“Instead of flowers I brought you a Yeti.”
High in the Himalayas Dr. Frank Parrish (Paul Langton) is the head of a scientific expedition looking for unusual plant life. Along with him is an alcoholic photographer, Peter Wells (Leslie Denison). They are being guided by a Sherpa named Subra (Teru Shimada). When word gets to the expedition that Subra’s wife has been kidnapped by a Yeti, Subra wants to change the team’s plans and go after it. Believing that Yetis are fictional superstition, Parrish refuses. During the night the Sherpa takes the expedition's guns and cartridges and takes control of the team. He then orders the group to go looking for the Yeti, and his wife.
Parrish and Wells have no choice but to go along with the mutiny. As the expedition advances into the mountains Parrish begins to see signs that indeed there is something in the mountains that is not human. Giant footprints are found in the snow. Then there are screams in the night. One of the Sherpas is found dead.
The expedition finally tracks the Yeti to a cave. Inside they find two other Yetis, a female and a child. They are a family. Subra is intent on killing the Yeti but Parrish stops him. Seeing the scientific value of these creatures Parrish wants to capture them. To try to get away the Yeti causes a cave-in. It results in the death of the female and the child and knocks the male unconscious. It also allows an opportunity for Parrish to get his hands on the guns and regain power over the expedition. Parrish plans to take the unconscious Yeti back with him to the US to study it.
Back in the US, things don’t go as planned when the Yeti escapes and runs rampaging through Los Angeles.
“The Snow Creature” was released in 1954 and was directed by W. Lee Wilder. I’ve seen the movie several times. I realize it’s pretty much drivel but the more I watch it, the more it grows on me. But then, I’m easily amused. I have a defense for that. Most of the movie is a bunch of guys walking through snow, not unlike the many jungle movies where people are walking through, well, jungles. There are many jungle movies I am a fan of so snow or thick vegetation, if people are walking through it, I try to be a little patient. After all, I’m not the one doing the walking.
The Yeti is, of course, a ‘guy in a suit’. A fur suit to be exact. Well, maybe velour. Anyway, the creature looks more like something from the musical “Cats” but without a tail. According to Bob Burns the Yeti is played by Lock Martin. The movie itself was directed by Billy Wilder’s less talented brother Lee Wilder and written by Lee’s son Myles Wilder.
The movie’s only claim to fame is that it was one of the first Yeti movies and was the first American Yeti movie. The first Yeti type movie is believed to be a Finnish movie released the same year, “Pekka ja Pätkä lumimiehen jäljillä” (1954).
At some point someone took the film and added a fake prologue and a narration at the beginning turning it into a propaganda film about the U.S. really capturing a Yeti and how the Nazi's were looking for one to turn it into an experiment to create genetically altered super soldiers. The fake documentary was labeled as happening in 1947 to try to give it more authenticity. It was labeled as classified and now restored and released to the public. The documentary was called "The Capture of the Yeti". It is actually available for purchase on Amazon and other places as a real documentary.
I don't know for sure who put the fake documentary together but reportedly it was David Hatcher Childress author and owner of "Adventures Unlimited Press". They are a publishing company that specializes in unexplained mysteries and phenomena and alternate history. Basically any pseudoscience you can think of, similar to the "Ancient Aliens" television program, which he has been on many times.
Snow Creature Movie
Capture of Yeti Movie