Hammer Films Biography

Now that the studio itself was established at Bray, James Carreras ensconced himself in Wardour Street in London, from whence he became the driving force behind the company. The first film to be shot at Bray, Cloudburst was hampered by the cramped and primitive conditions in which it was made. Soon, Bray was in full swing with such films as A Case for PC 49 and Death of an Angel. 1952 continued to be a busy year for Hammer/Exclusive, for as well as producing Death of an Angel, Whispering Smith Hits London and The Last Page, they churned out another five co-features: Wings of Danger, Lady in the Fog (aka Scotland Yard Inspector), Mantrap (aka A Man in Hiding), Stolen Face and Never Look Back which was the only one to fail to achieve a US release, no doubt because it lacked the required American 'star'. 1953 saw another five co-features go into production, including two more brushes with the sci-fi/horror genre in the form of Four-Sided Triangle, and Spaceways, both directed by Terence Fisher. The year's production schedule was finally rounded out with The Gambler and the Lady, a gang warfare thriller.

1955 saw the end of Hammer's useful association with Robert Lippert, Murder by Proxy (aka Blackout) being the last film to be distributed by him in the States. Hammer had by now established other distribution outlets in America, but the end of this contract and the general unrest in the film industry caused them pause for thought. Consequently, while the company figured out a new way forward. They shut down production on everything but their shorts and their musical featurettes. Little did they know, but they had already completed the film that would re-shape their destiny. Called The Quatermass Experiment, it had been made in late 1954 and was simply waiting to be released. The horror was about to begin.

Just as they had done with their radio adaptations, Hammer were playing it safe again when they acquired the rights to Nigel Kneale's TV sensation The Quatermass Experiment. Originally aired by the BBC in 1953 in six thirty-minute episodes, the series revolves round the (fictional) first manned space flight. The one surviving astronaut begins to mutate upon returning to earth. Conceived and scripted by Manx writer Nigel Kneale, the series was commissioned by the BBC simply to fill a gap in their summer schedule, the first episode actually being transmitted before Kneale had finished work on the final two. However, as directed by the Austrian-born Rudolph Cartier, the series was very much a television event, despite the rush in which it was executed.

Hammer producer Anthony Hinds, who had seen all of the programmes and been greatly impressed by them, suggested to James Carreras that they buy the rights for a film version. Seeing the potential, Carreras agreed and a deal was struck with the BBC - with whom Hammer had an excellent relationship, given their many previous film adaptations of BBC radio plays and serials. As a result, Hammer agreed to split any profits engendered by a film version down the middle with the television company. In acquiring the rights, Hammer no doubt felt that they were on to a winner, though other studios balked at the idea. Carreras basically saw The Quatermass Experiment as yet another low budget item whose public familiarity could successfully be exploited, and consequently the production was assigned a meagre budget of just £45,000

By this time, the Hammer executives realised that - intended or not - they had something special on their hands, and so began to exploit the picture for all it was worth. For the British release, James Carreras came up with the idea of emphasising the film's X certificate by spelling the title phonetically. The Quatermass Experiment became the rather more eerie-sounding The Quatermass Xperiment. Since the creation of the X Certificate by the British Board of Film Censors in 1951, to denote a film's stronger than usual content of sex, violence and/or horror.

The X rating had usually spelt death at the box office, which could have spelled disaster for Hammer. However, James Carreras's instinct that times were changing paid off, and when the film finally opened at The London Pavillion on Friday 26th August 1955, the lines stretched around the block. United Artists quickly acquired the US distribution rights, and though they changed the title to The Creeping Unknown and cut the running time down from eighty-two minutes to seventy-eight, the film nevertheless proved to be Hammer's biggest Stateside release to date when shown there in 1956. But all this posed a dilemma for Hammer: where to next for the burgeoning studio? A return to low budget crime thrillers now seemed unthinkable in light of their new found success. The question was, how could they top The Quatermass Experiment?