Starring Forrest Tucker, Peter Cushing, Maureen Connell, Richard Wattis, Robert Brown
Directed by Val Guest
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
A scientist joins up with an expedition searching for the legendary Abominable Snowman, only to find out later the rest of men are hunting the creature, but the beasts themselves aren't exactly defenseless.
Peter Cushing excels as the thoughtful scientist in one of his earliest roles for the Hammer studio, serving as the intellectual counterpoint to the men hunting the Yeti for profit. Based on a television production by Nigel Kneale, the film is a wonderful exercise in employing the audience's imagination to define the look of the creature, with only limited makeup and special effects. It would have made a marvelous audio drama for that reason, but there's some strong visuals too, especially in displaying the trek of the expedition up the icy Himalayan alps. Accompanied by some memorable music from composer Humphrey Searle, the scenery is first rate, with the Pyrenees in France standing in for the Himalayas, according to IMDB. A fine prologue to the adventure finds Cushing and his wife and assistant living on the grounds of a Tibetan monastery, successfully captured on film by Hammer's imaginative craftsmen, with Arnold Marle giving a good performance as the lama with mysterious prophetic gifts. Although slow paced and for the most part lacking the action or horror sequences modern audiences might expect, I've always been entranced by the picture.
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