Quatermass and the Pit (1967)

Country of Origin: UK
Year of Production: 1967
Running Times: 97 mins
Length: 8730 ft
Format: Technicolor     35mm
Ratio: 1.66:1
Sound: mono

PRODUCTION
Production Company: Hammer
Producer: Anthony Nelson Keys
Production Manager: Ian Lewis

SCRIPT
Script: Nigel Kneale, from his TV serial

DIRECTION
Director: Roy Ward Baker
Assistant Director: Bert Batt

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Arthur Grant
Camera Operator: More Grant
Colour: Deluxe

EDITING AND POST-PRODUCTION
Supervising Editor: James Needs
Editor: Spencer Reeve

MUSIC
Music Supervisor: Philip Martell
Music: Tristram Cary

SOUND
Sound Recordist: Sash Fisher
Sound Editor: Roy Hyde
Sound System: RCA Sound System

COSTUMES AND MAKE-UP
Make Up: Michael Morris
Hair: Pearl Tipaldi
Wardrobe Mistress: Rosemary Burrows

SPECIAL EFFECTS
Special Effects: Bowie Films Ltd

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Supervising Art Director: Bernard Robinson
Art Director: Ken Ryan

OTHER CREW
Continuity: Doreen Dearnaley

LOCATIONS
Locations: M.G.M. British Studios, Boreham Wood, Herts

CASTING
Casting: Irene Lamb

CAST
Andrew Keir (Professor Bernard Quatermass)
James Donald (Doctor Roney)
Barbara Shelley (Barbara Judd)
Julian Glover (Colonel Breen)
Duncan Lamont (Sladden)
Bryan Marshall (Captain Potter)
Peter Copley (Howell)
Edwin Richfield (minister)
Grant Taylor (PC Ellis)
Maurice Good (Sergeant Cleghorn)
Robert Morris (Watson)
Sheila Steafel (journalist)
Hugh Futcher (Sapper West)
Hugh Morton (elderly journalist)
Thomas Heathcote (vicar)
Noel Howlett (abbey librarian)
Hugh Manning (pub customer)
June Ellis (blonde)
Keith Marsh (Johnson)
James Culliford (Corporal Gibson)
Bee Duffell (Miss Dobson)
Roger Avon (electrician)
Brian Peck (technical officer)
John Graham (inspector)
Charles Lamb (newsvendor)
David Savile (uncredited)
Peter Bennett (London Transport official (uncredited))
Peter Bourne (2nd electrician (uncredited))
John Bown (TV interviewer (uncredited))
Simon Brent (orderly officer (uncredited))
David Crane (attendant (uncredited))
Mark Elwes (2nd technician (uncredited))
Joseph Greig (pub customer (uncredited))
Walter Horsbrugh (messenger (uncredited))
Alastair Hunter (doorkeeper (uncredited))
Elroy Josephs (black workman (uncredited))
Michael Poole (older workman (uncredited))
John Rutland (2nd London Transport official (uncredited))
David Savile (army officer (uncredited))
Albert Shepherd (loader (uncredited))
William Ellis, Leslie Southwick, Brian Walton (journalists (uncredited))
Gareth Thomas (other workman (uncredited))
Ian White (TV announcer (uncredited))

PLOT SUMMARY

Work on a new London underground line is halted when a skeleton and what appears to be World War II missile are uncovered. But the 'missile' turns out to be an alien spacecraft and Professor Bernard Quatermass is called in to investigate. It soon turns out that the locust like aliens entombed in the ship are not as dead as they seem and that millions of years before they had had arrived on Earth from Mars to tamper with the brains of primitive ape creatures. The opening of the ship unleashes the ancient forces of evil that have lain dormant in humanity for millenia.

The third and best of Hammer's Quatermass films, this is a stunning achievement that explores many of the same concerns as 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) a year earlier. This is a film of great depth and intelligence that remains one of the finest films that Hammer ever made. The apocalyptic final scenes have rarely been equalled. (Full Review)

UK
Theatrical Distributor: Warner/Associated British-Pathe Limited
Video Distributor: Warner

USA
Theatrical Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
Video Distributors: Anchor Bay Entertainment Inc; Sinister Cinema
Laserdisc Distributor: Elite

Germany
Rating: 16

UK
Rating: X

USA
Rating: unrated

1967
September
27: UK - trade show in London

November
19: UK - theatrical release

1968
February
8: West German - theatrical release

March
Day Unknown: USA - theatrical release

1973
December
25: UK - television broadcast (on BBC2)

1975
November
10: UK - television broadcast (on BBC1)

1979
August
25: UK - television broadcast (on BBC2)

1984
April
14: UK - television broadcast (on BBC1)

1987
July
18: UK - television broadcast (on BBC2)

1989
July
8: UK - television broadcast (on BBC1)

1993
January
12: UK - television broadcast (on ITV)

1994
October
25: UK - television broadcast (on ITV)

1998
October
17: UK - television broadcast (on ITV)

Force more powerful than 1,000 H-Bombs unleashed to devastate earth! World in panic! Cities in flames!

L'astronave degli esseri perduti - Italian title
Five Million Years To Earth - US title
Das Grüne Blut der Dämonen - German title
The Mind Benders
Les monstres de l'espace - French title
?Qué sucedió entonces? - Spanish title

REMAKE OF
Quatermass and the Pit (1958 - 1959)

SEQUEL TO
The Quatermass Experiment (1955)
Quatermass II (1957)

SEE ALSO
Lifeforce (1985)
The Quatermass Experiment (1953)
Quatermass II (1955)
Quatermass (1978)

MAGAZINES

British National Film Catalogue vol.5 (1967) (UK)
credits, synopsis

Classic Television no.5 (June/July 1998) pp.10-25 (UK)
illustrated synopsis, article (British Film: The Classic Television Top 100 (no.80))

Daily Cinema no.9428 (2 October 1967) p.3 (UK)
review (by M.B.)

Dark Terrors no.3 p.16 (UK)
article

Dark Terrors no.8 (April 1994) pp.20-33 (UK)
illustrated production notes

Dark Terrors no.16 (December 1998) p.50 (UK)
video review

Empire June 1999 p.152 (UK)
review (by Kim Newman)

Film Comment vol.33 no.2 (March/April 1997) pp.64-67 (USA)
illustrated review

The House That Hammer Built no.6 (December 1997) pp.315-318 (UK)
illustrated credits, synopsis, review

Journal of Popular Film and Television vol.30 no.3 (Autumn 2002) pp.158-165 (USA)
illustrated bibliography, article ("Bring something back" - The strange career of Professor Quatermass by Dave Robinson and Nick Cooper)

Kine Weekly no.3129 (30 September 1967) pp.8; 20 (UK)
illustrated note (Hammer lunch after Quatermass preview); review (by Graham Clarke)

Monthly Film Bulletin vol.34 no.406 (November 1967) p.177 (UK)
credits, synopsis, review

Sight and Sound vol.14 no.2 (February 2004) p.67 (UK)
DVD review

Starburst no.280 (December 2001) pp.76-81 (UK)
illustrated article

Video Watchdog 42 pp.31-32 (USA)
review

BOOKS

Video Source Book (13th ed) 1992 p.2102
credits, US video data

OTHER SOURCES

screen
credits

KEYWORDS

aliens, possession, bomb disposal, martians, scientists, paleontologists, subways, journalists, london, insects, evolution

Last Updated: 1 January, 2009