Monday 6 February 2012

The Abominable Snowman of the Himalayas - 1957

Originally billed simply as 'The Abominable Snowman', this movie was produced by Hammer Films and was released on 26th August 1957 in the UK, starring Forest Tucker and Peter Cushing.








One of the earliest movies on the subject, the movie coincided with the Daily Mail / Tom Slick funded expedition to find the Yeti, thus ensuring an eager audience when it arrived in British theatres.





Plot:

Botanist John Rollason studies rare mountain herbs at a remote lhamasery in the Himalays with his wife Helen and associate Peter.  When an American called Tom Friend arrives, Rollason and Friend set out to find the Yeti despite Helen's objections.

The pair are accompanied by another American, Shelley and a Scot, McNee who claims to have had a Yeti sighting.  When the group find footprints in the snow, McNee seems strangely affected and Friend turns out to want to exploit the creature along with Shelley.

The movie then centres around the conflict between scientific discovery and commercialisation.  When the Yeti is eventually shot, the party is horrified to find that other Yeti intend to retreive the fallen creature and appear to posses supernatural powers to do so.


Trailer:







Production:

The movie was shot at the famous Pinewood Studios just outside London and the lesser-known Bray studios (Alien, Rocky Horror and almost every Hammer movie you can imagine).   Outdoor filming took place in the Pyrénées in France.


Stills: