The Abominable Snowman

60 years ago one of the greatest horror films of all time was released, Hammer Films production of “The Abominable Snowman”, known in the US as “The Abominable Snowman Of The Himalayas”. This was the third, and last for 10 years, of the productions by the studio based on an original TV serial or TV production written by Nigel Kneale. Those three Quatermass films are among the best science fiction/horror films ever made. “Abominable” is the best horror film that Hammer Films ever made.

The basic story of “The Abominable Snowman” is one of many horror films, finding a creature or place that is forbidden, and possibly haunted. The approach is much more mystical and psychological than the typical horror film. Actually it is one of the most haunting and mystical films ever made. The adventure is mysterious and exciting, but the implications on the people involved take on much greater meaning than usual.

Forrest Tucker plays Tom Friend, an opportunistic exploiter that seeks things that he believes the typical consumer will pay money to see. He believes that the three things man reacts to are hunger, fear, and curiosity, and he can find something that will peak their interest. Despite this seemingly very shallow and negative outlook Friend does not come off like a bad person. He is flawed, and not necessarily a role model, but he is very sympathetic, and is essentially a good person, who doesn’t think the bad choices he’s making will hurt anyone, certainly not intentionally. There end up being dire consequences, but he isn’t seeing how unlikely his pursuit of the Abominable Snowman will become. He respects John Rollason, and is a really good friend, as well as to Edward Shelley, but he thinks he knows all the answers, and the Snowmen know what he thinks, something he will never actually come around to understand.

Forrest Tucker was a wonderful leading man, often playing villains in westerns, his debut being opposite Gary Cooper in “The Westerner”. He appeared in “The Yearling”, “Auntie Mame” and “Chisom”

He appeared in a few UK/American co-productions, including “Break In The Circle” directed by Val Guest in 1953, with Guest casting him in “The Abominable Snowman”, his first horror film, which lead to “The Cosmic Monsters” (“The Strange World Of Planet X”) and “The Crawling Eye”. These co-productions would use a popular American leading man which would draw American audiences, with the rest of the cast being made up of English actors. It is why Brian Donlevy played Dr. Quatermass in the first two films, and why Tucker was brought in for “Abominable”.

In 1964 he’d play Sergeant O’Roarke in the all-time classic comedy western series “F Troop”, with Larry Storch and Ken Berry. He’d appear in the Disney TV film “A Boy Called Nothin'” with Ron Howard in 1967. He’d appear with Bob Denver in “Dusty’s Trail” in 1973. Forrest Tucker and Larry Storch would reunite in the 1975 Saturday Morning Filmation live-action show “The Ghost Busters”, as well as in “The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn” in 1981. Forrest Tucker would pass away on 10/25/86 at the age of 67.

The very last episode of the show “The Ghost Busters”, a dopey but really enjoyable kiddie live-action show with Forrest Tucker and Larry Storch has their last monster end up being the Abominable Snowman. It’s a nutty show, and is very low budget, but it has a charm that’s real, and it having the Snowman as the last ‘villain’ was a wonderful touch, an obvious tribute to Mr. Tucker’s earlier adversary.

Peter Cushing plays John Rollason, a scientist who has been seeking the Abominable Snowman for years, and had a nasty accident some years back mountain climbing that prevented him from continuing his pursuit. With the Tom Friend expedition he has decided to finally find the creature, much to the great pain of his wife, Helen. Their relationship is one of the greatest love stories ever put in a horror film. He loves his wife, but has to pursue what he believes to be a calling, and he doesn’t want to hurt her, inescapably doing so. John Rollason is an extremely decent human being, and he is extremely honorable. He is the moral compass of the film, and he is a very powerful force, able to see the incredible complexities that each step to finding the Snowman creates. They are invading a private world, and he sees the extreme dangers that are occurring around them, generally before the others do, though he doesn’t fully understand the Lhama when he warns him before they go on the expedition. He is willing to stop continuing after the first one is found, but it isn’t up to him, and each turn will bring greater tragedy.

Maureen Connell plays Helen Rollason, the wife of John Rollason, and when she finds out that he is going to begin again his quest to find the mysterious creature her world is torn apart. She’s already dealt with his previous bad accident, which must have been a near death experience, since her fear of what will happen to him is instantaneous. She fears she’ll never see him again, and that he will die in his pursuit. Her great love for John and her desperation in worrying about where all this will end makes her unbelievably sympathetic. She is his reason, and he isn’t listening to her, creating her incredible nightmare. Her love for him makes his character that much more important, since she is such a beautiful character, inside and out, that the fact that she’d care that much for him shows how good a person he is too accordingly.

Maureen Connell was a British leading actress in the late 50s and early 60s, appearing only in English productions. She married director John Guillermin, who directed films like Peter Sellers’ “The Waltz Of The Toreadors” and the all-star disaster film “The Towering Inferno”. Her last film was “Skyjacked” in 1972 with Charlton Heston, directed by Guillermin, though they would unfortunately divorce later. Her biggest role is Helen in “The Abominable Snowman”, and she is so powerful in it that it is a pity that she didn’t have a bigger career, tending to her family. She is still alive, and hopefully well.

Robert Brown plays Edward Shelley, the rather simpler and more aggressive member of the party. He isn’t a bad man, but he is simple, and all of Friend’s worst traits are magnified in Ed. He is more of a military kind of war brute, and yet he doesn’t come off as evil, just unable to see beyond his ambitions. He is quite loyal, and it’s tough to really dislike him. Robert Brown plays Ed a bit over the top, but it’s appropriate. He is a little bit limited and excitable, making his choices more an inability to see the big picture, or have enough empathy for killing another creature, even if it is an Abominable Snowman. He sees it as an animal hunter, not as a living creature, though there’s increasing evidence that they are dealing with more than a savage animal.

Robert Brown was a British character actor, appearing in many films and TV shows like the classic “Billie Budd” directed by Peter Ustinov. He’d appear in Disney’s “The Horse Without A Head”, and as one of the Scarecrow’s men in the classic “Dr. Syn Alias The Scarecrow” (“The Scarecrow Of Romney Marsh”), one of the greatest Disney films. He’d later appear as Admiral Hargreaves in the James Bond films, starting with “The Spy Who Loved Me”, all the way up to “Licence To Kill”, becoming M in “Octopussy”, after the passing of Bernard Lee. Robert Brown passed away on 11/11/03 at the age of 82.

Arnold Marle plays the Lhama, an incredibly mysterious and different character. He knows what everyone is trying to do long before they realize they’re going to do it, and is very much in sync with nature and what should be. He knows the Snowman shouldn’t be sought, and that man shouldn’t meddle with things that are much greater than their understanding. It is like Dr. Frankenstein seeking how to create life, with just as dire a consequences. He is a little unsettling, and not totally likeable, and yet one knows he’s correct about everything he says. He is willing to fight for what he believes has to be, and creates great tension with the principles, especially in poor Helen.

Arnold Marle was a German actor who came over to the UK in the 1930s. The Lhama is quite complex, and he still makes him a definite force of good. Marle appeared in many film and television productions, including playing the doctor who can’t see what’s quite obvious in the UK horror film “The Snake Woman”, a not bad low budget film. Arnold Marle passed away on 2/21/70 at the age of 82.

Michael Brill plays McNee, the fragile, and obsessed member of the party. He has seen the footprints of the creature, and become obsessed with finding the creature, doing anything to unravel the mystery. He has tried to go up the mountain, but is weak, and unable to really go since he is a danger to others with his limitations. It is only because Tom Friend has allowed him to PAY him to come along on the trip that he is part of the expedition (Tom Friend does live off the fear of others). His being able to get mentally affected by the presence of the Snowmen, putting him in a trance-like state, is quite haunting, and shows how little he is in control of his own destiny. It is McNee who first hears the Snowmen howling, or crying, an extremely haunting sound that is unforgettable.

“Listen! I was certain I heard something, but you were talking so loudly.”
“Outside?” “What?”
“A sort of crying.”

Michael Brill was a British character actor, appearing in the remake “The Barretts Of Wimpole Street” in 1957. He passed away on 4/13/11 the age of 83.

Richard Wattis plays Peter Fox, or Foxy, the fellow scientist, and friend of John and Helen, who has to try to comfort Helen during her torment of waiting for the expedition to return. Richard Wattis is very likeable and strong as Foxy, making him a true friend who wants to help, knowing how dangerous the situation is. He tries to keep Helen be logical and not overreacting to her worst fears, though he knows she’s right.

Richard Wattis was a wonderfully eccentric British character actor, always playing prissy or snooty types, often in comedy films. He is a very recognizable face that usually people didn’t know the name of. He appeared in films like “The Belles Of St. Trinian’s” and “The Green Man”, and TV shows like “Secret Agent”. He appeared in Disney’s “Bon Voyage”, and later in “Diamonds On Wheels”, one of his last films, passing away on 2/1/75 at the age of 62.

Wolfe Morris plays Kusang, the Asian guide of the expedition, who supposedly has seen the Snowman before. Eventually it is revealed that he hasn’t, but he will. His reaction to actually seeing the Snowman (or at least his arm) is one of the most haunting moments ever done in a horror film. “I see, I see what man must not see! I see true Yeti! YOU MAKE ME SEE!”, before hysterically running away. Seeing this character run down the mountainside at night, in unbelievable horror, suggests he will never be the same again, having essentially seen the big secret, but horrified as if he’s seen Satan. He has gone too far in going along with the idea that he’s a porter who’s seen a real one, and being driven insane by realizing that he really has now seen one.

Wolfe Morris was a supporting character actor, appearing in many productions. He become a regular cast member of Val Guest films. At Disney he appeared as Dr. Krause, who administers a truth serum to Professor Alexis Buchinsky in the classic “The Omega Connection”. Wolfe Morris would pass away on 7/21/96 at the age of 71, unfortunately taking his own life.

The cinematography of the film is gorgeous, with snowbound shots that are astounding. Yes, they are location sequences combined with somewhat obvious studio snowbound locations, but they are very effective, and create a very forbidding, haunting world, with mystery at every turn. Cinematographer Arthur Grant has some unbelievably beautiful compositions, at times breathtaking (it would be something to see this film on the big screen).

The music is by Humphrey Searle, conducted by John Holingsworth, and the power of these compositions is out of this world incredible. From the opening titles there is a sense of foreboding that something unbelievably tragic is going to occur, and the anguish and turmoil is extremely deep. There is a longing and a lonely emptiness that is relayed by the music that is unforgettable. The music alone is an experience unto itself, one of the most powerful scores ever done for any horror film. After the film is seen a few times that music is an instant flood of unbelievably complex emotions that captures so much the rollercoaster of feelings that this film creates. The moments when the camera transitions from the monk headquarters to the top of the mountain peaks are overwhelming in their power, the visuals and music creating a breathtaking moment, which is done twice to incredible effect. This score is right up there with the greatest scores ever made for a horror film, alongside “House Of Frankenstein”, “Son Of Frankenstein” and “The Wolf Man”.

Just like the other Nigel Kneale productions, “The Abominable Snowman” originated on television, as a live two-hour production called “The Creature”. It starred Peter Cushing in his role, Arnold Marle as the Lhama, and Wolfe Morris as Kusang. It was seemingly not recorded, something that happened with the last 4 chapters of the first Quatermass serial, accordingly a lost production, which may never be seen again, the UK being even less careful with their television heritage than the US was. Fortunately the two later Quatermass serials were recorded for posterity.

They were originally going to call the film “The Creature”, but a low budget film by W. Lee Wilder called “The Snow Creature” was released in 1954, which is a pretty bad film (he also did “Killers From Space”, a bizarre, but also incredibly stupid film). Its existence required the change to “The Abominable Snowman”, which is a better title in the long run, a beneficial change.

Val Guest directs the film, and he was the perfect choice for the Nigel Kneale films, bringing the cerebral complexities, humanity, PLUS the action and tension of the stories to life. Nigel Kneale was never crazy about what Val Guest did to the three films, but I believe he was wrong. I’ve seen the original TV productions, which are excellent, but they run about three hours (the first serial only has two chapters available now, the others never being recorded during the live productions, foolishly), and horror films of that time lasted only about 80 minutes, making pruning necessary. Kneale may have been too close to the subject matter to see that, and may not have seen the necessities to cut some of the material. What the serials achieve is taken to a higher level with the choices by Val Guest, making them incredibly cinematic and emotional, along with their original cerebral qualities.

This was the only horror film produced by Aubrey Baring (Michael Carreras executive produced). He produced a number of interesting films over 15 years, starting with “Snowbound” with Robert Newton and Herbert Lom, and ending with “The Wrong Arm Of The Law” a delightful comedy of Peter Sellers and Lionel Jeffries.

The Hammer Studio technically existed since the 1930s, the Bela Lugosi film “The Mystery Of The Mary Celeste” (“The Phantom Ship”) being an early film of theirs. It was in the 1950s that they started becoming a major studio, and the Quatermass films were their first horror films (sci-fi horror). They did really well, but a little remake called “Horror Of Dracula”, followed by “The Curse Of Frankenstein”, both with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, and both in color, went through the roof. Their success made it be the blueprint for the kind of films that Hammer Films would make, leaving behind the more subtle and elegant, not to mention incredibly cerebral, subjects of the Nigel Kneale films behind, tackling the third Quatermass story years later, “Quatermass And The Pit” (“Five Million Years To Earth”), released in 1967.

I never cared for the Hammer films. I always thought the Universal Horror films were so fantastic, and saw the Hammer productions as also-rans at best, with their much more obvious elements of gore, sex, and color films having much less to offer than Universal, and the more traditional style of Hollywood horror films from all the different studios. Then around 1989 I discovered “The Quatermass Experiment” (“The Creeping Unknown”), followed by “Quatermass 2” (“Enemy From Space”), and I was floored. Their incredible tense stories, fantastic music, and haunting aspects are very unique and emotionally gripping. I’d see “Quatermass And The Pit” (“Five Million Years To Earth”) after, and found it amazing that these films could be from Hammer, since they didn’t suggest anything I’d seen from them before. I’d realize afterward that it was Nigel Kneale’s writing that made these films so incredible, and that they were actually the beginning of the Hammer horror films. I think the Quatermass films are among the most incredibly exciting, and haunting, films ever made.

Even though I always have known that Peter Cushing is a wonderful actor, I couldn’t think of any film that I really liked of his, or him in, except maybe “Star Wars”, but it isn’t a horror film. I didn’t hate the Hammer films, but I didn’t care for them much either. I accordingly resisted “The Abominable Snowman” for years, not thinking it likely that I’d care for it much, suggesting more a typical Hammer than Quatermass (I remember it playing on USA Network in the 80s). Then I found out Nigel Kneale had written it, and bought the laserdisc, seeing it widescreen, the film being shot in 2:35, needing widescreen to really see everything, around 1998.

From the first time I saw it I was hooked. I couldn’t believe the music, the look, and the incredible angst in the story. Everyone is great: Forrest Tucker, who I’ve always adored because of “F Troop”, is very likeable despite playing a somewhat questionable character, Robert Brown I always liked because of “Dr. Syn” and the Bond films, and Richard Mattis I had seen in many films. However it was a total revelation to see Peter Cushing in such an overpowering performance. He is so real, so empathetic, and so endearing that one is hoping that he will be spared a horrific end. His character is one of the greatest heroes in any horror film, for he is incredibly not selfish, and wanting to do the right thing, not knowing what he has been pursuing can be as complex as it ends up being. It is a great performance, and if it was the only performance that Cushing had ever done it’d be enough for me.

Ironically after seeing the Hammer films in earnest I still think they’re only OK, and realize why I never cared for Peter Cushing before: he generally played some of the nastiest jerks ever put in horror films of that time; they are generally ruthless scums, with no redeeming values. His Dr. Frankenstein is a contemptible character, a very different concept than the tortured Dr. Frankenstein of Colin Clive for Universal. Yes, he is a villain, but unlike the villains of Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney Jr., etc., his are really cold spiteful characters. I’ve always felt that a villain has to be somewhat sympathetic, but the Hammer films don’t generally go for that. He was sympathetic in “The Mummy” , as was Christopher Lee as the Mummy, but it is nothing next to Universal’s “The Mummy” with Karloff. I don’t really relate to Hammer, though there are some decent films, which I simply have little affinity for (“The Devil’s Bride” with Christopher Lee is a notable exception in being a very powerful film, with an excellent Christopher Lee and an early performance by Paul Eddington). Peter Cushing played more characters like Dr. Frankenstein than like John Rollason, but playing John Rollason is enough for me. He was a true great.

It was Peter Cushing, who appeared in the original TV version in 1955, who asked Nigel Kneale to add a wife to the story, there being no Helen or Foxy in the original television version. Peter Cushing had a great marriage, and his wife’s middle name was Helene (pronounced Helen), so it is interesting that HE saw how important her inclusion would be to the story, Kneale making the name Helen obviously intentionally. Would it be a wonderful film without her? Yes. It is with her inclusion that it is a GREAT film, as well as one unbelievable love story. 14 years later Peter Cushing’s wife, Violet Helene Beck, would die on 1/14/71, a slow death that was very difficult on Peter Cushing. They were married for 28 years, and he would never remarry. Christopher Lee, his close friend in real life, stated that those years were very difficult for his friend, Peter tortured by her suffering and loss. Peter Cushing passed away 8/11/94 at the age of 81.

For me the most important character is Helen, and it is because Maureen Connell is so unbelievably vulnerable and sympathetic that the film becomes a great film. One feels for her tortured existence, going through hell in fear that her husband is going to die, or already dead, and it is an incredibly powerful performance; the humanity and anguish that she brings to the character is overwhelming. Her first scene shows her to have a sense of humor, a wonderful camaraderie with Foxy, but it will be the last light moment she will have within the story, horror melodramas rarely having much humor, creating even more tension. She will go through pure hell.

Her love for John is incredibly rich, and you can see the flood of emotions when she finds out from the Lhama that John is going on the expedition, the Lhama realizing that John’s weakness in not wanting to let her know that he’s going on the expedition, which may make him not participate. Her turn from wonderful wife to tortured soul really can tear you apart. Her whole world will collapse if John passes, and she’s desperately trying to warn him of the oncoming danger. Maureen Connell is simply magnificent in the role, and it such a pity that after marrying John Guillermin her raising her family meant that she never really did much acting afterward. She adds layers to her character that make her unforgettable.

At the end of the film John has met the Snowmen, us only knowing of their meeting, and we then go to the mountain cabin that Helen and Foxy have gone up to to find John with a party of climbing guides. While all are still sleeping Helen hears a howl in the wind, the howl of the Snowmen, and gets up, venturing into the blinding snow storm, looking for John. She scales the sides, the winds gusting with great force. She reaches a point, and then sees John standing like a petrified corpse, and the scream that she emits is unbelievably heartbreaking. “NO NO, IT CANNOT BE!!! I’ve lost him!”, desperately trying to resuscitate him on the ground, when Foxy arrives. The emotions of incredible loss and death are so powerful, made possible by John Rollason having been so sympathetic, and most of all because Helen loves him so that she would jeopardize her own life just to save him, her being even more sympathetic. It is a devastating scene.

One aspect of “The Abominable Snowman” is its incredible haunting nature. I cannot think of another film that I find as haunting as this film. It is like one wants to see God, but God tells you, “No, no, no.” The Snowmen are benevolent, and in a way that is almost indescribable. It is like they are God-like, and cannot be seen since it would break all the rules of the world. They do end up killing, but it is for protecting their race, self preservation. Obviously Tom Friend doesn’t see the great wrongs he’s thinking of doing, nor Ed. McNee is a little more complicated, but it is simply that his obsession of finding the Snowmen is endangering them at every turn, and he can’t continue to harm them inadvertently, as he does, since he is the most responsible for the hunters being able to kill one of them, going into a trance that gives away that the Snowmen are nearby. Each death in the film is quite haunting and unnerving.

Near the end John tells Tom:

“It was something the Lhama said, about taking thoughtful man’s successes. I didn’t understand then, but suppose we’re the savages… Perhaps for them we’ve been in the dark ages, fettered ourselves too long. Perhaps we’re not homosapiens, thinking man, but as our thinking brought us to, but homovastans, man the destroyer… We can only be here to destroy them. They must be aware of that… If they can deal with us, their secret is kept.”

When Tom Friend meets his end it is one of the most haunting moments ever caught on film. It’s like he’s looking at the face of God and the Devil at the same time, because of his transgressions, not all of them intentional, but his short sided viewpoint doesn’t allow for him to see what John can see, and has warned him about. It is heartbreaking to see his bewilderment, especially since he has been the one responsible for Ed being dead. Unbelievably haunting, and it is an incredible performance by Forrest Tucker. Considering he isn’t as good a character, he’s still very sympathetic, and Tucker infuses him with a humanity that is complicated; he’s not a great man, but he is human and he is essentially a good, flawed man.

John’s meeting the Snowmen is an extraordinary scene. His returning to the cave, with everyone now gone, makes him realize when he hears a noise that the quest is over. His looking up to these towering, silhouetted creatures, is similar to Tom’s fate, but with an understanding from both sides that makes it even deeper. It’s as if John is looking at the face of God, and hasn’t realized it entirely until that moment.

Just after Helen finds John petrified in the wind storm, the camera zooms to a nearby area, showing their footprints, and it is revealed that it was the Snowmen that have left John there to be found by Helen. Their howling, which they do when their comrade is killed, is how they call her to find him; it is such an incredible idea. They know John is a decent man, an extremely decent man, and cannot give him the same fate as the others, even though he knows more about them now than all the others did. They can read minds. They can give messages to the mind that one thinks one is hearing something, when it is all in their mental state. They know he never would have harmed them, and will not allow them to be harmed by his actions.

The other thing that makes it so haunting is the photography of the vast snow-ridden mountains, along with the haunting music, an incredible combination that suggests something much more powerful than man, or earthly ideas. It is like it’s from God’s point of view, and is uncomfortable with the sins of the men who are seeking what they shouldn’t know. Like Kusang says, “I see what man must not see… YOU MAKE ME SEE!” Man is man, and man isn’t God, and cannot delve into things that are so wrong that one cannot comprehend them.

On a technical note the slowly moving, unbelievably beautiful shots of the snow covered mountains were shot from the cable cars that took the crew to the top of the mountain, not through helicopter. Val Guest stated they had to take the cars every morning to go up, and they must have noticed the beauty they were seeing on the way up. I can’t think of another shot of a vast area that has a more powerful effect than the two times that they show the ominous areas. Of course they’re ominous because of the content of the film, but they take on a personality of their own after one first sees the film. It’s the French Peonies where they shot the footage, though none of the actual cast members actually went up there, only their doubles.

I can’t think of any horror films that have the incredible complexities and depths that the three Quatermass films, and “The Abominable Snowman” have. At many moments in the stories the viewer is given things to think about that challenges one’s point of view of what’s happening on screen. These four are his most famous stories, but it’s a pity he didn’t get more attention. Nigel Kneale passed away on 10/29/06 at the age of 84.

“The Abominable Snowman” was released on 8/6/57 in the UK, and in the United States in October of 1957. It would later be double billed in 1958 with another classic, “The Crawling Eye” (“The Trollenberg Terror”) in the United States, also starring Forrest Tucker (with Janet Munro). When released in the US it was retitled “The Abominable Snowman Of The Himalayas” (like where else would he be from?), and they cut three scenes, or actually parts of scenes. The other climbing party that shoots at our heroes is cut, as well as the slightly salacious story that Ed says after they first hear the Snowmen outside. The third cut scene is where the Lhama explains to John the evils that man cannot comprehend, a scene that is so important to understand his character, and how he knows what is coming, that it is a pity that they removed it at the time so it would be shorter for a double-bill, something that almost all these films had happen when released in the US. Ironically the exchange is mentioned by John when he and Tom are waiting for the last battle, John saying, “It’s what the Lhama said”…, and the last shot of the edited scene is used as a negative shot in the original US trailer of the film, to absurdly suggest that the Lhama is the monster, the only real problem with the excellent trailer.

“The Abominable Snowman” is one of the greatest horror films ever made. It is a story about the limitations of man, about what lurks in the human heart, about morals, and that love is so powerful. It has a wonderful performance by Forrest Tucker, what I believe is the best performance by Peter Cushing, and the extraordinary grace and power of Maureen Connell. Considering I first saw the film around 1998, one of the last laserdiscs that I bought, it has become so much a part of my life. It is an overpowering experience, and one of my favorite films of all time. It is a mystical, incredibly deep film that deserves to be better known.