Quatermass 2

Bernard Quatermass runs a space programme and cannot find funding for the base he has designed for the moon. He sees something strange on the radar records: small objects falling regularly on a particular part of England. He goes there. In the countryside stands a large plant; nobody knows what is made there and it provides its own security. Its plan is identical to his design for the moon base. In the nearby village people behave oddly and some have a mark on their faces. Val Guest directs. Brian Donlevy plays Quatermass. The source is Nigel Kneale's television serial. The film comes from the Hammer studio's science fiction production and is the second link in the series. The fear it builds is not invasion but the capture of institutions; ministries, the police and the press protect the plant. That theme is directly related to the politics of the period and the film does not hide it. Shooting took place at a real refinery and the scale of the plant passes straight into the film. Nigel Kneale took part in writing the screenplay and some sections were changed from the television version. Its limit is budget; the creature scenes in the last section carry the limits of the period. Who it is for: viewers who like classic British science fiction and the fifties. Who it is not for: the effects are old, the acting hard, and the narrative resolves quickly.