The Abominable Snowman of the Himalayas [Blu-ray]

This review is for the Blu-Ray edition of 'The Abominable Snowman of the Himalayas' released by Shout! Factory in 2020.*****NOTE***** - This movie is also known as 'The Abominable Snowman', it's U.K. title.*****NOTE 2***** - When the movie starts, you get a message telling you that the master was missing some scenes and these scenes are included in standard definition. These scenes are about 5 minutes of the movies length.ABOUT THIS MOVIE: This is a black & white science fiction film from Hammer Productions in the U.K. and was released in 1957 by 20th Century Fox as part of a double feature with 'Untamed Youth'. The movie is based on a TV play called 'The Creature' that was written by the same writer of this film, Nigel Kneale.BLU-RAY: The picture is a mixed bag. It is sharp but there are flaws throughout the movie. The master was missing some parts. Therefore there are some scenes that are shown in standard definition rather than high definition. You will see flaws such as lines and speckling throughout the movie. It's not terrible and the bulk of these flaws are only in certain parts. I'd give the picture a 6/10. You also get the cut version that comes in at 95 minutes. That version is obviously in full HD.EXTRA'S:-Audio Commentary with the director, Val Guest and the writer Nigel Kneale. This commentary is two different commentaries that are spliced together. If I'm hearing correctly, it sounds like Jonathan Rigby and Ted Newsom are acting as interviewers. Guest says it was necessary to cut Kneale's screenplay because it had too much dialogue for the screen. Kneale spends a lot of time comparing his television play to the screen version. He was on location for the play but not the screen version.-Audio Commentary with film historian Ted Newsom - As I write this review, I looked up Ted Newsom and found out that he passed away this past summer. This commentary was probably among the last things that he did. I have listened to many commentaries done by Ted Newsom. He was a Hammer Horror historian. Newsom tends to be more entertaining than most of the audio commentator that are historians. He will occasionally go off on tangents or get distracted by small details but he is not dry. He doesn't read directly from a script and comments on what is happening on screen. Newsom criticizes the writer Nigel Kneale for complaining too much.-Interview/Documentary: In Search of the Yeti: An interview with historian Jonathan Rigby - Rigby talks about the origins of the movie in this 23 minute interview. He then talks about the casting and how the movie performed. The interview is filled with film clips and photos.-Trailers from Hell with Joe Dante - In this two minute trailer, Dante calls this the only Abominable Snowman that is good. I agree.-World of Hammer episode - 'Peter Cushing'-Theatrical Trailer-Still Gallery-SubtitlesPLOT SUMMARY/SYNOPSIS: Dr. John Rollason (Peter Cushing) is in the Himalaya's staying at a Tibetan monastery with a Lhama (A Tibetan Buddhist teacher). He has been joined by his associate Peter Fox, whom he calls Foxy, and his wife Helen. They are there ostensibly for botanical reasons. Rollason has not informed Foxy or his wife that he plans on going on an expedition high up in the Himalaya's. Somehow, the Lhama already knows what he is planning. The Lhama also knows that another team is headed to them right at this moment let by Tom Friend (Forrest Tucker). Friend arrives shortly with a trapper, Ed, a photographer, McNee and a Sherpa guide, Kusang. Kusang claims to have scene the Yeti. Friend shows up and gives the Lama a gift of a giant tooth that had previously been stolen from the temple. The Lama claims that the tooth is a carving. Friend has come there, much to the disapproval of the Lama, to go searching for the Yeti. He does not inform Rollason of his plan to capture one until after the expedition is underway. Helen is also extremely upset about Rollason's plans to go on the expedition.Despite the protestations of Helen and the Lhama, the team sets out. Before they leave, the Lhama gives Rollason a cryptic warning about mankind possibly being replaced by something else. As the team treks upward they discover footprints. They are also fired upon by what Kusang calls bandits. Rollason is not so sure and thinks it might be a warning. During the first evening when they reach a cabin with food that had been previously stored there, McNee hears a howl. Nothing is found. When they resume climbing, McNee reveals to Tollason that he paid to be on the expedition because he needed closure. A few years before he had discovered very large footprints near an ice wall. Shortly thereafter, McNee gets accidentally caught in a bear trap set by Ed. Rollason and McNee had been trailing behind while Rollason searched for a food source for the Yeti. He is injured near the cave location that the team has set out for. Ed shows up and helps free McNee. Ed tells them that they are near the camp and that they have captured a Yeti. It turns out that they have captured a large monkey that is common in zoos throughout the world. Friend does not care. He is being paid to bring something back and he is content with that. That evening, a loud growl is heard and the monkey has gone missing. The cage has been torn apart. There are large footprints nearby.Later, McNee recovers and while he is in the tent with Kusang, a large hairy arm reaches into the tent from outside. Kusang screams. Rollason, Ed and Friend come running but McNee has left. McNee, in a delirious state, takes off and ends up falling to his death. It's unknown if he was pushed, fell accidentally or fell because of his injured foot. Kusang is terrified at seeing a Yeti and runs off in a panic, presumably back to the monastery. Shortly thereafter, a Yeti is sighted near camp and Ed shoots it. They track the blood and find a dead Yeti. They now have proof but Friend is not satisfied. He wants a live one.At the monastery, a terrified Kusang shows up in the middle of the night and Helen sees him enter. The Lhama denies that Kusang is there but she starts an expedition of her own with Foxy and a group of Sherpa's waiting at the monastery to be paid. She heads out and finds the cabin they stayed at the first night.Back at camp, Friend has Ed plants rigs up a net made of metal wire to trap a Yeti. Ed is to be used as bait while Rollason and Friend hide in a tent. The Yeti shows up during a blizzard, enters the cave and is caught in the net. Rollason panics and empties his rifle. When Friend and Rollason get to the cave they find that Ed is dead. He has no wounds and the net is shredded. Rollason discovers that Friend had put blanks in Ed's rifle. He feared that Ed would shoot the Yeti. Ed died of a heart attack. That evening the two bury their comrades and return to the cave and line the entrance with explosives. They plan on leaving in the morning with the dead body of the Yeti. Rollason hears a weather report that implores his camp to return to the temple immediately. However, the radio has already been smashed and useless. Friend tells him to get oxygen because he is suffering from altitude sickness. Then Friendhears Ed's voice calling for help. Friend grabs his gun and runs out of the cave to search for Ed. Rollason can't stop him. He runs to the grave site but still hears Ed. Friend starts firing his gun in a panic and causes an avalanche from the freshly fallen snow. He is buried. Rollason returns to the cave and two Yeti enter.With the wind howling and everyone asleep, Helen hears the roar of the Yeti while in the cabin. She runs out into the blizzard to search for something unknown. Foxy wakes up and grabs the team to go in pursuit. After climbing a ways, Helen finds Rollason, seemingly frozen to death. Foxy reaches them. There are Yeti footprints in the snow nearby.In the temple, the Lhama expresses his sorrow for the lost companions but wants to know what was learned. Rollason, alive, tells him didn't find what he went looking for. The Lhama says "There is no Yeti".PRODUCTION/COMMENTS:LESS IS MORE: Often you hear actors and directors from the pre-CGI period of Hollywood talk about how "less is more" in horror movies. Often you will hear them say "what you don't see is much scarier then what you can see". To a large extent this is true. Of course that doesn't alleviate a person wanting to "see" what is going on. I think back in those days that it was smart to not show the creature very much unless you had a very good looking monster prop or outfit. An example of an excellent outfit was the creature in 'The Creature From the Black Lagoon'. In the especially cold and blindingly snowy set of 'Abominable', "less is more" works very well.THAT IS NOT STOCK FOOTAGE: The footage you see of the crew climbing the Himalaya's is original footage shot by the director. The scenes were shot in the French Pyrenees. None of the movie's stars were used in the footage. The people you see trekking through the mountains are all doubles. That is fairly obvious when you watch the movie. The point is that they made the effort to make original footage. Most of the time with scenes such as these, stock footage of expeditions to Mount Everest and other locations is used.WHO OR WHAT IS THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN?: The theory of the abominable snowman comes from the Yeti legend. The term 'Yeti' and 'Meh-Teh' are the terms used by people indigenous to the Himalayan location which includes Buddhist's, Tibetans, Sherpa's, etc. I'm no expert on Asian people's so I apologize if I'm saying anything incorrectly. The term "Abominable Snowman" is a western term that was created in later years. The earliest known legends of the Yeti in western culture come about in the 1800's. The words used to describe the Yeti have been translated as "man-bear", "wild man", "cattle bear", "jungle man", "snowman" and others.The idea for this movie came about after Sir Edmund Hillary's expedition to climb Mount Everest. There were footprints discovered on the expedition as well as by explorer Eric Shipton in 1951. These discoveries of the footprints led to interest in the 'Yeti' or 'Abominable Snowman'. There were also footprints discovered in 1921 and two hitchhikers claimed to have seen too figures that appeared around 8 feet tall. There have been supposed sightings in various winter locations around the world.The legends of the Sasquatch and Bigfoot have also been tied to that of the Yeti and Abominable Snomwan.I LIKE THE SCRIPT FOR THIS MOVIE. WHAT OTHER WORK HAS THE WRITER DONE? The writer for the screenplay ofthis movie is the excellent Nigel Kneale. Kneale wrote some of my favorite science fiction movies of the 1950's. Included is this movie. Kneale is known for being one of the U.K.'s best television script writers. Here is a list of some of his other work for films...-The Quatermass XPeriment - An excellent start to the Quatermass story-Quatermass 2 - My favorite 1950's science fiction movie-Quatermass and the Pit (1967) - Considered by many to be Kneale's best script, including himself.-The Quatermass Conclusion - Disappointing conclusion to the Quatermass saga. The movie version is easier to watch than the bloated television saga.-Halloween 3 - Season of the Witch - This was a very interesting take on the Halloween series. It is very different than every other 'Halloween' movie. It was made at a time when the series creator, John Carpenter, thought the Halloween franchise could have a completely different story for Halloween with each installment... kind of like an anthology series. Kneale had his name removed from the credits because he didn't like the changes made to his screenplay.PETER CUSHING AT THE BEGINNING: Peter Cushing had starred in the television play, 'The Creature', in 1955. He was obviously asked to be in this movie version of that play. 'The Abominable Snowman' was released shortly after the very successful 'Curse of Frankenstein (1957)'. Cushing then had starring roles in the next two Hammer Horror features, Dracula (Horror of Dracula) (1958) and 'The Mummy (1959).HOW DID SGT O'ROURKE END UP IN THIS MOVIE?: Well for starters, this movie was made quite a few years before F Troop (F Troop only became popular once it his syndication). Forrest Tucker had been around in Hollywood since 1940. He ended up going to England on and off to act. In one of those excursions, he starred in a movie called 'Break in the Circle (1955)' that was directed by Val Guest. Hammer liked his performance and asked him to return and make 'The Abominable Snowman'. Tucker hung around and made two more sci-fi/horror films in England. They were 'The Strange World of Planet X (1957)' and, in my opinion, the very good 'The Trollenberg Terror (1958) aka 'The Crawling Eye'.POLAR OPPOSITES: I find it amazing when I read about the differing opinions of the director, Val Guest and the writer, Nigel Kneale. I love Kneale's writing but I usually differ with him in opinion about the actors in his movies and the results. In this case I agree. I find it surprising to hear that Guest thought Forrest Tucker's acting ruined the film. Listening to the commentary, you don't get the impression that he disliked Tucker. He says he stayed in contact with him over the years and that he thought he was very professional. Kneale thought Tucker was good in the part and an underrated actor overall. Kneale famously despised Brian Donlevy as Professor Quatermass while Guest says that he was very professional, easy to work with and said most of the rumors about Donlevy were false. In this particular case, I thought Tucker played the greedy bad guy very well. The only parts that I don't think are top notch in this film are that of the Sherpa guide, Kusang, and the trapper, Ed Shelley. In the case of Professor Quatermass, I liked Donlevy's portrayal very much. I get the complaints that he had no English accent but I thought the movie scripts called for an actor with tough guy persona even though Quatermass was written more as a gentlemanly character.LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION: The sets and location of this movie are excellent. As I stated above, all of the footage was shot for this movie. The Temple in the Himalaya's is one of Hammer's best sets and that says a lot since Hammer is well known for it's excellent Gothic sets. Everything set in this movie looks good and has an authentic feel to it.A SMALL COMPLAINT: I think that the ease in which they are able to dig up there in the mountains is not realistic. Digging in frozen tundra is not easy and would probably require power tools.CONCLUSIONS: This is an excellent movie that has been given a pretty good release. The picture has some problems but that's OK. This is the best we are going to get. There are good extra's which make buying this edition worthwhile.This movie has a terrific atmosphere and that is what I like most in science fiction and horror films. The snowy, cold and lonely atmosphere along with a howling wind gives this movie an eerie and sometimes surreal feel.RECOMMENDATIONS:This movie is highly recommended for all classic science fiction and horror film fans. IF YOU LIKE THIS THEN TRY...:-The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) - Cushing at his finest as Dr. Frankenstein for Hammer Productions. Just like that movie, the focus is on the characters, not the monster.Not really recommending these next two but they are something different and Abominable Snowman movies from that time period are hard to come by.-The Snow Creature (1954) - This movie's title was an early title for 'The Abominable Snowman'. It was obviously necessary to change the title.-Half Human (1955) - This is Toho's (Godzilla) Abominable Snowman effort. This movie's original release is the source of controversy due to a real controversy about the depiction of a group of people in this movie. It's not really known when it was originally released.-Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer (1964)- Hey, there aren't a lot of abominable snowman movie's to choose from!RATINGS:Plot: 8/10 or 4 stars - It might be a bit slow but it's as good as a script as you will find for an Abominable Snowman movie. Despite the slow start, it's one of my favorites.Picture: 6/10 or 3 stars - It not spectacular and their are issues but at least it's sharp.The Monster: 5/10 or 2 1/2 stars - You don't see much but sometimes less is more.Sets & Locations: 9/10 or 5 stars - I normally use this section for special effects but in this case I'm using the sets.Extra's: 8/10 or 4 stars - Very good extra's, you get a making of documentary and an audio commentary which is all I ever really ask for. You need extra stuff to get 5 stars.Overall: 8/10 - I'm bumping this to 5 stars because I think the story is worthy of 5 stars.

Not too long ago I sat through schlockmeister Jerry Warren's Man Beast (1956)...last night I watched The Abominable Snowman (1957), written by Nigel Kneale (The Quatermass Xperiment) and directed by Val Guest (The Quatermass Xperiment, The Day the Earth Caught Fire)...the stories in the two films were so similar (although where Kneale and Guest utilized intricate subtleties to pass the crux of their tale along Warren's method involved something akin to beating the audience about the head with a sledgehammer) one might think Warren was the one who got ripped off, but in actuality Kneale and Guest's feature was based off a television feature, written by Kneale, originally aired in 1955, entitled The Creature, one Warren (or his writer) most likely caught prior to cranking out his own abominable snowman movie. Starring in The Abominable Snowman is Peter Cushing (The Curse of Frankenstein, The Hound of the Baskervilles) and Forrest Tucker (The Trollenberg Terror, Auntie Mame). Also appearing is Maureen Connell (Kill Her Gently), Richard Wattis (Operation Crossbow), Robert `M' Brown (A View to a Kill, The Living Daylights), Michael Brill (The Camp on Blood Island), Arnold Marlé (The Man Who Could Cheat Death), and Wolfe Morris (The House That Dripped Blood), who, along with Cushing and Marlé, reprise their roles from the television feature I mentioned previously.Cushing plays Dr. John Rollason, a botanist currently in the Himalayas with his wife Helen (Connell) and priggish colleague Peter Fox (Wattis) collecting samples of medicinal plants. In actuality Rollason has an ulterior motive being to hook up with a brash American named Tom Friend who's mounting an expedition to search out the legendary man beast of Tibet, much to Helen's dismay (seems Rollason told his wife he gave up mountain climbing after a previous unfortunate accident). Friend makes the scene along with an expert tracker and trapper named Ed Shelley (Brown), a photographer named Andrew McNee (Brill), and their guide Kusang (Morris). After an abstruse warning from the local Llama (Marlé), the quintet, traveling lean and mean, make their way up the mountain in search of their quarry. Along the way they face numerous natural perils (fatigue, treacherous mountain passes, etc.) and Rollason discovers Friend's motives aren't all that pure, as his interest is purely of a commercial nature, which goes against Rollason's academic instincts (Rollason wants to prove the existence of the creatures, while Friend wants to exploit them for monetary gain). As the group gets close to the area where the creatures might be, McNee begins to hear things (apparently he's the sensitive type) and Rollason postulates perhaps the creatures aren't a missing link, but an offshoot of human development, who may have an intelligence equal to or even superior to our own, and have chosen to exist how and where they do for a specific reason. After plenty of trudging about in the snow, McNee hurts his foot, Friend and Shelley bag themselves a mountain monkey (Friend's willing to pass it off as a baby Yeti if'n they don't catch the real thing), and their native guide flips his lid and hauls ash down the mountain after a particularly harrowing incident. Eventually those remaining do locate what they're looking for, but while finding an abominable snowman is one thing, returning with (or without) one a different story...Whenever I think of the abominable snowman, that Bugs Bunny cartoon featuring the abominable snowman comes to mind (I think it's titled "The Abominable Snow Rabbit")...in it the creature is portrayed as a big, doofy moron type whose main interest in Bugs is to keep him as a pet and call him George...suffice to say, the abominable snowman doesn't rank high on my list of frightening horror film characters. That said I thought this Hammer Studios produced film a most excellent feature as it had a number of things going for it including the following; intelligent writing, solid and flowing direction, healthy production values, strong, well developed characters (especially in the case of Cushing and Tucker), and two extremely capable and experienced leads. I thought Cushing and Tucker played really well off each other, both playing characters with the same goal, to find a Yeti, but for very different motives...when you think about, despite the differences in motives, both involved exploitation of creatures, which Cushing's character ultimately realizes (who's the real monster on the mountain?), and acts accordingly. The story does tend to drag a bit for the first forty-five minutes or so, but then things really pick up after once the party reaches their final destination. One of the more interesting aspects for the feature to me was rarely are the creatures shown, other than perhaps a curious hairy hand or two reaching from underneath a tent flap. I think it was a good choice not to parade the creatures around as it maintained a mystique, allowing for the audience to develop their own mental picture given the framework provided by the characters on the screen. Near the end we do get a slightly more detailed visual, but the ephemeral quality is preserved. I did have two minor gripes about the film the first being I thought it interesting how the only two American characters portrayed in this British feature lacked any seemingly redeemable qualities...I mean here you have Ed Shelley, a tracker and a trapper, with his shoot first, shoot again, and then ask questions mentality along with Tom Friend, the financier of the expedition whose only real goal was that of fame and fortune, even if it meant leaving someone else's cheese out in the wind...despite appearances we're (we referring to Americans) aren't all money grubbing, bloodthirsty, trigger happy a-holes looking out only for our own interests (the current administration certainly isn't helping my claim here)...ah well...the other beef I had was what was up with that photographer character? What a completely useless individual...I don't remember seeing him take one picture. Given how his character is portrayed (sniveling and useless sums it up) it's pretty easy to foretell his role in the story. All in all if you see only one abominable snowman movie in your lifetime, I'd go with this one, as it's the best I've seen so far...The picture quality, presented in widescreen (2.35:1), enhanced for 16X9 TVs, on this Anchor Bay Entertainment DVD release, looks very sharp and clean, and the Dolby Digital mono audio comes through clearly. As far as extras included there's an audio commentary track with director Val Guest and writer Nigel Kneale, an original theatrical trailer, a World of Hammer episode entitled `Peter Cushing' (24:51), and a 5X7 original poster artwork reproduction insert, the flipside listing the chapter stops.Cookieman108

From The Famed Hammer Horror Studios Comes Their Production Of The Abominable Snowman. Filmed in 1957 and starring Hammer regular The ever reliable Peter Cushing who alongside American actor Forrest Tucker both play a couple of botanist's embarking on an expedition in search of The fabled Yeti. filmed in Glorious black and white The movie Takes on an almost Documentary style feel as The explores Trawl Through The snow capped mountains. The panoramic widescreen of The movie captures excellent vistas of snow capped mountains and deep Terrains. The movie builds on suspense like its never been played before and I must say The climax of The movie still as The power To scare and shock Decades after This movie was made. Hammer wisely chose To film The actual Yeti scenes from Distant shots only allowing certain close up shots on The face This Gives The viewer The illusion To really make Their own mind on what The actual Yeti just might look like. surprisingly one of The lesser known Hammer Movies as The studio broke away from Their regular Dracula, Frankenstein offerings and The Abominable Snowman is one movie were The studio broke away from Their backlot To actual location shooting and it really shows in This movie. Peter Cushing is as ever on excellent form as with all of The cast in This production making This a must see movie and certainly one To add To your film collection. The DVD boasts an excellent widescreen print of The movie while The sound in its original Mono Track should not give you any real problems. Nothing in The way of any extras but you Don't really need anything for a movie like This. a first class production from start To finish is The order of The day and it comes Highly recommended.

Peter Cushing stars as an explorer who has seen his better days off on one more major expedition to find the Yeti! His small group is led by Forest Tucker who gives a good performance. The Abominable Snowman just to make it clear is very much a talky film, don't go expecting typical monsters and ghouls just because this is Hammer horror. This actually comes across more like a Val Lewton flick. Acting is great but one thing upstages that and that is the sets, which are well constructed with snow and mountains.Cushing's actress wife is called Helen, which was his wife's name in real life. Movie is wrapped up in suspicion and paranoia as it goes on and is a winner if certainly different from what Hammer would usually put out in the horror genre.

This review relates to the DD edition of this movie - a company which seems all but defunct at this stage. This is too bad because all their Hammer releases (specifically the two Quatermass and "The Abominable snowman") are miles ahead of what Icon did with these titles. The DD DVDs (that can still be found but which are getting increasingly expensive) are crisp, clear copies with very good commentaries by Val Guest, Nigel Kneale and/or Jimmy Sangster, and all hosted by Hammer guru Marcus Hearn. The commentary on "Snowman" by Val Guest is fun, informative, full of anecdotes (fascinating bit on Hitchcock). He is complemented by interventions of writer Nigel Kneale, who clearly did not see eye-to-eye with him on the picture, even if the writer had to acknowledge by the end that the movie was good!And how good this movie is! Like Quatermass 2 it stands as a classic, with an environmental theme which has never been more accute than now, so needless to say that the pictture has not aged a bit. Cushing shows his versatility as an actor, and the film moves seemlessly from a monastery filmed at the small Bray studios to vast snowy landscapes at Pinewood through vast mountainscapes in the Pyreneans -- all great and credible alternatives to the Himalaya. As always with Guest, the so-called "monster" is understated, and "Snowman" demonstrates that the journey is often more rewarding than the destination. A great effort, highly recommended in this edition.

"Suppose they're not just a pitiable remnant waiting to die out. They're waiting, yes, but waiting for us to go..."Following their success with The Quatermass Xperiment, Hammer reunited writer Nigel Kneale and director Val Guest for 1957's The Abominable Snowman. Like Quatermass, it's an adaptation of a BBC TV production written by Kneale and directed by Rudolph Cartier, 1955's The Creature, which starred Peter Cushing and Stanley Baker. For the big screen version Baker was replaced by Forrest Tucker - Hammer always had their eye out for affordable American actors to help their export prospects - but Cushing returned as the idealistic scientist who unsuspectingly finds himself on an expedition to find the Yeti for far more mercenary motives than his own (Arnold Marle and Wolfe Morris also reprised their TV roles as the high Lhama and a native guide).Combining early ecological awareness with the very real 50s fear of nuclear annihilation, there aren't as many ideas as in the best of Kneale's work, the majority of the film devoted to the plot mechanics of the fairly simple storyline, reserving the most intriguing speculation for the last act when it becomes increasingly clear that the expedition are their own worst enemy and that the unseen Yeti might not be a dying species waiting for their own extinction but a more mentally sophisticated one awaiting man's self-extinction so they can take his place. No conclusions are ever reached - even the possibility of a psychic link between the Lhama and a `sensitive' member of the expedition and the creatures is left as an open question - even though it does spell out that man is the real beast here, his hunger for knowledge bringing only destruction. As Cushing spells out, in a precursor of Quatermass and the Pit's "We're the Martians now" moment, "Suppose we're the savages. Perhaps for them we've been the Dark Ages."It's a decent movie rather than a great one, but Guest's direction combines nicely with Bernard Robinson's deceptively economical production design and Arthur Grant's cinematography to make the most of their limited resources and the impressive use of the `HammerScope' ratio and some well integrated location footage of the Pyrenees helps give the picture a feeling of scale that belies the predominantly backlot shooting. Shame about Robert Brown's wild overacting, though.Icon's recent batch of budget-priced Hammer films on DVD have been justly derided for atrocious picture quality, but unlike Captain Kronos, X the Unknown or their Quatermass Xperiment and Quatermass II double-bill, this title alone seems to have escaped with a very respectable 2.35:1 widescreen transfer that, a little bit of edge enhancement in the early scenes aside, doesn't disappoint even if there are no extras. Taken from an uncut UK print complete with censor's certificate, Warner Bros. logo and original title (the film was released in the US in a slightly cut version as The Abominable Snowman of the Himalayas), it's certainly a good bet considering the ridiculously high prices Anchor Bay's deleted US DVD now goes for.

Great movie I was thrilled to see again and finally own a copy. The only minor knocking I would give is due to wishing it was a Blu-ray, 2k or 4k scanned, super cleaned up version. Unfortunately after doing research it appears that this is the best copy possible at this time. Hopefully in the future a better version of source material can be found and Hammer can put out a special edition.The story is a slow burn so don't expect non-stop action or a lot of the creature. It's a Gothic-style, atmospheric film with the always awesome Peter Cushing in the lead. An American has come to locate and bring back a Yeti body to prove the Abominable Snowman is real (and get rich/famous). The tension mounts as they encounter first one and then more. The scenes at night with the snow and wind and the cries of the Yeti are really well done and chilling. The scenes at the Buddhist monastery with the main priest trying to protect the Yeti and possibly able to communicate with hit.Interestingly, there's a link to my favorite show Doctor Who. This was released in 1957 and years later, during the second Doctor Patrick Troughton's period, there's a story with the same name and many of the elements are the same. Sadly the story no longer exists due to BBC purging some shows, but you can find stills and clips and novelization. Doctor Who often adapted horror and sci-fi storylines and this is an early example.