by Jeffrey A Fuller

Created on: August 08, 2010

If you are a fan of the ancient alien theory, which suggests that earth was visited by alien who tampered with the course of human evolution millions of years ago, then you’ll appreciate the British Film Five Million Years to Earth. Filmed in England in 1967, and originally released as Quartermass and the Pit, it features stars of stage, film, and television

Andrew Keir and Barbara Shelly.

The story begins as workers, who are digging a subway tunnel under the streets of London, discover humanoid remains. Authorities are called in to investigate, and after further digging they discover a futuristic spacecraft. Because the humanoid remains are buried with the craft and dated to be five million years old, it’s shockingly assumed the craft is of the same age.

Keir and Shelly star opposite one another as civilian agents attached to a military unit that took charge of the excavation due to the sensitive nature of the discovery. Various experiments are performed on the ship that defy earthly logic, people involved in the excavation begin to hallucinate, and after much probing the dead crew of three ancient arthropod astronauts are discovered sealed within a crystalline structure inside the spacecraft.

Based on the physical evidence and the essence of participants’ hallucinations—especially the vivid hallucinations experienced by Barbara Judd, and recorded on an advanced brainwave detection device by Doctor Roney (James Donald)—theories are formed suggesting the possibility that modern humans are a result of genetic modifications by aliens who visited millions of years ago, and the hallucinations are actually repressed memories

Andrew Keir does justice to Nigle kneale’s scrip by adding a sense of stature and resolve appropriate to the character, Professor Quartermass. He is about as much the hero as he is a sage; possessing characteristics of the two archetypes, he seeks to expose the truth and feels that it is only right to release the discovery to the public.

Barbara Shelly portrays Barbara Judd, the attractive, supportive, and everyday girl assistant to Professor Quartermass. Barbara is supportive of the professor’s commitment toward the truth and is every bit the eager sidekick when she is tasked to do something. Shelly spent the majority of her career as Hammer Horror’s number one female star, and although her role Five Million Years to Earth was not as frightful as her roles in films such as Dracula: Prince of Darkness—where she earned the title of “scream queen” for a shrilling scream that was actually overdubbed by co-star Suzan Farmer—her mere presence and acting skill helps Keir carry the plot effectively to the end.

 Five Million Years to Earth portrays a theory that many never knew existed until the advent of cable television, but in fact it has been a contemporary topic since at least 1897 when the idea was depicted in P. Serviss book Conquest of Mars. Because the film was made in 1967, the special effects are rather archaic compared to today’s films. It would be interesting to see James Cameron or Steven Spielberg make a modern version of the film.

Learn more about this author, Jeffrey A Fuller.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.