Val Guest was one of the most prominent directors to worked for Hammer Films, only surpassed by Terence Fisher, although his visionary and most outstanding work, «The Day the Earth Caught Fire», was made outside that production company.
It was Guest who, with his international hit «The Quatermass Xperiment» (1955), pointed Hammer on the profitable path of "cinéma fantastique." However, apart from this film and its sequel «Quatermass 2,» Guest did not return to horror, not even when he made «The Abominable Snowman,» a good drama that he kept on a more philosophical and mystical plane, away from frights.
Before finding a more viable breakthrough to mainstream cinema with «Expresso Bongo» (1959), produced by his own company, Guest made for Hammer psychological dramas, thrillers and the war diptych consisting of «The Camp on Bloody Island» (1958) and «Yesterday's Enemy» (1959), a kind of war claim made to Japan, through cinema.
«The Camp on Bloody Island» was a box office success that consolidated the distribution of Hammer products through the American company Columbia Pictures; which addressed, 13 years after the end of World War II, the mistreatment received by British prisoners of war in a Japanese prison, located in the fictional Blood Island, on the former British colony of Malaysia. By then Columbia was preparing the release of a movie with a similar theme, «The Bridge on the River Kwai» by David Lean, which garnered attention and awards, but this did not prevent the Hammer production, despite devastating criticism, from being a hit. «The Camp on Bloody Island» was bolstered by the best-selling novelization of the script by John Manchip White and Guest.
Inspired by real events, the film of course took the "Hammer-style" way, with scenes of violence and sensational effects to impress the audience, and a little bit of eroticism. Of both films, this is the most dynamic, with the action taking place in two main locations, a prison for British soldiers and a diplomat, and another for women; but from the dramatic point of view, it is the weakest. The script delineates the characters with a few strokes and all the credibility falls on the actors' backs.
In the case of the British, the balance is fortunate, in particular, with the work of André Morell, as the leader of the prisoners, who tries to hide information from the Japanese, boycotting their communication system, to stay alive. However, for the Japanese roles... Hammer did whatever it took to achieve its purpose, including casting the magnificent Indian character actor Marne Maitland as a Japanese villain. Of course, Maitland, as always, is the most wicked villain, with a squeaky little voice, which makes him meaner. I could not help but smile at the sight of dear old Marne, who I have seen in so many movies, squinting his eyes!
These two small, low-budget and effective films, in addition to the remarkable films that I knew and mentioned at the beginning of these notes, have increased the esteem that I already had for Val Guest's work.
It was Guest who, with his international hit «The Quatermass Xperiment» (1955), pointed Hammer on the profitable path of "cinéma fantastique." However, apart from this film and its sequel «Quatermass 2,» Guest did not return to horror, not even when he made «The Abominable Snowman,» a good drama that he kept on a more philosophical and mystical plane, away from frights.
Before finding a more viable breakthrough to mainstream cinema with «Expresso Bongo» (1959), produced by his own company, Guest made for Hammer psychological dramas, thrillers and the war diptych consisting of «The Camp on Bloody Island» (1958) and «Yesterday's Enemy» (1959), a kind of war claim made to Japan, through cinema.
«The Camp on Bloody Island» was a box office success that consolidated the distribution of Hammer products through the American company Columbia Pictures; which addressed, 13 years after the end of World War II, the mistreatment received by British prisoners of war in a Japanese prison, located in the fictional Blood Island, on the former British colony of Malaysia. By then Columbia was preparing the release of a movie with a similar theme, «The Bridge on the River Kwai» by David Lean, which garnered attention and awards, but this did not prevent the Hammer production, despite devastating criticism, from being a hit. «The Camp on Bloody Island» was bolstered by the best-selling novelization of the script by John Manchip White and Guest.
Inspired by real events, the film of course took the "Hammer-style" way, with scenes of violence and sensational effects to impress the audience, and a little bit of eroticism. Of both films, this is the most dynamic, with the action taking place in two main locations, a prison for British soldiers and a diplomat, and another for women; but from the dramatic point of view, it is the weakest. The script delineates the characters with a few strokes and all the credibility falls on the actors' backs.
In the case of the British, the balance is fortunate, in particular, with the work of André Morell, as the leader of the prisoners, who tries to hide information from the Japanese, boycotting their communication system, to stay alive. However, for the Japanese roles... Hammer did whatever it took to achieve its purpose, including casting the magnificent Indian character actor Marne Maitland as a Japanese villain. Of course, Maitland, as always, is the most wicked villain, with a squeaky little voice, which makes him meaner. I could not help but smile at the sight of dear old Marne, who I have seen in so many movies, squinting his eyes!
These two small, low-budget and effective films, in addition to the remarkable films that I knew and mentioned at the beginning of these notes, have increased the esteem that I already had for Val Guest's work.