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This review is for the Blu-Ray edition of 'The Abominable Snowman of the Himalayas' released by Shout! Factory in 2020.
*****NOTE***** - This movie is also known as 'The Abominable Snowman', it's U.K. title.
*****NOTE 2***** - When the movie starts, you get a message telling you that the master was missing some scenes and these scenes are included in standard definition. These scenes are about 5 minutes of the movies length.
ABOUT THIS MOVIE: This is a black & white science fiction film from Hammer Productions in the U.K. and was released in 1957 by 20th Century Fox as part of a double feature with 'Untamed Youth'. The movie is based on a TV play called 'The Creature' that was written by the same writer of this film, Nigel Kneale.
BLU-RAY: The picture is a mixed bag. It is sharp but there are flaws throughout the movie. The master was missing some parts. Therefore there are some scenes that are shown in standard definition rather than high definition. You will see flaws such as lines and speckling throughout the movie. It's not terrible and the bulk of these flaws are only in certain parts. I'd give the picture a 6/10. You also get the cut version that comes in at 95 minutes. That version is obviously in full HD.
EXTRA'S:
-Audio Commentary with the director, Val Guest and the writer Nigel Kneale. This commentary is two different commentaries that are spliced together. If I'm hearing correctly, it sounds like Jonathan Rigby and Ted Newsom are acting as interviewers. Guest says it was necessary to cut Kneale's screenplay because it had too much dialogue for the screen. Kneale spends a lot of time comparing his television play to the screen version. He was on location for the play but not the screen version.
-Audio Commentary with film historian Ted Newsom - As I write this review, I looked up Ted Newsom and found out that he passed away this past summer. This commentary was probably among the last things that he did. I have listened to many commentaries done by Ted Newsom. He was a Hammer Horror historian. Newsom tends to be more entertaining than most of the audio commentator that are historians. He will occasionally go off on tangents or get distracted by small details but he is not dry. He doesn't read directly from a script and comments on what is happening on screen. Newsom criticizes the writer Nigel Kneale for complaining too much.
-Interview/Documentary: In Search of the Yeti: An interview with historian Jonathan Rigby - Rigby talks about the origins of the movie in this 23 minute interview. He then talks about the casting and how the movie performed. The interview is filled with film clips and photos.
-Trailers from Hell with Joe Dante - In this two minute trailer, Dante calls this the only Abominable Snowman that is good. I agree.
-World of Hammer episode - 'Peter Cushing'
-Theatrical Trailer
-Still Gallery
-Subtitles
PLOT SUMMARY/SYNOPSIS: Dr. John Rollason (Peter Cushing) is in the Himalaya's staying at a Tibetan monastery with a Lhama (A Tibetan Buddhist teacher). He has been joined by his associate Peter Fox, whom he calls Foxy, and his wife Helen. They are there ostensibly for botanical reasons. Rollason has not informed Foxy or his wife that he plans on going on an expedition high up in the Himalaya's. Somehow, the Lhama already knows what he is planning. The Lhama also knows that another team is headed to them right at this moment let by Tom Friend (Forrest Tucker). Friend arrives shortly with a trapper, Ed, a photographer, McNee and a Sherpa guide, Kusang. Kusang claims to have scene the Yeti. Friend shows up and gives the Lama a gift of a giant tooth that had previously been stolen from the temple. The Lama claims that the tooth is a carving. Friend has come there, much to the disapproval of the Lama, to go searching for the Yeti. He does not inform Rollason of his plan to capture one until after the expedition is underway. Helen is also extremely upset about Rollason's plans to go on the expedition.
Despite the protestations of Helen and the Lhama, the team sets out. Before they leave, the Lhama gives Rollason a cryptic warning about mankind possibly being replaced by something else. As the team treks upward they discover footprints. They are also fired upon by what Kusang calls bandits. Rollason is not so sure and thinks it might be a warning. During the first evening when they reach a cabin with food that had been previously stored there, McNee hears a howl. Nothing is found. When they resume climbing, McNee reveals to Tollason that he paid to be on the expedition because he needed closure. A few years before he had discovered very large footprints near an ice wall. Shortly thereafter, McNee gets accidentally caught in a bear trap set by Ed. Rollason and McNee had been trailing behind while Rollason searched for a food source for the Yeti. He is injured near the cave location that the team has set out for. Ed shows up and helps free McNee. Ed tells them that they are near the camp and that they have captured a Yeti. It turns out that they have captured a large monkey that is common in zoos throughout the world. Friend does not care. He is being paid to bring something back and he is content with that. That evening, a loud growl is heard and the monkey has gone missing. The cage has been torn apart. There are large footprints nearby.
Later, McNee recovers and while he is in the tent with Kusang, a large hairy arm reaches into the tent from outside. Kusang screams. Rollason, Ed and Friend come running but McNee has left. McNee, in a delirious state, takes off and ends up falling to his death. It's unknown if he was pushed, fell accidentally or fell because of his injured foot. Kusang is terrified at seeing a Yeti and runs off in a panic, presumably back to the monastery. Shortly thereafter, a Yeti is sighted near camp and Ed shoots it. They track the blood and find a dead Yeti. They now have proof but Friend is not satisfied. He wants a live one.
At the monastery, a terrified Kusang shows up in the middle of the night and Helen sees him enter. The Lhama denies that Kusang is there but she starts an expedition of her own with Foxy and a group of Sherpa's waiting at the monastery to be paid. She heads out and finds the cabin they stayed at the first night.
Back at camp, Friend has Ed plants rigs up a net made of metal wire to trap a Yeti. Ed is to be used as bait while Rollason and Friend hide in a tent. The Yeti shows up during a blizzard, enters the cave and is caught in the net. Rollason panics and empties his rifle. When Friend and Rollason get to the cave they find that Ed is dead. He has no wounds and the net is shredded. Rollason discovers that Friend had put blanks in Ed's rifle. He feared that Ed would shoot the Yeti. Ed died of a heart attack. That evening the two bury their comrades and return to the cave and line the entrance with explosives. They plan on leaving in the morning with the dead body of the Yeti. Rollason hears a weather report that implores his camp to return to the temple immediately. However, the radio has already been smashed and useless. Friend tells him to get oxygen because he is suffering from altitude sickness. Then Friend
hears Ed's voice calling for help. Friend grabs his gun and runs out of the cave to search for Ed. Rollason can't stop him. He runs to the grave site but still hears Ed. Friend starts firing his gun in a panic and causes an avalanche from the freshly fallen snow. He is buried. Rollason returns to the cave and two Yeti enter.
With the wind howling and everyone asleep, Helen hears the roar of the Yeti while in the cabin. She runs out into the blizzard to search for something unknown. Foxy wakes up and grabs the team to go in pursuit. After climbing a ways, Helen finds Rollason, seemingly frozen to death. Foxy reaches them. There are Yeti footprints in the snow nearby.
In the temple, the Lhama expresses his sorrow for the lost companions but wants to know what was learned. Rollason, alive, tells him didn't find what he went looking for. The Lhama says "There is no Yeti".
PRODUCTION/COMMENTS:
LESS IS MORE: Often you hear actors and directors from the pre-CGI period of Hollywood talk about how "less is more" in horror movies. Often you will hear them say "what you don't see is much scarier then what you can see". To a large extent this is true. Of course that doesn't alleviate a person wanting to "see" what is going on. I think back in those days that it was smart to not show the creature very much unless you had a very good looking monster prop or outfit. An example of an excellent outfit was the creature in 'The Creature From the Black Lagoon'. In the especially cold and blindingly snowy set of 'Abominable', "less is more" works very well.
THAT IS NOT STOCK FOOTAGE: The footage you see of the crew climbing the Himalaya's is original footage shot by the director. The scenes were shot in the French Pyrenees. None of the movie's stars were used in the footage. The people you see trekking through the mountains are all doubles. That is fairly obvious when you watch the movie. The point is that they made the effort to make original footage. Most of the time with scenes such as these, stock footage of expeditions to Mount Everest and other locations is used.
WHO OR WHAT IS THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN?: The theory of the abominable snowman comes from the Yeti legend. The term 'Yeti' and 'Meh-Teh' are the terms used by people indigenous to the Himalayan location which includes Buddhist's, Tibetans, Sherpa's, etc. I'm no expert on Asian people's so I apologize if I'm saying anything incorrectly. The term "Abominable Snowman" is a western term that was created in later years. The earliest known legends of the Yeti in western culture come about in the 1800's. The words used to describe the Yeti have been translated as "man-bear", "wild man", "cattle bear", "jungle man", "snowman" and others.
The idea for this movie came about after Sir Edmund Hillary's expedition to climb Mount Everest. There were footprints discovered on the expedition as well as by explorer Eric Shipton in 1951. These discoveries of the footprints led to interest in the 'Yeti' or 'Abominable Snowman'. There were also footprints discovered in 1921 and two hitchhikers claimed to have seen too figures that appeared around 8 feet tall. There have been supposed sightings in various winter locations around the world.
The legends of the Sasquatch and Bigfoot have also been tied to that of the Yeti and Abominable Snomwan.
I LIKE THE SCRIPT FOR THIS MOVIE. WHAT OTHER WORK HAS THE WRITER DONE? The writer for the screenplay of
this movie is the excellent Nigel Kneale. Kneale wrote some of my favorite science fiction movies of the 1950's. Included is this movie. Kneale is known for being one of the U.K.'s best television script writers. Here is a list of some of his other work for films...
-The Quatermass XPeriment - An excellent start to the Quatermass story
-Quatermass 2 - My favorite 1950's science fiction movie
-Quatermass and the Pit (1967) - Considered by many to be Kneale's best script, including himself.
-The Quatermass Conclusion - Disappointing conclusion to the Quatermass saga. The movie version is easier to watch than the bloated television saga.
-Halloween 3 - Season of the Witch - This was a very interesting take on the Halloween series. It is very different than every other 'Halloween' movie. It was made at a time when the series creator, John Carpenter, thought the Halloween franchise could have a completely different story for Halloween with each installment... kind of like an anthology series. Kneale had his name removed from the credits because he didn't like the changes made to his screenplay.
PETER CUSHING AT THE BEGINNING: Peter Cushing had starred in the television play, 'The Creature', in 1955. He was obviously asked to be in this movie version of that play. 'The Abominable Snowman' was released shortly after the very successful 'Curse of Frankenstein (1957)'. Cushing then had starring roles in the next two Hammer Horror features, Dracula (Horror of Dracula) (1958) and 'The Mummy (1959).
HOW DID SGT O'ROURKE END UP IN THIS MOVIE?: Well for starters, this movie was made quite a few years before F Troop (F Troop only became popular once it his syndication). Forrest Tucker had been around in Hollywood since 1940. He ended up going to England on and off to act. In one of those excursions, he starred in a movie called 'Break in the Circle (1955)' that was directed by Val Guest. Hammer liked his performance and asked him to return and make 'The Abominable Snowman'. Tucker hung around and made two more sci-fi/horror films in England. They were 'The Strange World of Planet X (1957)' and, in my opinion, the very good 'The Trollenberg Terror (1958) aka 'The Crawling Eye'.
POLAR OPPOSITES: I find it amazing when I read about the differing opinions of the director, Val Guest and the writer, Nigel Kneale. I love Kneale's writing but I usually differ with him in opinion about the actors in his movies and the results. In this case I agree. I find it surprising to hear that Guest thought Forrest Tucker's acting ruined the film. Listening to the commentary, you don't get the impression that he disliked Tucker. He says he stayed in contact with him over the years and that he thought he was very professional. Kneale thought Tucker was good in the part and an underrated actor overall. Kneale famously despised Brian Donlevy as Professor Quatermass while Guest says that he was very professional, easy to work with and said most of the rumors about Donlevy were false. In this particular case, I thought Tucker played the greedy bad guy very well. The only parts that I don't think are top notch in this film are that of the Sherpa guide, Kusang, and the trapper, Ed Shelley. In the case of Professor Quatermass, I liked Donlevy's portrayal very much. I get the complaints that he had no English accent but I thought the movie scripts called for an actor with tough guy persona even though Quatermass was written more as a gentlemanly character.
LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION: The sets and location of this movie are excellent. As I stated above, all of the footage was shot for this movie. The Temple in the Himalaya's is one of Hammer's best sets and that says a lot since Hammer is well known for it's excellent Gothic sets. Everything set in this movie looks good and has an authentic feel to it.
A SMALL COMPLAINT: I think that the ease in which they are able to dig up there in the mountains is not realistic. Digging in frozen tundra is not easy and would probably require power tools.
CONCLUSIONS: This is an excellent movie that has been given a pretty good release. The picture has some problems but that's OK. This is the best we are going to get. There are good extra's which make buying this edition worthwhile.
This movie has a terrific atmosphere and that is what I like most in science fiction and horror films. The snowy, cold and lonely atmosphere along with a howling wind gives this movie an eerie and sometimes surreal feel.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
This movie is highly recommended for all classic science fiction and horror film fans.
IF YOU LIKE THIS THEN TRY...:
-The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) - Cushing at his finest as Dr. Frankenstein for Hammer Productions. Just like that movie, the focus is on the characters, not the monster.
Not really recommending these next two but they are something different and Abominable Snowman movies from that time period are hard to come by.
-The Snow Creature (1954) - This movie's title was an early title for 'The Abominable Snowman'. It was obviously necessary to change the title.
-Half Human (1955) - This is Toho's (Godzilla) Abominable Snowman effort. This movie's original release is the source of controversy due to a real controversy about the depiction of a group of people in this movie. It's not really known when it was originally released.
-Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer (1964)- Hey, there aren't a lot of abominable snowman movie's to choose from!
RATINGS:
Plot: 8/10 or 4 stars - It might be a bit slow but it's as good as a script as you will find for an Abominable Snowman movie. Despite the slow start, it's one of my favorites.
Picture: 6/10 or 3 stars - It not spectacular and their are issues but at least it's sharp.
The Monster: 5/10 or 2 1/2 stars - You don't see much but sometimes less is more.
Sets & Locations: 9/10 or 5 stars - I normally use this section for special effects but in this case I'm using the sets.
Extra's: 8/10 or 4 stars - Very good extra's, you get a making of documentary and an audio commentary which is all I ever really ask for. You need extra stuff to get 5 stars.
Overall: 8/10 - I'm bumping this to 5 stars because I think the story is worthy of 5 stars.
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From the manufacturer
Reviews with images
the abominable snowman
purchased this dvd before i found out they had a region 1 release of it and my dvd player plays all kinds of dvd from other counties so i was not worried cuz i was able to watch it and enjoy one of the worst monster movies ever made. i used to own the video but years ago i switched this up to dvd. it's worth checking out so if anyone comes across it and has never heard of this film i would suggest watching it.(only 3 stars cuz mine is a region 2 dvd like you see in the picture below)
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Reviewed in the United States on November 9, 2020
Reviewed in the United States on June 22, 2006
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Top reviews from other countries
Juan Antonio
Fanático de peter cushing.
Reviewed in Spain on March 14, 2024
Juan Antonio
Reviewed in Spain on March 14, 2024
Images in this review
Steve
Bonus Version included !
Reviewed in Canada on July 12, 2020
Steve
Reviewed in Canada on July 12, 2020
“ Full HD Master” Version of the movie instead of the main menu play movie option. I get that Shout! are trying to give the most complete version of this movie (main menu) by inserting low quality (DVDish) scenes that had been cut from the HD master but were part of the original movie. I really ..really found the inserted scenes completely jarring and the total drop in quality took me way out of the experience. The frame rate seemed to change and the difference between 1080p FullHD and 480p..ish ( ? ) was like a car crash.
Good news though if your not a total purest you can watch the “ Full HD” version in the bonus section of the blu ray menu. You will lose a few minutes ( extra dialogue) but I didn’t mind at all - the editing is well done and having the movie in a consistent quality with faster pacing is my preference. Just a suggestion for new fans. The die hard fans will likely prefer the assembled cut in the main menu but new fans who just wanna see a cool Peter Cushing Yeti movie, I’d suggest going to the bonus menu and selecting the “ Full HD Master” .
Enjoy !!!
BTW Shout! Is Awesome!
Images in this review
Paul
Terror Strikes The Mountains
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 22, 2017