"It’s strong, intelligent, may have powers we haven’t even developed."
High in the Himalayas at a lamasery, Dr. John Rollason Peter Cushing) is a scientist studying rare herbs. Tom Friend (Forrest Tucker) appears at the lamasery with an artifact. The tooth from a Yeti. Also with him is someone who has seen a Yeti. Against his wife Helen's wishes (Maureen Connell) John joins Tom on an expedition to find it.
The Lama that runs the monastery (Arnold Marle) tries to warn the party not to go. He has the power to see things before they happen. He knows people are approaching before anyone can see them and he knows the real reason everyone came to the lamasery. He is a rather spooky individual. He tells them that the Yeti does not exist. The team goes anyway. They experience all kinds of treacherous situations going up the mountains.
John wants to find the Yeti for scientific purposes. He thinks it may be kind of a missing link. John finds out that Tom wants to find it to capture it and take it back to civilization to exploit it. They manage to kill one. There are other Yeti on the mountain. They want their dead comrade back. And they want revenge.
"The Abominable Snowman of the Himalayas" was released in 1957 and was directed by Val Guest. The film was produced by Hammer Studios. There’s been an explosion of big foot, yeti and abominable snowmen movies. Heck, even Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck ran into one. The first ones I recall were done in the 50’s. And I’m only aware of 4 of them. One of them was “The Abominable Snowman of the Himalayas” done in 1957 by Hammer Production Studios. It was based on a television drama by Nigel Kneale called “The Creature”. The original name of the movie was “The Snow Creature” but it had to be changed since another movie already had that name. The movie “The Snow Creature” happened to be one of the other 3 movies done in the 50’s.
You don’t really get to see the Yeti until the end of the movie. When you do it’s really great looking. Normally I’m all about the monster. And I am, but in this movie there was more to it than just a monster movie. Something about it hooked me and reeled me in. Things happen to the people in the expedition. They start hearing things and seeing things. Is what’s happening due to lack of oxygen or do the Yeti have the power to read minds. It’s a haunting movie. Especially at the end. I’m not much of an expert in Abominable Snowman movies but I do know what I like and I loved this one.
Wolfe Morris who plays Kusang later played Padmasambhava in Doctor Who: The Abominable Snowmen.