The Wise Yeti

In a rare move, I chose a different, sadly less recognized Hammer film from their 50s output instead of “Curse of Frankenstein” (1957; released the same year) and Horror of Dracula (1958), deciding on “The Abominable Snowman [of the Himalayas]” with Peter Cushing as a kindly scientist with an interest in locating a Yeti for study/research and noising his way into a Tibetan monastery with a racist trapper/hunter in his entourage pooh-poohing his entire experience in this part of the world, is Forrest Tucker’s sensationalist showman. Arnold Marlé, as the Tibetan Llama who knows more than he’s letting on but unwilling to give the “tourists” anything of consequence because he clearly wants to protect the Yeti, Richard Wattis as Cushing’s aid, Fox, and Maureen Connell as Cushing’s wife, Helen; they remain in the monastery village as Tucker’s (given top billing) publicity seeking Tom Friend and Friend’s obtuse tracker pal, Ed Shelley (Robert Brown) bring along paying photographer, McNee (Michael Brill), who isn’t much of a climber, accompanied by Cushing’s Dr. Rollason. This isn’t the prototypical monster movie where the Yeti is some rampaging killing machine that rips apart humans who end up in their domain. This is about human hunters looking to cash in on the capture of a Yeti for profitable notoriety and gain, while McNee was obsessed in just seeing the Yeti with his own eyes. Fox eventually relents to a determined Helen who decides to break out to find her husband (and lucky for Dr. Rollason, she does!), with help from local trackers/climbers wanting payment Friend didn’t provide. Rollason and Friend remain in constant argument, rarely agreeing on anything when it comes to the treatment of the Yeti. McNee walks into a Yeti foot trap set up by Shelley, injuring himself, as he sets his mind on pursuing his obsession despite the bum leg, which costs him dearly due to a wrong step. The setting of the Himalayas, with its peaks, snow, rugged mountainous terrain, lensed in precious B&W by Arthur Grant, with a Nigel Keale screenplay that has empathy for the Yeti and even grants them benevolence, wisdom, and mental influence; The Abominable Snowman is a treasure ready-made for the Hammer fan who thinks perhaps he has seen them all but maybe should give this one a gander. Cushing excels as the scientist with great curiosity but especially empathy. Pair this with a classic like “The Thing from Another World” (1951)…I think it would work quite splendidly as a double feature.

*** ½/****

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Black Cats and Broomsticks (1955)

Elvira, Mistress of the Dark (1988)

This was part of a most unusual Sunday evening, including Elvira-Mistress of the Dark (1988), a popular October page-view favorite for this blog when I revisit it with thoughts (easy to find in the archive; plenty I've written in October on it) and a 1955 8-minute short called Black Cats and Broomsticks, a Turner Classics mainstay during Octobers you might find them dropping at all points during day and evening, which focuses on the old superstitions such as the salt over the shoulder if you drop the bottle on a table, seeing supposed wizards for medical advice or revenge on those who wrong you, cutting daisies with "He loves me, he loves me not", walking under a ladder, Friday the 13th, the 13th floor, the left side of the bed being against the wall, rabbits feet (and how much sales they did in the 50s), and the Aces and 8s hand you never want to land at Poker. Not really a horror-specific short as I was hoping from RKO. The title can be a bit misleading.