X the Unknown [1956]

Country of Origin: UK
Year of Production: 1956
Running Times: 75 mins
Format: black and white
Ratio:
Sound: mono

PRODUCTION
Production Company: Hammer Film Productions Limited
Executive Producer: Michael Carreras
Producer: Anthony Hinds
Associate Producer: Mickey Delamar [uncredited]
Production Manager: Jimmy Sangster

SCRIPT
Screenplay: Jimmy Sangster

DIRECTION
Directors: Leslie Norman, Joseph Losey [uncredited]
Assistant Director: Chris Sutton
2nd Assistant Director: Roy Stevens [uncredited]
3rd Assistant Director: Hugh Harlow [uncredited]

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Gerald Gibbs
Camera Operator: Len Harris
Focus Puller: Harry Oakes [uncredited]
Clapper Loader: Michael Rutter [uncredited]

EDITOR
Editor: James Needs

MUSIC
Music Director: John Hollingsworth
Music: James Bernard
Conductor: John Hollingsworth

SOUND
Sound Mixer: Jock May
Sound Editor: Alfred Cox
Sound System: RCA Sound System

MAKE UP AND COSTUMES
Make Up: Philip Leakey
Wardrobe Supervisor: Molly Arbuthnot

SPECIAL MAKE UP
Special Make Up Effects: Philip Leakey

SPECIAL EFFECTS
Special Effects: Bowie-Margutti Ltd
Special Effects Associate: Jack Curtis

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Art Director: Edward Marshall [uncredited]
Draughtsman: Don Mingaye [uncredited]

MISCELLANEOUS
Continuity: June Randall

LOCATIONS
Locations: Bray Studios, Berkshire, England, UK

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks To: The War Office

CASTING
Casting: Joseph Losey [uncredited]

CAST
Dean Jagger [Dr Adam Royston]
Edward Chapman [John Elliott]
Leo McKern [Inspector McGill]
Anthony Newley [Corporal "Spider" Webb]
Jameson Clark [Jack Harding]
William Lucas [Peter Elliott]
Marianne Brauns [Zena]
Peter Hammond [Lt Bannerman]
Ian MacNaughton [Cpl Haggis]
Michael Ripper [Sgt Harry Grimsdyke]
John Harvey [Major Cartwright]
Edwin Richfield [soldier burned on back]
Jane Aird [Vi Harding]
Norman Macowan [Old Tom]
Neil Hallett [Unwin]
Kenneth Cope [Pvt. Lansing]
Michael Brooke [Willie Harding]
Fraser Hines [Ian Osborn]
Robert Bruce [Dr Kelly - uncredited]
Archie Duncan [Sgt Yeardye - uncredited]
Stella Kemball [Willie's room nurse - uncredited]
John Stone [Gerry - uncredited]
Neil Wilson [Russell - uncredited]
John Stirling [police car driver - uncredited]
Shaw Taylor [police radio operator - uncredited]
Frank Taylor [P.C. Williams - uncredited]
Brown Derby [vicar - uncredited]
Max Brimmell [hospital director - uncredited]
Anthony Sagar [gateman - uncredited]
Philip Levene [security man - uncredited]
Barry Steel [soldier in trench]
Lawrence James [2nd guard - uncredited]
Brian Peck [1st soldier - uncredited]
Edward Judd [2nd soldier - uncredited]
Stephenson Lang - uncredited]
Angela Crow [uncredited]

Radiation tests being staged by the British Army at a remote Scottish base disturb a radioactive creature that attacks and kills two soldiers before disappearing. It leaves behind a huge fissure in the earth, then returns and starts attacking with increasing ferocity, absorbing radiation as it goes and growing larger and larger...

Hammer's follow-up to the might The Quatermass Experiment [1955] is the lesser film but is nontheless a fine piece of work, grittily directed by Leslie Morman and tightly plotted by future Hammer regular scribe Jimmy Sangster. The monster is a bet of a let down though.

UK
Theatrical Distributor: Exclusive Films
Video Distributor: Walton

USA
Theatrical Distributor: Warner Brothers
Video Distributor: Warner Brothers

CENSORSHIP HISTORY

Finland
Rating: K-16

UK
Rating: X

USA
Rating: unrated

1956
January
9: Principal photography begins; James Carreras brokers a distribution deal with Sol Lesser

February
Day Unknown: Principal photography ends

August
14: UK - trade show at the Studio One, London [at 1030]

September
21: UK - London premiere at the Pavilion Theatre, Piccadilly Circus

November
5: UK - theatrical release on ABC circuit on double bill with Les Diaboliques

1957
June
24: Denmark - theatrical release

1959
February
20: Finland - theatrical release

X contro il centro atomico - Italian title
X - tuntematon - Finnish title

SEE ALSO
The Blob [1958]
Caltiki, il mostro immortale [1959]
The Quatermass Experiment [1955]

MAGAZINES

Daily Film Renter no.7191 [16 August 1956] p.3 [UK]
review [by S.M.]

Fangoria no.184 [July 1999] p.35 [USA]
illustrated review

The House That Hammer Built no.1 [February 1997] pp.35-40 [UK]
illustrated credits, synopsis, production notes [by Wayne Kinsey]

Kinematograph Weekly no.2557 [16 August 1956] p.23 [UK]
review [by Josh Billings]

Monthly Film Bulletin vol.23 no.273 [October 1956] p.128 [UK]
review

Today's Cinema vol.87 no.7586 [15 August 1956] p.9 [UK]
review [by D.R.]

BOOKS

The A-Z of Science Fiction and Fantasy Films p.299
credits, review

Aurum Encyclopedia of Film: Science Fiction pp.164-165
credits, review

Elliot's Guide to Films on Video p.890
credits, review, UK video data

The Hammer Story pp.18-19
illustrated credits, synopsis, review

Hoffman's Guide to Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Movies 1991-1992 p.401
credits, review

Horror and Science Fiction Films III pp.309-310
credits

Reference Guide to Fantastic Films p.552
credits

KEYWORDS

military, blobs, monsters, radiation

Last Updated: 6 March, 2007