(1957)
Dir - Val Guest
Overall: MEH
Director Val Guest, (hot off the success of the first two Quartermass films), does another play adaptation with Nigel Kneale, this time on The Creature, re-titled in movie form to the more exciting The Abominable Snowman. This was Peter Cushing's second work with Hammer as it was released just after The Curse of Frankenstein, though it did far less business box office wise. It is also far less good. Kneale's script is ambitious enough; to showcase the Yeti as intelligent, benevolent creatures while homo-sapiens natural curiosity seals their doom. The admirable concept is not enough as it takes near fifty minutes before any Yeti of any kind make an appearance, for one thing. Literally the most exciting occurance before that is Peter Cushing slipping on a mountain ledge. Also, the "don't interfere with nature" theme is rather heavy and elementary, as are the characters. Cushing is the good guy who sees logic and the error of his ways exactly when he should, the two hunters are brutes, the one guy who is crazy about the Yeti of course goes crazy, Mrs. Cushing just has a feeling everything is going to go horrible because a woman's intuition, the Lama is all cryptic and calm, the local trackers are all jumpy and superstitions, etc. With so many lazy tropes left in place, the less is more approach seems particularly ill-fitting for the material.
(1959)
Dir - Terence Fisher
Overall: GOOD
One of if not the very highest regarded of all Sherlock Holmes films, The Hound of the Baskervilles is oddly perhaps the sole one produced by Hammer. Both Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee would later be involved in other Sir Arthur Conan Doyle adaptations elsewhere, (as would director Terence Fisher), but for whatever reason, Hammer never franchised this property as they had their famous monsters. In any event, it is notable for its more Gothic horror style which Holmes movies would rarely if at all ever adhere to. Naturally, the unbeatable trio Cushing, Lee, and Fisher has much to do with such leanings, but the story itself is rather appropriate for such a presentation. Holmes of course is three steps ahead of everyone, several characters of course are alluded to being suspects, there is of course no real supernatural tomfoolery afoot, and also of course, everything is wrapped up in a nice little package at the end. Some of the twists are a little silly, but the semi-spooky atmosphere, the arrogant charm of Cushing's Holmes, and dashes of blood make it quite a worthy endeavor.
(1959)
Dir - Terence Fisher
Overall: GOOD
Terence Fisher was on a roll in the late fifties. This year alone saw The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Mummy under his helm in addition to the comparatively lesser known The Man Who Could Cheat Death. A re-make of sorts of 1945's The Man in Half Moon Street, this one has character actor Anton Diffring in the title role as a last minute fill-in for Peter Cushing. The latter casting would have obviously been preferable since Christopher Lee is also present and the pair of them two could scarcely do wrong on screen together. Diffring does quite excellent work of his own here though. Hazel Court's topless scene was actually shown in the European cut of the film whereas it was removed elsewhere. This can be seen as a negative for those adamant on seeing scream queen nudity, but elsewhere, there is very little to complain about. The plot is rather predictable as we know Dr. Bonnet is doomed by the finale from his first gruesome transformation scene and Lee's Dr. Gerard and Inspector LeGris, (genre regular Francis de Wolff), put the mysterious pieces together rather easily, yet this is still a swell, "scientist playing god" type outing with a wicked enough villain whose misfortune is enjoyable to endure.
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