#MONSTERMONDAY : COLONEL GORE HEPBURN : GENTLEMAN CROOK OR MONSTER?

#MONSTERMONDAY A bit of a twist to this week's candidate, no spooky, fairy tale make believe tyrant or abomination . . . this week we have something who could be a 'monster' nevertheless! If you have not seen Peter Cushing and Andre Morell in Hammer films suspenseful crime thriller, 'Cash On Demand'..we recommend, you add it to the top of your 'to watch list' right away! It's a very clever film, with two ace performances from Peter Cushing as Bank manager Harry Fordyce and Morell as Colonel Gore - Hepburn... who isn't all he seems . .  is he A Crafty Old time Crook OR a MONSTER??? You decide . . . 

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CUSHING, SHERLOCK AND HIS PIPE : PUFFING AND SUFFERING FOR HIS ART!

Peter Cushing in one of his many signature roles, Sherlock Holmes , in a rare publicity photograph from Hammer films 'The Hound of The Baskervilles' (1959) Pictured here with his pipe, that would bring him the 'Pipeman of the Year Award' in 1969, which turned out to be a bit of a mixed blessing...

 

 

ARROW REVEALS ARTWORK AND EXTRAS FOR HAMMER BASKERVILLE BLU RELEASE

NEWS: Hammer films The Hound Of The Baskervilles starring Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and Andre Morell arrives on Blu-ray from Arrow Film and Video. UK release available JUNE 1st 2015

Region: B
Format: Blu-ray
Starring: Peter Cushing, André Morell, Christopher Lee
Directed by: Terence Fisher
 

SPECIAL
EDITION CONTENTS:
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) feature presentation
- Original Mono audio (uncompressed PCM on the Blu-ray)
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- New audio Commentary with Hammer experts Marcus Hearn and Jonathan Rigby
 

- Brand new interview with hound mask creator Margaret Robinson
- Brand new interview with assistant director Hugh Harlow
- Andre Morell: Best of British – A featurette looking at the late great actor Andre Morell and his work with Hammer films
 

- The Many Faces of Sherlock Holmes – a 1986 documentary looking at the many incarnations of Conan Doyle’s celebrated character, narrated and presented by Christopher Lee
- Actor’s Notebook: Christopher Lee – an archive interview in the which the actor recalls his experiences of making The Hound of the Baskervilles
 

- The Hounds of the Baskervilles – Excerpts read by Christopher Lee
- Original Theatrical Trailer
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Paul Shipper
 

-Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Hammer archivist Robert J.E. Simpson, illustrated with original archive stills and posters

PRE ORDER: http://bit.ly/1NqdgXw

TROY HOWARTH REVIEWS: THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY: PETER CUSHING BBC SHERLOCK HOLMES

A farmer by the name of McCarthy is brutally slain.  Problem is, he wasn’t very well liked, and the list of suspects is lengthy… It’s up to Sherlock Holmes to get to the bottom of the matter…

The Boscombe Valley Mystery, published in 1891, isn’t one of the more popularly referenced Sherlock Holmes adventures, though it has been adapted on several occasions.  In 1922, it became part of a series of Holmes adventures starring Ellie Norwood as the great detective.  Prior to Arthur Wotner and Basil Rathbone, Norwood was arguably the screen’s premier interpreter of Holmes; sadly, many of his films are now believed to be lost – including this one.  The story would get a reprieve until 1968, when it was adapted for this installment of the BBC’s Sherlock Holmes series.  It would not be adapted again until Granada included it in its series The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes, which would emerge as the final series to feature an ailing Jeremy Brett in his signature role as Holmes.

This adaptation remains the more satisfying of the two extant versions, largely because Cushing in his prime is so much more enthralling in the role of Doyle’s master detective.  While Brett’s performance is rightly championed in many circles, his later performances tend to mix the melodramatic with the lethargic, a reflection, no doubt, of his disintegrating mental and physical condition.  Cushing, by contrast, is at the top of his game here.  He knows when to work in one of his signature flourishes – cue that extended index finger! – and when to rely on quiet understatement.  He also has great chemistry with Nigel Stock’s Dr. Watson.  Stock is seldom mentioned among the screen’s most notable portrayers of Watson, and this is a pity – he manages to combine the blustery humor of Nigel Bruce and the intellectual efficiency of Andre Morell, and his performance matches Cushing’s every step of the way.  

The supporting roles are ably portrayed as well, with the cadaverous Peter Madden making a good impression in his small role as the ill-fated (and quite disagreeable) McCarthy; Hammer fans will remember him as the sympathetic innkeeper in Kiss of the Vampire (1962) or as the pompous police inspector volleying insults with Cushing’s Baron Frankenstein in Frankenstein Created Woman (1966).  Hammer alum Victor Brooks (Brides of Dracula) and Michael Godfrey (Rasputin – The Mad Monk) also put in appearances.

The episode was directed by Latvia-born Viktors Ritelis, whose most significant genre credit remains the suspenseful Michael Gough vehicle Crucible of Horror (1969), also known as The Corpse.  Ritelis employs some of the flashy editing techniques also evident in that film and he manages to pace the episode smoothly.  The murder scene includes some surprisingly bloody insert shots, which surely caused a little bit of concern at the BBC at the time.

For Cushing fans, The Boscombe Valley Mystery – like the other entries in the series – is an undiluted pleasure.  Holmes remains one of his most indelible characterizations, and it’s easy to see why – he manages to walk the tightrope between the florid and the understated, and he remains one of the most authentic interpreters of the character on screen.

BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU : NOW YOU CAN WATCH BIG BROTHER : PETER CUSHING IN BBC GEORGE ORWELL'S 1984

WATCH PETER CUSHING AS WINSTON SMITH IN '1984'
BBC Sunday-Night Theatre: Season 5, Episode 50
Vintage Television Drama with André Morell, Yvonne Mitchell and Donald Pleasence.

 CLICK HERE:WATCH 1984

ANDRE MORELL AND PETER CUSHING: HOLMES AND WATSON: THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES: STILLS GALLERY AND REVIEW

Following the success of The Curse of Frankenstein and Dracula, Hammer Studios decided to turn their attention to the work of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In keeping with the tone of their recent films, their choice of The Hound of the Baskervilles seemed a solid concept. Certainly it was the most famous of Doyle’s many Sherlock Holmes stories, and it was arguably also the one that was best suited to feature length adaptation. On top of that, it had a macabre component – even if the inevitable intervention of logic would render its supernatural elements easily explained by the master sleuth by the time the film faded to black. The casting of Peter Cushing as Holmes was a given, even if Hammer executive James Carreras’ assertion that he would be the screen’s first “sexy” Holmes remains highly questionable. Had the film been made a few years later, it would not be inconceivable to picture Holmes as being played by Christopher Lee (who would indeed later essay the role several times, beginning with the bizarre West German production Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace, 1962, directed by Terence Fisher), with Cushing supporting as Dr. Watson. In 1958, however, Lee was only beginning to establish a name for himself, whereas Cushing was more of a proven quantity.

Sensibly realizing that Lee was too young and too imposing to play Holmes’ right hand man and confidante, Dr. John Watson, he was instead given a chance at playing the romantic lead, a bit of casting which Lee openly relished; he would therefore become one of the few actors to lend much in the way of presence and color to the usually disposable role of Sir Henry Baskerville. To play Dr. Watson, Hammer turned to veteran actor Andre Morell. Morell was known as a prickly sort, given to speaking his mind, and he and Lee apparently did not hit it off at all – but neither ever made much of a commentary on this, leading one to suspect that perhaps they were simply too similar in disposition. Happily, no such conflict would come into play with Morell’s relationship with Cushing – they had already acted together in the controversial, Nigel Kneale-scripted adaptation of George Orwell’s 1984 (1954) for the BBC , and following Hound, they would appear in Cash on Demand (1960), Cone of Silence (1960) and She (1964). Sadly, however, this would mark their one and only outing as Holmes and Watson – while Cushing would go on to play the role many more times (always on TV, it should be noted), Morell’s association with the world of Conan Doyle would begin and end on Hound.

The film itself is a problematic one, and this is down more to the screenplay than anything else. While some Hammer fans have praised scenarist Peter Bryan for structuring the film so that it would have some consistency with the “sins of the fathers” motif that was so common in Hammer horror (and in British horror in general, if truth be told), it seems to this writer that his attempts to “Hammerize” the material results in a film that sits unsteadily between two different styles of filmmaking. The more sensational elements feel rather grafted on, while the mystery angle becomes negligible in the bargain. Viewers unacquainted with Conan Doyle’s story might hope to have some sense of surprise when the killer is finally unmasked, but thanks to the heavy handed approach, there’s never any real doubt as to “who done it.” As such, the film fails as a mystery, and while there are token gestures towards the horror crowd, it’s a little too tame and restrained to really work on that level, either.

Director Terence Fisher does manage a tremendous set piece at the beginning, however, as he details the cruelty of Sir Henry’s infamous ancestor, Sir Hugo (David Oxley). Oxley tears into his role with ferocious abandon, teerting on the verge of camp overstatement yet remaining a credible villain. His presence is sorely missed when the film switches to the present day, with Ewen Solon’s sour-faced Stapleton proving to be a dull and rather listless villain. Fisher and cinematographer Jack Asher work hard to create a sense of menace on the moors, but the cramped production values sometimes conspire against their efforts. Hammer’s use of standing sets was beginning to show through at this juncture, though Hammer’s great production designer, Bernard Robinson, certainly does what he can to disguise the subterfuge. With James Bernard’s music booming away, it’s clear that this Hound is meant to be as scary as their previous Dracula and Frankenstein pictures – but it never quite catches fire.

One would be hard pressed to fault Hammer for their casting of Cushing and Morell, however. Cushing’s hawk-like visage and thin frame made him ideal casting, though his average stature is rather unfairly shown up by Fisher on occasion – when playing scenes opposite very tall men like Lee and Francis De Wolff (as the sour-pussed Dr. Mortimer), it would have made better sense to minimize this, but Fisher elects to have the other actors towering over Cushing, who has little choice but to look up at his co-stars when he should be firmly in control of the scene. Cushing’s devotion to the role was absolute, and he added bits of business straight from Conan Doyle, as well as from Sidney Paget’s famed illustrations from the original Strand Magazine publications of the stories. He brings intensity to the role, but he does sometimes rely too much on favored mannerisms. There are moments when his decision to emphasize the character’s theatricality verges on ham acting, but he manages to convey the character’s aloof nature and addiction to cocaine without becoming as over the top as Jeremy Brett would later be in the rightly celebrated Granada TV adaptations of the Conan Doyle canon. It is a performance that compares favorably with Basil Rathbone’s iconic, possibly definitive, portrayal for Fox and Universal in the 1930s and 1940s, but he would arguably grow into the role and play it with greater subtly and effectiveness when he took over the deer stalker from Douglas Wilmer for the BBC television series of the 1960s.

Morell’s challenge was arguably greater, in that the character of Dr. Watson had been reduced to the level of caricature courtesy of Nigel Bruce’s portrayal opposite Basil Rathbone in the afore-mentioned series of films. Make no mistake, Bruce was a charming and engaging performer, and his blustery portrayal had tremendous chemistry opposite Rathbone’s aloof and somewhat acerbic master detective, but it was a portrayal that was far removed from Conan Doyle. In the stories, Watson is really the author’s mouthpiece, and it is he who narrates the action and fills the reader in on the characters and their motivations. Far from being comedy relief, Watson is a solid, dependable medical man with a military background; he may seem “dim” compared to Holmes, but that’s merely because Holmes represents a kind of intellectual ideal. Watson is the everyman, and Morell’s interpretation is faithful to this conception. Morell resists the urge to play up the comedy, though he does have a few moments of subtle humor along the way.

It is, in short, an ideal pairing of two fine actors – and it is this, above anything else, that makes Hammer’s Hound linger in memory. Cushing’s wound up, energetic portrayal contrasts nicely with Morell’s more restrained approach, and the two men clearly have genuine respect and affection for each other. They make a wonderful team, though other vehicles – notably Cash on Demand and 1984 – would play them off as rivals. It’s to be regretted that Hound was something of a flop at the box office, as this killed off a potential series of Cushing/Morell/Hammer Holmes adaptations. Had they had a chance to grow into the roles and establish more audience familiarity, it’s possible that Cushing and Morell would have eclipsed Rathbone and Bruce in the mind of the public. As it stands, however, we only have this one, flawed vehicle to judge them from – and if the film itself has problems, there’s little doubt that the two actors acquitted themselves beautifully and were determined to remain as faithful as possible to Conan Doyle’s original conception. For this reason alone, the Hammer Hound remains an essential entry in the Holmes on film canon.

HAMMER FILMS: CASH ON DEMAND : PETER CUSHING ON SET BEHIND THE SCENES PHOTOGRAPH

PETER CUSHING: 'CONE OF SILENCE' / 'TROUBLE IN THE SKY' REVIEW AND GALLERY

CAST:

Michael Craig: Capt. Hugh Dallas. Peter Cushing: Capt. Clive Judd. Bernard Lee: Capt. George Gort Elizabeth Seal: Charlotte Gort .George Sanders: Sir Arnold Hobbes. Andre Morell: Capt. Edward Manningham. Gordon Jackson: Capt. Bateson. Charles Tingwell: Capt. Braddock. Noel Willman: Nigel Pickering.  Delphi Lawrence: Joyce Mitchell. Marne Maitland: Mr. Robinson. William Abney: First Officer Jack Hedley: First Officer. Simon Lack: Navigator. Hedger Wallace: Navigator. Charles Mylne: Steward Howard Pays: Steward. Ballard Berkeley: Commissioner. Charles Lloyd Pack: Commissioner Homi Bode: Controller. Anthony Newlands: Controller.

PRODUCTION CREW:

Director: Charles Frend. Script:  Robert Westerby, based on the novel Cone of Silence by David Beaty. Producer: Aubrey Baring. Cinematographer: Arthur Grant. Editor: Max Benedict. Art Direction: Wilfred Shingleton: Music Director: Gerard Schurmann: Make Up:  Freddie Williamson.

COMMENTARY AND REVIEW:

After his unforgettable second turn as Van Helsing in Hammer’s BRIDES OF DRACULA (1960), cinema icon Peter Cushing strayed from appearing in horror films for a period of a few years. This was on the suggestion of his wife, who feared that his further typecasting in these kinds of pictures was inevitable (he would of course return soon enough to his most famous role of The Baron in EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN), and ultimately it was. Rarely seen, TROUBLE IN THE SKY (aka CONE OF SILENCE) is one of the first of his non-genre efforts from this period, and its supporting cast plays like a “who’s who” of Hammer Films thespians.

Veteran British pilot Captain George Gort (Bernard Lee, several years before immortalization as “M” in the James Bond series) crashes his passenger jet on takeoff, and the blunder finds him in front of a court inquiry. As Gort’s previous flying record is immaculate, he is allowed to continue to pilot, but his peers make sure to keep a close eye on him. Gort’s daughter Charlotte (Elizabeth Seal, VAMPIRE CIRCUS) believes her father to be innocent and totally competent in his job, seeking the help of examiner Captain Dallas (Michael Craig, MYSTERIOUS ISLAND, VAULT OF HORROR), who at first mistakes her as a reporter, starting a soon-to-be blossoming romance off on a wrong foot. As Gort continues to pilot aircrafts, a subsequent flight proves even more tragic, but perhaps there is more than human error getting in the way of this airline’s good name.

Somewhat talky with a lot of technical jargon thrown into the screenplay (based on actual events), TROUBLE IN THE SKY is a fairly straightforward drama aided by a top notch cast of familiar Brit character actors. There’s several court room scenes featuring a career-waning George Sanders (whose billing is fairly low on the totem pole) as a lawyer who uses a model airplane to recreate the initial accident and intimidate poor Gort, well played by Lee. Sanders must have shot all his scenes in a day, as they all take place on one set. There’s a bit of (and I mean a bit) of the disaster genre reflected here (a decade before Hollywood’s AIRPORT) when on one of the flights, a hail storm causes a cracking cockpit window to eventually burst, prompting our heroic pilots to isolate it with a cushion! Most of the picture deals with the plight of the aging Gort, and how his mostly stuffy co-workers deal with the controversy, as Captain Dallas puts the moves on his unmarried daughter.

Second-billed Cushing plays Captain Judd, who gets some dirt on Gort through a blonde airline hostess (Delphi Lawrence, THE MAN WHO COULD CHEAT DEATH), and does his best to out him, as he obviously thinks he’s past it (as they say in Britain). Cushing looks cool in a captain’s uniform, playing the character as a chain smoker with his usual onscreen suaveness, but also an air of superiority that makes Judd somewhat villainous. Also in the very impressive cast is Andre Morrell (PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES), Noel Willman (KISS OF THE VAMPIRE), Charles Tingwell (DRACULA, PRINCE OF DARKNESS), Marne Maitland (THE REPTILE), Jack Hedley (THE ANNIVERSARY), Charles Lloyd Pack (HORROR OF DRACULA), Anthony Newlands (SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN) and Hedger Wallace (TORTURE GARDEN). If that wasn’t enough, horror fans with keen eyes will spot Gerald Sim (DR. PHIBES RISES AGAIN) and Geoffrey Bayldon (THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD) in very brief bits.

When Universal Pictures released TROUBLE IN THE SKY theatrically in the U.S. in 1961, the picture was short some 16 minutes. Presented on DVD here as part of VCI’s “Best Of British Classics” series, the film is in its uncut 91-minute form. The only downfall is that its 2.35:1 aspect ratio has been reduced to full frame. Although beginning and end titles are widescreen, the rest of the picture has been cropped (with a slight letterboxing) with most of the picture information missing on the sides. Other than that, the black and white image fairs well, with minimal blemishes and surprisingly, not much in the way of grain. The mono English audio track is in fine shape, and there are no extras on the disc, except for a standard chapter menu.

REVIEW: George Reis

IMAGES: Marcus Brooks

'HEAR NOW, THE LEGEND OF THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES' PETER CUSHING, ANDRE MORELL : SHERLOCK HOLMES : HAMMER FILMS GALLERY AND REVIEW

Considering that I like the character of Sherlock Holmes so much, it may come as some surprise that I’ve never read a word of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s original stories. My first, and most extensive, contact with Sherlock Holmes comes from the films starring Basil Rathbone as the world’s greatest detective and Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson. I’m aware that the performances these two gave, and the stories they were involved in, varied (sometimes greatly) from the source material, but I like them all the same.

Because I’m so familiar with the Basil Rathbone versions, it’s always interesting when I get to see another actor’s take on Holmes and another set of filmmakers’ approach to the same basic material. Consequently, when the Hammer Films version of The Hound of the Baskervilles aired on MGM HD — an almost, but not quite, variation on Turner Classic Movies — I jumped at the chance. I happen to have a fondness for Hammer productions, so this was a two-fer.

Hammer is known primarily for its horror output (all those Dracula movies foremost among them), so The Hound of the Baskervilles is something different. It still has a quasi-Gothic feel to it — it takes place primarily in a manor house on a moor, after all — so it’s not as divergent from Hammer’s usual product as all that, but it lacks any supernatural elements and is, basically, a straight-up Sherlock Holmes movie with a few Hammer touches.

The Hound of the Baskervilles has been made into a movie 24 times, so I’m going to lay odds you’ve seen at least one version at some time in your life. Accuracy to the source material varies, I’m sure, so arguments can be made about which is more faithful, but for me these kinds of things boil down to who’s playing Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. I’ve already told you that I favor Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, but in this film we have Peter Cushing and André Morell.

First a quick word about Peter Cushing. I have seen him in other things, most notably as various Van Helsings and Frankensteins in Hammer Films’ other type of movies. Despite all this, the very first thing I think of when I see Peter Cushing is Star Wars. I know it’s unfair to boil an actor down to a single role like that, and it’s equally unfair to Alec Guinness, who likewise had a long and varied career, but Peter Cushing equals Grand Moff Tarkin in my mind. As a result, he had a tough row to hoe when it came to winning me over as Holmes. It may surprise you that it didn’t take long.

Peter Cushing makes a really excellent Sherlock Holmes, and he went on to play the character many times afterward, so I’m not the only one who thought so. He has the almost sneering air of superiority about him that Basil Rathbone did so well, while remaining just likable enough in his brilliance that we can still root for him as the hero. Equally important, André Morell acquits himself quite well as Dr. Watson, something that’s absolutely essential in The Hound of the Baskervilles because Holmes is offscreen for fully one half of the picture.

Morell’s depiction of Watson is completely absent the lovable buffoonery that marks Nigel Bruce’s portrayals of the character and is more in line with (as I understand) his literary roots. Let us not forget that Watson is a decorated war veteran and, while he may not be as gifted intellectually as Holmes, is a medical doctor and partner to the detective. In the whole of this The Hound of the Baskervilles he does precisely one silly thing, which serves as foreshadowing for the demise of one of the other characters.

Story-wise there are differences between this film and the other with which I’m familiar. I consider these the Hammer touches. For example: the Baskerville family apparently suffers under a curse brought upon them by the excesses of an ancestor. In The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939), this information in shared with the audience via good, old-fashioned exposition. In this The Hound of the Baskervilles, we get a prologue set well into the past, where Sir Hugo Baskerville holds a wild party in which murder and rape are on the menu. This is the kind of thing that set Hammer Films apart from, say, Universal’s horror output: the willingness to push the envelope and even feature some (brilliantly colored) blood.

This Hound turns a supporting character into a sultry Spanish temptress, the better to feature her exposed legs and bare feet and bosom to the audience for their titillation, no pun intended. Another supporting character has a grotesque webbed hand. I’m not saying the old Rathbone pictures didn’t have good-looking women in them, or characters with weird traits, but they weren’t quite so in-your-face as these examples are. The difference between making movies in the ’30s versus the ’50s, I expect.

There’s a nice bit of cultural shorthand in The Hound of the Baskervilles that is likewise appropriate to a Hammer film. Christopher Lee — looking tanned, handsome and very aristocratic — plays Sir Henry Baskerville, the latest heir to the Baskerville manor and fortune. While he’s unfailingly polite and gentlemanly, he finds himself nearly out of control with sexual desire when it comes to the aforementioned Spanish temptress, the daughter of one of his neighbors. He presses his sexual attraction on her without an ounce of shame, calling back to a time when the aristocracy were essentially masters of all they surveyed, including the “little people.”

With some exceptions, the mystery plays out pretty much the same as it does in the Rathbone version. I won’t spoil you with the solution to the curse, even though you’ve had over 100 years to read it (I still haven’t), but I will say that the Hammer Films approach to the climax is more violent and, in its way, mean-spirited than the way they handled things in 1939. I’m not saying this is necessarily worse, only that it’s different.

You should check out The Hound of the Baskervilles for a few reasons, including a rare chance to see Christopher Lee playing a good-guy role, and Peter Cushing essaying Sherlock Holmes. The stage-bound, colorful images are an added treat, being as much a Hammer signature as the heaving breasts and blood.

Maybe I’ll actually read the novel now.

REVIEW: Sam Hawken
IMAGES: Marcus Brooks

COMING SOON!

COMING SOON: HEAR FROM THE WOMAN WHO MADE THE HOUNDS MASK ...MARGARET ROBINSON, WIFE OF HAMMER FILMS PRODUCTION DESIGNER, BERNARD ROBINSON, IN A 1980 INTERVIEW ON THE BLACKBOXCLUB.COM PODCAST SOON!