The Abominable Snowman (with Serge Bodnarchuk)

[00:00:00] Welcome to Movie Oubliette, the film review podcast for movies that most people have

[00:00:09] most offully forgotten. I'm Dan and I'm Conrad and in each episode we

[00:00:14] drag a forsaken film out of the Ubleiette. Discuss it and judge it to decide

[00:00:19] whether it should be safe free or whether it should be thrown back and consigned

[00:00:24] to oblivion forever.

[00:00:25] The movie review review review the films of this tent of forget come with a

[00:00:36] supplement not the movie who be yet.

[00:00:40] Hello listeners, welcome to Movie Oubliette episode 146, the continental traversing

[00:00:46] podcast with me Dan, living my year of the pickle down here in Melbourne, Australia.

[00:00:53] Meet me Conrad frantically replacing old Warner Brothers DVDs in Cambridge, UK.

[00:01:00] In this podcast we discuss Lesser talked about genre films, horror sci-fi and fantasy because

[00:01:05] we all know the greatest evil in the world is us, homo sapiens.

[00:01:11] Hello Conrad.

[00:01:12] Hello Dan, so what is the year of the pickle?

[00:01:16] Well I've got really into pickling things, so I don't know what it is but it's just like

[00:01:23] some addiction that I've somehow got into and yeah, I just pickling everything now.

[00:01:30] I've done cucumbers, I've done carrots, I've done onions, chilies, I've done kimchi

[00:01:38] as well so cabbage and radish kimchi I've done, so I can't stop.

[00:01:44] I'm constantly looking around for cheap vegetables to put in jars.

[00:01:51] So you're buying physical media.

[00:01:54] I'm frantically replacing Warner Brothers DVDs because our good friend Michael over at Retro

[00:02:00] Blasting.

[00:02:01] He publicized the fact that a certain batch of Warner Brothers DVDs have got disc rot, they

[00:02:08] were all produced in the same plant in the US and they are all deteriorating and I opened

[00:02:15] up my beloved blader on a box set and discovered that they do not play anymore.

[00:02:21] So yes, I hurriedly bought the blue racet for all this appears.

[00:02:27] So you can scary times which I can pickle those.

[00:02:32] Yeah, it's physical, nothing does last forever.

[00:02:37] Even if you look after it, you can get the dreaded disc rot.

[00:02:40] So check your DVDs people.

[00:02:44] Or sit up some sort of refrigeration unit.

[00:02:50] I don't know, something pickling.

[00:02:56] Well somebody doesn't need to be preserved is our special guest today.

[00:03:00] So we didn't throw sorry for that sake for you.

[00:03:06] It is of course writer, director, YouTube video essayist and special friend of the pod

[00:03:10] surge but not sure if cold brush pictures.

[00:03:13] Hello sir.

[00:03:14] Hi, thanks for having me.

[00:03:17] Thanks for having me back.

[00:03:19] It's great to see you how you doing.

[00:03:21] Well I'm at the point in my life and career where when my friends encounter cryptid media

[00:03:30] they think of me.

[00:03:31] Yes, yes.

[00:03:34] I understand that this was a random drawing from a viewer suggestion and you messaged me

[00:03:39] and you were like, so the next movie is going to be about a cryptid would you like to

[00:03:42] be on?

[00:03:43] And I was like yes.

[00:03:46] You're out go to guy.

[00:03:49] It was written it had to be I think because your latest YouTube video essay is about cryptids

[00:03:55] I believe.

[00:03:56] Yeah, yeah.

[00:03:57] It's about dinosaur cryptid films because I got a YouTube video series on dinosaur films.

[00:04:03] And in your message you were like, I bet you learned a lot about the Yeti that didn't

[00:04:07] go into your video because it's not a dinosaur and I was like, yeah, yeah.

[00:04:11] That's the years charged.

[00:04:13] I mean spoilers here for what we're about to get into but you will be our Yeti as much

[00:04:20] as yes.

[00:04:24] There must be a name for that.

[00:04:26] The thing I loved about your video essay was I was surprised to learn that it is much

[00:04:30] a case that art imitated life as life imitated art which I was not expecting that in fact

[00:04:39] sightings were based on viewings of films rather than the other way around.

[00:04:44] Yeah, yeah.

[00:04:45] The fact that the first detailed sighting of the Loch Ness Monster is beat for beat shot

[00:04:52] for shot a recreation of a scene from King Kong.

[00:04:56] I don't know why that's not more widely known.

[00:05:00] Like I didn't even know about it until I started researching the history of Nessie.

[00:05:04] You'd think it would come up anytime somebody talks about King Kong maybe like, oh by

[00:05:08] the way this is where the Loch Ness Monster comes from.

[00:05:11] Right.

[00:05:12] Blue my mind that little bit of inspiration.

[00:05:14] I loved it.

[00:05:16] Yeah.

[00:05:17] So check that out everyone.

[00:05:18] It's fantastic.

[00:05:19] Yeah, yeah.

[00:05:20] So I mean before we get into the film that we'll do today or anything in the mailbag

[00:05:25] on Ray.

[00:05:26] Yes, we have been hearing a lot about Dune you'll be surprised.

[00:05:30] Oh yeah, yeah.

[00:05:31] People have a lot to say about that film.

[00:05:34] Eddie Coulter got in touch to say that Via Vision which is a label in Australia I believe

[00:05:41] is putting out an all new blue ray of 1984's June with both cuts of the film along with

[00:05:47] a bunch of extras including his friend Daniel Griffiths feature length documentary on the

[00:05:54] making of June called the sleeper must awaken.

[00:05:57] Oh yeah, I mean as much as we didn't like particularly praise the film the production

[00:06:05] design was incredible and the sort of production history was really fascinating to research.

[00:06:12] So that I'm really interested to see what they look like.

[00:06:17] Yeah, I think it's an endlessly fascinating film to delve into so I'd love to see that documentary.

[00:06:23] But on Facebook called Chris said now that you've seen the David Lynch version please

[00:06:28] give the 2000 sci fi channel mini series version a try imagine if you will a university

[00:06:35] drama production with a bloom house budget and a smattering of popular American actors to

[00:06:41] make it more accessible to the sci fi audience all joking aside it and the sequel series

[00:06:47] children of June are a great summer evening binge whilst barbecuing off the back deck

[00:06:52] and hosting neighbors for a friendly board game.

[00:06:55] Okay, that sounds right up my alley to be honest.

[00:07:00] Yeah, I could imagine actually James Scurman got in touch to say I was nine when I went

[00:07:07] to see this at the now closed royalty cinema in Dartmouth UK during a family holiday.

[00:07:13] I remember it being very long and very weird but also kind of cool 40 years later I still

[00:07:22] haven't gotten around to watching it for a second time.

[00:07:25] Wow, just got a nine year old memory of it that's bizarre.

[00:07:33] And Joe lips it of the horror quiz got in touch to say okay, but sting is hot no.

[00:07:41] Well, I did I did question that like they were going for that wouldn't they?

[00:07:46] Yeah, zero body fat and glistening yeah, I think he's definitely going for something.

[00:07:52] And of course we heard from Sirge you've got car yes.

[00:07:56] Hello, Sirge what did I say?

[00:08:00] Well you said June 1984 has a lot of interesting things in it but given the way that it completely

[00:08:06] negates the book with its forced happy ending, it's disavowal by Lynch and the fact that you

[00:08:12] really can't sit through a screening without cliff notes.

[00:08:15] I definitely don't think it's indispensable viewing.

[00:08:20] Well, we always love hearing from you out there so please do get in touch.

[00:08:25] So Sirge, you're one of the few guests who has the special ability to visit the Ubleyatton

[00:08:31] Fetcher film for us. Would you like to give it a try now?

[00:08:34] I would love to it is an honor and a privilege.

[00:08:37] Okay.

[00:08:40] Oh wow did you guys install it with machines in here?

[00:08:44] Where's all this wind coming from?

[00:08:46] And it's so weird like right down by my feet there's like all this like dry white dust but

[00:08:51] often the distance I can see the outs it's so weird.

[00:08:57] Hang out, there seems to be something buried down here hang on let me brush it aside okay okay

[00:09:02] it's a stash of blue rays that somebody appears to have left from a previous expedition.

[00:09:06] Oh okay, perfect.

[00:09:08] Okay I'm coming out.

[00:09:13] Welcome back.

[00:09:14] Oh yeah what did you find for us?

[00:09:16] Well I found it is the 1957 Hammer Horror forgotten classic The Abominable Snowman

[00:09:26] directed by Val Guest written by Nigel Neal and starring Peter Cushing,

[00:09:32] Forest Tucker, Marine Connell, Robert Brown, Wolf Morris, Michael Brill,

[00:09:37] an Arnold Marl or Marlay as the Lama.

[00:09:42] And that's Lama as in Daly Lama, not the Peruvian Highland creature.

[00:09:52] Yes indeed and what happens in this movie?

[00:09:55] Well in this film, mild mannered British botanist John Rawlison and his wife Helen

[00:10:01] seem content to live out the rest of their lives studying the flora of the Himalayas as guests

[00:10:06] of the local Lama.

[00:10:07] That is until a team of brash American fortune hunters show up with plans to find and capture a living

[00:10:13] Yeti. Rawlison agrees to accompany their expedition high up into the Himalayas much to his wife

[00:10:18] Helen's dismay and soon finds himself at cross purposes with a fame and fortune hungry leader of

[00:10:23] the American expedition. Will they find the elusive Yeti? Will they capture the elusive Yeti?

[00:10:29] Is the elusive Yeti psychic? Find out in the 1957 Hammer Horror forgotten classic The Abominable

[00:10:54] And we're back to talk about the abominable snowman. I don't believe any of us had seen this before,

[00:11:04] had we? Nope. I had not seen it. No. No, I had not. Wow even in your travels through

[00:11:10] cryptid world. Yeah, Bigfoot tends to get all the movies made about it not so much the Yeti.

[00:11:15] Right so the difference is Bigfoot is wilderness, Yeti is snowy. Bigfoot is specifically North America.

[00:11:22] Right. The thing about Bigfoot versus Yeti is that every single continent, practically every single

[00:11:28] country has a myth about a six to nine foot tall hairy bipedal ape creature running around the

[00:11:37] wilderness. They just call it different things in different countries. You've got this Bigfoot

[00:11:42] of the Sasquatch in the United States and Canada you've got the Yeti and the Himalayas but then

[00:11:46] you've got the Elmasty in like the caucus region of like Georgia and Russia. Wow. You've got the

[00:11:52] Aureng Pendek of Thailand. You have African versions, you've got Australian versions, you've got

[00:11:59] like every country's got one of these myths. Right yeah yeah. It just happens to be called

[00:12:03] the Yeti in the Himalayas. Can we surprise to know that in New Zealand there isn't a myth about a Yeti

[00:12:09] but there's a myth about a moose. So apparently there's a moose that oh they're real. There's

[00:12:16] moose that gate's getting sighted in New Zealand in the wilderness. I've actually heard about this.

[00:12:21] I don't have any prepared notes, I just have like my impressions but yeah something about like an

[00:12:25] actual moose that the population was supposed to have died out a long time ago but people keep

[00:12:31] citing it. Yeah yeah it's strange. Similar stories pop up in lots of different countries as well.

[00:12:39] Like the Tasmanian Tiger of Tasmania is a very real animal that the last official specimen

[00:12:46] died in the 30s but people keep citing it. So this film I think was capitalizing on a very recent

[00:12:54] interest in the idea of the abominable snowman. It's the third adaptation of an Nigel Neil TV

[00:13:02] story, Nigel Neil being very famous writer in the UK screenwriter for things like the woman in

[00:13:08] Black and the stone tape and an adaptation of 1984 starring Peter Cushing. He also of course wrote

[00:13:15] Halloween 3 season of the witch, although he took his name off of that because he didn't like

[00:13:21] the way that it turned out. And he's most famous for the two films that Hammer did before this,

[00:13:26] The Quaytumass Experiment and Quaytumass 2, 1954 and 1956. And then they turned to this one which

[00:13:34] was something that he'd also written for TV that Peter Cushing had appeared in before. The creature

[00:13:40] which has a story about the Yeti and apparently I read that Nigel Neil said that he was interested

[00:13:45] in it because there'd been a recent expedition and it had generated a lot of public interest

[00:13:51] in the potential existence of a Yeti but I don't know what that expedition was. So it was the first

[00:13:58] half of the 1950s where the most popular interest in the Yeti demonstrated by parties outside

[00:14:04] Nepal. In 1951 there was the Shipton expedition where this guy named Shipton found footprints in

[00:14:12] the snow and he took photographs and they're like the most to this day that the most famous

[00:14:17] photographs have supposed Yeti footprints. Like I googled Shipton footprint before we started

[00:14:23] recording here and it was the second result was his famous photo. And it's a charismatic photo,

[00:14:28] it looks like the big toe looks curled in a way that doesn't look human but it also it doesn't

[00:14:35] look like a bear it doesn't look like it doesn't even look like a great ape it just looks like a

[00:14:39] giant human footprint with strange toes and it's very evocative but there are reasons to doubt

[00:14:45] its legitimacy. But so what happened was that that was incredibly popular and then there were two

[00:14:50] more expeditions I believe one in 1952 and then another in 1954 those first two expeditions that

[00:14:59] I mentioned they weren't there to find a Yeti they were there to chart a path to Everest. And

[00:15:05] they just like found the footprints on the way and took pictures and that wound up being what

[00:15:10] the expedition was most famous for. And then of course Everest is summited in 1953. Edmund Hilary

[00:15:17] and Tenzing Norge were asked by reporters did you see the Yeti and they were like no.

[00:15:24] But so finally the following year in 1954 the Daily Mail sponsors the first big expedition whose

[00:15:31] explicit purpose was to find the Yeti and they found nothing. But that's when popular interest

[00:15:37] was at an all-time high. And then there were a whole slew of Yeti movies and I think this is pretty

[00:15:44] much one of the last ones and it's from very early on in Hammer's existence pretty much before they

[00:15:50] were explicitly a horror production company. They were just sort of I don't know to try and exploit

[00:15:57] trends more than anything else. They hadn't really zoned in on Gothic horror particularly but not

[00:16:02] 1957 is interesting because you get the curse of Frankenstein which is pretty much their first

[00:16:08] Gothic horror movie and this which is a very different kind of movie I think it would be hard

[00:16:15] push to call it horror. Yeah more adventure thriller kind of it's not yeah you don't really see

[00:16:23] the creature and even in the big reveal at the end you still don't really see the creature.

[00:16:29] No and it's definitely one of those movies where you expect it to be oh this monster's killing

[00:16:36] everyone terrible horrifying monster but no no no humans are the real monster and the monster is not

[00:16:45] a monster he's a gentle creature that just wants to be left alone so it is kind of that trope

[00:16:51] that has become a trope more so in horror but this movie isn't really that type of horror movie.

[00:16:58] Yeah there are kills in it but you don't really see them they don't gruesome I mean this is a 50s

[00:17:06] you're not gonna see gruesome bloody murder. No well I think in their previous two movies the

[00:17:12] Quatermass experiment and X the Unknown the X's were in giant red lettering to try and highlight

[00:17:20] the fact that they'd got the X rating in the UK for these movies so they were sort of like a

[00:17:25] right the hard are for the American audience whereas this one ended up getting an A because it's

[00:17:31] quite restrained it's classy yeah yeah it does yeah there's very little on screen violence

[00:17:37] I mean there's no gore it's more of a the conflict comes from the clash of characters then

[00:17:43] the creature yes yes and that's very on purpose that's the point in fact I don't know if we

[00:17:49] want to rush straight to the end but the characters are talking about like Peter Cushing's character

[00:17:54] John Rawlison at the end he's like this Yeti has not been killing off the team it's been us

[00:18:00] yeah our stupid stuff that we're trying to pull the corners were trying to cut and the chances

[00:18:06] that we're taking are getting us killed and it's not the monster's fault yeah and there's this

[00:18:10] underlying theme throughout before they set off on their expedition the Lama is telling them

[00:18:16] you should be careful when you go up there because they're not sort of like the last dying remnant

[00:18:21] of a previous iteration of mankind or a missing link of some kind they're actually what's coming

[00:18:27] next they're hiding up in the Himalayas waiting for us to destroy ourselves through our stupidity

[00:18:34] and greed and then they will inherit the earth is kind of the philosophical message you get at

[00:18:41] the beginning and he says it in such a cryptic way that Peter Cushing's character doesn't really

[00:18:46] understand him he listens but he doesn't really understand but by the end of the story where they

[00:18:52] have through their colossal stupidity and stupid infighting as well they have died off other than

[00:18:59] I think there's like it's just John Rawlison that's left actually at the end of the movie isn't it?

[00:19:04] yeah yeah I do find it kind of similar in theme to the other movie that was discussed with you

[00:19:11] third Wolfen so this kind of ancient creature that's just been around for millennia

[00:19:18] they just want to be left alone really they just want to survive and just do their own thing

[00:19:23] while the humans just kill each other and that is a lot of similar themes to I also found with

[00:19:31] Miyazaki movies like a lot of Miyazaki movies like Nausoka of Valia the Wind and Princess

[00:19:36] Mononoki where it's about nature is mystical and mythical and ancient and just wants to be left

[00:19:46] pretty much so just just leave nature alone and you won't die yeah I was surprised how

[00:19:53] how much emphasis a film in 1957 put on they were really driving the point home where

[00:19:59] Peter Cushing is like maybe they didn't come up to the Himalayas to die they came up here to wait

[00:20:05] out humanity yeah I did find it surprising that this movie wasn't just what I expected it to be

[00:20:12] a really dumb very simple horror movie where you have a monster killing everyone off and then at the

[00:20:20] end they somehow overpowered the monster yeah it wasn't like that whatsoever it was like the humans

[00:20:28] were the savages as they put it it wasn't about the monster and also the Yeti seemed to have powers

[00:20:36] they seemed to know what they were going to do next it wasn't intelligent it wasn't violent it didn't

[00:20:44] hit a single person in the film there was an interesting take on it yeah there are some supernatural

[00:20:50] elements in there for sure I think that's probably why the film when I look at it in the very genre

[00:20:56] books that I have for reference I don't find it in the horror in cyclopedia I find it in the

[00:21:02] science fiction in cyclopedia and I think that's where cryptids tend to be yeah

[00:21:12] I found as well that the movie does explore sort of differences in culture as well so yeah of

[00:21:18] course you've got the Western versus Eastern culture with the Nepalese monks and the lama

[00:21:24] I noticed they spelled it lama with an H like exactly how the animals spelled

[00:21:30] not how a deli lama spell anyway and also the difference in culture between the British

[00:21:36] and the American yeah you've always got the Fulhardy glory seeking Americans you know charging in

[00:21:44] it's a tough but fair caricature yeah he's just there to make a quick buck isn't he that's

[00:21:52] the interesting thing that it's kind of the reverse shock to aliens in aliens Ripley is

[00:21:57] juped into a mission that she thinks is going to be purely focused on wiping something out and

[00:22:02] survival and then it's shocked to discover that there's a scientific effort behind it

[00:22:08] whereas this time it's the reverse John Rollerson finds out what do you mean you want to kill the

[00:22:12] thing yeah and he's quite disappointed about they calls Tom Friend that's our American character

[00:22:19] played by Forest Tucker he's actually replacing character who is played by a British person in the

[00:22:25] TV version so there wasn't that cultural split I don't think I think it was just because you're

[00:22:31] trying to get an American distributor to sign on to the film you have to have somebody American

[00:22:36] awesome Americans in the cast so he ends up being what Peter Cushing refers to as a cheap fair ground

[00:22:43] trickster yeah one point in the movie but he is a pretty disgusting guy because at one point

[00:22:49] he sets a trap for the Yeti with his friend as bait which is not great is it and then gives him

[00:22:57] a gun that it later transpires has no ammo in it yeah just in case he shot the creature yeah I'm

[00:23:04] saying he's a bit of a dick yeah he's he's willing to sacrifice human lives to get his fame and glory

[00:23:12] yeah yeah and I love the earlier point in the film where they just capture common a garden monkey

[00:23:17] of some kind and he says well Cousang our guide says this is the Yeti and we says Yeti so that's

[00:23:25] it it's official that's the story now yeah this is it and it's this this time it's a monkey

[00:23:32] they'd actually reflect real world stories there are countless instances of these

[00:23:39] Westerners who are living in the Himalayas the locals come to them and say there's a Yeti there's

[00:23:44] a Yeti right up there in that cave and they're like okay show me and they walk up to the cave

[00:23:48] and they look inside the cave and it's always either like some sort of macaque or like a Himalayan

[00:23:54] brown bear and they'd be like that's the Yeti and they're like yes that is a Yeti that is what all

[00:24:00] the stories are about and it's like okay so it's a Himalayan brown bear yeah or a monkey yeah

[00:24:05] but yeah that's generally considered the two most common explanations for what a Yeti actually

[00:24:10] is is a Himalayan brown bear or some species of monkey so it was interesting to see it pop up

[00:24:16] in the film and he's like this is the story we're gonna tell him that the Yeti is this kind of

[00:24:20] monkey and I'm like he's not far off from the real truth there yeah wow yeah right right but they

[00:24:26] have been like sort of falsified cryptids as well like we're we've just attached skeletons

[00:24:33] from other animals together yeah to try to make some mythical beast yeah there have absolutely

[00:24:38] been lots of hoaxes in fact there's a Yeti scalp westerners would make pilgrimages to this

[00:24:44] particular monastery in the Himalayas it might have its own Wikipedia page it's this

[00:24:49] it was presented by the Buddhist monks two Western explorers and scientists as a Yeti scalp

[00:24:55] and of course the DNA tested in the 70s in it and it comes back as a Ciro which is a kind of

[00:25:01] an ungulate like an antelope that lives in the Himalayas all right yeah they're all hoaxes every single

[00:25:07] piece of like this is a Yeti hand this is a Yeti pelt this is Yeti scat they test it

[00:25:13] and it's a brown bear or an antelope or human every single day right right yeah I remember when

[00:25:21] they brought back a platypus to the weasel world and no one believed it wasn't really with them yeah

[00:25:28] yeah yeah they I can't remember who it was who got the first platypus pelt from Australia but yeah

[00:25:34] they were like man these hoaxes are just think that we'll fall for anything these days

[00:25:41] you know some pretty weird things down there I know I mean yeah it's got a duck bill it looks

[00:25:47] like a beaver and it lays eggs I mean that's pretty out there and it has the poisonous spurs on

[00:25:54] its back feet yeah that's right it's got um yeah I think like it's it's chromosomes too

[00:26:00] it lactates but it doesn't have nipples it's got like humans have two sex chromosomes it has a

[00:26:06] lot more than two just like all sorts of not to go too off base you can cut this if you want but

[00:26:13] platypus pretty weird yeah yeah yeah well speaking of Yeti hands turning up yeah that's pretty much

[00:26:22] all you get to see in this movie is an arm that ventures into a tent it is every NRA members

[00:26:29] nightmare it goes straight for the guns yeah and that is all you get to see even though director val

[00:26:36] guest mentions in the commentary track that they were building him a full-sized Yeti prop and make up

[00:26:43] and they had a guy for the suit and so on and so forth he was saying to them you can build whatever

[00:26:49] you like I'm not going to show it really he was determined and yet Nigel Neal thinks that that

[00:26:54] was a mistake and he should have done even though he recognizes that the technology they had available

[00:26:59] at the time would not have done it justice he thinks that he was cheating the audience and I do feel

[00:27:04] it specifically at the moment when they have shot one yeah and the camera just will not tilt down

[00:27:11] to show you what they've shot yeah and towards the end as well when Peter Christian's character faces

[00:27:17] off with one or two actually and that walks towards the camera and it's just the face but it's

[00:27:25] all mostly in shadow you don't really get a good glimpse of what it actually looks like yeah they

[00:27:30] give it the Morticia Adams treatment where there's this shaft of light that's shooting across its

[00:27:35] eyes and that's it everything else is in shadow yeah yeah so that you can see the quote sadness

[00:27:42] and wisdom yes in the Yeti's face is Rollerson describes yeah that's all you're supposed to get

[00:27:48] and sort of a Star Trek the next generation approach to aliens which is slightly weird nose

[00:27:53] that's it yeah yeah yeah yeah so if you are going into this movie expecting a lot of Yitty

[00:28:01] you're not gonna get a lot of Yitty no you are gonna get a lot of suspense though yeah and that's

[00:28:06] the one thing although this is a 1950s movie the way that it operates is obviously different to

[00:28:11] the way that we would expect now in terms of generating suspense intention but this was

[00:28:17] built at the time as a nerve jangling grueling tale of suspense and I can see why I can see what

[00:28:24] they're doing and how effective it probably was for audiences then yeah I think they I mean

[00:28:30] they do that with the characters and the dialogue but I do find the setting adds a lot to it like

[00:28:35] the whole mountain side and in the closed quarters of the tent and the the huts that they stay in

[00:28:41] it did remind me of the thing actually it has that sort of very claustrophobic like isolated

[00:28:48] feel to it yeah and the location shooting helps I was surprised by that like I didn't expect

[00:28:54] like actual mountain side I mean it's not always actual mountain side but a good chunk of it is

[00:29:00] yeah so the film combines two techniques it's when it's the headlining actors it's on a set

[00:29:06] pinewood studios but they also have extensive wide shots that were done on location with standins

[00:29:14] yeah and I thought that they were working really well it's not just like one establishing

[00:29:18] shot of the mountain they're constantly cutting to these wide shots hmm which I was surprised to find

[00:29:24] from the commentary track were not the actors that they were just stands in I thought the standins

[00:29:28] or stands in anyway I thought they did a really good job of matching them and then Val Guest says on

[00:29:34] the commentary track that they worked very hard to make sure that they were matched well that like

[00:29:39] what an actor's arm was doing when it came time to shoot outdoors they would relay that to the

[00:29:44] stand-in to make sure that it all matched continuity so you can tell that they're on sets in some

[00:29:50] of the shots but there are enough of these on location shots done that it doesn't feel like as

[00:29:58] you said earlier it doesn't feel like an episode of Star Trek because like the cameras wouldn't operate

[00:30:02] at those altitudes in those temperatures so you know they're not actually filming there but I

[00:30:06] think they did a good job of blending it through yeah I think it blends really well because it is a

[00:30:11] black and white film yeah so you know white is kind of easy to match with black and white you know

[00:30:20] so um there's that but I was impressed I was really impressed I mean the main sort of tell

[00:30:26] that it was on set was because of the sound because it sounded indoors yeah it's the main

[00:30:33] yeah but I was I mean it didn't look cheap like even though you could tell it was a set and

[00:30:40] what was the snow made out of does it look like I think it's salt yeah I read salt it is salt yeah right

[00:30:45] yeah it had a nice powdery look to it but I could tell it wasn't wet right there was my only uh

[00:30:52] this isn't real yeah then the actors don't look terribly cold either which is always the problem

[00:30:57] murder you can see their breath indoors yeah the two weeks they did I think they shot on the

[00:31:02] Pyrenees so not the Himalayas but it didn't pull me out of the movie because I was just so impressed

[00:31:08] at the scope of it otherwise and the the scope of course it adds to the fact that it is cinema scope

[00:31:13] it's full two three five or hammer scope as they called it so it is a very handsome film with a

[00:31:20] very impressive sense of scale and remoteness in terms of the location it must have been quite

[00:31:26] exciting as a kid of the 50s to go and see this expedition into the Himalayas yeah and even the

[00:31:34] the sets the rocky mountain sides indoor sets looked really really good some of the shots being very

[00:31:41] ambitious with the avalanche scene and the blizzard scene yeah it's convincing yeah I was impressed

[00:31:48] with the production overall yeah this is the first time I have to admit that I have seen Peter

[00:31:57] Cushing not as moth-talking right we've seen him as Sherlock Holmes actually in Howe

[00:32:02] to the Basketballs but other than that I'm ashamed to say I've never seen him play anything else

[00:32:08] he's a very good actor yeah he is he is and he's playing a different character than what I'm used

[00:32:15] to anyway he's not a commanding you know space not see yeah yeah he's quite a warm generous like

[00:32:25] considerate person and trying to preserve a you know ancient creature as well and then very logical

[00:32:33] and practical about things like he's he's not always resorting to this is the worst thing can

[00:32:38] that that can happen like when Ed dies he checks him and he's like oh he's not scratch on him he

[00:32:44] died of a heart attack so he's he's very pragmatic yeah but also kind I'm remembering a moment where

[00:32:53] the first victim is McNeigh yes that's who here's the calling of the Yeti coming over the mountain and

[00:33:00] he just starts scaling a cliff without any gear or safety equipment and he loses his footing

[00:33:07] and he falls and he dies and then they I can't remember what pulls them away from McNeigh's poor

[00:33:13] broken body but Ed starts screaming back at base camp and they run back and Ed announces that he

[00:33:19] just was attacked by two Yetis and so like okay let's set up a trap for when they come back

[00:33:23] and they're talking about how they're gonna trap the Yetis and all of a sudden Peter Cushing

[00:33:27] goes I need a spade and they're like what for oh right McNeigh yeah yeah which is that was great

[00:33:34] I thought they did a really good job of making Peter Cushing he's just like such a sweetheart

[00:33:39] yeah he just like doesn't want anybody to get hurt yeah but he's he's a constant odds with

[00:33:43] the character his last name is friend which I found ironic because I kept forgetting that his name

[00:33:50] was friend and so Cushing would look at him and be like friend what are you doing and I thought

[00:33:54] he was calling him friends or castically yeah yeah yeah because everyone was referring to everyone

[00:34:00] it's different names so it was John to Helen but he was Rollison to everyone else or doc to

[00:34:07] yeah to Tom and then there was like it's a Peter Fox but everyone called him Foxy yeah it was

[00:34:13] a bit confusing but going back to Peter Cushing's character being very sort of sympathetic also he

[00:34:20] was very respectful to the the Nepalese culture as well he embraced T-drinking while everyone

[00:34:28] else was complaining about it and also the Americans just being very racist to any of the

[00:34:37] sort of local people so yeah yeah the Americans are anytime the Nepalese come up they insult them

[00:34:44] yeah to the point where like the monks at the monastery start singing and dancing

[00:34:49] and the American friend looks out the window and he's like what is a war dance

[00:34:55] and Peter Cushing goes no they're Buddhist they don't believe in war yeah yeah exactly yeah I think

[00:35:01] the Americans refer to the mosaic narrative and at one point when they're coming into camp I think

[00:35:06] his head says to another one stick close these guys elite you yeah awful and that isn't just limited

[00:35:13] to the Americans though because of course Peter Cushing's character is contrasted heavily with Foxy

[00:35:20] who is very much the British Empire stereotype who's also staring down his nose at these people and

[00:35:27] calls them ghastly and can't wait to get home to civilization and yet oddly enough when the

[00:35:34] Americans show up and start being rude to them he defends them and says that he finds them

[00:35:40] quite lovely so I don't know what's going on there that's a few yeah it's it's mixed messaging

[00:35:46] I know that he's supposed to be good on his part I think it's just hypocrisy so it's even worse

[00:35:50] I don't think it's supposed to reflect well on Foxy that he flip flops in that moment I think

[00:35:55] it's just hypocrisy on his part but it all goes to reinforce Roleson as this gentleman scholar

[00:36:03] the sort of ideal of the scientist who's just interested in knowledge and discovery

[00:36:08] and embracing different cultures as he finds them because he wants to understand and respect them

[00:36:13] which is quite a wonderful central character to have and you also have the fact that he

[00:36:19] he has brought his wife with him or I should say his wife has accompanied him because he describes

[00:36:25] her as his colleague yeah as his partner as every bit his equal in this exercise yeah also the

[00:36:34] fact that one might assume that she isn't going to follow them up the mountain because she's like not

[00:36:39] qualified or she's just a woman who can't handle it no it's not that she knows it's stupid yeah

[00:36:45] she's like please don't tell me you're going up and untarded Himalayan territory in the wrong

[00:36:51] season to go find a Yeti and he's like no I really want to and she's like I wanted to be back at

[00:36:57] base camp yeah and then she has the agency to create her own rescue party and leads it

[00:37:04] yep in fact to go and rescue her husband 1957 yeah that's pretty impressive yeah it is that

[00:37:11] is yeah I've watched a couple of 1950s giant monster movies in the last couple of months

[00:37:18] and they all have like one stock female character and they're always either the daughter or the

[00:37:25] assistant of a scientist who's of like an ancient 85 year old scientist who's there to like

[00:37:33] pontificate about the hubris of man and then they have like sometimes literally a playboy

[00:37:39] centerfold model as like his daughter who's there for the mission and yeah so you've already made

[00:37:46] this point I'm just repeating it with more detail but yeah it was very refreshing to see Helen

[00:37:50] even though she's not a mean character so much yeah but even her staying behind is proving a point

[00:37:57] beyond just she's not going with them yeah and then of course yeah she mounts the expedition to

[00:38:03] uh to go and rescue him because he does not get off the mountain by himself yeah I mean she's the one

[00:38:08] that discovered him as well yeah the end yeah she does did I read it right that there are footprints in

[00:38:15] the snow is the suggestion that rollison was a either accompanied back or carried back by Yeti yeah

[00:38:22] so he was rescued yeah the Yetis brought him back to his wife that's how we got off the mountain wow

[00:38:28] it's a very different ending from what I was expecting yeah I mean that's not to say that it doesn't

[00:38:34] sort of dip into some obvious trope sometimes we do get the white lady in danger trope at one point

[00:38:41] with Helen where she's surrounded by Nepalese people and has to be rescued quote unquote by Foxy who

[00:38:50] rushes in and disperses them yeah but I mean I don't think there's any sense that they want

[00:38:54] anything other than just to get paid actually well yeah yeah they've been left high and dry by the

[00:39:00] Americans and not being paid yeah I mean there's a scene as well where she is quite distressed and it

[00:39:06] does feel like this is a sort of an old Hollywood portrayal of woman being distressed in hysterical

[00:39:13] she you know biogen on the lamer and yeah that was a weird scene that I forgot about

[00:39:19] yeah that was the one where I noticed she's woken up I don't know smelling salt or something

[00:39:24] were given the stiff drink and the lamas says to her the servants found you in the secret part of

[00:39:30] the building but it is this temple have a secret part yeah yeah so it does sort of tread into some

[00:39:38] of those nativist tropes every now and again there's a scene where it's a little bit disappointed by

[00:39:44] as well where Helen spots a couple of porters talking to each other including Kusang who's going

[00:39:50] to lead Rollerson's expedition up into the Himalayas and there's a music sting and she immediately

[00:39:56] flies off in a panic obviously just assuming the natives are conspiring to kill her husband or

[00:40:02] something I don't know yeah I wasn't confused by the depiction of the lamer and kind of look

[00:40:10] like they were trying to make them out to be evil like having some sort of a hidden agenda but then

[00:40:15] he didn't I don't know what the approach was yeah well first thing they did was they hired a

[00:40:21] German to play him yeah I was going to get into it in the movie awards but it reminded me of

[00:40:28] the scene of breakfast activities oh Mickey Rooney yeah yeah it's a product of the time you know

[00:40:37] yeah it's a very weight guy playing a Tibetan and trying to be as mysterious as possible in all

[00:40:45] of his line readings yeah I mean the the accident is completely wrong yeah sounds like Eastern European

[00:40:52] but I kind of wouldn't have liked him doing a sort of an Asian yeah please accident either so

[00:41:00] maybe maybe it was beer this way and to be further at the accents generally we're a little bit

[00:41:06] all over the place me and Kusang's pretty much got British gentlemen down but as for the guy

[00:41:12] that's playing McNeigh the Scottish person I don't know what the hell that was was he supposed

[00:41:17] to be Scottish yeah what the hell was that I thought he was French yeah Michael Brill who's from

[00:41:25] Crueyton wow he's not Scottish I don't know what the hell that was it's very strange yeah I did

[00:41:31] not get Scottish from that I didn't either it's about as Scottish as Highlander Christoph Lambert

[00:41:38] yeah yes yes that was time for random trivia okay it's trivia time Conrad what piece of trivia have

[00:41:48] you uncovered from a snowy peak today well when this film was being developed they initially went

[00:41:55] with a slight modification of the TV versions title the creature they called it the snow creature

[00:42:03] just I'll leave anybody in any doubt slight problem they discovered that they'd already been a film

[00:42:09] about Yeti in 1954 called the snow creature directed by W. Lee Wilder who is the brother of Billy

[00:42:19] Wilder director of some like it hot and sunset Boulevard right but it's complete exploitative

[00:42:27] trash by all accounts haven't seen it so shouldn't judge but yeah so yeah they suddenly switched to

[00:42:35] the abominable snowman which in the US print for some reason was appended with all for the Himalayas

[00:42:40] in case they thought it was you know the Brooklyn one or something yeah oh wow yeah there you go

[00:42:48] that's our trivia

[00:42:55] uh should we talk about the score so the score is by Humphrey Searle the composer behind a film

[00:43:02] that we've covered already the haunting 1963 but whereas the haunting demonstrates his interest

[00:43:09] in modernist approaches like serialism this one is very romantic I thought it is yeah which was

[00:43:18] again not what I was expecting quite fulsome quite present quite active very much of its time

[00:43:25] very beautiful very effective I thought he never did another hammer movie and people have

[00:43:31] noted that his score for this is very similar to Ralph Vaughan Williams work for Scott of the Antarctic

[00:43:37] which was released in 1948 so I don't know if he was sort of going for the romance and the excitement

[00:43:45] of the adventure more than the terror and suspense of being in an isolated location with an unknown

[00:43:52] mystical creature yeah I found a quite a grand score like uh I was a very full orchestra

[00:43:59] or some strings yeah like you said very romantic quite sort of melodramatic almost like

[00:44:06] a scene were like much more theatrical sounding with the score in them also quite well queued

[00:44:13] like there were lots of scenes with with no score at all like it's just just dialogue and so it wasn't

[00:44:19] that never ending music that a lot of sort of old Hollywood tended to do interesting ideas as well

[00:44:28] if you've got throat singing I guess that was more digetic music with the monks you've also got

[00:44:35] some harp in there kind of interesting texture and also using I don't think it's like Asian

[00:44:43] modes or scales but more it almost sounded like more Arabian like Middle East and sounding scales

[00:44:51] but you know it's ethnic right it's not normal major minus scales so that there was a different

[00:45:01] take on it as well I mean I guess expected because you know you're in the Himalayas of course

[00:45:06] that's kind of the sound exotic yeah I did notice that there are you know quote unquote orientalisms

[00:45:14] which isn't non-ice word but for that stinger for example where Helen sees the two porters

[00:45:20] talking and just assume instantly assumes the worst the stinger for that is pentatonic I think

[00:45:25] is it right because I hear a lot of non pentatonic scales like there's a lot of chromatic move

[00:45:32] or like some chromatic movement which is I would normally associate with like sort of Middle East in

[00:45:38] time so maybe it was music for any listeners that aren't musically inclined what what does pentatonic

[00:45:45] mean no pentatonic is so a normal scale is made out of eight notes well technically seven notes

[00:45:52] pentatonic scales only made out of five notes so and it always goes up in the same way so it's like

[00:46:00] this is going to sound very musical but it's good like it will be like the root note in the

[00:46:05] attone attone and then all skip to attone and then all go to a third above and then another tone

[00:46:12] so there's only five notes to a scale as opposed to seven eight notes it does have a very cultural

[00:46:20] sound to it although it is used a lot in blues music as well so you've got that so it's adopted

[00:46:27] into a lot of guitar driven music as well so traditionally Asian sounding the pentatonic scale

[00:46:35] yeah to western ears and so it ended up you know whenever suppose that the Asian character would

[00:46:41] turn up in a cartoon they'd all of a sudden start playing sort of chopsticky type of

[00:46:46] yeah yeah yeah it just says very racist these days it does but I mean it was a way of sonically saying

[00:46:57] hey we're not in America right now we're in the Himalayas it's the same way where every time you see

[00:47:05] an army or the military on screen you've you've got to have like near drum rolls and like

[00:47:11] Ross a brass band this is neither here nor there feel free to cut this but I watch the Flynn

[00:47:17] Stones the live action one from 94 a couple of weeks ago and Halle Berry has a bit part in it

[00:47:23] yeah and every single time she walks on camera it's saxophone plays every single time yeah

[00:47:31] I mean I've seen that movie kind of as an adult and it really doesn't age they're well no

[00:47:39] it's yeah it's an uncomfortable watch yeah you can skip it

[00:47:55] hello it's the movie awards where we nominate our favorite 10-foot tall theory parts of

[00:48:02] the film in a number of glacial blizzard-swit categories best quote it's kind of a little speech

[00:48:09] that kushing gives when they're speculating on the true nature of the Yeti and he says suppose

[00:48:15] they're not just a pitiful remnant waiting to die out they're waiting yes but waiting for us to go

[00:48:21] suppose we are the savages perhaps so then we are the dark ages not homo sapien the thinking man

[00:48:28] but homo vastes man the destroyer yeah oh I love that one that was my favorite it's great yeah

[00:48:36] is the whole premise of the movie just summed up in one amazing speech it's great

[00:48:43] I went for something really really brilliant and childish um I thought that nothing could really beat

[00:48:50] Peter kushing's deathless opening line to the movie which was have you seen this veining fox

[00:48:58] oh with them both bent over something is what the hell is happening here I think they're looking at a plant

[00:49:11] questionable outer context it is the nickname Foxy does not

[00:49:19] best hair or costume this is uh the no brainer it's gotta be the Yeti's face

[00:49:25] oh right yes which which like very subtly done critically they do nothing to the eyes

[00:49:33] which like how do you convey otherness when the point is to not change the eyes

[00:49:38] Conrad you said it earlier you give them a weird nose yeah yeah it is it's the star trick approach

[00:49:45] leave the actor their eyes so that they can still convey things but yeah just give them a weird nose

[00:49:50] or weird brow or something yeah uh I went for something that I was very impressed with which

[00:49:57] was Helen's sensible and stylish white knitted rescue snooed which she wears when she sets off

[00:50:06] to rescue her husband off the Himalayas likes it very much looked really comfortable and warm

[00:50:12] mm-hmm most fifties moment that would have to be the theme of scientists are delving into secrets

[00:50:20] they aren't meant to know which was much more explicitly stated in things like the beast from 20,000

[00:50:28] fathoms like it had a whole ad campaign which was like it was usually atomic films oh yeah

[00:50:35] of course it was like man's hubris will get itself killed which is interesting that they had such

[00:50:40] a strong presence of that theme in this film even though no discussion of nukes obviously but yeah

[00:50:45] this whole idea that there are pieces of nature that we shouldn't interfere with but at the same time

[00:50:51] it's less science interfering with nature than showmanship and the monetization of discovery

[00:50:59] that is being I'm undermining my own selection here by saying oh this was such a cliche or except

[00:51:05] that it wasn't a cliche but yeah that reminded me of the fifties the most yeah my suggestion would be

[00:51:12] Helen might be able to mount and lead an expedition into the Himalayas to rescue her husband but she

[00:51:17] can't put on a coat unless a man holds it up for her oh yeah that's right put on your own damn

[00:51:26] coat Helen yeah favorite scene so my favorite scene is when McNeigh and Rollison are in the tent

[00:51:37] McNeigh has accidentally stepped in a Yeti trap and his ankles been injured and Cushing has spotted

[00:51:44] a Yeti at this point they both have and McNeigh asks Cushing what did it look like and Cushing

[00:51:51] starts rattling off all these it's height it's weight and how its age is probably difficult to assess

[00:51:57] and then McNeigh stops him and he goes no no no did you see what it looked like and that's when

[00:52:03] Cushing says yeah there was a sadness and a wisdom to it and I just I really like that yeah my favorite

[00:52:10] scene which is when we get to the point when friend and Rollison are the last remaining expedition

[00:52:16] members and they hear Ed calling for help on the wind when Ed's dead yeah and wrapped up outside

[00:52:24] their tent and that's the one piece of sort of uncanny earring horror I think real existential horror

[00:52:32] that you get and maybe that is because of this psychic or extra sensory aspect that isn't developed

[00:52:40] but it reminded me so much of Josh's fate in the Blair Witch project from 1999

[00:52:46] where again group of people looking for a mythical thing that lives out in the wilderness

[00:52:51] somewhere one of them goes missing and then the others could hear them calling for help in the middle

[00:52:56] of the night but I think this is better because his dead body is outside so it's clearly a rash

[00:53:01] yeah yeah yeah and all the more disturbing for it because then you definitely know that your hearing

[00:53:06] is coming from something else yeah most cliche moment it wasn't a cliche at the time I don't think

[00:53:13] but hiding the monster for as long as possible sort of became a cliche I think it's a great example

[00:53:22] of a cliche done really really well because you don't really miss the fact that you haven't seen

[00:53:28] a yeti yet like two thirds of the way through the film like they're still enough conflict between

[00:53:32] the characters that you're still engaged and you're not checking your watch waiting for the yeti

[00:53:36] to show up and then when it does show up but they pointedly don't show you the yeti there are several

[00:53:42] yeti attacks that take place completely off camera but there's a thematic reason I guess

[00:53:49] that they sort of put in there for not showing the audience the yeti until literally the last possible

[00:53:55] chance so it's a cliche that I really really liked yeah mine is the locals are afraid of the beast

[00:54:06] the mere mention of the word yeti startles koo saying I am I mean it happens in every culture so

[00:54:13] it's not just sort of in the empire versus the indigenous cultures it also happens in American

[00:54:19] well often London which I mentioned in the last episode to with the locals in the pub terrified of

[00:54:25] the well of so yeah it's a cliche yeah yeah yeah best special effect I thought it was a special

[00:54:32] effect until I listened to the commentary and found out it wasn't it's oh when the Americans first

[00:54:39] show up at the monastery you can see their breath oh yeah and I was like oh that's so cool did

[00:54:45] they refrigerate the set did they make them like suck on ice between takes or something how do

[00:54:50] they get their their breath cold and then on the commentary val guest is like yeah we filmed this

[00:54:55] outside in February and I was like oh okay it's cold yeah that worked out well yeah my favorite was

[00:55:08] the opening matte painting on the mountain side with the live element of like a post with some

[00:55:17] fabric attached to it flapping in the breeze in the foreground that brought it to life I thought

[00:55:22] oh this is this good work it's nice yeah my favorite sound effect is the keening of the yetis

[00:55:32] that cry oh yeah and echoes across the mountain tops after they've killed the first one

[00:55:38] yeah it's mournful yeah yeah it is it's not what you're expecting at all yeah no no it's scary but

[00:55:46] that because it's menacing but because it's so um sentient and sad yeah yeah yeah it is

[00:55:54] what about you Dan so one sound I would like to pick out is the cowboy whiston bullet ricochets

[00:56:01] sounds when they just yeah it's just like I just think of cowboy whistons when I hear it it's such

[00:56:08] a iconic sound most funniest moment so my funniest moment is definitely unintentional it's when

[00:56:16] it's the first death when McNeigh falls off the mountain yeah that's mine too and there is a

[00:56:24] very brief shot it's like less than a second it's less than 24 frames of McNeigh's body falling

[00:56:31] and striking a rock and the thing is it's like you expect in a cheap production they drop like a

[00:56:36] mannequin yeah I don't even think it was a mannequin yeah I think they literally dropped like a

[00:56:41] pair of pants in a jacket off of a styrofoam clip it doesn't look solid at all it just looks like

[00:56:50] no he just suddenly disappeared and oh yeah it's close remains like a rapture didn't

[00:56:58] fall yeah funniest for you the thing I laughed at the most was Tom Friend okay he's delusional

[00:57:08] but yeah his firing is gun everywhere whilst searching for Ed in a snowstorm I don't know how firing

[00:57:15] the gun is helping yeah is it a source of light what what what is he doing other than bringing an

[00:57:21] avalanche down on himself and possibly shooting Ed if he is out yeah I've no idea

[00:57:28] can that tell me that's all I'm Mary Jo Peel and you are listening to movie Ubleyette

[00:57:38] that's right it's final verdict time should the abominable snowman from 1957 be set free to

[00:57:47] wander the snowy peaks and be admired for its hairy greatness or should it be hit with a mighty

[00:57:55] avalanche and plummet back into Ubleyette and be a forgotten myth never seen again search your

[00:58:01] outgifts should this movie be seen by people I say set it free absolutely yes it was quite a

[00:58:09] pleasant surprise I haven't seen a lot of hammer horror but the ones that I've seen including

[00:58:15] ones that you guys have reviewed on this podcast I was not impressed so it's like okay so I don't

[00:58:23] know what when I was doing research I was like okay early arrow hammer horror about a cryptid

[00:58:27] film that I had never heard of I was like how good could it be but I was really surprised it's

[00:58:32] like if this were an episode of Twilight Zone it would be a classic everybody would still be talking

[00:58:37] about it I think yeah absolutely I think there should be more widely known and widely seen

[00:58:42] I kind of agree I think it's a bit a lot of expectations it was nothing of what I expected I

[00:58:48] thought it was just gonna be a dumb big raid and horror movie with a guy in a rapist suit but it was

[00:58:54] was none of that it was very very a hit of its time for the 50s like theme wise like character wise

[00:59:02] dialogue wise it was really impressive and you know white washing aside you know that's

[00:59:08] that's the time that it was it's it's a pretty solid film I would say that free yeah I agree

[00:59:15] I I was really surprised as well because I tend to think of hammer as being the place where

[00:59:21] Britain did its creaky gothic castles with Dracula and blood and this is a really classy picture

[00:59:27] I mean it's a handsome production it's got fantastic dialogue cushing's amazing in it

[00:59:34] and it's got a really lofty philosophical theme to it that I was not expecting at all it's not

[00:59:40] a monster on the run movie it's man coming a cropper on the mountain and proving the llamas

[00:59:46] prophecy correct it's yeah really quite thought provoking atmospheric and it even has a little

[00:59:52] bit of existential horror in the middle of it with people getting delusional and hearing things on

[00:59:58] the wind that genuinely creeped me out from a film in 1957 so yeah I was very pleasantly surprised

[01:00:07] so I would say it for you as well yes yeah we have to mention as well this is a patron's choice

[01:00:13] any culture that chose it thank you very much for leading us witness this film that no one has

[01:00:20] probably ever seen hmm well we ought to check in with our patrons and find out what their final

[01:00:26] verdict was hello how yes conrad final verdict please it's unanimous they want to set it free

[01:00:34] oh everyone agrees everyone agrees Eddie Koolton himself came back to say set it free

[01:00:42] the abominable snowman of the Himalayas is one of my favorite hammer films that unfortunately

[01:00:47] gets overlooked because it had the misfortune of being released between the hammer juggernauts

[01:00:52] of the curse of Frankenstein and Dracula if you're a fan of Nigel Niels Quatermass movies then I highly

[01:00:58] recommend you give this one a chance Jasmine said I've been wanting to see this since dark corner

[01:01:05] reviews my other favorite internet movie commentators reviewed it a couple of years ago this

[01:01:11] patron's choice was the kick in the pants I needed to watch it I thought it was excellent

[01:01:17] the scenery was visually mesmerizing after seeing so many big foot and yeti movies where the creatures

[01:01:23] spend their screen time ripping people to shreds it was very refreshing to have a take where they

[01:01:29] don't do that and yet it still manages to be intense and utterly terrifying great pick Eddie Koolton

[01:01:36] chazilla says I've always liked the abominable snowman reminds me of classic twilight zone just

[01:01:42] what you said just longer love the black and white photography the practical effects and real

[01:01:49] sets anyone else miss match shots as much as I do try as they might not even Peter Cushing could

[01:01:56] get anything past the high llama the choice not to reveal the full creature until the very end

[01:02:01] and then just in silhouette with a close up of its eyes really builds the anticipation and terror

[01:02:07] still scares me by the way I propose a drinking game take a shot every time that prick Tom Friend

[01:02:14] hoes Koo sang and maybe just maybe it won't hurt your dream

[01:02:23] and finally iconographer said I'd never heard of this movie what a pleasant surprise I do love

[01:02:28] creature features from the 50s so this was a lot of fun great storytelling and suspense

[01:02:34] let those abominable snowmen free to wander the Himalayas yeah all right it's official it is

[01:02:41] a free off you go let's just open that cage bye yeti well surge it's been fabulous having you here

[01:02:52] especially to lend your expertise from your recent video or at least unused material from your

[01:02:59] recent video yeah thanks for having me well where can people follow you and hear more of your views

[01:03:04] and your cryptid knowledge across all social media I mean they're called crash pictures or

[01:03:09] called crash pics if the URL could not be that long but primarily it's YouTube YouTube is

[01:03:15] the thing the real thing that I put most of my my time and effort into I just recently released a

[01:03:21] video about dinosaur cryptid films which you can see and I've started researching my next scripted

[01:03:28] video is going to be the next episode of sorry in cinema oh great any hints as to what that's

[01:03:33] gonna be about yeah I can tell you that it'll be about all six Jurassic Park films

[01:03:39] yeah but through one particular critical lens one particular like scholarly angle

[01:03:45] oh cool let me just I haven't seen many overviews of all of them yet so that should be interesting

[01:03:52] yeah and yes listeners if you want to follow movie uble yet we are everywhere as movie uble yet

[01:03:58] uh and you can email us as well as at movie dot uble at edgmail.com

[01:04:04] yes and if you want to support the show then head on over to patreon where for as little as a dollar

[01:04:08] you get access to extended portions of the show and can nominate films for future episodes as eddie

[01:04:14] Coolter did today yes for five dollars you get to vote on the final verdict and get access to our

[01:04:19] monthly minisodes and for ten dollars you can be an executive producer like surge yeah and chisilla

[01:04:28] eddie Coolter Isaac Sutton Dr. Doggy and iconographer yeah yeah we really enjoyed the patrons choice

[01:04:35] today uh we have also got merchandise at rebubble and a youtube channel as well and if you haven't

[01:04:41] already give us a rating and review on spotify or apple podcast whatever you are listening to us on

[01:04:47] does help us out a lot it does so conrad uh next film what is up for the next episode well we

[01:04:56] will be remaining with a british american crossover production but this time in my favorite decade

[01:05:02] the eighties it's the nineteen eighty american supernatural horror film the watcher in the woods

[01:05:12] oh yes i haven't seen this one it's been on my watch list for years people keep mentioning it

[01:05:18] i don't know anything about it very keen to check it out i've never heard of it uh it's a childhood

[01:05:23] favorite of mine it's from disney's dark period when they were experimenting with darker material

[01:05:30] and it went all went horribly wrong so i shall enjoy seeing your reaction to that one down yes okay

[01:05:38] alright look at what i got thanks surge for joining us again on another episode and listeners uh

[01:05:45] until next time goodbye bye bye

[01:06:00] if you should feel like another nip of that nobody's gonna call you a tipler