This review is for the Blu-Ray edition of 'Quatermass 2' (Enemy From Space) released by Shout! Factory in 2019.WHERE DOES THIS MOVIE FIT IN THE QUATERMASS TIMELINE?: This is the second of 4 movies in which Professor Quatermass appears in, as of this date.WHO IS PROFESSOR QUATERMASS?: Bernard Quatermass is a character written and developed by the great British screenwriter, Nigel Kneale. Professor Quatermass is an English rocket scientist. He is head of the fictional British Experimental Rocket Group. He first appears in 1953.The character first appeared in 3 television serials produced by the BBC in the 1950's. The character returned to television one more time in a television serial in 1979. The first serial was remade in 2005. The titles of the movies based on these serials are essentially the same. The first series, 'The Quatermass Expermiment' had the 'E' in experiment removed in order to empahsize the 'X'. This was supposed to get audiences to see the movie because it had an 'X' certificate in Great Britain. (Note - This is not really the same thing as an 'X' rate movie in the U.S.) Today that movie would probably receive a simple 'PG' rating. The final television series, 'Quatermass', from 1979, was called 'The Quatermass Conclusion' in the theaters.The name of 'Quatermass' was taken from a phonebook by Nigel Kneale. WHAT MOVIES DOES PROFESSOR QUATERMASS APPEAR IN?:-'The Quatermass Xperiment' (1955) (U.S. - 'The Creeping Unknown')-'Quatermass 2' (1957) (U.S. - 'Enemy from Space')-'Quatermass and the Pit' (1967) (U.S. - Five Million Years to Earth)-'The Quatermass Conclusion' (1979) ONE MORE...?: It should be pointed out that the character of Dr. Royston from 'X the Unknown' (1956) was originally intended to be Professor Quatermass. Nigel Kneale, the character's creator, did not write the story for this movie. He refused to give permission to use the character. Therefore, the end result was a Quatermass story that did not use Professor Quatermass.BLU-RAY: This edition is made from a 2K scan of the only suriving Film print of the movie. It is shown in a 1.37:1 aspect ratio. I'm giving the picture a 7/10. It is pretty good but not spectacular. You will see imperfections throughout such as specks, dust and occasionally lines. In my opinion, these imperfections do not take much away. Some parts of the movie are very sharp. I think the contrast looks like it was turned up a bit. Overall, I'm pretty happy with the picture.EXTRA'S:-The Blu-Ray case has a reversible cover. You can choose from 'Quatermass 2' or 'Enemy From Space' versions. You can see a picture of both in my review.-Audio Commentary with the director, Val Guest and the writer, Nigel Kneale. This commentary was done a very long time ago. The commentary was probably made in the 1990's. It is mentioned that the movie was made about 40 years ago. The two commentators are obviously not watching the movie together. The comments are interspersed throughout and the their are long periods of silence. Their comments were selectively edited in. It's informative but most of the information given is now known and expanded upon in newer commentaries.-Audio Commentary with film historian, Ted Newsom - Newsom is one of my favorite film commentators. He is always entertaining and uses humor and is always enthusiastic. He sticks to focusing on the scene being shown in the movies he comments on.-Audio Commentary with film historian, Steve Haberman and film historian, Constantine Nasr - This is a new commentary. Haberman injects humor into his commentary. Nasr is a script guy, if you will. He focuses on the original script and how it translated into the movie. He also points out the differences between the serial and movie.-World of Hammer episode - This is the 'Sci-Fi' episode from the television series. These episodes are all good and are shown in the different Hammer Film releases.-Interview with Val Guest - This is around 20 mintues long. The interview is about Guest's career at Hammer Productions-Interview with Special Effects Assistant, Brian Johnson - Talks about Val Guest and shooting the rocket scenes. He also talks about how the creature was made.-Interview with Third Assistand Director, Hugh Harlow - He talks about shooting at Shell Refinery and other locations used in 'Quatermass 2'. He tells a story about Donleavy's toupee.-U.S. theatrical trailer - This is the 'Enemy From Space' trailer.-Still Gallery*****WARNING - LOTS OF SPOILERS BELOW THIS POINT*****PLOT/SUMMARY: Professor Quatermass almost runs into another car while driving down a road. One of the car's occupants acts strangely and tries to run away. He has a mark that he received while at a town called Winnerden Flats.Quatermass goes back to his office. At his laboratory, he has a model of planned Moonbase. Unfortunately he is not getting any support from the government. There are reporst of a meteorite shower at Winnerden Flats. Quatermass, remembering this town being mentioned in his earlier encounter, decides to travel there with a co-worker named Marsh. The two find most of the access roads are closed off with military personnel patrolling. They find an accessible road and shockingly, they find a plant that looks almost exactly like Quatermass' proposed moonbase. The two get out of the car to get a better look and find a meteorite. The meteorite opens up and releases a gas. Marsh ends up with a scar similar to the one on the car passenger. Guards from the complex show up and take Marsh. They claim he will be taken care of. The guards force Quatermass to leave.Quatermass contacts Inspector Lomax and informs him as to what happened. Lomax sends him to Vincent Broadhead, a member of Parliament. Broadhead has been investigating the secrecy surrounding WInnerden Flats. The two are taken on a tour of the Winnerden Flats complex. They are told that it is being used to create artificial food. Broadhead sneaks away from the tour. Quatermass realizes something is wrong and goes looking for Broadhead. He finds him dying. Broadhead slipped and fell into a giant vat of a black, toxic goo that was located in one of the plants giant domes. Quatermass leaves the plant and is shot at by the guards.Back at Inspector Lomax's office, Quatermass tells him that he believes that the complex is making food for aliens as well as creating a living environment. Lomax contacts the Police Commissioner but discovers that he has the same scar as the other infected people. Quatermass, Lomax and a newspaper reporter, Jimmy Hall head to Winnerden Flats. Once in town, they head to the local community hall. They find that the locals are evasive and want the trio to leave. While they are being ejected, a meteorite goes through the roof and floor of the center. The barmaid is infected by the meteorite. Now that the locals know the truth, the head for the plant.From here, it's up to the locals, Quatermass and Inspector Lomax to stop the alien invasion.PRODUCTION: This movie was shot in 1956 and released in 1957. It was distributed by United Artists in the U.S.-Quatermass 2 was released with 'And God Created Woman' in England in 1957.-While not a box office smash, 'Quatermass 2' was relatively inexpensive to produce (under 100,000 pounds) and was a financial success. Ultimately another sequel was made ('Quatermass and the Pit').-Nigel Kneale appears to have been a writer who was perpetually displeased with the movies made based on his scripts. He was extremely annoyed by the choice of Brian Donleavy to play Quatermass. He grudgingly admits that he was happy to at be the writer of the movie version of Quatermass 2. The serial was about 3 hours long and the movie version was cut to 2 hours.-Quatermass 2 is probably the first movie sequel to use numbers (in this case, the number '2') for the sequel.-Brian Donleavy's toupee was an issue for the outdoor scenes. The production team had to work around it so as to not have the wind blowing in the wrong direction.-John Longden, who plays Inspector Lomax, was a movie idol in the silent era.-They film crew had two minutes to film their scene at Trafalgar Square.-Michael Ripper, Hammer Productions' most prolific actor, makes an early appearance for them in this movie. WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TELEVISION SERIAL AND THE MOVIE? There are a bunch of differences.However, the two version have basically the same plot. The writer, Nigel Kneale, wrote both screenplays. The director, Val Guest, wrote a second draft and made some changes. The biggest change is the ending.The Biggest Change.... is to the ending. Quatermass is in the rocket that leaves Earth and he goes to confront the aliens in outer space in the television version. Obviously, in the movie, this is much different. The rocket is sent, unmanned, to destroy the alien base.Some other changes:-Most of episode 1 of the television series was eliminated or changed. In the television serial, the first episode deals with Quatermass' rocket experiments.-Inspector Lomax appears in the first Quatermass movie but does not appear in the serial.-Quatermass' daughter, Paula, does not appear in the movie.-Quatermass' assistant, Leo Pugh, does not appear in the movie.-The barmaid Sheila, played by Vera Day, only appears in the movie.-In the television serial, a guard kills a family. This scene is deleted from the movie. WHERE WAS THE ALIEN BASE ON EARTH LOCATED? WAS IT REAL? Yes, the alien base is real. It is the Shell Refinery at Essex, in England. The employees were told to stay out of sight during filming.COMMENTS: DOES BRIAN DONLEAVY MAKE A GOOD PROFESSOR QUATERMASS?:This question is up for debate. I personally like Donleavy in these movies. The writer, Nigel Kneale, famously despised Brian Donleavy. You can hear him discuss his views in one of the audio commentaries. He did not like the choice of an American for Quatermass. Donleavy made no attempt to use a British accent.The director, Val Guest, completely disagrees with him. Guest says that Donleavy was very good to work with and that the stories of Donleavy's drunkedness are way overrated. He says Donleavy would indeed drink but it did not interfere with the production. Donleavy would put Brandy in his coffee. I think that Guest is really the only person's opinion that matters. He was there and says there are many false stories floating around and many that are greatly exaggerated. Ultimately, he worked with Donleavy on two Quatermass movies and thought he was very professional and easy to work with. DID THE BRITISH HAVE A SPACE PROGRAM?: Yes, they did. Right after World War II, the British experimented with rockets but ultimately gave up on their space program. Once the U.S. and Russia took the lead, they saw no reason to continue with it. OTHER COMMENTS:-I think the choice of the Shell Refinery was an excellent one. It fits perfectly. My most memorable moment is when Quatermass and Marsh spot the base for the first time. I was as confused as they were!-I love the soundtrack of this movie. It has some similar parts to 'Horror of Dracula'. The composer, James Bernard, did the soundtrack for both of these movies.-I'm not quite sure why the aliens chose to use a strange symbol or flag for their equipment. It seems to me that this would raise suspicion.-I think that the background painting of the rocket on the launching pad is excellent and has a surreal look to it. I'm not alone in my thinking. Most people have a positive opinion of this scene.-Jimmy Hall, the newspaper reporter played by Sid James, seems like he came straight from New York. He has no English accent whatsoever.CONCLUSIONS: This is my favorite science fiction film of the 1950's. And that's all I have to say about that!!!RATINGS:Picture: 7/10 or 3 1/2 starsPlot: 10/10 or 5 stars - This is my favorite 1950's science fiction film.Extra's: 8/10 or 4 stars - A bunch of commentary tracks and some interviews are some nice extra's for an old movie.Sets/Atmosphere: 10/10 - I'm adding this category because I love the locations and atmosphere.Soundtrack: 10/10 or 5 stars - It's a favorite of mine.Special Effects: 6/10 or 3 stars - Not great but not terrible.Overall: 10/10 or 5 stars - My favorite 1950's science fiction film!