gateman (uncredited)
Barry Steele	...	Soldier in trench (uncredited)
John Stirling	...	Police Car Driver (uncredited)
John Stone	...	Jerry (uncredited)
French Taylor	...	PC Williams (uncredited)
Shaw Taylor	...	Police Radio Operator (uncredited)
Neil Wilson	...	Russell (uncredited)

Directed by
Leslie Norman

Writing credits
Jimmy Sangster		(story)
Jimmy Sangster		(screenplay)

Produced by
Michael Carreras	....	executive producer
Anthony Hinds	....	producer
Mickey Delamar	....	associate producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
James Bernard

Cinematography by
Gerald Gibbs

Film Editing by
James Needs

Casting by
Joseph Losey		(uncredited)

Art Direction by
Ted Marshall		(uncredited)

Makeup Department
Philip Leakey	....	makeup artist
Philip Leakey	....	special makeup effects

Production Management
Jimmy Sangster	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Christopher Sutton	....	assistant director (as Chris Sutton)
Hugh Harlow	....	third assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Don Mingaye	....	draughtsman (uncredited)

Sound Department
Alfred Cox	....	sound editor
Jock May	....	sound mixer
Jim Perry	....	boom operator (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Les Bowie	....	special effects associate
Jack Curtis	....	special effects associate
Vic Margutti	....	special effects (as Bowie Margutti Ltd)

Camera and Electrical Department
Len Harris	....	camera operator
Tom Edwards	....	still photographer (uncredited)
Harry Oakes	....	focus puller (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Molly Arbuthnot	....	wardrobe supervisor

Music Department
John Hollingsworth	....	conductor

Other crew
June Randall	....	continuity
Bill Batchelor	....	publicist (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Hammer Film Productions

Distributors

• Exclusive Films (1956) (UK) (theatrical)
• Warner Bros. Pictures (1957) (USA) (theatrical)
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1974) (USA) (TV) (network premiere)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (USA) (VHS)
• e-m-s the DVD-Company (2005) (Germany) (DVD)

Special Effects

• Bowie Films Ltd.

Runtime:

81 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

UK:PG | Finland:K-16 | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Beaconsfield Gravel Pits, Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

Hammer Film Productions

Trivia:

The movie began under the direction of Joseph Losey (working as Joseph Walton), exiled to England because of the Hollywood blacklist. However, when Dean Jagger arrived, he refused to work with a director he thought of as a Communist sympathizer, and Losey was replaced by Leslie Norman before shooting began. Losey's departure was publicly attributed to "illness".

Goofs:

Continuity: Lansing watches the stick sinking in a pool of liquid, but in a later long shot the stick in seen firmly standing in dry ground.

Quotes:

Major Cartwright: You know this Royston chap. Brilliant, of course, I'm sure. But the trouble with these scientific types is they can't see the easy way out of anything. It's got to be complicated if it's going to work.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Monsterama Sci-Fi Late Night Creature Feature Show Vol. 1 (1996) (V)

Good, grim, post-Quatermass horror/sci-fi

The plot: In the remote Scottish Highlands, a living radioactive mass seethes out of the depths of the earth and kills everyone in its path as it seeks fresh radioactive energy. Luckily an American scientist is about the place and kicks the 'thing' back down from whence it came.

X the Unknown, while not having the innate intelligence of the Quatermass movies, is a good example of 1950's British pulp science-fiction cinema. While most of its American counterparts visited fantastic worlds inhabited by outlandish monsters and gorgeous 'space-babes', X the Unknown was a truly British effort: our monster was dollop of mud out of a hole in the ground doing a slow crawl around a dingy moor.

It's effective though. It has the same austere, grim intensity which made the Quatermass movies so memorable. The film also benefits from moody, high-contrast black and white photography, a typically acerbic score from James Bernard, and a good cast; Leo Mckern turns in a very good, naturalistic performance, much like his turn in The Day The Earth Caught Fire.

I first saw this movie when I was about six and the extraordinarily graphic scene depicting the monster 'devouring' a hospital doctor gave me a few... err....sleepless nights (there's a particularly ruthless zoom-in to the poor guys hand as it expands and melts!). Perhaps I should have stuck to Bugs Bunny.

Overall, a decent chiller, well directed by Leslie Norman (late father of the superb British film critic Barry Norman).

One last memory of a six year-old's first viewing of this picture: I remember sitting there stunned and horrified as the end credits rolled; I was not looking forward to a good nights sleep. The statutorily paternal BBC announcer came on and cracked the following nervous joke: "Well, I'll never eat cheese on toast again" (see the film and you'll know what he meant). I laughed with relief and my childhood was thus saved a terrible trauma! Thanks Uncle Beeb.