#SILENTBUTDEADLYWEDNESDAY! : LEE PLAYS WICKED : RIPPER PLAYS MIPPS : CUSHING PLAYS EVIL

#SILENTBUTDEADLYWEDNESDAY!: I GUESS, if you had to quickly come up with a list of what one would consider to be, Christopher Lee's FIVE most wicked roles, Dracula would be in there. So, would Rochefort from the 'Three Musketeers' and maybe Fu Manchu. But, I doubt if many would count or include this chap, Professor James Hildern from the 1973 film, 'The Creeping Flesh'. 'Flesh' also starred Peter Cushing, as his Lee's half brother, Emmanual and unlike many of the roles that he played in a rash of  British horror movies through out the 1960's and early 70's, Lee's James Hildern is a villain, thankfully, with a cause! Jealously and ambition. Hildern didn't just push obstacles aside, he cold bloodidly crushed them. 

If you though the chemistry of 'Cushing hero' versus 'Lee's black hearted monster' was magic, then 'Cushing weak and tortured' versus 'Lee merciless and Machiavellian' is a test tube, that holds a chemical reaction that gave both actors, the opportunity to really pull out the stops. Whether slaughtering and torturing patients in his care, or turning the thumbscrews on his poor half sibling, Lee is wonderfully wicked. It's a film, that has over the years sadly snuck past the notice of many a Brit Gothic horror fan. To have enjoyed the classic cinematic teamings of Cushing and Lee, watched their Hammer horrors and their Amicus adventures, but then to have never seen this Tigon tale of terror.... you have missed out on one of their best.... and that's just wicked!   Requested by Alan Goodfield. UK.

#SILENTBUTDEADLYWEDNESDAY!: A SET UP from Hammer films, 'The Evil of Frankenstein' that Peter Cushing, no doubt enjoyed blocking and performing. All appearing like one continuous shot, but really three edits. And just how did they get that spilled acid to stop, just short of Cushing's forelock, like that???

#SILENTBUTDEADLYWEDNESDAY! : THERE IS AN obvious comment or question to ask about this shot, but I'll avoid it here and instead, let's focus on why David Meredith from the UK requested this shot as one of this weeks #GIFS. The role of Coffin maker, Jeremiah Mipps, in Hammer films, 'Night Creatures' / 'Captain Clegg' (1962) was actually a character role that Ripper was quite proud of. In a PCAS interview in 1981, he told us his most favorite role for Hammer films, was Longbarrow in 'The Mummy's Shroud', but 'Clegg' gave him the opportunity to try something a little different. When given the chance Ripper was a great character actor. Michael Ripper holds the record for being the single actor, who appeared in more Hammer productions, than any other.

#SILENTBUTDEADLYWEDNESDAY! : JUDY GEESON staggers into a chilling secret, at the school where all isn't what it seems. Peter Cushing's Headmaster, Michael Carmichael is in a class...of his own, in Hammer films, 'FEAR IN THE NIGHT' (1972).

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