X THE UNKNOWN

Dean Jagger and Leo McKern

X THE UNKNOWN (1956). Director: Leslie Norman. Colorized. 

In Scotland an unknown and dangerous lifeform emerges from a fissure and hones in on various sources of radioactivity. Unfortunately, any people who cross paths with this creature wind up dying horribly. Dr. Adam Royston (Dean Jagger of So Sad About Gloria) teams up with Inspector McGill (Leo Mckern of Murder with Mirrors) of the Atomic Energy Commission to try to find a way to destroy the creature before it can absorb energy from an atomic plant and grow even larger! Assisting their efforts are Royston's boss John Elliott (Edward Chapman) and Elliott's son, Peter (William Lucas). As the death toll mounts, the blob-like monstrosity makes its way towards a populated town ... 

Peter (William Lucas) and Royston (Dean Jagger) confer

X the Unknown was supposed to be Hammer Studio's follow up to Quatermass Xperiment (aka The Creeping Unknown, which would have been just as good a title for this picture), but Nigel Kneale, who created the character of Bernard Quatermass*, objected to his use in a film written not by him but by Jimmy Sangster. Therefore Quatermass became "Adam Royston." In any event, X remains a creepy and occasionally horrifying thriller with solid performances and some gross sequences, especially when a horny doctor is exposed to the creature in a hospital and sort of melts ... The climax at the fissure where Royston and company hope to completely obliterate the creature is very suspenseful. Anthony Newley, who later became famous as a singing actor, plays the ill-fated soldier, "Spider" Webb. James Bernard's evocative score and Gerald Gibb's photography are both major pluses. The colorizing adds even more intensity to the movie. Highly influential in its way, especially on The Blob and Caltiki, the Immortal Monster. 

*NOTE: I explore the real Quatermass movies in the latest issue of bare bones. 

Verdict: Effective and memorable horror-thriller with sci fi overtones. ***. 

SO SAD ABOUT GLORIA

Lori Saunders

SO SAD ABOUT GLORIA (1973). Director: Harry Thomason. NOTE: Some plot points are revealed in this review.

Wealthy Gloria (Lori Saunders) is released from a sanitarium and into the care of her Uncle Fred (Dean Jagger). Apparently she was traumatized when she saw her father die, although the details regarding this are never explained. She meets a novelist named Chris (Robert Ginnaven) and the two quickly fall in love. They move into a house where a young lady was axed to death (a bloody but not terribly graphic sequence depicted early in the movie). When she learns about the still unsolved murder, Gloria becomes a little unhinged, and keeps hearing music even though Chris hears nothing. When Chris goes into town to meet with his publisher, Gloria is left alone in the house as fate rapidly rushes up to engulf her ... 

Robert Ginnaven

The biggest problem with the clumsily directed and edited So Sad About Gloria isn't that you can see the twist coming from a mile away, but that the film leaves the viewer dangling. I have no problem in relating that the identity of the aforementioned axe murderer, who apparently appears twice, is never 

revealed. Although the big scene is the murder of the young woman, we never learn the slightest thing about her, not even her name! Aside from Dean Jagger and Seymour Treitman, who plays a sort of handyman, the acting throughout is too often very stilted and unreal. Furthermore, there are far too many annoying flashbacks showing an axe chopping at chains wrapped around a coffin, with no explanation for this forthcoming. To be fair, there are a couple of suspenseful sequences. Harry Thomason, who directed and produced this and other terrible films, fled to television where he produced Designing Women, The Fall Guy, and others. 

Verdict: Lowercase suspense film. **.