The Quatermass Xperiment (1955)

Insp. Lomax: Nobody ever wins a cold war.

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Nigel Kneale had several reservations about this adaptation of his tale: conceding it was well-directed and pacily pared down from his original storyline, he deplored the use of US actors Brian Donlevy (finding him far too unsympathetic and implausible as the lead role) and Margia Dean; Les Bowie's tripe-based realisation of the creature also vexed the writer. Kneale was further infuriated by the BBC, who refused him any involvement or remuneration for this commercial use of his work since as a contracted staffmember all rights remained with the Corporation and not the individual.
The film achieved a degree of notoriety Stateside when in 1956 the parents of Stewart Cohen attempted to sue the Lake Theater and distributors United Artists for negligence after their nine-year-old son died of a ruptured artery in the cinema lobby at a double-bill of this and The Black Sleep. Cohen entered the Guinness Book of Records as the only known case of someone literally dying of fright at a horror film.
Val Guest heavily reworked Richard Landau's story draft (which assumed Quatermass would be British so changed Briscoe into a USAF Flight Surgeon), particularly tailoring the dialogue to compliment Donlevy's punchy no-nonsense acting style, which he believed helped to sell the more obscure SF plot elements to audiences.
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