X the Unknown

X the Unknown
X the Unknown DVD cover
Directed by	Leslie Norman
Produced by	Anthony Hinds
Written by	Jimmy Sangster
Starring	Dean Jagger
Music by	James Bernard
Editing by	James Needs
Release date(s)	November 5, 1956 (UK release)
Running time	81 minutes
Language	English

X the Unknown is a British science-fiction / horror film made by the Hammer Films company and released in 1956.

Production

The film was originally intended by Hammer to be a sequel to the previous year's successful The Quatermass Xperiment, but writer Nigel Kneale refused permission for the character of Bernard Quatermass to be used.

The film starred Dean Jagger, Edward Chapman and Leo McKern. It was written by Jimmy Sangster, and was originally to have been directed by Joseph Losey (working under the name Joseph Walton). Losey was an American director who had moved to the UK after being placed on the Hollywood blacklist. Although Losey did begin shooting the film and some of his footage is included in the final cut, when Dean Jagger arrived on set the star refused to work with a suspected Communist sympathiser. Losey was replaced by Leslie Norman, officially for health reasons.

Plot

The film takes place in the Lochmouth area of Scotland, near Glasgow. A group of soldiers are taking turns using a Geiger counter to find a small and harmless hidden source of radioactivity in a wide pit area. Private Lansing finds another mysterious source of radiation where ground water starts to boil. As the other soldiers begin to run, there is an explosion. Lansing, who was closest to the explosion, dies of radiation burns while another soldier has bad radiation burns to his back. At the site of the explosion, there is a Y-shaped crack in the ground with no apparent bottom. Dr. Royston from a nearby Atomic Energy establishment at Lochmouth is called in to investigate, along with Inspector McGill who runs security at the UK Atomic Energy Commission.

That night, a local boy, on a dare from his friend, goes to a tower on the marshes. He sees a horrific off-camera sight. He refuses to tell his friend what has happened but continues running. The friend follows. Royston investigates the tower and finds an old man inside who had a canister of a formerly radioactive material now drained of radioactivity. The boy dies next day from radiation burns.

Shortly afterwards, a young doctor named Unwin is having an intimate encounter with a nurse in a radiation lab at the hospital when something off-camera reduces him to a charred corpse and leaves the nurse out of her mind and screaming.

Royston hypothesizes that a form of life, existing in distant prehistory when the Earth's surface was largely molten, had been trapped by the crust of the Earth as it cooled; every 50 years there is a tidal surge that these creatures feel, which causes them to try to reach the surface in order to find food from radioactive sources.

Two soldiers have been left to guard the pit. One goes to investigate a mysterious glow in the pit. The other one hears his screams and goes to investigate. He shoots at something off-camera, but is killed. The next day, a soldier named Elliott volunteers to be lowered into the crack, and on his way down sees a skull. Farther down, he sees the monster, still off camera, and his compatriots race to get him back to the surface again before the monster can reach him.

The army uses flamethrowers and explosives in an attempt to kill the creatures, then it seals the crack with concrete. Royston points out that the monster broke through miles of Earth to get to the surface, so a few feet of concrete would be unable to stop it. Meanwhile he continues with his pet experiment, discovering a way to neutralize radiation using radio waves tuned to a certain frequency. The monster comes out again that night; it is shown to be an amorphous glowing mass (similar to The Blob or Caltiki). Some distance away, a car with four people in it is badly burned and all four people are melted.

The thing travels to Lochmouth Atomic Energy establishment to get the cobalt used there. The Lochmouth inhabitants hide in a chapel as the monster approaches them. The creature raids the nuclear establishment before the authorities can remove the radioactive cobalt to a safe distance. As a result the creature grows even larger. As it returns through the village of Lochmouth, it narrowly misses the chapel and a little girl who has gone outside to play.

Royston and McGill hypothesize that the creature will move through the centre of Inverness, a nearby town, to reach another source of radioactive material nearby. Royston has some success with his anti-radiation device which neutralises a small container containing a radioactive source but causes it to explode violently. With no time left for further experimentation or consideration of safety, they set up two large "scanners" on lorries, and use a canister of cobalt as bait to lure the monster from where it is hidden. The idea works, but the soldier carrying the bait barely escapes with his life when his jeep becomes stuck in mud whilst leading the monster into scanner range. However, the jeep is close enough for the scanners to do their job, and the creature is neutralised and explodes a sufficient distance from the observers to avoid further injury or death.

Cast

• Dean Jagger as Dr. Adam Royston
• Edward Chapman as John Elliott
• Leo McKern as Insp. "Mac" McGill
• Anthony Newley as LCpl. "Spider" Webb
• Jameson Clark as Jack Harding
• William Lucas as Peter Elliott
• Peter Hammond as Lt. Bannerman
• Marianne Brauns as Zena, the Nurse
• Ian MacNaughton as Haggis
• Michael Ripper as Sergeant Harry Grimsdyke
• Kenneth Cope as Private Lansing
• Edwin Richfield as Soldier Burned on Back
• Neil Hallett as Unwin
• Frazer Hines as Ian Osborne

Credits

• Directed by Leslie Norman
• Screenplay by Jimmy Sangster
• Music by James Bernard
• Produced by Anthony Hinds

See also

• The Blob

External links

• X the Unknown at the Internet Movie Database