Jump to content

The Snow Creature

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Snow Creature
Theatrical release poster
Directed byW. Lee Wilder
Written byMyles Wilder
Produced byW. Lee Wilder
StarringPaul Langton
Leslie Denison
William Phipps
Teru Shimada
CinematographyFloyd Crosby
Edited byJodie Copelan
Music byManuel Compinsky
Production
company
Planet Filmplays
Distributed byUnited Artists
Release date
  • November 1954 (1954-11)
Running time
69 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The Snow Creature is a 1954 American science fiction-horror film produced and directed by W. Lee Wilder, for Planet Filmplays Inc., written by Myles Wilder, and starring Paul Langton.[1]

Plot

[edit]

In an undisclosed Himalayan country, Dr. Frank Parrish leads a scientific expedition intent on collecting botanical samples. The team includes several sherpa men, including Subra, who leads the sherpas, as the only one who speaks English. Also along is photographer Peter Wells.

Shortly into their work, the expedition is thrown into upheaval when Subra's wife is kidnapped by what Subra insists is a Yeti. Unable to convince Parrish to pursue the Yeti, Subra seizes the expedition's guns and takes control. Parrish and Wells are forces to go along with the sherpas while looking for opportunities to overthrow Subra. However, as the team draws closer to the Yeti, evidence emerges that begins to change Parrish's opinion regarding the creature's existence.

Finally, the team makes contact with the snow creature, who hurls stones at them from atop his mountain refuge. The expedition tracks the creature to his cave, where they encounter it, along with two other Yeti, a female, and young one. Parrish forcibly prevents the enraged Subra from shooting the Yeti, reasoning that the creature is more valuable for science alive. The ensuing fight causes a cave-in, killing the female and child while knocking the male unconscious. In the confusion, Parrish gains control of the guns and the expedition, deciding to take the Yeti back to the United States for study.

The Yeti is transported first to Bombay and then California in a telephone-sized freezer. Upon reaching California, Parrish is confronted by reporters. Meanwhile, Wells has sold his photos of the Yeti and the ensuing articles have made things difficult for U.S. Customs, as they can't determine if the Yeti is an animal or a man. The Yeti is kept in quarantine while an anthropologist is brought in to determine the question of the Yeti's humanity. During this delay, the Yeti escapes from his containment and roams the city, attacking women. He hides in the cooler sewer system, also infiltrating meat lockers for food.

The police manage to track the Yeti to the sewers where they catch him in a large net. The Yeti continues to attack, beginning to throttle one of the policemen and is shot and killed.

Cast

[edit]

Production

[edit]

The Snow Creature was one of the first of several Yeti/Abominable Snowman-themed movies. It also bore some resemblance to King Kong in terms of plot, with act one in an exotic setting, and act two taking place in an urban setting. The use of the Los Angeles storm drain system as the film's climactic setting can also be seen in the 1954 film, Them.

The first half of the movie takes place in an undisclosed Himalayan country but the actors portraying the locals speak Japanese. Another geographic improbability occurs with the return flight the main characters take, which heads west from India to California (via TWA).

Reception

[edit]

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "A weak off-shoot of the science fiction school. The snow creature itself is an unconvincing monster, and the manner in which it repeatedly moves a few steps forward, followed by a few steps backward (always in the dark), becomes irritating. Later scenes are better contrived than the Himalayan episodes, though the finale in the sewers is hackneyed and unenterprisingly managed. Some of Floyd Crosby's lighting effects are intriguing, but otherwise there is little to commend in this mediocre production."[2]

Variety wrote: "Snow Creature is bush league science fiction. Produced on a minimum budget, picture discloses an amateurish script, pedestrian direction, repetitive footage and uniformly unconvincing performances. ... PaulLangton, as the botanist, Leslie Denison, as his assistant and Teru Shimada, as a Tibetan guide, walk through their roles in colorlessly deadpan style, as does the rest of the supporting cast."[3]

Film critic Leonard Maltin awarded the film one and a half out of a possible four stars, calling it "dull".[4]

TV Guide wrote: "Billy Wilder's talentless brother put together this fourth-rate Abominable Snowman film (the first and the worst)". The reviewer also called the film's monster costume "phony".[5]

The film was featured in an episode of Deadly Cinema.[citation needed]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "The Snow Creature". American Film Institute Catalog. Retrieved 7 October 2024.
  2. ^ "The Snow Creature". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 22 (252): 169. 1 January 1955 – via ProQuest.
  3. ^ "The Snow Creature". Variety. 196 (10): 6. 10 November 1954 – via ProQuest.
  4. ^ Leonard Maltin; Spencer Green; Rob Edelman (January 2010). Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide. Plume. p. 610. ISBN 978-0-452-29577-3.
  5. ^ "The Snow Creature". TV Guide.com. TV Guide. Archived from the original on 16 October 2017.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Snow_Creature&oldid=1286394761"