NEWS: GORE TAKES OVER AND AQUIRES HAMMER FILMS

ICONIC BRITISH horror label Hammer Films and Studios has been acquired by renowned British theater producer John Gore.

 

GORE, a 20-time Tony, Emmy and Olivier-winning entertainment producer, is known for his live theater company the John Gore Organization, which owns Broadway.com and Broadway Across America – a leading presenter, distributor and marketer of Broadway theater worldwide. The company was one of the producers of three of 2022’s big Tony winners: “A Strange Loop” (best musical), “The Lehman Trilogy” (best play) and “Company” (best revival). Gore is listed in Variety500 – an index of the 500 most influential business leaders shaping the global media industry. 

GORE will lead a new team as chair and CEO.

FOUNDED in 1934, Hammer Films is synonymous with horror, after defining the genre in Britain with classics such as “Dracula” (1958) “The Curse of Frankenstein” (1957) and “The Mummy” (1959), which made stars of Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing while spawning numerous sequels successful across the globe. It also produced such classics as “One Million Years B.C” (1966), starring Raquel Welch, and “She” (1965), starring Ursula Andress. It has a vast library of content including “The Woman in Black” (2012), “Let Me In” (2010), “The Abominable Snowman” (1957) and “The Quatermass Experiment” (1953).

IN 2021, the U.K.’s Network Distributing signed a deal with Hammer Films to form Hammer Studios Ltd. After the death of managing director Tim Beddows in 2022, Network was liquidated.

 

WHAT IS YOUR THOUGHTS ON THIS? We have seen this happen before. Is this a good idea, a RE BOOT? Should HAMMER FILMS now be laid to REST? Lots to be said on PCASuk Twitter and PCASuk Facebook Fan Page! 

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 co-ordinator since 1979. PCASuk is based in the UK, but open to everyone, whoever, where ever, YOU are!

 

ACTRESS SARAH LAWSON DIES AGED 95

SAD NEWS to report it has been announced that actress Sarah Lawson has sadly passed away at age 95. She co-starred with Peter Cushing in Night Of The Big Heat (1967) also starring her husband Patrick Allen. Another notable role was in Hammer's The Devil Rides Out (1969) with Christopher Lee both films directed by Terence Fisher. You'll find more on #SarahLawson's life and career @ the Peter Cushing Appreciation Society Facebook Fan Page 

 

Sarah Lawson on her wedding day with husband Patrick Allen 

on April 7th, 1960.

 

'The Devil Rides Out' Christopher Lee, Paul Eddington 

and Sarah Lawson

 

Sarah Lawson with husband Patrick Allen, Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing in Night Of The Big Heat (1967)

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, PCASuk co-ordinator since 1979. PCASuk is based in the UK, but open to everyone, whoever, where ever, YOU are

MEANWHILE IN A SLEEPY SUMMER GARDEN IN #WHITSTABLE!

HAPPY BANK HOLIDAY, National Cuban Sandwich Day, Valentino Day, National Ride the Wind Day, National Sponge Cake Day... or however you fill today! 

 

FORTY YEARS AGO THIS MONTH! Where did all that time go? Can you recall what you were doing back then? I can actually remember what I was doing that month and year. 'Resting' just like Peter, that as you probably know is what 'Thespians' sensitivity call the position of 'no work'! Mind you, the first few months of 83, Peter had been busy... the beginning of the year, he filmed his appearance in 'Tales of the Unexpected' 'The Vorpal Blade' (with Anthony Higgins 'Taste the Blood of Dracula' (1970) with Christopher Lee / Raiders of the Lost Ark as Gobler / and quite a few Sherlock productions) 

 

PETER appeared in his last TV film for Fox around March in, 'Helen Keller : The Miracle Continues' with Blythe Danner, Vera Miles and Jack Warden. Directed by Alan Gibson ( 'Dracula AD 1972' : 'The Satanic Rites of Dracula' and 'Silent Scream' with Peter for the 'Hammer House of Horror' TV series.) In 'Helen Keller' Peter played Professor Charles Copland.. A NICE Sunday afternoon film

 

PART ONE HERE!

PART TWO HERE!

WATCH 'MASKS OF DEATH' HERE! 

 

THEN IN JUNE, he appeared on #BBC 'Breakfast Time', promoting 'House of the Long Shadows' ... which he started filming, the previous August, after months recovering from his duel with cancer... Then, prep work started on a concept / character close to Peter's heart, with his friend, #Tyburnfilms producer, Kevin Francis. A 'little thing' called 'Sherlock Holmes and the Masks of Death' was finally get ting a push into production! As far back as 1980, this film and the talk of Peter returning to the role of Holmes had been announced in trade papers. Production finally started though, on July 21st, 1984. Yes, there's resting and then there is.. 'resting'. I think, since Peter's wife Helen, passed in 1971, the last thing on Peter's mind, was resting, bless him..... - Marcus

 

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 co-ordinator since 1979. PCASuk is based in the UK, but open to everyone, whoever, where ever, YOU are

#SIGNALONE RELEASING HAMMER LEGEND SEVEN GOLDEN VAMPIRES BLU RAY IN UK

JUST WHEN YOU thought they have vanished, from the DVD or Blu Ray Home Entertainment world, Van Helsing, Peter Cushing, #Hammerfilms and 'hopping-Vampires' return, and the art of chop socky Vampires, has come with them!! It's weird billing with 'the stars' and let's hope they correct THAT OTHER ERROR on their blu ray case art and design, before releasing what looks to be another fine #PeterCushing release! - Marcus

 

 

ABOVE: From the Honk Kong magazine 100 Movie News

 featuring some nice colour shots of David Chiang, Julie Ege. 

Director Roy Ward Baker and Peter Cushing from April 1974.

 Hammer Films 'Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires' 

(1974. Roy Ward Baker)

THE PLOT!

Professor Van Helsing (Peter Cushing) and Count Dracula (John Forbes-Robinson) meet again in this spectacular kung fu horror set in the village of Ping Kuei. After learning about the seven golden vampires of the village, Hsi Ching, Vanessa Buren and Mai Kwei offer to guide Van Helsing and his son to Ping Kwei to free it from the curse of Count Dracula. Throughout their journey, the group encounter several unwanted attackers until they arrive at the golden vampires’ derelict temple, inhabited by Dracula. It is here, in this eerie place, where Van Helsing and the Count begin a battle-to-the death where good and evil collide, and only one man is left standing.  

 

 

FULL PCASUK REVIEW WITH GALLERY OF RARE STILLS

RIGHT HERE! 

 

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Still Gallery
Original Theatrical Trailer
New Visual Appreciation by Author and Critic Kat Ellinger

 

RELEASED BY Signal One in the UK

RELEASE DATE: 25th September 2023

 

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 co-ordinator since 1979. PCASuk is based in the UK, but open to everyone, whoever, where ever, YOU are!

AUCTION : PETER CUSHING CANTERBURY AUCTION : SNEAK PEEK AT ITEMS!

PETER CUSHING AUCTION : Sneak Peep at some items! A legendary Star Wars and horror actor’s film memorabilia – including a famed pair of slippers - is set to go under the hammer for tens of thousands of pounds. Hundreds of items belonging to the late Peter Cushing, who lived in Whitstable and also starred in Sherlock Holmes and Dr Who, will go up for auction on October 1.

 

They include artefacts from his 60-year career on the silver screen, during which he was most famed for his starring roles in Hammer House of Horror films. About 400 lots are due to be sold at the Canterbury Auction Galleries and are expected to spark interest from film buffs across the world - especially Star Wars fans. One of the more intriguing and highly valued lots is a pair of slippers Cushing wore on the set of Star Wars, in which he played evil Death Star commander Grand Moff Tarkin.

 

The high leather boots the actor wore in the film pinched his size 12 feet, so he asked director George Lucas if he could wear slippers instead and be filmed from the thighs up, which the moviemaker happily agreed to.

 

For a joke, the film crew made a tiny pair for a 12-inch model of Cushing’s character. Now both his slippers and the model are coming up for auction, with an estimate of £15,000 to 20,000. The first Star Wars film in 1977 film was such a success that Cushing was awarded a bonus of US $6,000 for his “dedication, perseverance, creativity, and hard work” - about £25,000 in today’s money.

 

Carrying an auction estimate of £4,000 to £5,000, the rare letter informing him of his windfall - dated December 1977 and from producer Gary Kurtz - carries a very early Star Wars logo, with a figure wielding a light sabre. It was the first appearance of the now-familiar stacked type on the Star Wars logo.

 

Another gem for film buffs is a collection of fascinating production notes from 20th Century Fox about the upcoming 1977 film, explaining what is required “for true credibility” and explaining its reasons for choosing Tunisia as a location. Included is a photocopy of a map of Tunisia with three locations highlighted. The lot is estimated at £200 to £300.

 

Cushing, who lived in Whitstable for 35 years, appeared in various sinister guises – including Baron Frankenstein and Dracula’s nemesis, Dr Van Helsing – in many horror movies presented by prestigious Hammer Film Productions.

 

The lots include many letters and signed photos from this period of his career, including his contract for the 1969 film Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed – the fifth in the series featuring the terrifying Doctor, for which he was paid £8,000

 

Cushing’s talent as a painter / artist grew over the years and some of his work is also now being sold.

It includes a watercolour titled 'View of the Golf Links, Whitstable, from my studio window (before housing development hid it)'.

 

It’s initialled with a signature, title and dedication ‘to Joyce [Broughton] and Bernard’ on the back. Measuring 14.25ins x 10.75ins the piece is estimated at £400-£600.

Cushing, who died in 1994, lived with his beloved wife Helen while making many of the 91 films in which he starred.

 

His endlessly polite and unassuming manner won the hearts of the people of Whitstable. With his deerstalker, bow tie and tweed jacket, he often looked like he had stepped out of another era.

 

The people of Whitstable were so proud and protective of the international star in their midst, they would conveniently ‘forget’ where he lived if curious tourists wanted to photograph his house. He would walk and cycle almost daily and stop at the picturesque Tudor Tea Rooms in town and do the day’s newspaper crossword.

 

Whoever served him would usually receive a handwritten letter or poem afterwards, talking about their kindness and how it had made his day. In the space next to the crossword he’d often draw sharp and funny caricatures of the tea room staff and fellow customers.

 

One of many treasures in the sale is an exercise book with scores of caricatures, cut from those newspapers and stuck in, called ‘Characters from The Tudor Tearoom'. The book, containing other sketches and notes, is signed and dated ’90. They - and many paintings in the sale, including a silk scarf for his wife - reveal him as not just a keen observer but a talented artist too. He took up painting to deal with the stresses of his acting career and was taught by British artist Edward Seago.

 

Devastated by his wife’s death in 1971, he went to live with his great friend and assistant of 35 years, Joyce Broughton, and her family.He died in 1994, aged 81, from prostate cancer. The town’s Wetherspoon pub at the former picture house in Oxford Street was later named after him. Despite his passing, he was ‘digitally resurrected’ in 2016 to replay his character of Grand Moff Tarkin in the Star Wars spin-off, Rogue One.

 

After Joyce’s death, the family have now decided to release much of the memorabilia for others to appreciate Cushing’s many talents. Joyce’s daughter, Alex, said: “Our ‘Uncle’ Peter was a significant figure in all our lives. My late mother’s estate contained a large collection of Peter’s paintings and film memorabilia and correspondence – some of which we did not know existed.

 

“We think this is a great and rare opportunity for Peter’s large domestic and international fan base to gain some unique insight into his wider career and personal life.”

 

For more information on the auction, go to the auction gallery website HERE!.

 

Marcus Brooks

 

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 co-ordinator since 1979. PCASuk is based in the UK, but open to everyone, whoever, where ever, YOU are!