Forgive the late posting on this but life does have a habit of getting in the way.
The past Saturday, July 11th, was this month’s meeting of San Diego Vintage SF. This month I brought a film to share, a DVD that my wife got for me as a birthday present, The Abominable Snowman (1957).
I first saw this film by way of Netflix when I was working my way through the Hammer Horror catalog and generally the ones with Peter Cushing. When I rented this film I did not have high expectations for it but I was pleasantly surprised. It is written by Nigel Kneale who had written a number of films that I throughly enjoyed including Quatermass and the Pit. (Known in the US generally as Five Million Years to Earth.) One of the best SF films out of Britain or anywhere for that matter. The Abominable Snowman was directed by Val Guest a number of films for hammer studios.
The story is about Dr Rollason a botanist and mountain climber who is on an expedition into the Himalayas to gather rare and unusual plants. He has his wife and a friend and associate Peter Fox along on his botanical expedition. Dr. Rollason has also contracted to lead another expedition high into the mountains to search for the mythical Yeti.
The Yeti expedition is lead by Thomas Friend (Forrest Tucker of F-Troop fame.) Tucker is quite credible as the mercenary and ruthless leader whose only concern is profit and clearing his name from a fraud that went badly.
The film can be dinged for being a bit talky, but I think the characters and the resolution of the story more than make up for this small flaw.
If you get a chance to see this film do so.