- Director: Val Guest
- Writer: Nigel Kneale
- Stars: Forrest Tucker, Peter Cushing, Maureen Connell
- Runtime: 1 Hour, 25 Minutes
- Amazon Link: https://amzn.to/342OcTC
Abominable Snowman of the Himalayas (1957)
Synopsis
We begin with a monastery in the Himalayas. A pair of British botanists are here to study rare plants. Dr. John Rollason, Peter Fox, and John’s wife Helen have been here for a while, but the Lama says others will be coming in a few hours. The Lama doesn’t like the people who are coming, but Rollason seems to trust them.
The group that is coming is planning to hike to the peak, and John plans to go with them. His wife is very much against the idea, as he was seriously injured on his last climb. She accuses him, “This trip isn’t just about finding rare plants, is it? It’s your theories about the high valleys, and what might be there. That creature!”
The three Americans show up. Their leader, Tom Friend, mentions the word “Yeti,” and all the locals get real quiet. One of the men has followed the thing’s footprints, and Friend has one of its teeth. They all believe the creature is real. The guide they’re taking claims to have seen the Yeti himself. The Lama says the tooth is not real, as it was carved out of bone. He denies the Yeti is real. The Lama warns John to face the creature with humility and honor. John doesn’t understand, but he decides to go with Friend and his men.
Finally, the five men get under way. They notice that they’re being followed, and before long, they’re being shot at. They make camp, and John explains that the Yeti is possibly a parallel branch of creature related to humanity. They plan to trap the creature, and they have a trap that looks like it was made of Tinker-Toys.
The party splits up, and John’s companion gets his foot stuck in a trap. When the group gets back together, they find that they’ve actually caught one of the things. John explains that it’s just a Himalayan Monkey, but Friend says that it’s good enough; they’ll call it a Yeti and collect the reward. John calls Friend “a cheap fairground trickster.”
The injured man can’t walk, and a blizzard is on the way. Something breaks the cage open and releases the monkey. The real Yeti came and released the little monkey. We see a huge hand reach into the tent. One of them shoots it, and it leaves a trail of blood behind it, which they follow. They find the body; it’s eleven feet tall, and they hear more of them howling in the mountains.
The guide runs away and heads back to the monastery. John’s wife, Helen, sees him and asks the Lama about him, but the Lama says the guide did not come back. Helen and Fox decide to set up an expedition to rescue the others.
The injured man wanders off alone, following the howls, he didn’t take his coat or gloves, but he falls to his death before he has a chance to freeze. They set up a trap to catch it when it returns for them. That doesn’t work, and they lose another man; now it’s just John and Friend.
John suggests that the creature can read minds. McNee died from his own terror, and so did the man with the trap. He suggests that the danger isn’t outside, it’s what inside them. He remembers the Lama’s warning. The Yetis may just be biding their time, waiting for humanity to die off.
John hears a radio signal that warns them to abandon everything and leave, but Friend points out that the radio has been smashed. Friend hears one of the men outside yelling for help, but the two of them are the only survivors. Friend rushes outside, not listening to John’s warnings, and he’s buried in an avalanche.
John returns to his cave and encounters two yetis inside. Helen and Foxy wake up in the night and follow the Yeti calls. They find John, unconscious in the snow with Yeti prints nearby. They carried him and dropped him off near Helen’s camp. Later, John tells the Lama that what he was looking for does not exist; there is no Yeti.
Commentary
This was Peter Cushing’s first of 22, Hammer films. I don’t know where this was filmed, but there’s a lot of snowy mountain scenes, and it must have been a lot of work to film it. Also, for a group that’s hoping to sneak in and capture a creature, they sure are a loudmouthed crew.
The yetis never directly kill anyone. As John realized, they did it all to themselves. There is no Yeti. Or is that just what they want you to think?