Quatermass 2
The 1957 advertising poster for the film's UK release
Directed by	Val Guest
Produced by	Anthony Hinds
Written by	Nigel Kneale Val Guest
Starring	Brian Donlevy Sid James John Longdon Bryan Forbes Vera Day William Franklyn
Music by	James Bernard
Cinematography	Gerald Gibbs
Editing by	James Needs
Release date(s)	1957
Running time	85 min.
Country	UK
Preceded by	The Quatermass Xperiment
Followed by	Quatermass and the Pit
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Quatermass 2 (also known as Quatermass II) is a British science-fiction/horror film, produced by the Hammer company and released in 1957. It is based on the BBC Television serial Quatermass II, and is a sequel to the 1955 film The Quatermass Xperiment. In America, it was released under the title Enemy From Space. Uploaded to illustrate Quatermass 2. ... 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Val Guest signing autographs. ... Please wikify (format) this article or section as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ... Nigel Kneale (born Thomas Nigel Kneale on April 18, 1922 in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England, UK) is a Manx television and film scriptwriter, who has worked mostly in the UK. He is best known for his creation of the character of Professor Bernard Quatermass, who has appeared in three... Brian Donlevy in The Big Combo Brian Donlevy (born Waldo Bruce Donlevy on February 9, 1901 in Cleveland, Ohio, died April 6, 1972 in Woodland Hills, California) was an American actor, known for many film roles from the 1930s to the 1960s. ... Sid James Sid James (8 May 1913–26 April 1976) was a film and television actor. ... Bryan Forbes, CBE (born John Theobald Clark on July 22, 1926 in London) is an English film director, actor and writer. ... William Leo Franklyn (22 September 1925 – 31 October 2006) was a British actor, perhaps best known for voicing the Schhh. ... James Bernard was a British film composer born in 1925 and dying in 2001. ... Gerald Gibbs may refer to: Gerald Gibbs, 3rd Baron Aldenham, a British peer Air Marshal Sir Gerald Gibbs (RAF officer), a senior RAF officer Gerald Gibbs (Cinematographer) Category: ... The 1955 advertising poster for the films UK release. ... The 1967 advertising poster for the films UK release. ... Poster for 2001: A Space Odyssey, an archetypal science fiction film Science fiction film is a film genre that uses speculative, science-based depictions of imaginary phenomena such as extra-terrestrial lifeforms, alien worlds, and time travel, often along with technological elements such as futuristic spacecraft, robots, or other technologies. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Hammer horror refers to horror films produced in the late 1950s through the 1970s by the British film studio Hammer Films. ... 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... BBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which began in 1932. ... The opening title sequence of Quatermass II. Quatermass II is a British television science-fiction serial, the second in the popular and influential Quatermass series written by Nigel Kneale. ... 1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The 1955 advertising poster for the films UK release. ... Motto: (Out Of Many, One) (traditional) In God We Trust (1956 to date) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington D.C. Largest city New York City None at federal level (English de facto) Government Federal constitutional republic  - President George Walker Bush (R)  - Vice President Dick Cheney (R) Independence from...

Production

The film was directed by Val Guest, and the script adapted by Guest and the original television writer Nigel Kneale. Kneale had been unhappy that he had been unable to work on the previous Quatermass film adaptation because of his BBC staff contract: however, in 1956 he had left the staff of the Corporation to become a freelance writer, enabling him to work on the film. Val Guest signing autographs. ... Nigel Kneale (born Thomas Nigel Kneale on April 18, 1922 in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England, UK) is a Manx television and film scriptwriter, who has worked mostly in the UK. He is best known for his creation of the character of Professor Bernard Quatermass, who has appeared in three... 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The Quatermass Xperiment had been a successful and popular film for Hammer, so much so that they had wanted to make their own sequel originally written for the cinema. Kneale had denied them the use of the Quatermass character, however, so the film - 1956's X the Unknown - was made with a new character and not as part of the Quatermass series. After the transmission of Quatermass II on the BBC in 1955, however, Hammer were quick to buy the rights to make another bona fide Quatermass film. 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... X the Unknown is a British science-fiction / horror film made by the famous Hammer Films company and released in 1956. ... The opening title sequence of Quatermass II. Quatermass II is a British television science-fiction serial, the second in the popular and influential Quatermass series written by Nigel Kneale. ... 1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

As with the first film, Quatermass 2 stars American actor Brian Donlevy as Professor Bernard Quatermass. This makes him the only actor to have appeared on-screen as the character twice, although later actor Andrew Keir would also play the role twice, once on film and once on the radio. Nigel Kneale was not a fan of Donlevy's portrayal, and regarded him as the least successful of all the film and television Quatermasses. Also appearing in the film was Sid James, later famous for his roles in Hancock's Half Hour and Bless This House on television and the Carry On films in the cinema. Brian Donlevy in The Big Combo Brian Donlevy (born Waldo Bruce Donlevy on February 9, 1901 in Cleveland, Ohio, died April 6, 1972 in Woodland Hills, California) was an American actor, known for many film roles from the 1930s to the 1960s. ... Reginald Tate, the first actor to portray Professor Bernard Quatermass, in 1953s The Quatermass Experiment. ... Andrew Keir, born Andrew Buggy on April 3, 1926 in Lanarkshire, Scotland, was a British actor, well-known for his roles in several Hammer Films horror film productions during the 1960s. ... Sid James Sid James (8 May 1913–26 April 1976) was a film and television actor. ... Hancocks Half Hour was a famous BBC radio comedy series of the 1950s starring Tony Hancock. ... DVD cover Bless This House on the cover of TV Times magazine. ... The Carry On films were a long-running series of British popular low-budget comedy films, directed by Gerald Thomas and produced by Peter Rogers. ...

Quatermass 2 is generally regarded by fans and critics as the least successful of Hammer's three film adaptations of the serials, although Kim Newman praised it as "extraordinary" in the Penguin Encyclopaedia of Horror and the Supernatural (1986). Comparing the film with Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Newman noted that, while Don Siegel's film is "a general allegory" about dehumanisation and conformity, Quatermass 2 is "a specific attack on the Conservative government of the time, down to the inclusion of several characters obviously based on real political figures". Kim Newman (born July 31, 1959) is an English journalist, film critic, and fiction writer. ... Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a 1956 science fiction film. ... Don Siegel (October 26, 1912 - April 20, 1991) was an influential American film director. ... Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, KG, MC, PC (June 12, 1897– January 14, 1977), British politician, was Foreign Secretary for three periods between 1935 and 1955, including World War II and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1955 to 1957. ...

Quatermass 2 was also useful to fans as it had been available on VHS and DVD before the original television serial was released. Hammer would go on to adapt the third BBC serial, Quatermass and the Pit, in 1967. Bottom view of VHS cassette with magnetic tape exposed Top view of VHS cassette with front casing removed The Vertical Helical Scan, better known by its abbreviation VHS (and often confused to be Video Home System) is a recording and playing standard for analog video cassette recorders (VCRs), developed by... DVD (commonly known as Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc) is an optical disc storage media format that can be used for data storage, including movies with high video and sound quality. ... The opening titles of Quatermass and the Pit. ... 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar (the link is to a full 1967 calendar). ...

The film is regarded as being the first 'numbered' sequel, a practice that would become much more prevalent during the 1970s.^[1]

References

1. ^ Halliwell's Who's Who in the Movies

External links

• Page on the film at The Quatermass Home Page
• Quatermass 2 at the Internet Movie Database