The Abominable Snowman

SINISTER TIBETAN MUSIC

BELLS RING

BELLS RING

CHANTING

Have you seen this veining, Foxy?

Yes, it's a variety of Nardostachys jatamansi.

Hmm, an uncatalogued variety.

-Dr Rollason, here is refreshment.

-Oh, that's kind of you.

Are you too absorbed in what I have shown you?

-Absorbed indeed, sir.

-These are wild...

I thought I knew every type of plant in these mountains, but these...

-Thank you.

-This plant we employ to cure sickness of the skin.

And where does it grow?

The monks go in parties to seek all these plants. They take many days.

-Can they show me?

-Now is not the time.

-Soon the heavy snows will come and the valleys will be dangerous.

-Oh.

-Take what is there, take what you need.

-But...these are your medicines.

We have great stores of all these herbs.

-You can really spare them?

-Take what you wish now.

-Then you will have every...spe...?

-Species?

-Species!

HE CHUCKLES

It's a long time since I have studied your language.

The research foundation will be greatly in your debt, sir.

Mr Fox...

-You do not drink your tea?

-Oh, I do. Well, I mean, I will...

Erm, actually, I think I'll go and collect some jars to put these in.

-It will be cold.

-Well, really, I quite like it cold.

Excuse me.

Mr Fox doesn't enjoy tea made in our fashion.

Maybe it still seems a bit greasy and unpleasant.

-But you...?

-I've grown to enjoy it.

-And your wife? She also enjoys it?

-Well...! She's working on it!

She's a brave person to come here at all.

She can't be comfortable in those poor quarters I have provided.

This a hard, rough place, built for men.

You've been very good to us, sir.

Tell me, Dr Rollason.

You are content with this land, its people and our customs?

I think so. I know the Himalayas fairly well through climbing

and now this work.

-You're a climber. To the great peaks.

-I was!

But I had an accident, a stupid one but a bad one, so I gave it up.

Now your wife comes with you to make sure of that?

Helen comes with me as a colleague. We work together.

And the other party who's coming... how long have you waited?

-They're six days overdue.

-Your wife, Dr Rollason...

she knows they are coming?

Coming to help you with your work...

-Of course.

-There will be little left for them to do now your work

is almost completed.

They'll want to see things for themselves, you permit?

The other men...they are also sent by your foundation? Or are they not?

They are not.

-Do you know something about them?

-I know they will be here tonight.

I have sent guides to meet them. You look pleased.

Of course. This is wonderful news, but I'd no idea they'd been seen.

They have not been seen.

But they will be here in a few hours.

GONG

GONG

Helen.

-Yes.

-Specimen jars. The dear boy's just made us a present.

The pick of his collection of dried plants.

That's wonderful, Foxy. Does John know?

He's over there now, waiting for the jars.

-Why this sudden generosity from the Lhama?

-Oh, I don't know.

Perhaps he wants to get rid of us?

If so, I'm ready. The sooner we get out of here,

out of this infernal country with its cold and bad smells

-and the superstition.

-Take it easy, Foxy, take it easy.

And the misery and the ignorance and this awful, awful cold.

And the Tibetan tea...

-Say, dear, are you busy?

-Just a few diagrams to finish, why?

Be an angel and take these over to John for me, will you?

-Yes.

-Then I can get on with the re-indexing of the new specimens.

-Thanks awfully.

-Foxy?

-Mm?

-I have another arm.

-Of course! Sorry!

I hope, sir, I can get a few more details about these?

The approximate elevation at which they can be found...

Dr Rollason...

what do you know about those men who are coming?

Know about them...?

Not very much. I had a message from them suggesting we meet here.

From their leader, a man called Friend?

That's right. Tom Friend. You've heard of him?

He passed this way before, some months ago.

But he did not come to me as is customary.

-Perhaps he didn't wish to impose on you, sir...?

-Now he returns.

What is this man searching for?

Well...

before I can say that, I must have a talk to him.

You can't say now?!

Dr Rollason...

why do you want to help these people?

I suppose for the pursuit of knowledge.

Whose knowledge? Yours alone?

-All human knowledge.

-Human knowledge?

HE CHUCKLES

Is that reason enough?

I'm afraid we're taking up your time, sir.

-I don't know what's happened to Fox.

-He is not coming, she is.

Your wife.

-She's approaching now.

-How do you know this?

-I've been hearing.

-Is that all, sir?

Here one develops the senses, all of them.

There's time for an awareness of many things.

Have you not found it so?

DOOR KNOCKS

HE SPEAKS IN NATIVE LANGUAGE

-Come in. You're welcome, my dear lady.

-Thank you.

-Foxy told me to bring you these.

-We've just been presented with some

-very remarkable new specimens.

-I know, Foxy told me.

We have not met many times, Mrs Rollason.

-No, no, we haven't.

-I have talked much to your husband but not to you.

I'm sorry, I've had quite a lot of work to do.

I've been concerned for your comfort, but your husband reassures me...

Of course. We've put you to a lot of inconvenience.

You are welcome to remain under my protection while your husband is on his climbing expedition.

Climbing...?

To the peaks.

Now, unfortunately, my duties make this meeting also a short one.

I must leave you now.

What climbing expedition, John?

That was deliberate.

-I guess I haven't told you.

-For heaven's sake, tell me now.

Helen, I was going to explain to you before, but... they may not have turned up and...

-They...?

-The party led by a man named Friend, they should be here in a few hours.

And you'd arranged to go with them?

Provisionally.

Helen, please. No, please. There was no point in talking about it before.

-I haven't even told Foxy.

-Nice to be bracketed together(!)

-You know I didn't mean that.

What about the Botanical Foundation? Have you kept them in the dark too?

This is nothing to do with them.

Only that they financed us here and they are waiting for our reports

-and we're already behind schedule.

-I know.

Without being a bore about...about loyalty and all,

don't you think we ought to get on with it?

Helen, please...

-Try and understand.

-I am trying, but...

at this time of the year, with fresh snow falling, to go peak climbing...

They may not even arrive.

Why did we come up here, John?

-Why?

-Right up here so far out of the way?

It wasn't just to search for rare plants, was it? Was it, John?

-No.

-Somehow I knew.

I kept remembering the things you wrote once.

I said nothing, I didn't want to remind you.

I'd hoped you forgotten...

Your theories about the high valleys, about what might be there.

Listen, darling, you're getting upset...

I'm going to be tiresome. I don't want you even to do this.

-We don't even...

-I can't bear it, John!

I don't want you heading to danger, into the mountains to look for that creature!

What's all this in aid of?

Oh, it's just one of their regular ceremonies.

Do you think they've chosen tonight on purpose?

-Maybe.

-Hey, come inside and shut the door.

How do you expect me to keep anything warm with one of the walls out?

-How's it coming?

-I'm making enough for an extra four.

-There may be even more of them.

Hey, you're not going to ask me to feed the porters too, are you?

Be an awful waste of food if they don't turn up.

You know something, Foxy?

Nothing would give me more pleasure than to have to waste it.

CLAMOUR OUTSIDE

They're here...

Let me know how many.

Er, you the head man here? You speak English?

HE REPLIES IN OWN LANGUAGE

Huh. Where's our guide? Hey, Kusang.

He's bringing up the rear.

You know Dr Rollason? Rollason?

Tom Friend?

-Oh, hi. Kusang.

-I'm here! Mr...

Get the stores under cover, take care of the ponies.

HE LAUGHS

-Is this in our honour?

-I don't know.

Hey, Jock, stick close - these guys will eat you!

-Mr Friend, I'm very glad to meet you.

-Dr Rollason, I presume!

-It's a great honour.

-We'd almost given you up.

-We ran into a little bad weather.

-We half expected you'd be gone.

-This is Ed Shelley.

-Mr Shelley.

-Hi.

-Jock, our photographer.

-How do you do?

-This is Peter Fox, my assistant.

-Hello.

-Hope you're all hungry, there's a banquet upstairs, beef stew.

-Lead me to it, I could eat a yak!

I'd better warn you about Ed's table manners.

-This is my wife, Helen. Tom Friend. Mr Shelley. And...

-Andrew, Andrew McNee.

-Sorry.

How do you do? We have four portions between three of you, so come on up, everybody.

Taken at your word, ma'am! Come on, Jock, this is home cooking!

-You didn't tell me about your wife.

-Oh, we always work together.

Hardly a trip for a woman.

-She stays here with Fox - I've already fixed that.

-Well, fine.

-If I come...

-If you come...?

Dr Rollason, this is the expedition that's not going to fail.

We're going to find that creature they call the yeti.

Oh, yes...

Can we stable under there under your living quarters?

That's what it was built for. Come on.

Kusang... TOM SPEAKS THEIR NATIVE LANGUAGE

KUSANG SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE

We covered a lot of miles today. How many, Tom?

-Oh, about ten.

-Ten?! My feet say about 100.

Of all the rockiest tracks in this stinking country!

Thank you. Shelley objects to the primitive. Move over.

Primitive...?!

I don't know what's worst about it -

the stink of everything or the ignorant natives

or the filthy food they eat or what. You tell me.

I find this country rather attractive.

-Attractive?!

-Oh, come on, Ed, knock it off, will you?

Even what we're going to look for is abominable.

-That's what they call it, isn't it - the abominable snowman?

-It doesn't exist.

-Helen...

You don't subscribe to your husband's views, Mrs Rollason?

-No.

-And about what this creature might be?

-No, I don't.

-Neither do I.

-Oh, sceptics right in camp, Doctor.

When the whole evidence of these theories is based on a few footprints in the snow...

Have you ever seen these footprints, Mr Fox?

I have not.

I have.

-Where?

-On the Rakaposhi Glacier.

With a climbing party, two years ago.

I found a line of fresh footprints like human ones.

Only bigger and far broader.

You didn't see what made them?

I followed them for a mile or so, and then they...

they finished on a bare rock face.

It was just long enough to get a sense of...

-of what I might be tracking.

-You're an impressionable man, Mr McNee.

Well, this is the sort of impression you want to forget.

Also, there have been photographs, Mrs Rollason.

1951 Shipton expedition took pictures of similar footprints.

-They were published in the Times.

-Could have been made by a bear.

-But they weren't.

-Look, in your message, you said something about having special evidence.

-This seems to be a good time to produce it.

-Hmm.

This came into my possession a short time ago.

Solid silver. Native craftsmanship.

Maybe you can read what it says round there? Translate it.

HE READS OUT IN NATIVE LANGUAGE

The protection of the great...

No...

HE REPEATS WORDS IN NATIVE LANGUAGE

..the powerful beings is besought by the Lhama of Rongbuk.

-That's this monastery.

-That's right.

This was stolen from here some years ago by a German explorer.

"The powerful beings" - that probably means local gods.

Hmm, now watch...

The ornamentation hides the join, but it finally does unscrew,

and you see...

-A tooth.

-In the Middle Ages, it was the usual thing to preserve bits

of tooth and bones from the bodies of saints.

That's what that is, a reliquary, but, of course,

you'd know more about that, Doctor.

It's unbelievable.

Look at the size of it.

-Seems to be genuine.

-It is. I had it sectioned and tested.

It's like the canine tooth of an ape, say a gorilla.

Yes, but it's about three times as big.

Let me see...

Er...I'd read your views, Doctor, on the possible size

and bone structure of these creatures.

-That would fit, wouldn't it?

-Yes, it would. But it's not a fossil.

It's living ivory...

GONG

TIBETAN MUSIC

Hey, what's this? A war dance?

These people are Buddhists - they don't believe in war.

Holy men doing a holy dance! Hey, this is good!

-Jock, get a picture!

-They don't allow it.

-You sure they don't mean trouble?

-You can take my word for it.

-Yeah, well, I hope you're right.

I have my responsibilities, I don't want to find one of my porters knifed while I'm away.

Look, Friend, their religion forbids them to harm anyone or anything.

OK, just so they know it. How about some more stew?

Just a minute, did I hear right? You're not taking the porters with you?

-Not beyond this point.

-You're doing this climb alone?

-Yes, just the five of us.

-How mad.

-You'd better tell us your plans.

Well, so far, no expedition's gotten near this thing they call the yeti.

-You know why?

-Hmm.

-Tramping up to the peaks with 50 or 60 porters behind them like an invading army.

It's enough to scare off any living creature. We don't want that.

So, there will be just the five of us.

What will we live on - vitamin pills(?)

-SHELLEY LAUGHS

-Tell him, Tom.

-We've been up here before, Ed and I, last summer.

-Yes, I heard that.

-Took 50 men loaded to the limit

up the north valley. Salted away supplies and stores in places where they'd be safe from the snows -

-rock caves and so on. All along the route.

-And do you think

these supplies will still be there with 50 men sharing the secret?

-They don't.

-We took turns, one marched them on while the other

-hid the batch they'd just unloaded.

-Single-handed.

-It was murder, but we did it.

-The north valley...

It's the steepest, the crookedest and blocked by the worst ice falls you ever saw.

-Like the mountains of the moon.

-If I were a creature wanting to lurk away from man, that's where I'd lurk.

John, this is completely irresponsible - without porters,

-without guides!

-Correction, ma'am. We are taking along one local guide.

-Name of Kusang. You saw him down below.

-One guide.

And how did he qualify for this unique position?

Because he's seen a yeti, ma'am.

-He's seen one?

-This is the time to do it, Doc - winter.

The heavy snow forcing whatever's up there down valley for food, right?

-Yes, but it...

-It's going to be tough going, we know that.

We can use an expert climber and a scientist.

In a double capacity. We need you with us. What do you say, Doctor?

Yes, John. What DO you say?

-I'd like to show this to someone first.

-Who's that?

The person who seems to be its rightful owner, the Lhama.

-Whatever you say.

-Now.

-Keep the food hot.

-I'll come too.

-How long does this go on?

-Sometimes for several hours.

Put that away, John.

Yes, I know of it.

It was taken from here many years ago.

However you came by it, Mr Friend, I'm grateful...

-you return it now.

-I'm happy to do so, sir.

You, er, you know it opens, then?

The carved tooth.

Carved?

It was made, so I've heard, by a monk in the far distant time.

It was meant to be a tooth of the god Manjusri, the all-powerful.

-It was made?

-Did you think it was a real tooth(?)

We thought perhaps...

You men of the West... you are driven by curiosity.

You would risk your lives, in those wastes of ice and coldness

to search for this...

-..animal.

-He's known all the time.

This animal you only imagine to exist.

You also think it doesn't exist?

Look, Rollason, you've made no contract, you're under no obligation

to go with us up there tomorrow when we leave here. But we're going.

And if it's humanly possible, we're going to find that creature.

-I'll come.

-Don't worry, he'll be all right.

We'll look after him, he'll be just...

On behalf of my party

and myself, I'd like to thank you for your hospitality.

Small return, Mr Friend...

for this.

Hmm.

Dr Rollason...

one moment, if you please?

You are determined to go with these people?

Yes.

Then listen to what I have to say.

As you seek this...

..creature...

..remember that you act in the name of mankind and act humbly.

For man is near to forfeiting his right to lead the world.

He faces destruction by his own hand. Now...

..when a ruler, king is near death,

he should not be seeking to extend his realm.

But take thought...

..who might, with honour, succeed him.

Remember this.

I'm not sure that I understand, sir.

Now go in peace.

CHANTING

OK, emergency rations checked and packed. What's next?

-Snow crampons.

-Crampons. Kusang's getting them.

Kusang!

HE SPEAKS NATIVE LANGUAGE

-Here, watch these guys, they've got a greedy look.

-I don't think they...

Just watch them, that's all! Come on, give us that.

Hey, Kusang, did you talk to the other porters?

Yes, Mister, they want paid now.

They'll get paid when we get back.

-How come we only got three packs?

-Rollason says he's got his own gear.

-Goodbye, Foxy, look after her.

-I will.

-See you soon.

Well, I'd better get back to those reports.

-Foxy disapproves.

-You'd better bracket us together again.

-Now, I thought we said...

-I know, John, but...

but it's those men, Friend and Shelley, I don't trust them,

-I don't like them and I don't...

-You're just grabbing at straws now.

-No, I mean this, John.

-Listen, Friend talks too much, agreed, and Shelley could use a few manners.

All right, I snore, they'll be the ones to suffer.

Don't joke about it, John.

Helen, darling... look, you do understand.

I've written and talked enough about this thing, now I've got

a chance to put it all to the test, I've just got to take it, haven't I?

Come on now, give me a hand with this.

DRAMATIC SCORE

John, for the last time, I'm asking you, don't go.

-Look, now...

-You won't come back, I know it.

I'll never see you again.

Hey, Doc! Kusang! Come on, we've got to move.

Be careful, my darling. Be careful.

I can look after myself, you know that.

Rollason...!

TOM: Kusang! TOM SPEAKS NATIVE LANGUAGE

Hey, Tom, wait a minute. Are we going to keep this pace up?

We got to make that hut before nightfall.

We went an easier way last time, over those ridges.

This time of year, they're all snowed up.

Yeah, well, look at those characters - they seem to be doing all right.

Yeah, well, they're not going where we're going.

-You all right, Doc?

-So far...

Well, let's keep moving, nice and steady.

-Maybe we ought to sing or something?

-Yeah, yeah do that.

-Uh?

-Sing!

# John Brown's body. #

Come on, sing!

ALL: # John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave

# John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave

# John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave

# And his soul goes marching on. #

# There is a tavern in the town... #

Save your breath, will you?

We're making good time, ain't we?

Yeah, but wait till we really start to climb.

-How's it going?

-What?

Just getting my second wind.

If this is what they call travelling light...

McNee, those three men again, look. Right up there on the skyline.

They're following us.

Friend! Friend! Wait a minute.

We got to keep moving.

-I think we're being followed.

-What?

-The three men again.

-They're still with us.

-He's right, it's the same three.

Yeah, well. Let's just keep moving, that's the best thing.

Let's just keep moving.

GUNSHOT WHISTLES

These men bandits! They kill us!

GUNSHOT WHISTLES

Down, everybody!

-They're out of range!

-That'll do it, Ed.

-If only they'd been a bit nearer.

They know we're armed, that's the main thing.

-I don't think they expected that.

-Yeah, thought we were easy meat.

-I think they only meant to frighten us.

-Frighten us?!

They'd have killed us and stripped our clothing and equipment.

These men bandit - yes, bandit.

-You get a good look at them, Doc?

-Not clearly, just an impression.

Let's get going, we've lost enough time. Ed, you keep that gun handy.

You bet!

Let's take five minutes, catch our breath.

They're making heavy weather of it.

-Over that ridge.

-There's a lot of rough weather coming up,

we'll never make it in the time, unless...

-What?

-There is short cut.

-Where?

-Across the col on that side.

-It looks awful steep.

-Well, let's give it a try.

You're the prize climber in this party, Doc. Why don't you take over?

All right, everybody rope up. We need it from here.

-Kusang, rope.

-It will be a short, sharp climb.

-So long as it's short.

-Fairly short.

-You take the middle position for safety.

-I like safety too.

We'll be all right if we keep our minds on what we're doing.

Let's get roped up and get on with it.

HE SPEAKS NATIVE LANGUAGE

-You, first.

-Let's get going, Doc. Come on, Ed!

OK, we're coming.

Hey, Jock!

Spread out!

Don't crowd him!

RUMBLE Avalanche!

-What happened?

-Nothing. Just some small stuff came down.

-For a minute, I thought we had an avalanche starting.

-And it might have been. It was his fault yelling.

-You're crazy!

-No, he isn't. A sharp sound, a sudden vibration -

that's all it takes, so let's have no more shouting unless it's vital.

-Right, you got that, Ed?

-OK, OK!

-Come on, let's go.

GRUNTS

SIGHS

There it is, the hut.

Oh, there's nothing else in here. It was all sealed in these containers.

-Now, fill the hole up again.

-Fill it up?!

The yak herders will be up this spring

-and think the earth devils have been burrowing.

-But...

-Go ahead and fill it up,

-you want to scare these ignorant natives to death? You're a civilised man.

-Tomorrow.

If this is the way you've planned the rest of the trip with caches

-under the floor...

-You wouldn't get a meal

-like this out of an emergency pack. Who's for more?

-Not for me, thanks.

I thought altitude was supposed to make you hungry. Kusang?

You talk about this as if it was a joke. Have you seriously considered what might happen if...?

Look, Doc. I've been running into people all my life who cried off

because what might happen if...

I went ahead and did it,

and now for some facts...

I got some real supplies cached up ahead.

This was just a snack on the way up.

What else have you got cached away up there besides food?

Everything we need from tents to fuel.

Look, 18,000 feet...we'll stop and make our first camp and search

at the foot of the icefall.

20,000 feet, the same procedure.

And again at 22,000 feet.

And we've got oxygen if we have to go higher.

We've got everything we need to get up above this creature.

Search it out in its own ground and track it down.

-How about some more of your contribution?

-Such as...?

Expert advice.

Oh, let us know the nature of the enemy.

-What's it live on?

-Small animals. Hares, mice, voles.

But we've seen nothing...

Oh, you don't see 'em, but he's right, they're there.

-Carnivorous, then, huh?

-Needn't be. Roots and plants under the snow.

It's probably fairly adaptable, like man.

Like man? What you're suggesting roughly is that this might be

-some kind of a missing link?

-That's a bit too rough.

Say "Parallel development" and I'm with you.

Parallel with mankind?

We're not very far north of India. Now, some millions of years ago,

that was the breeding ground of huge ape-like animals,

primitive anthropoids. Their fossil bones are dug up from time to time.

Now...the latest evolutionary theory is that their descendants

branched off in two directions.

One to become the great apes - chimpanzees, orang-utang and so on,

-and the other - man.

-Yeah.

Darwin's theory all tidied up. So...?

Well, suppose...

..suppose there were a third line of descent...

-Anthropoid X. As different from man as the apes are.

-Probably.

That calls for some great fancy guesswork.

But what would have happened to them?

Gradual extinction through changing conditions, attacks of enemies...

-Might include both apes and men.

-Most likely did. Until only a remnant survived.

Adapting themselves to living where nothing else would, in these mountains.

-The highest in the world and above the snow line.

-There's no proof of all this.

Not yet, but 100 years ago,

there was no proof that primitive man had ever existed, either.

How do you see it? It walks on two legs?

There's no doubt about that - the tracks prove it.

They show a foot 13-inches long and very wide indeed.

The stride of a six-foot man, yet its legs would be far more massive

and very short in proportion to its height.

Now, you...you see what that implies?

-It's big.

-Perhaps seven or eight feet high.

-What do you think, Ed?

-Well, can try.

-Oh, and drag it out, as good a time as any.

-I'm not with you.

Well, we might as well let you in on our little secret, Doc.

The fact of the matter is that Ed here is an expert trapper.

Yeah, everything from foxes to grizzlies.

Now, this is a tungsten steel net, it's just a little sample.

Do you think it will hold it?

-If not we have other things up there.

-What things? More guns?

So that's what this is, a hunting party.

What did you expect us to do? Look at it through a telescope. Have Jock here take a picture...?

-You told me this was a bona fide investigation.

-It is bona fide.

-I want one alive and so do you.

-And what are your interests? Commercial?

-Well, if they are, they are honest.

-Then why all the secrecy?

Things just like this - outraged indignation.

I want it to be well under way before...

-Listen. Listen!

-What is it?

I was certain I heard something, but you were talking so loudly.

-Outside?

-What?

A sort of cry.

DRAMATIC SCORE

-See anything?

-Keep your voices down.

-There.

-Snow hummock.

-Are you sure?

-Quiet.

-No, it's nothing.

-But I'm sure I heard something!

-Any of the rest of you hear anything? Kusang?

-No.

False alarm.

Jock, you need some sleep.

We all do, come on.

All right, lights out. Let's turn in. We got an early start tomorrow.

-I won't be with you, I'll follow you up later.

-What do you mean?

-What's up?

-I want to stay a while, look around this area.

-For what?

Edible plants close to its habitat.

I joined a scientific expedition, remember?

Yeah, I remember.

All right, Jock, you stay behind with him to form a rope.

You're the slowest.

-You don't want to rile, Tom, Doc - he is an exceptional guide.

-Yeah.

You just want to fall in with his ways, that's all.

Thanks for the advice.

See, this is real snug. All I need now is women.

-Remember that time in Bombay, Tom?!

-Oh, knock it off, will you?

Happy dreams to one and all!

Hey, Doc, wind's dropped. How about a smoke?

All right.

I'm sorry I broke out at you like that, just now.

We're all a it on edge - blame it on the altitude.

Yeah, well, I think I ought to explain.

Frankly, I am in this as a commercial venture,

but I don't think that cheapens my motives in any way.

-What's at the end of the line? A circus? A zoo?

-No, neither.

-Thanks.

-Look...

I'm not exactly a golden character, Doc.

After the war I did a little smuggling around the coasts of Europe.

Odd gun for the angry little countries.

I lived on two of the basic drives of humanity -

fear and hunger.

When they began to dry up on me, I looked around for another one.

On curiosity - human curiosity.

-Funny thing. You ever think about it?

-I suppose I've suffered under it.

But the world is full of receptive, inquisitive people.

People who are informed, responsive to new ideas.

Radio, television, films - these things have gone to the very homes of the people.

It's stirred up a very healthy curiosity about the earth that they live on.

These are the people I work for.

If I can I'm going to bring them one of these creatures.

-They can learn and profit from it.

-You really believe all that.

Sure I do, Doc. May give the world a whole new concept, a...

a new slant on humanity. Help us to know and understand ourselves better.

-Don't you think that's important?

-You'd appear with this creature, show it on television and so on?

If those are the means, I'll use them.

Look, don't you understand? Dr Rollason writing learned little books

in the corner isn't enough any more. It's a new age of awareness.

It's a big age - you've got to measure up to it, Doc.

You'd better get some sleep. You've got an early start.

Yeah, well, you think about it.

ALL SHOUT

Foxy! Foxy!

All right, now get inside. Now, what's the matter?

All right, you'll get paid when Kusang comes back.

Now, shut up!

THEY STOP SHOUTING

Now, go on, go on!

It's all right, it's only Friend's porters.

Apparently, they haven't been paid. Gave you a bit of a shock, hmm?

Now, you sit down there.

Have a spot of medicine, make you feel much better.

-Why do you suppose he didn't pay them, Foxy?

-Hmm?

Oh, just to make sure they're here when he comes back.

It's customary and reasonable.

Then why do they suddenly behave like that?

Well, you know what they are - they've got nothing to do,

they stand about and chatter and argue and work themselves up.

-Drink this.

-Was that all?

-What do you mean?

-It was as if they knew something.

-As if they knew Friend wasn't coming back.

-Now...

Or John or any of the party. They're going to die,

-and everybody in this place knows it.

-Stop it!

You're talking raving nonsense. Now, come on, drink this.

You didn't sleep last night, did you?

Well, make sure you do in future, you take some tablets.

Lay the whole night just thinking, I...

I never felt so lonely.

Now and then I heard a gong across the courtyard and...the wind.

Foxy...

you know these things these people believe in...

clairvoyance, thought transference...?

Sham magic!

-Is it sham?

-Helen, this country's rotten with superstition.

It's only dangerous because we are surrounded by people who think it's real.

And we can slide into thinking it's real too. Now, come on,

drink that up, you'll feel much better.

To make sure you're not pursued by the lads of the village again,

-I think I'll go and have a word with the Lhama.

-That's a good idea.

-I'll come too.

-You'll stay right there.

And if you should feel like another nip of that,

nobody's going to call you a tippler.

Hello...?

Anyone there...?

Sir...?

Sir...?

SCORE BUILDS

-They're practically out of sight now.

-Yes. And going well too.

-How much longer will this take?

-I've found what I wanted.

Evidence of a possible food supply. A type of moss.

-Highly nutritious.

-You mean...

-it's food?

-It might be.

Look, let's go on. I don't want that swine to get too far out of sight.

-You don't trust him?

-Tom Friend? No more than you do.

You're not a very good climber either. Why did you come on this trip, McNee?

I had to.

-You had to?!

-Ever since that time two years ago.

I-I felt that this is what I must do, it's a sort of obsession.

Perhaps a psychologist could explain it, I don't know.

-All I know is that I've got to find the thing.

-Getting near to it

-before whetted your appetite?

-It's all that matters. I...

I-I applied join all sorts of climbing expeditions,

hoping I'd be able...

..but I was turned down every time!

Then you heard about the Tom Friend expedition?

He wasn't so particular. I-I paid him to let me come.

You paid him?!

I-I can be useful. I'm good with the camera.

But not so good with an ice axe. A man like you could be dangerous.

No, I'll try not to be.

Come on.

HELLO?

ECHOES

FRIEND? WHERE ARE YOU?

ECHOES

He said they'd pitch camp at the icefall.

We're right in the middle of it now.

They can't be far away.

HELLO?

ECHOES

Wait a minute...

I thought I heard something.

Voices.

Ahead of us.

Are you there?!

ECHOES

Hello?!

ECHOES

HE SCREAMS

A trap. A spring trap.

-Get it open. Try.

-I can't, McNee.

It's fastened to the rock.

Hey!

Don't bash that - it's valuable.

-Here, here, let me do that.

-Did you set this?

-What do you think?

-Without warning us.

You want me to put a flag on it or something?

-Did I know you were coming this way?

-Get him free.

STRAINING

OK, get your foot out.

-SNAPS SHUT LOUDLY

-Oh, he's not hurt bad.

This is my improvement on a bear trap. It grips but doesn't tear.

-Didn't even bite through the boot.

-Of all the idiotic maniac ideas.

What do you want to achieve setting these things at random?

We've achieved it.

Before you blow your top, Doc, listen.

-It worked.

-Worked?

-We caught one of those things.

You don't believe me? Well, come and look.

Watch out, it's ice up here.

-Give him a hand.

-Here.

We found these little tracks, see,

so I set traps on the chance whatever made them might come back.

-Little tracks?

-Yeah, you wait and see.

-Hey, Tom, they're here.

-Good.

Kusang. HE SPEAKS NATIVE LANGUAGE

Throw me that top one.

ANIMAL SHRIEKS

Well, finally made it, huh?

We couldn't wait on you. There it is.

Not very big, is it, Doc? Not more than four feet high.

But Kusang has no doubts. Kusang, tell him what it is.

-Yeti!

-Same as you saw before.

Same. Same.

That's the expert, Doc. Just maybe you might have made a mistake, huh?

-Let's get it covered.

-Let it go.

-What do you mean, "Let it go"?

That's a langur, Himalayan monkey,

-you'll find one in half the zoos of the world.

-Kusang says...

Forget about Kusang. He's never seen the creature we're looking for.

-Yeti. Yeti.

-Knock it off, will you?!

All your trapping's done is to practically maim one of our own men.

-Jock...?

-He just happened to fall...

-Where can I treat him? In here?

-No, that's a supply cache.

-Let's take him over to the tent. Come on, Jock.

-Come on, McNee.

-You'll be all right.

-Steady now.

-Kusang, tie him down.

MONKEY CHIRRUPS

RADIO INTERFERENCE

How is it?

Well, apart from the bleeding, there may be a cracked bone, but without an X-ray, I can't tell.

Does it hurt?

Ed, you sure you got the right station on there?

-It should be.

-I fixed it with them to give us a weather forecast, Doc.

GONG

ANNOUNCER SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE ON RADIO

'And now a short weather forecast in English for Himalayan climbing parties.

'First, the Tom Friend expedition in Western Himalaya.

'You may expect occasional snow showers rising to blizzard force

'by tomorrow night.

'Further outlook - heavy snow continuing.

'Next, the Van Simone's expedition in Eastern...'

-Blizzards - that's all we need.

-We got 24 hours.

This man can't march tomorrow. It's out of the question.

-Tom, we'll dig out the sledge.

-You've got a sledge?

-Yeah.

-But it's not for him.

-What's it for, then?

Listen, Doc, this expedition cost a lot of money - I'm not going back empty-handed.

-That animal we've got in cage out there you say is some kind of a monkey?

-Of course it is.

Well, that's the mysterious yeti or snowman. We've proved it.

-Kusang here confirms it.

-Meaning...?

Meaning that, from now on, we sell that fact.

I got to get that brute down to India.

-That particular verified specimen of the yeti.

-Sales promotion.

-I can do it. I know how to handle it.

-Sure, Tom, like with Franchini.

-Shut up!

-The Franchini case? Were you in that?

-He doesn't know what he's talking about.

-There was no Tom Friend in it. How long have you used that name?

-I use what name I like.

-Just what case do you think you're talking about?

-The Indian wolf children.

-Allegedly reared by wolves in the jungle...

-All right.

..who then turned out to be plain mental defectives.

All right, that's what the people wanted.

Another new concept for humanity.

You're nothing but a cheap fairground trickster.

I don't like your...!

-CLAMOUR

-The radio...!

GRUNTING

That's taken care of the weather forecasts.

It's the altitude. I don't know... it makes you lose control. Ah.

-I'm sorry, Doc.

-Forget it.

How do you feel, McNee?

McNee?

What's he hearing? Listen...

CREAKING AND MONKEY SHRIEKING

-The cage. Give me a torch, Ed. Bring some flares.

-Yeah.

Come on, we may need you!

-Look at the cage, it's all twisted.

-It's gone. It's got away.

And the door... It's all wrenched off. I just don't understand this.

Let's see, see if we can pick up the tracks.

Oh, the snow's all trampled about.

Hey, what's this, there's a track.

Hey, look at that, they're two different kinds.

Look at the size of it.

15, 16 inches long.

There's no doubt about it, there was something else here, too.

-Put that torch out!

-Yeah.

-What are we going to do? Try and follow it?

Kusang, get the rifles, quick.

Quick, get the rifles!

QUIET CREAKING

HE GASPS

HE SCREAMS

What was that? Light the flare.

There's something by the tent!

SCREAMING It's Kusang!

Kusang. Kusang, what was it?

-Kusang?!

-Hey, Tom, look. Those big tracks all around here.

McNee...

McNee?

-Are you all right? What was it?

-Is he OK?

-I don't know.

Give me a gun and some of those flares. Come on!

-Enough?

-Yeah.

What does it look like? What did you see? Kusang, tell me.

I see, I see...what man must not see. I see true...yeti!

-Kusang.

-You made me see it!

HE SHRIEKS

Kusang!

Come back, Kusang!

Kusang! Come back!

Kusang!

DRAMATIC SCORE

-Find him?

-No, but I found something else.

-What's that?

One of your traps all broken apart.

Come on.

MCNEE MUTTERS

-Any sign of Kusang?

-No, you can bet he's headed back home by now.

Going down it will only take him a few hours.

He's nearly out of his mind.

He had good cause to be if he saw what did this.

With this and those footprints, you can get a pretty good idea of the weight of the thing that made them.

-Looks like you were right, Doc.

-Partly, but don't forget the vital part.

This creature may have an affinity with man,

-something in common with ourselves. Let's remember that before we start shooting.

-Sure, sure(!)

MCNEE SHOUTS

-Is he getting delirious?

-I'm afraid so.

-You took care of his ankle.

-I did what I could. This isn't a hospital,

-and that's where he ought to be.

-Well, give him another shot.

No, he's had enough. All right, McNee, all right.

Go to sleep, old boy, you're fine. McNee, did you hear what I said?

McNee...

-He's almost in the condition of trance.

-Trance?

-This is the way I found him after the thing had been here.

-What are you getting it?

-I'm not sure.

-You mean he's affected by it in some way?

-It's not impossible.

-If he were hyper-sensitive to their presence.

-Their presence?

-When he gets like this, they might be close?

-It's only a wild guess.

McNee, McNee?

The eyes...

McNee?

He's in a complete state of trance.

McNee, can you understand me? Can you hear me, McNee?

His pulse...

GUNSHOT

DISTANT SHRIEK

Tom, I think...! There's something out there on the ice!

I got it, Tom, I got it!

Careful, Tom.

It's dead.

So, that's it...

Really it.

-The abominable snowman.

-Look at the size of that body.

Looks like you underestimated it, Doc.

-Must be 10 feet... maybe 11 feet high.

-Yeah.

That face...

DISTANT HOWLING

There's more of 'em.

They know.

Listen, we'd better get this thing back to camp.

Between us, we ought to be able to manage.

Ed, get a rope and the sledge, give me your gun.

Right.

DISTANT HOWL

DISTANT HOWLING

LOUD KNOCKING

MUTTERS

MUTTERS EXCITEDLY

Foxy.

-Foxy, wake up!

-Mm, what's...?

-The porter's come back.

-Porter?

-The one they took with them, the one called Kusang.

-You must be dreaming.

No, I'm not, I saw him in the courtyard.

He seems exhausted and could hardly stand up.

He's not there now, they took him away.

He was there, Foxy. They took him through that door.

-I've got to know what this means.

-Helen, for heaven's sake.

-I'm going to see the Lhama.

You'll never see him at this hour, you'll...

SHE SCREAMS

Drink this, drink it.

You have been frightened. One of my servants found you

wandering in the secret part of the building.

-I was looking for you. Kusang's come back.

-Kusang?

The porter who went with my husband and the others.

-I saw him in the courtyard.

-You're mistaken.

I'm not mistaken. I saw him, I tell you, in the courtyard.

-It was not Kusang.

-But I swear to you.

You are concerned for your husband.

He's in danger, I'm sure of it.

Danger, yes.

They are in danger, all of them.

From their own actions.

I don't understand you, but you've got to help me.

-Do something, warn them, bring them back.

-I can do nothing.

-Why?!

It is not possible to bend the destiny of man.

The fate of your husband will be governed by his own nature.

Mr Fox...

you will conduct this lady back to her living quarters.

-I'm so sorry about this, sir. Come along.

-Get me away...

Get me away from him...

-Don't you realise the hopelessness of it?

-We've got to try and find them, Foxy.

There's no way of telling where they are by now.

-With three or four native guides, we have a chance.

-Native guides?

I'll tackle those porters down there.

You'll never persuade them to go, not until...

-I think I can.

-Supposing the Lhama forbids them to?

Listen, Foxy, they are waiting for money, aren't they? Well, I can give it to them.

For heaven's sake, Helen, you're not going to give them all that?

I'll give them everything I've got, Foxy.

All right, well, let me handle it, we don't want to overdo it. There's one of them now.

Where are the others?

Where are the others?!

Well, call them for me, call them.

HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE

CLAMOURING

All right. Now, I want four porters...

Wait, wait, wait...

-Hey, Doc!

-Hark the herald angels.

-Oh, what's the matter now?

Doc! Come down here!

I'll come when I can.

Noisy...

We're transferring to the cave. It'll give us protection against heavy snow...

Don't tell me Friend's delaying here for my sake(?)

Oh, no, he's not satisfied with the bag so far.

-In a couple of days, this foot should be usable.

-Thanks to you.

-Oh...

-Tell me...

-what does it look like?

-The dead one?

-Uh-huh.

Well, you'll see. It bears out a lot of my guesses.

It's massive, and its height is about 10 foot 5 inches.

Weight - 650 pounds. Its age is difficult to assess...

No, that's not what I mean...

-Didn't you see what it looked like?

-The face?

Yes. There's nothing ape-like about it.

There's nothing human either, but I felt it had...

Go on, go on...

..a sadness, and it was probably only a surface resemblance...

but wisdom.

Rollason, we need you down here.

-How's it feel?

-Better.

Try and ease that boot on slowly, and I'll take these packs down

and come back for you.

-Right, hold it there a minute.

-Right.

Come round this side.

There.

-See if we can get a little more purchase.

-OK.

Listen...

DISTANT HOWLING

HOWLING GETS LOUDER

Well, I'll get you down there now...

McNee...

McNee!

-McNee!

-What is it?

-He's gone.

-Gone?

-Without this and without gloves.

Up there, look.

MCNEE!

MCNEE!

MCNEE!

MCNEE!

Watch out!

MCNEE SCREAMS

He must have hit a rock. It would have been instantaneous.

They killed him.

It was the sound of that howling.

He couldn't stand it, it drove him mad.

He fell because his foot was useless.

They killed him.

GUNSHOTS

Ed...

GUNSHOT

Ed, Ed! Are you all right?

What happened?

I just got to it, the gun...

-I just got to it, another second...

-What happened?

They came at me, two of them! You just don't know what it's like!

Close to you in the light, they're...

-Take a drink.

-But how did it happen?

-Take it easy, Ed.

-Go on...

-I-I...

I just came out of the cave, and these two came running towards me.

The size of them, you wouldn't credit the speed they can move!

I'd get them again.

I know, you blasted off enough to start an avalanche, but you missed them.

It was like this, the sun was in my eyes, and I couldn't get organised!

Tom, they're after me. They know it was me that did it last night!

-They're after me!

-They're after all of us! They just killed McNee.

-You can't say that.

-What?!

-It was an accident.

It's me next. They know it was me.

Ah, don't worry, I've had this before.

Me and a grizzly once, we ran a war near a whole winter.

I can handle it. But we want to act, that's what we want to do right now!

Hey, Tom, let's get some action. Why are we just sitting around?

-We know they're up there! Why don't we go up there and find them?

-Look, I got an idea.

-You've had a lot of tough assignments. Can you handle one more?

-That's what I want, yeah, action!

Can you rig that steel net up in the roof of that cave?

-Yeah, I guess so.

-A little trap or anything that might go in there?

Yeah, I can do that. But what about springing the trap, who does that?

Oh, I get it. I do. I'm in the back there acting as bait, right?

Right.

You're a character, Tom!

Ah, sure I'll do it.

I told you that's what I wanted. Let's get to work

while they've still got me in mind.

-Yeah...let's get it cleared.

-Give me a spade.

Ah, here's one. What do you want a spade for?

Oh, yeah, Jock.

Foxy. Foxy - food container. They've been here, we must go on.

We daren't, not now. Come in, we're going to camp here.

HE SPEAKS NATIVE LANGUAGE

Listen, at the slightest encouragement, they'll all desert,

and this time, you'll never get them back.

HE SPEAKS NATIVE LANGUAGE

-Tom, it's all fixed. Come and look.

-Right.

Well, there she is.

One pull on this, and the whole thing comes down.

-You sure it will work?

-I've tested and tried. Nice work, eh, Doc?

You know my feelings. I don't like the idea,

your part in it least of all.

-If you want my advice...

-Listen, Doc, he doesn't need your advice.

-He can pull out any time he wants to.

-Who wants to pull out?!

It's your business, but when the risks can't be calculated...

When that thing falls, anything underneath it will be fully occupied.

That's tungsten steel with a breaking strain of 20,000 pounds.

The more it struggles, the more the whole thing tightens on it.

In addition to which, there you are, Ed...cleaned and loaded.

-Thanks, Tom. Just in case I should need it.

-Just in case.

Aye, you can trust me.

I am trusting you with this unique specimen when it shows up.

It's beginning to snow out there again.

Listen, Edward, we'll keep you covered from the tent.

Check every half hour, but the moment anything happens, you signal.

-You bet I'll signal.

-Right.

This is complete madness, Friend, and you know it.

Relax, will you? He knows how to hold his fire.

-It's getting vicious.

-You can see the cave?

-Yeah, so far.

-You'd better call it off.

-Call it off?

This snow may be just the thing they're waiting for.

-That man's depending on you.

-If he gets in trouble, I'm going to help him, don't worry.

-Friend...

-why not settle for the one we've got?

-I've said no.

You've cracked the mystery, you've proved the creature exists, settle for that.

-Take back a dead one?

-If we can.

-Uh-uh.

Have them pickle it and write out learned reports,

stick a skeleton in a museum and call it something Rollasoni.

-I'm not looking for credit.

-No?

-Not going to be like that, he's mine.

-Like the famous wolf children?

Just the opposite - this is no fake, that's why I'm not going to give up.

I'm going to prove to them I can bring back the real thing.

You can't drag this down to a personal level,

it's far too important.

Not to me.

Listen, there's a warning with this creature.

It's strong, intelligent, it may have powers we haven't developed.

It might have inherited the earth.

Something went wrong, and here it is, the last vestige of a species

hiding away where nothing else will live.

Waiting in misery and despair for final extinction.

I don't have to point the moral.

If they drop the H-bomb, your descendants too may wind up

in the ice.

Can you see anything?

Uh, I thought...

No.

Let's...let's have a cigarette.

ROARING AND CRASHING

ROARING

TOM!

GUNSHOT

It's OK, we're coming.

HE GROANS AND SIMPERS

Stop. We can't see a thing. Keep together. Come on.

ROARING

There it is.

Ripped to pieces.

Ed!

-He's dead.

-Dead?

-What, but... How did they kill him?

-I can't find any mark.

It looks like a heart attack.

His face...

I think he died from shock.

-He didn't use the gun, why?

-Here...

-Just a minute...

The magazine's empty.

That's strange.

Each shell's been struck by the firing pin but didn't go off.

They didn't go off, Friend.

You loaded the gun. What with? Dummy ammunition?

I didn't want another dead one.

I knew he'd fire even if the net held, he was scared.

Have they been at this? Our gun must have frightened them off.

-I think this was all they wanted.

-You mean they weren't after Ed?

-No.

-But they killed him!

-No, they didn't, Friend.

You did.

BOTH GRUNT

You think that'll stop them?

Well, it will give us a fighting chance if they decide to attack.

-If they do.

-You think they won't, huh?

Let me tell you something...

I'm not going to take any chances on losing that one.

I'm going to do like you said, Doc, and be satisfied with the one we got.

That decision's a little late.

-It's cold in here. Want a drink, Doc?

-Hmm?

-No. No, thanks.

-We've got to keep alert, keep our circulation up,

be ready for them.

Get a hit the first time. There may not be a second chance.

Oh...

-What's on your mind?

-I wonder what they'll try.

-Try?

-They know you've got a gun and what it can do.

They knew Ed had a gun - that didn't stop them.

Suppose they knew what you knew about Shelley's gun.

You mean, they could... thought transference?

Oh, don't give me that.

Let's get something straight, Doc...

these are animals, dangerous killers, and that's all they are.

McNee died from an accident, Shelley died of his own fear.

It isn't what's out there that's dangerous as much as what's in us.

-What are you doing there?

-I'm wondering...

wondering how old that face is. It's seen a long life.

Longer than ours, I should say. 100 years...perhaps more.

And this isn't the face of a... a savage thing, there's...

-gentleness...

-Gentleness?!

Suppose they're not just a...

a pitiable remnant waiting to die out? They're waiting, yes, but...

-waiting for us to go.

-For mankind to die out?

It was something the Lhama said.

About taking thought to man's successors.

I didn't understand then, but... suppose WE'RE the savages?

We're what? Are you out of your mind, Doc?

Perhaps, for them, WE'VE been the Dark Ages, feted ourselves too long.

Perhaps we're not Homo sapiens, thinking man.

What has our thinking brought us to?

But Homo vastens, man the destroyer.

When the world knows about these creatures, they'll destroy it too.

And, of course, we're men, we can only be here to destroy them.

-They must be aware of that.

-You mean we're the enemy, huh?

If they can deal with us, the secret's kept.

-It's their only chance of survival.

-Up here in the ice?

-Survival for what?

-It's enough, until, perhaps, their time comes.

-Doc, you better have a drink.

-We'd better have something to eat.

That's a good idea, then we'll take turns on watch.

Throw me something from one of those self-heating cans, will you?

-Like living inside of an iceberg in here.

-One soup coming up.

RADIO: 'And now a short weather forecast in English

'for Himalayan climbing parties.

'First, the Tom Friend expedition in the Western Himalaya.

'You are warned to return to base immediately, abandoning all gear.

'I repeat - abandon all gear and return.'

-Friend...?

-Ah.

-Where's the radio?

-Over there. It's all smashed up.

Smashed?

If you're thinking of trying to fix it, you can forget it. It's had it.

-But didn't you hear?

-Hear what? I told you that thing is wrecked.

Friend, we must get out of here!

What's the matter with you!

We're going to get out of here when it's daylight and not before!

What's the matter with you - are you cracking up?

Maybe that's it - a touch of altitude sickness.

Yeah, well, go get some oxygen, right over there.

-Yes.

-Just turn the tap, it's all ready for use.

-I'll use some.

Don't want you going sick on me.

It won't be easy managing that sledge tomorrow.

All that new snow bound to make it unstable.

-Feeling better?

-Yeah.

Uh, it's going to be tough going. We'll just have to get

out to the middle of the glacier and just keep going, that's all. Keep going.

-(DISTANT SHOUT)

-HELP!

HELP ME!

Ed?

TOM! HELP ME!

TOM! HELP ME!

What's the matter with you? Didn't you hear that?

What can you hear?

TOM! HELP!

I can hear him yelling out there. They got him!

-Stay here, wait.

-Ed, I can hear you! I'm coming!

You've got to understand, that isn't Shelley, it isn't anybody.

-I can hear his voice.

-It's in your own mind! It's just happened to me too.

-I've got to save him!