Strictly average movie

Horrible, fascist and poorly acted

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Dean Jagger is a scientist working at a lab in Scotland, trying to find a way to render radioactive materials (like a bomb) harmless. The earth splits open nearby and a rude lump of glowing stuff comes pouring out, lethal, crackling like bacon in a frying pan, and conveniently built of the kinds of radioactive stuff that Jagger is working on.The blob -- for the most part unseen -- manages to kill several locals by radioactive poisoning before Jagger and the authorities are able to deploy a full-scale replica of their laboratory model. It may not work because "the fans are out of synch." Or it may explode, like the tiny lab model does.Will it work? Is Jagger's fantastic theory of blobby organisms having been forced underground as the earth's crust thickened correct? Is the short, squat dilatory figure who runs the lab correct when he calls the whole thing balderdash? Will the whole mess blow up? Why does hail always have to be the size of something else? Did the Masons really design the first dollar bills? It starts off slowly and mysteriously. That's the best part. Then it gets fast, complicated, scientifically inaccurate, and very loud. Sometimes the suspenseful musical score, on top of all that crackling, as of cellophane being wrinkled, literally drowns out the speech so you can't hear what the characters are saying.It's not terrible. It's just a routine example of those 50s Briish SF movies that used an imported Yank as the main figure -- here Dean Jagger, there an improbable Gene Evans -- and sometimes they worked quite well -- Brian Donlevy as Quatermass. In this one, the performances aren't bad but the script has a tendency to lose itself once in a while. In the very last scene, there is a blinding explosion from the creature's fissure. Knocks everyone flat. What was that, asks a soldier. Jagger is staring thoughtfully at the smoke wreathing out of the fissure. "I don't know," he replies, "but it shouldn't have happened." Camera draws away. The End. It should have happened if you'd decided at the last minute to end the movie with a big bang in order to use up the left-over special effects explosive.

X-THE UNKNOWN is a low-budget film from Excelsior (the precursor of Hammer) which was clearly designed to cash in on the success of THE QUATERMASS EXPERIMENT (1953). With the obligatory American star, designed with foreign sales in mind (Dean Jagger), the action derives much of its interest from the way in which it contrasts the mundane life of a remote Scottish village with the abnormal forces operating within it.Life proceeds as normal - apparently. A group of National Service recruits are engaged in a routine exercise; the locals happily drink at the local pub; while two young scallywags (Michael Brooke, Fraser Hines) go out late at night to cause mischief. However none of them are quite prepared for the shock of encountering the 'thing' that feeds on energy, and appears to be resistant to any human attempts to repress it.The film gains much of its force from the contrast between such shocking events and the matter-of-fact way in which they are investigated. Leo McKern turns in an urbane performance as Inspector 'Mac' McGill, who maintains his sang-froid while people around him are becoming more and more hysterical with fear. Together with Dr. Royston (Jagger), he patiently tries to solve the mystery of what happens.In sociological terms, X THE UNKNOWN makes some trenchant points about the destructive effects of scientific discovery. If Royston had not decided to practice his experiments in the area, perhaps the Scottish village might have been spared. The point is trenchantly made by Jack Harding (Jameson Clark), after learning that his son Willie has died as a result of an encounter with the terror.Shot in atmospheric black-and-white on a low budget, Norman's film gains much of its force from the way it shows how people are affected by the terror within their midst. Making clever use of reaction- shots and atmospheric music, it is definitely worth a look.

Very solid early outing from Hammer - I always thought of them as the "lurid color horror studio", but "X" (and the "Silent Scream") proves they could put together an impressively tight and well told tale that didn't involves breasts and blood. The "Quatermass" influences are all over this, of course, but that's not a problem - the screenplay and the production are crisp and energetic even during the expository scenes. And Dean Jagger is almost the "antimatter" version of Brian Donlevy. His character plays the Quatermass role, but he's infinitely more likable (if a little odd and preoccupied) and humane. (There were moments in the Quatermass films that you had to remind yourself that Donlevy was not actually a jerk, just impatient and arrogant.)The movie does have a little problem with making a monster that is essentially radioactive mud look and sound menacing, but they wisely limit the actual screen time of the beast and concentrate on its effects and its victims. The result is a little potboiler with some eerie and disturbing moments that are well worth your time if you don't insist on big budget special effects. If you like Hammer films, classic horror films, or black and white 60's British entertainment,take the time to see "X the Unknown" if you get the chance.

My expectations for "X: The Unknown" were big, especially when I read that writer Jimmy Sangster modeled his scenario on the previous year's Hammer milestone "The Quatermass Experiment". That film, as well as its two sequels, is an undeniable masterpiece of Science-Fiction and just plain and simply features one of the most intelligent and absorbing screenplays ever penned down. This Hammer entry honestly can't hold a candle to the Quatermass series, but naturally you can't call it a failure either. The story is less suspenseful, less sophisticated and a lot less memorable than "Quatermass", but it still remains high-quality science fiction with solid dialogs and scary themes. Also, Sangster may have based his ideas on "The Quatermass Experiment", but "X: The Unknown" inarguably was a role model for many other late fifties paranoia sci-fi flicks itself, most notably the legendary "The Blob" starring Steve McQueen. British soldiers stumble upon a highly radioactive terrain up in Scotland and, following a bit of drilling, they unintentionally create a seemingly bottomless pit that goes all the way to the earth's core. Out comes crawling (after quite a while, at least) a shapeless mud creature that feeds on energy and slowly blobs itself towards the nearest village. Many prominent scientists, army officers and various other authority figures gather together, but can't find a method to destroy an already lifeless puddle of mud. Author Jimmy Sangster put a lot of time in detailed character portraits and scientifically accurate theories & dialogs, so please don't expect an outrageous monster movie with non-stop spectacular action and crazy special effects. "X – The Unknown" is primarily atmospheric and talkative – but there's a continuously menacing mood – and we don't get to see the actual creature until quite late in the film. By that time, it already made a handful of victims of whom we only witnessed their hysteric reactions and fear-of-dying facial expressions. That's how traditional cinema builds up genuine tension! My main complaint here would be that there are a bit TOO many main characters and their discussions and quarreling somewhat consumes too much valuable screen time. The few featuring special effects (swollen body parts, radioactive burns, etc..) are very convincing and unnerving, and so is the actual monster that appears near to the climax. James Bernard's moody score, the sober but efficient black and white cinematography and the straight-faced performance of Dean Jagger also contribute in making "X – The Unknown" a terrific, albeit imperfect, Hammer classic.