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When tiny Hammer Studios in the mid-Fifties decided to try something new to earn some more shillings from their film efforts, they produced film versions of the two British TV sci-fi horror hits concerning the doings of a certain Professor Quatermass. The rest, as they say, is history. But, along with the first two Quatermass films, Hammer also made another sci-fi horror flick, one that was entirely home grown. It's also lijkely one of the least viewed and reviewed Hammer films of that period, so much so that its title could well have been...
X--the Unknown (1956), directed by Leslie Norman. Okay, let’s start right with the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) info. Writing
credits: Genre: Sci-Fi / Mystery / Horror Cast
overview, first billed only: Runtime:
81 min
Start with the Warner Brothers logo, then the title over a desolate field. The title music is most annoying, like a variation on the PSYCHO shower scene music. Screenplay by Jimmy Sangster. That’s a good sign. He’s credited with 61 screenplays on IMDB, including The Crawling Eye (a favorite of mine), The Curse Of Frankenstein, and Horror Of Dracula. Our first scene has a young Anthony Newly slopping through the Scottish mud with a Geiger counter. He finds a cylinder as we pan to a group of soldiers. They’re practicing using the Geiger counter.
Another young private searches for a cylinder but finds unexplained radiation in the mud. He summons Major Cartwright (John Harvey). The ground shakes and splits open via the poor British special effects we’ve learned to expect and love from this time period. Now we visit a laboratory where the scientists study radiation. John Elliot (Edward Chapman) runs the lab more like a business, concerned more about his bottom line than about their results. His primary task seems to be keeping his son, Peter (William Lucas) from doing anything other than administrative work. Elliot searches for Dr. Royston (Dean Jagger.) I guess the Brits felt an American lead would be good box office, as in The Crawling Eye.
Royston plays another likable scientist; similar to Dr. Sorenson in The Cosmic Man with the exception that the military listen to what Jagger (Royston) tells them. And that’s a major problem of the script. There’s no conflict between the humans. The only conflict is between the humans and…well we’ll call it "X" for now. A good script has conflict in every scene. That’s what holds your interest. Watch Alien again. Before the crew of the Nostromo fights the alien, they’re fighting each other. And the best part of The Cosmic Man was the constant verbal skirmishes between the scientists and the military. In X--the Unknown, everyone does what Royston tells them to do. All we do is wait for him to come up with a solution. Back to our film. Royston hides out in a laboratory separate from the other scientists. He’s testing his theory of sound waves neutralizing radiation.
Elliot barges in on Royston and sends him to check out the radiation the soldiers found. At the military site, Royston examines the fissure but finds no signs of radiation even though several of the men exhibit radiation burns. Royston sums things up to the major saying the fissure is bottomless, but there’s no radiation. Later, in the car back to the lab, Peter asks Royston why he told the Major the fault was bottomless. Royston replies, "That was very unscientific of me." Cute. Royston and Peter Elliot are the most likable characters in the film. Peter has everything handed to him because his father owns the lab but he has a knack for knowing what has to be done and he’s not afraid to do it himself.
And Royston is the brilliant, peerless scientist who’s only competition is the problem he’s working on. Elliot and Royston’s scene in the car remind me of a Hercule Poirot novel. Royston is Poirot trying to solve a murder and Peter is his assistant. Next, two young boys, Willie and Ian, dare each other to go into a shack near the fissure where a hobo lives. Willie never makes it to the shack. On the way, he sees "X" and runs. Ian follows. Willie ends up in the hospital with first-degree radiation burns. Royston questions Willie’s parents to find out where he could have been bunt. The parents direct him to Ian. Royston finds out where they went from Ian and goes to the shack. There he finds the alcoholic who lives there and a radioactive container from his workshop.
Royston goes back to his lab to find it ransacked. The only thing stolen is the radioactive cobalt he used for his experiments. Later, Mr. Elliot talks to Inspector McGill (Leo McKern) who’s called in to investigate the break-in at Royston’s lab. Elliot doesn’t want him poking around but McGill insists. Back at the hospital, Willie dies. His parents blame Royston. Meanwhile, the technician who works in the x ray room at the hospital has a tête-à-tête with a nurse. The large X-ray machine in the next room turns on by itself. When the tech goes in to turn it off, he sees "X" (off camera, like when Willie saw it) and is burnt to the point of melting. Surprisingly good special effects of the tech melting. The nurse who was with him can’t even remember her own name so she’s no help in describing "X."
Royston figures out that "X" can take on any shape it needs too. He uses a nice analogy of 10,000 gals of oil. It would take up a lot of space but it could enter a room through a vent shaft. Royston finds out there are a couple of soldiers left at the fault standing guard. He realizes "X" is on the loose and those men are in danger so he, the Inspector and the Major hurry out there. At the fault, there’s a little comedy relief with Haggis and his pal. Ian McNaughton, the director of the Monty Python TV shows, plays Haggis. Haggis goes to investigate, calls to his friend, and then screams. His friend goes to find him but Haggis is gone, leaving only his gun. Then the pal succumbs to "X," too. When Royston and company arrive at the fault, all that’s left is a hat.
Royston, the Major, Elliot and McGill go back to the lab. Royston offers a theory. He thinks the molten rock beneath the crust of the earth has developed the drive to survive. Dean does his best to sell this idea of "lucid lava" but it just doesn’t fly. The Inspector wants to destroy "X." Elliot says the theory is absolute rubbish. Everybody believes Royston so Elliot says goodnight. I would have left, too. Royston says somebody has to go down into the fault. And whom do they send? Peter Elliot, the lab administrator. They didn’t even try to explain why someone without a scientific background would do into the fissure. Or even a military guy, since it’s a dangerous mission. But no, they send the son of the owner of the lab. Go figure.
Then as they’re lowering Peter Elliot into the fault by two guys hand cranking a winch type setup, someone says "Stop lowering" and both of the guys let go of the winch handles! The handles spin wildly and poor Peter plummets a couple hundred feet. Oy. Peter finds the bones of one of the soldiers. Then "X" comes at him but they get him out in time. Why they risked Peter’s life for this, I’ll never know. Even Haggis could have yelled up "There’s bones down here!" Now the Major says he’s taking over. His orders are to burn the fault and concrete it over. And that’s what they do. They drop dynamite down the fault then concrete it over. Now since Royston said the fault was bottomless, I’d like to know how they got that much concrete.
McGill goes to Royston’s lab and tells him what the Major did. Royston shows McGill another cylinder, tells him there’s radioactive mud in it. And that’s what they’re fighting. Royston says, "It’s radioactive mud. That’s all it is…mud. How do you kill mud?" That’s a great line. I think if they would have added more human conflict and stuck with the idea "how do you fight something that can’t die?" they’d have a better film. Inspector McGill is being called back to London so Royston shows them something he’s been working on for years; a machine that neutralizes an atomic bomb.Royston says goodbye to McGill but I don’t think we’ve seen the last of him.Then we finally see "X," which looks a lot like The Blob as it breaks out of the cement. Royston gets things ready to neutralize "X" with his invention. McGill goes to the police station to get a ride back to London. There, he overhears a report of a guy found melted to death.McGill calls Royston and tells him. Then Royston plans their attack. Again, everyone does whatever Royston says so we just wait for them to kill "X." Maybe this was interesting when it was filmed because audiences weren’t familiar with radiation, or maybe they feared it. But today, it’s old news.
Next, "X" heads back to Elliot’s lab to get a snack and kills a guard. Pretty good special effects as the camera pans the guard’s body in close-up as it twitches in death its throes. The shot also highlights the excellent photography found throughout most of the film. Nearby, a minister helps the people who live in the path of "X" into his church. Just like in The Crawling Eye, a little girl escapes from her mother at the church and wanders within a few feet of the creature. Didn’t add much tension, I’m afraid. Royston tests his "de-radiation machine" one more time. A little late if you ask me. It works, but then the "mud" blows up. Oh well, full speed ahead! No time to try again, according to McGill. So they head to the fissure. This is as close to human conflict as we get in this film.
At the fissure, Royston yells out orders and everyone obeys. Again, Elliot does the most dangerous job, driving the radiation "bait" right up to the fissure to lure "X" out. That’s an eye roller. At least Peter is well played by William Lucas. So Peter backs the jeep up too far, "X" comes out, the jeep gets stuck in the mud, of course, and Peter barely escapes. Royston runs his machine and de-radiate X. As they approach the fissure to check the radiation reading, "X" blows up. Well, more of a ‘pop’ really. If one spec of radiated mud blew its cylinder away in the lab, "X" would probably blow a crater in the earth. But we get a little pop.
Elliot says, "It blew up." Royston’s last words in the film are, "It shouldn’t have happened." That struck me as strange. No summation on the whole X thing. Just a comment on one little part of it. And just to piss me off, the DVD shifts back to the menu where they’re playing that annoying title piece. Well, to be fair, I’ll admit a prejudice of mine. I like monsters. I preferred The Outer Limits over The Twilight Zone because Outer Limits had a monster every week, pretty much. So that may explain why I prefer The Crawling Eye over X--the Unknown. Mud does not a monster make. But that still doesn’t help the drab screenplay. When the humans weren’t fighting The Crawling Eye, they were fighting the zombies the aliens created. That was a great idea. And that’s what "X" lacked. A great idea at its core. It unfolded like a mystery that we figure out in the first act.
But in its favor, they presented the police and the scientists realistically. And there were good performances all around, especially Peter and Dr. Royston. But if you’re looking for a nostalgic night of sci-fi, I’d stick with The Crawling Eye or The Cosmic Man. Let "X" stay unknown. Thanks, Jeff. No doubt, Hammer's X--The Unknown is a much lower-key approach to sci-fi horror than the studio's Quatermass films, and the monster in question does tend to be little more than high-voltage compost. Thus, liking this little chiller probably depends on whether you can tolerate a mud monster or not. If you can, the film's intelligent script, realistic characters, near-documentary approach, and fine performances make it well worth your viewing time. But if a film about murderous mud is just, well, mud to you, follow Jeff's advice and don't get to know "X". Article copyright © Jeff Beres |
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