A mysterious artifact is unearthed in London, and famous scientist Bernard Quatermass is called in to divine its origins and explain its strange effects on people.A mysterious artifact is unearthed in London, and famous scientist Bernard Quatermass is called in to divine its origins and explain its strange effects on people.A mysterious artifact is unearthed in London, and famous scientist Bernard Quatermass is called in to divine its origins and explain its strange effects on people.
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaIn the London Underground, there are quite a few posters from other Hammer projects such as The Reptile (1966), Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966), and The Witches (1966), as well as My Fair Lady (1964) and Hotel (1967), on the station walls. An old, partially-ripped poster for Sex and the Single Girl (1964) can be seen on the wall opposite the entrance to Hobbs End station.
- GoofsA minute or so before the end credits roll, as Quatermass is walking away from the devastation, a crew member's hand swings into the right-hand side of the frame and back out again.
- Quotes
Professor Bernard Quatermass: The will to survive... it's an odd phenomenon. Roney, if we found out earth was doomed - say, by climatic changes - what would we do about it?
Dr. Mathew Roney: Nothing. Just go on squabbling as usual.
Professor Bernard Quatermass: Yes, but if we weren't men?
- Alternate versionsThe 2011 UK DVD and Blu-ray release has some of the credits in the opening titles reworked to remove the "Associated Britsh-Pathe Limited presents" credit and accordingly the titles appearing from "A Hammer Film Production" to the title of the film appear in a different synchronized order and accordingly have been extended to appear longer on the print by a few seconds so that the title of the film still appears at the same music clash points as intended.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Aweful Movies with Deadly Earnest: Five Million Years to Earth (1972)
It has a clear narrative and each new discovery pushes the envelope of fear and amazement further out. There is no romantic interest (though I must declare the Miss Judd character is pretty darn attractive) to hold up the driving plot. If there is a fault it is that the story can scarcely contain the wealth of material that Nigel Kneale puts in the script. Presumably there isn't a longer director's cut in some film archive!
With limited resources at hand the director, Roy Ward Baker, directs some great scenes, weird and strange and scary. He is served well by the acting of James Donald, Andrew Keir and Barbara Shelley, which is perfect for their roles. As the alien presence become stronger you believe it when it affects the characters. The scene at the pit where Miss Judd has her visions recorded is excellent. The special effects are varied but the green arthropods and the space ship look quite malevolent. The ending is great and somehow disquieting as the closing credits slowly roll.
This is a good example of an interesting intelligent film, costing less than the catering budget of the elephantine mega-budget film we have these days, but much more effective and memorable.
- henry-girling
- Jun 14, 2004
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Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Five Million Years to Earth
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- £275,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 37 minutes
- Aspect ratio
- 1.66 : 1
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