The Abominable Snowman (1957)

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General		Extras
Category	Horror	Main Menu Audio Interviews-Crew-Val Guest (Director) Theatrical Trailer Trailer-Peter Cushing Trailers
Rating
Year Of Production	1957
Running Time	86:15
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (59:33)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Val Guest
Studio Distributor	Umbrella Entertainment	Starring	Forrest Tucker Peter Cushing Maureen Connell Richard Wattis Robert Brown Michael Brill Wolfe Morris Arnold Marlé Anthony Chinn
Case	Gatefold
RPI	?	Music	Humphrey Searle

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	Yes
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    In the foothills of the Himalayas Doctor John Rollason (Peter Cushing) waits with his wife Helen (Maureen Connell) in a lamasery for the arrival of a party of mountaineers. Rollason's quest is to search for proof of the existence of the yeti, the so-called Abominable Snowman. Despite the warnings of the head lama (and the misgivings of his wife), Rollason heads off with a small group of men led by Tom Friend (Forrest Tucker) up into the mountains in search of the mythical beasts. Well, as it turns out they are not mythical, and Friend has commercial interests that outweigh any scientific considerations.

    An early Hammer effort (despite the Warners logo on the film, this being an American release print), this features an American star. Not unusual for Hammer, who imported Americans like Bela Lugosi, Barbara Payton and Brian Donlevy in some of their earlier films, before they developed home grown stars in Cushing and Christopher Lee (who is not in this one).

    The film is effectively directed by Val Guest, and generates considerable eeriness and spookiness, mainly through not showing much of the creatures and suggesting menace through sound and atmosphere. It also benefits from some location shooting in the Pyrenees, which adds considerable veracity to the outdoor scenes. I would even venture to say that this is one of Hammer's best genre efforts, a film that is good enough to stand with any of the mainstream major studio efforts of the era. It is well acted, especially by Cushing, though second-string American star Tucker is by no means eclipsed. Unfortunately it is only available as part of a three disc set called Superstars of Horror Volume 1: Peter Cushing, not separately.

Video

    The film comes in the original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and is 16x9 enhanced.

    Given the positive reviews of the Region 1 equivalent, I was expecting something better than this transfer, which is an improvement on my VHS copy of the film. While it is reasonably sharp, fine detail is not especially clear. It looks slightly blurry in fact, as though it were an NTSC to PAL transfer or from a VHS master tape, but I have no proof that either is the case. Contrast seems a little high, which makes faces seem a little bright. The film is monochrome, and the transfer looks a little too grey and lacking in deep blacks and clean whites.

    Some posterisation can be seen at times, but the most significant artefact is telecine wobble, quite obvious in the opening credits. There are occasional film artefacts but by and large the transfer is very clean.

    The disc is RSDL-formatted, with the layer change barely disruptive at 59:33. There are no subtitles.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The sole audio track is Dolby Digital 2.0 mono.

    The audio is very good indeed on this disc. Dialogue is clear and the sound effects, particularly the howling mountain winds, come across with some intensity. There is no obvious hiss or distortion, and audio sync is perfect (apart from one or two looped lines of dialogue).

    Humphrey Searle's score is also excellent, with some Tibetan influences detectable in the opening themes. The music adds considerably to the mood of the film, and helps with the sense of unreality when the action moves into the mountain peaks.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Main Menu Audio

    You can hear some of the wind effects when viewing the main menu.

Interview-Crew-Val Guest (Director) (13:16)

    A recent interview with the nonagenarian director, which covers his Hammer period and this film. Worth watching at least once as he has some interesting things to say about the production and the actors.

Theatrical Trailer (1:40)

    This seems to be an American trailer, widescreen but not 16x9 enhanced. You have to hear the voice-over narration to believe it.

Trailer-Peter Cushing Trailers (7:54)

    Trailers for Biggles, And Now the Screaming Starts, Bloodsuckers and Shockwaves, all of which feature our star.

    In comparison to the US Region 1, the Region 4 misses out on:

• Audio commentary with Val Guest and writer Nigel Kneale
• World of Hammer episode about Peter Cushing
• 16x9 enhanced trailer

    The Region 1 misses out on the director interview.

    The UK Region 2 has the same extras as the Region 1. Both are reported to have an excellent video transfer, but even if it was the same the extras tip the scales in favour of the overseas competition. More so when each is available as a stand-alone release. The Region 1 is also available in a two film set with Shatter, at a budget price.

    An excellent film from Hammer studios, one of their best.

    The video quality is good but sounds as though it is not as good as the Region 1 release.

    The audio quality is very good.

    One useful extra.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall