Thursday, 31 August 2017

#SILENTBUTDEADLY! : DOCTOR WHO AND THREE SIXES : DARTH AND MOTH GIRL SIZZLE!


#SILENTBUTDEADLYWEDNESDAY! WHO, ME AND THE NUMBER SIX! There are a few great shots in Cushing's first #DRWHO movie, 'Dr Who And The Daleks' (1965) and this, is one of them. Not only because, it's SIX..count em, Six Daleks in a row, but for a kid of SIX at the time, this was without doubt, after the slight of my first 'CHOPPER' bicycle, the coolest thing I had ever seen. I was pretty caught up in the whole Dalek thing at this time and got my Dad to queue with me in the pouring rain, to see this film, the first day it arrived at our local flicks. 


I didn't know who Peter Cushing was at this time, and wasn't bothered that he bore little resemblance to the Dr Who I knew from the tv series. It's the memory of this shot and the image of the dalek out of its armour suit, that I carried with me to school the following day. Such was my recalling of the drama, the excitement to my school pals . . . they too were soon pestering their parents, to trek to the 'Palace Cinema' and see for themselves. Thus, I got to see this film, SIX times that Summer. Happy days . . .



#SILENTBUTDEADLY! Christopher Lee and Barbara Shelley in Dracula Prince of Darkness. Peter Cushing had a guest appearance . . .un-credited...as Van Helsing in the prologue, the ending from the previous Dracula in 1958... some years had past since Lee's first appearance as Dracula in that film, do you think his performance as the Count was as good in this sequel??


#SILENTBUTDEADLYGIFWEDNESDAY! AMICUS writer and producer, Milton Subotsky once told me that, he saw films that ended with a 'FIRE', as in the film ends and it all burns down.. as a disappointing lack of imagination on the script writers part. He must have held some store in that theory, because i can only think of just TWO film that he wrote or produced that ended with a big boom or fire. AT THE EARTH'S CORE above, is one of the two, and I guess the source material of the book, that the film was loosely based on, did influence the climax of the film. So, ONE other Amicus film that ends with fire? Do you know which one?


#SILENTBUTDEADLYWEDNESDAY! THE GREAT THING about rubber is, it burns very well! Looking weirdly for all the world, like the death pyre of 'DARTH VADER' in 'RETURN OF THE JEDI', the 'Death-Head-Moth-Woman' bit the dust, just before we could get a good look at here. Monsters eh? 


Peter Cushing and Glyn Edwards play the investigating coppers in 'The Blood Beast Terror', entertaining performances, though Cushing thought the concept a bit weak. Edwards who had starred in the film Zulu, played quite a few policemen...and a certain barman in a much loved, long running BBC comedy too . . . 



IF YOU LIKE what you see here at our website, you'll  love our daily themed posts at our PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE.  Just click that blue LINK and click LIKE when you get there, and help us . . Keep The Memory Alive!. The Peter Cushing Appreciation Society website, facebook fan page and youtube channel are managed, edited and written by Marcus Brooks, PCAS coordinator since 1979. PCAS is based in the UK and USA   

Tuesday, 29 August 2017

#TOOCOOLTUESDAY! CONSTABLE TOM ON TRAFFIC DUTY SIXTIES DALEK PUBLICITY STILLS


#TOOCOOLTUESDAY!: Something familiar about that Traffic Police Man?? The young school girl, waiting to cross the road, with her grandfather too...her grandfather????  IS IT??? It COULD be! Photo shoot with Peter Cushing, Bernard Cribbins and Roberta Tovey in a car park at Shepperton film studios, during the making of 'Daleks Invasion Earth, 2150 AD'  . . . .








IF YOU LIKE what you see here at our website, you'll  love our daily themed posts at our PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE.  Just click that blue LINK and click LIKE when you get there, and help us . . Keep The Memory Alive!. The Peter Cushing Appreciation Society website, facebook fan page and youtube channel are managed, edited and written by Marcus Brooks, PCAS coordinator since 1979. PCAS is based in the UK and USA  

#TOOCOOLTUESDAY! ANANKA'S LIVE AND WELL AND RESTING IN . . .PERTH???


#TOOCOOLTUESDAY! When Hammer films and Lionsgate launched their UK release of the remastered blu ray of the Cushing / Lee Classic 'The Mummy' in 2013, it was the feather in the cap of three amazing releases and titles, titles that are sometimes considered to be, the the best from the cozy cottage studio on the Thames. Stepping out in glorious Eastman colour, cleaned up, crisp and looking much, much more than its estimated £125,000 budget, Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and cast, have never looked better.


Everyone seemed to agree, whatever had happened with the previous remastered classics, this one...appeared to be spot on. Even the extras were very cool too. In one of the extra features, detailing the accuracy of the sets, the props and costumes, a suited expert tells us of a . . .' magnificent custom made sarcophagus that was lovingly built by the Bray studios craft, plaster and carpentry workshops...in fibre glass... and that it is now housed in the collection of the Perth Museum and Art Gallery, Scotland!' . . . . There follows a pause...


And then, he moves on...! Where one would have expected a photograph or a short clip of the final resting place of Ananka...nope. Not a Pharaohs Tut or Thank you. Just Nada of the Nile! That afternoon, and for quite sometime later, I looked everywhere for photo, a clip a drawing ...anything.  


Finally, some time later, it was left to Hammer historian Robert J E Simpson. . . to come up with the goodies. Yes, it's not in Egypt, or sadly in a Hammer films museum... it's in Perth, Scotland. And that, is as good a place as any. We are lucky it's anywhere! It looks just as impressive as it did, when John and Stephen Banning found it, all those years ago...! So, thank you Perth Museum for keeping the ol' gal safe... and thank you Robert, for taking that photograph. Now that...IS cool!


Robert J. E.  Simpson is a writer, director, Hammer film historian and archivist, who has provided several  works for inclusion on the official Hammer film blu rays including the media booklet which was part of the UK blu ray release of Hammer films, 'The Mummy' (1959). Robert has a presence on several social media platforms including INSTAGRAM  and  FACEBOOK



IF YOU LIKE what you see here at our website, you'll  love our daily themed posts at our PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE.  Just click that blue LINK and click LIKE when you get there, and help us . . Keep The Memory Alive!. The Peter Cushing Appreciation Society website, facebook fan page and youtube channel are managed, edited and written by Marcus Brooks, PCAS coordinator since 1979. PCAS is based in the UK and USA   

Monday, 28 August 2017

#MONSTERMONDAY! : UPDATED! ANTON JOHANN AND KARL : BAD BOYS WHO CAME UNDONE


#MONSTERMONDAY! Seldom has Hammer films script-writer Anthony Hinds penned such wonderfully obnoxious characters as Anton, Karl and Johann, who appeared in Cushing's fourth Baron film, 'Frankenstein Created Woman' . . . 


Their antics were really quite appalling, and managed to generate more than enough anger from the sympathetic audience, that when their grizzly ends did arrive in the story, it was surely felt, they well deserved it.. didn't they??? 


True Christina Kleeve was a little 'unhinged' . . . Weren't THEY the Monsters? YOU decide....




UPDATED! UPDATED!
It took a little time for someone to crack it, but crack it, DON CUNNINGHAM did! The problem with the poster lies in the bottom RIGHT. A colour tinted image of SUSAN DENBERG as Christina Kleeve with KNIFE at the PICNIC about to MURDER . . . . KARL? If you are familiar with the story of the film, you'll know that Christina murders JOHANN at the picnic...not KARL, he was murdered at the Inn. 




ABOVE: A SCREEN CAPTURE OF JOHANN AND CHRISTINA



ABOVE: A PUBLICITY STILL OF JOHANN AND CHRISTINA..
BUT HE ISN'T LOOKING FACE ON!

It appears that what the artist who made this poster wanted was a FACE ON shot of DEREK FOWLDS as Johann, as Christinia is about to plunge in the knife. It's either he did not have that particular photograph, or the press dept / distributor didn't make that photograph part of the KEY BOOK archive. So, they improvised. They took the image of Christina from the colour LOBBY STILL SET also featuring JOHANN, but looking away and replaced JOHANN'S head with BARRY WARREN'S . . . KARL! I guess no one noticed...until NOW




IF YOU LIKE what you see here at our website, you'll  love our daily themed posts at our PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE.  Just click that blue LINK and click LIKE when you get there, and help us . . Keep The Memory Alive!. The Peter Cushing Appreciation Society website, facebook fan page and youtube channel are managed, edited and written by Marcus Brooks, PCAS coordinator since 1979. PCAS is based in the UK and USA  

Sunday, 27 August 2017

GETTHECUSHIONSUNDAY! PETER CUSHING AS MERRYWEATHER IN THE HELLFIRE CLUB


#GETTHECUSHIONSUNDAY! Today we feature a clip from a largely forgotten film The Hellfire Club (1961) Starring Keith Michell, Adrienne Corri and Peter Cushing based on the infamous 'Gentlemen's' society of the 18th century. It's often wrongly sighted as a Hammer Films production probably because the film was co-written by Jimmy Sangster and features Peter Cushing and other Hammer regulars Francis Matthews & Miles Malleson in small roles.


Directed by Robert S. Baker and Monty Berman who co-directed several films with scripts by Jimmy Sangster such as the horror/crime film Jack The Ripper (1959) and the historical drama film The Siege of Sidney Street (1960). A fun film while not entirely successful, it's a good swashbuckling adventure film. Is the film at hit or miss for you? 



IF YOU LIKE what you see here at our website, you'll  love our daily themed posts at our PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE.  Just click that blue LINK and click LIKE when you get there, and help us . . Keep The Memory Alive!. The Peter Cushing Appreciation Society website, facebook fan page and youtube channel are managed, edited and written by Marcus Brooks, PCAS coordinator since 1979. PCAS is based in the UK and USA  

#NATIONALDOGDAY! CANINES IN CUSHING FILMS


#CHRISTOPHERLEESATURDAY Today is National Dog Day, so here is Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing with a canine friend during the filming of The House Of The Long Shadows (1983)


#CHRISTOPHERLEESATURDAY! Christopher Lee with a less friendly canine in Hammer's 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' (1959)


#CHRISTOPHERLEESATURDAY! Holmes and Watson, Cushing and Nigel Stock ...and canine! BBC tv 'Sherlock Holmes' (1969)



IF YOU LIKE what you see here at our website, you'll  love our daily themed posts at our PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE.  Just click that blue LINK and click LIKE when you get there, and help us . . Keep The Memory Alive!. The Peter Cushing Appreciation Society website, facebook fan page and youtube channel are managed, edited and written by Marcus Brooks, PCAS coordinator since 1979. PCAS is based in the UK and USA  

Saturday, 26 August 2017

#CHRISTOPHERLEESATURDAY! CHRISTOPHER LEE AND EDDIE POWELL STUNT-DOUBLE POSE FOR A SNAP


#CHRISTOPHERLEESATURDAY! LEE X2! Christopher Lee and his long time stand in and stunt double, the lovely Eddie Powell on set during the making of 'The Care of Time' (1989)







IF YOU LIKE what you see here at our website, you'll  love our daily themed posts at our PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE.  Just click that blue LINK and click LIKE when you get there, and help us . . Keep The Memory Alive!. The Peter Cushing Appreciation Society website, facebook fan page and youtube channel are managed, edited and written by Marcus Brooks, PCAS coordinator since 1979. PCAS is based in the UK and USA