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Summary: If you do not have this movie, hop to it!
Review: When I was a youngster many movies gave me nightmares such as "It Came From Outer Space" (1953) ASIN: 6303046436 where I kept seeing eyeballs. Now only one movie left to get over, you guessed it, this one. I can not look a grasshopper in the face. And as with most viewers I saw it on late night television as "Five Million Years to Earth"I am not about to rehash the movie. Actually the shorter reviews with unique facts are more interesting. However I will say this that it is logical and spooky especially by 1960's standards. And you get all the stereotypes such as the military that is just determined that this object found buried is a bomb. It makes you want to slap him around. Then there is the professor that knows better and is ignored. I could go on. But you need to see this movie. The only thing that is stretching but fits in a sci-fi movie is the device that changes thoughts into pictures [see it again in Brainstorm (1983) ASIN: 6301966511] All in all this is a mystery movie about aliens that came to earth five million years ago. One of their ships went off course and ended up in the mud. The ship is found during excavation and the fun begins.
Rating:
Summary: I'll give you "true believer"
Review: I love this film because it was made during what for a lot of folks were happier times, when the world was a bit broader and more mysterious and romantic. There are so many cheesy bit to this movie, but who cares? It's more than made up for by the period atmosphere and the creepy feeling that you can remember getting when you were a kid.
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Summary: The Martians are due at Piccaddilly Circus!!
Review: Our existence seems easy enough to explain, unless you're trying to explain it to Prof. Quatermass, a bearded scientist with the bearing of an exiled prophet (there are hints that he was something of an earlier persona-non-grata because he refused to cooperate in deisgning rockets for the British). When a large and mysterious...object is located during excavations for a new London Underground station at the ominously named Hobb's End (in olde English, Hobb is the devil), the military immediately labels the thing an unexploded German V-weapon from the war. Quatermass' insistence that the thing is really a fossilized spaceship gets nowhere, as you'd expect, even though the military explanation is as unconvincing as the professor's. For one thing, the object, which is built of a substance harder than diamond, is as big as a truck, and, without exploding, would have taken out half of Hobb's End, now dominated by buildings far older than WWII. For another thing, the object isn't even magnetic, though the V-weapons were crude precursors of the cold war froma pre-plastic age. Part of the military's insistence for their view arises from the vehemence of Quatermass', that the craft came from a Mars dominated by insect martians who occassioanlly fought civil wars of ethnic cleansing. When mysterious occurrences, and the discovery of skeletons resembling but also distinct from humans, occurr near the myserious artifact, Qautermass goes further. The Aliens, though dead, actually accomplished a successful invasion of Earth still in evidence - an invasion by Proxy with much of the human race as its 5th Column. Using a revolutionary device that translates human thoughts into observable images (a pretty far-out device that seems a bit of a cheat) on a suspsected and unwitting alien "heir", Quatermass unsurprisingly recovers images of martians fighting their race-wars, images suggesting trench-warfare of 1917 and Munich of 1938. The problem with "Five Million Years" is the logical leaps it makes on a subject that was pretty new - ancient astronauts became the rage later with "2001" and countless episodes of "Dr. Who." Contemporary science fiction was still concerned with exploring outer space, not the explorer's inner demons. Instead, "Five Million Years", which champions the scientific method of deduction by observation, sticks to its guns in an unscientific way. The film would have excelled if Quatermass had enough of the self-doubt that stymied the scientists of Carpenter's "Prince of Darkness" which also relied on a mix of the supernatural and science fiction to explain the history of mankind. In the end, the heroes look exhausted and demoralized after battling the martian threat and the evil in themselves. This is not ID4. This was based on an entry in a Brit TV series featuring the Qautermass charachter - Qautermass and the pit. Though a feauture film, it has the cheapness of a Dr. Who episode, or at least looks like a late 1950's film. The scenes appear staged within a single city block, as if the charachters were trapped there. This actually hilights the tension. I discovered "Five Million Years" in the perfect way - on late-night TV now dominated by Ron Popeil and Home Shopping Channels. If only Tony Robberts could stumble on one of those fossilized spaceships while setting up for one of his self-help infomercials....
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Summary: A biblical plague from outer space
Review: Quatermass And The Pit (AKA Five Million Years To Earth ...U.S) is an interesting study of the origin of mankind. An excavation in a subway tunnel unearths prehistoric human remains as well as a rocket shaped craft. The super intelligent Professor Quatermass ( Andrew Kier ) along with an anthropologist, and his assistant (the beautiful Babara Shelley) are all curious about the craft buried in the earth. The concept is that mankind recieved his intellegence from large insects from outer space (only the ones who find Whoopi Goldberg funny) Any way lots of excitement and excellent acting by an extraordinary cast. The vision of large hopping locusts in army parade type formation was eerie. Great for all you Sci Fi fans and even for those who like a little suspense...SEE IT WIDESCREEN!
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Summary: Does Mars REALLY need women? Ask James Donald
Review: The combination of elements in this movie (alien invaders, the supernatural, cranky but brilliant scientists) are the reason DR. WHO and THE X-FILES became such wonderful successes. Indeed, the plot resembles (and probably inspired) any of several DR. WHO plots from the early 70s. The issues explored in the film are fascinating and relevant, and the acting and script are terrific. Without dissing Andrew Keir, Barbara Shelley, or Julian Glover (who are all fantastic--and damned attractive, in Shelley's case), this movie was probably the best showcase for the underrated James Donald, who had important if glum roles in THE BRIDGE OVER THE RIVER KWAI and THE GREAT ESCAPE. Here, the director lets him cut loose and be one of those great scientific yet moral figures that are littered throughout British literature and history. Also, I, too, found the contrasting trailers at the end (with the American emphasis on "Mars Needs Women!") gutwrenchingly hilarious. Having heard of the TV series, and reading the other reviews, I'm extremely anxious to check out the original 50s version of the story. Still, as far as feature films go, this is one of the best possible "midnight movies" ever.
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Summary: Great Si-Fi movies
Review: This is one of my favorites of all time. I feel that the story has a few sub plots that make for great entertainment.For the hard core fan it has a ring of truth as to man's beginnings.I enjoyed the conflict between the GOV mindset and the learned of the day.The filming was first rate as to the plot's creepy feeling.Actors were chosen with the best results in mind.The alien effects left something to be desired even for that day and time.Music has a great deal to to do with the over all feeling and this was the best part of the movie.I could listen to it without the picture on the set.The end of some early movies leave you flat and wanting,this one does not!In the end the Prof.wins and man prevailes.
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Summary: Best in the series, and a classic of its genre
Review: I don't have too much to add to previous reviews, however, I would like to correct one of those reviews. Barbara Shelley, not Barbara Steele, is the actress in this film. It may seem petty, but those of us who have seen these two will understand my nitpicking over their differences. Also, the army officer, played by Julian Glover, refers to military bases on the moon being used to patrol the earth. Mars is briefly mentioned in that conversation, but it takes place before the Martian element becomes prevalent in the film. I realize this may be petty of me, but I just had to chime in with these corrections.
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Summary: Classic SF
Review: This is an excellent movie that is highly evocative of the period in which it was written. Although the idea of Luna and Martian bases is very dated today it was an idea discussed at the time. The original idea of Aliens inserting a genetic heritage into us all is excellent and thought provoking. However, I agree with some of the earlier reviewers that the original BBC BW production is very much superior as the characters have time to develop and the scratchy 1950s BBC effects actually add to the atmosphere which captures 1950s England. The original BBC video is available in the UK. A movie with a similar feel is The Day the Earth Caught fire, which is also set in the London of the late 1950s.
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Summary: Quality science fiction
Review: A craft is found in a London subway along with a number of fossils surrounding it. The military is trying to tell the media it is was a product of Nazi war propaganda from WW2, but Professor Quatermass thinks it is from another planet. Some people who enter the craft claim they have seen things and some are even controlled for brief periods. Quatermass theorizes that the craft and those that were aboard it had a hand in our evolution and he also thinks the craft may be alive. This film shows how far a good script can take a film because this is certainly interesting from beginning to end. A fine cast really does a good job, ecspially Keir and Shelley. Some of the special effects are weak like the locust creatures, but for the most part Hammer does a great job of making this look more expensive than it was. The craft, the excavation site, the flying objects and the destruction at the conclusion all look good for the time. This is a must see and possibly Hammer's best sci-fi film.
Rating: 
Summary: I think all the reviews were written by true believers
Review: Two and half stars really, and the half is for old-times sake. Let's get real here. This is one of my secret favorite movies, but a masterpiece? Hardly. The exposition is extremely ham-handed. In one memorable scene the bomb squad drives up in an emaculate jeep with a big red sign on the hood that says . . . yes, ``BOMB SQUAD''. I saw this once at an art house in Seattle and the crowd starting laughing with this scene and never quit. I was mortified, but I gotta admit it's unbelievably corny. ``MORE FINDS!'' Sorry, I crack myself up. The plot lapses border on the incredible. OK, this thing is found buried in a subway excavation (a very clumsy sound stage with a lot of sculpted clay). The civil defense records show no record of any bombs, and the buildings are intact above it, but the stuffy skeptical army type in charge insists it's a Nazi propaganda weapon. What? They came over and tunneled under the buildings and buried it? Never mind that the material is harder than diamond and impervious to heat. It gets worse, but let's not whip a dead horse. OK, one more; in one scene the military stiff asserts that bases on Mars would have to be military because one could patrol the earth with nuclear bombs. From Mars. Ah well, the famous Barbara Steele is sexy in a middle-aged plaid suited way, and the plot is imaginative if one can ignore the vast chasms in logic and continuity along the way. Likely to be viewed as camp humor by far more viewers than admire the movie as serious science fiction. At least the DVD is well preserved, and puts the movie in the right order. For years on TV reels two and three were switched. Apparently no one noticed . . .
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