CATCH UP WITH FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE : VINTAGE DRACUA MAKE UP PLAN : KARLOFF AND LEE BEFORE THE HAMMER FILMS TOUCH!

AN UPDATE ON THE LAST FEW DAYS AT FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE!

ABOVE: A RARE BLACK AND WHITE photograph of  Peter Cushing, as usual looking very dapper, at the John Player NFT lecture in London in 1973. It was a night of interview with Q and A from the packed audience, lots of questions. Over at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE I've posted this with a question too! Question? What would you have asked if you had been there? LOTS of interesting answer too!

SOMETHING that came my way a few months ago... the 'look' of #ChristopherLee's 'Dracula' back in the first Hammer films 'Dracula movie, was more than pivotal to the success and look of the film back in 1958. A tall, romantic and handsome noble-royal figure, with good English, manners.. no high camp collar, bat flapping .. and teeth and feral nature on display, only when survival or feasting was necessary.

FULL PCASUK REVIEW WITH SCREEN CAPS AND GIFS OF WARNER BROTHERS REMASTERED BLU RAY OF HAMMER'S 'DRACULA AD 1972' JUST CLICK RIGHT HERE!

IT WAS A 'LOOK' that stayed for the majority of the whole series of Lee's films. SO it's surprising who is responsible for the painting of this artwork, back in 1958 . . almost looking like comic back pre Hammer's 58 movie, with six fangs and eyes that could fry your bacon.. and that bat??? Hmmm.. who do you think painted this? You can find the answer on the post now at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE

ON SATURDAY... #CHRISTOPHERLEE Saturday! Here is a rare photograph... with TWO actors faces you might recognise 😉 ... I threw out the question, can anyone name them and the production year?? Suggestions were a little slow coming but one or two did solve the question. You'll find the answer HERE!

ANOTHER PAIR OF PHOTOGRAPHS, for #CHRISTOPHERLEE Saturday, was these two crackers! At the Fan Page the children's reading book held by Lee started the question of what kind of Captain Hook would have made? Several shared the quote from an interview Lee gave at the time Steven Spielberg was casting his production of 'HOOK'  and how much Lee was hoping he might have a 'look in' in playing the role. Of course, sadly it never happened . .
 

BACK AT THE WEEKEND I GAVE  a heads up to friends and followers at the page of the screening of 'ROGUE ONE' having only its second screening on UK television!  HEADS UP! #TODAY at 7pm if you are in the UK or able to receive the tv channel #ITV 😊 . . If you hated it and want to ignore it, loved it but don't own it... if you enjoyed it, and want another chance to see the CGI of Grand Moff Tarkin as played by #PeterCushing . . in a film that personally, I like very much indeed! . .. ITV screening #RogueOne : A #StarWars Story at 7pm tonight!

DURING THIS WEEK we also marked and remembered the birthday of SANDOR ELES who worked with Peter Cushing in Hammer films, 'THE EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN'  . . .HERE  

 . .  PETER CUSHING 'A CLOSE FRIEND, BARRY MORSE who worked with CUSHING during the early 40's on stage, appeared in the tv series 'SPACE 1999' and in Amicus films, 'ASYLUM' in 1972 . . . HERE

...AND ACTRESS SHELIA KEITH who worked with Peter Cushing, along with Vincent Price, Christopher Lee and John Carrandine, as sister Victoria Grisbane in 'HOUSE OF THE LONG SHADOWS' (1983)

JOIN US AT OUR FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE our PCASUK INSTAGRAM SITE the  PCASUK TWITTER account and the PCASUK YOUTUBE CHANNEL! 

 

SECOND SIGHT FILMS : PCASUK COMPETITION WINNERS ANNOUNCED : ASYLUM LIMITED EDITION BLU RAYS PRIZES!

CONGRATULATIONS James Pearcy, Vivienne Dunston, David Little and Carl Beach! You are ALL Winners and have all bagged yourself a copy of the Second Sight Films Limited Edition Blu Ray release of Amicus films 'ASYLUM'..... Well Done! You will need to message us please 😉 MANY thanks to Second Sight Films for sponsoring your competitions over the last two weeks! They are VERY good releases, prints and extras! Look out for our PCAS review of BOTH Second sight Film releases 'House that Dripped Blood' and 'Asylum' this week. For everyone who entered and didn't win, thanks for taking part and your support . Make sure YOU are around on FRIDAY 😉 - Marcus

THE COMPETITION ANSWER : MR SMITH 😉

#SECONDSIGHTFILMS Limited Edition BLU RAYS of BOTH 'ASYLUM'  and 'THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD' are available NOW for PRE-ORDER HERE!

THE ZOO GANG : LESSER SEEN CUSHING SEASON : REMEMBERING SIMON WARD

#THROWBACKTHURSDAY! Here's the SECOND in our weekly series of 'lesser seen Peter Cushing Roles'. Last week, 'Some May Live' this week, it's an episode which some of you in the UK may remember, from the tv series The ZOO GANG, called The Counterfeit Trap (1974) Peter Cushing plays Judge Gautier . .. . another accent! Let us know what you think about this little gem! BTW Our season is playing out at our PCAS YOUTUBE channel and PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGEtoo . . . .

REMEMBERING: Born today, Simon Ward. If you take a look at the raft of obituaries for Simon Ward who sadly passed away in 2012, it's a common fault that they state that his career was kick started when he was 'plucked from obscurity' and appeared in Richard Richard Attenborough’s 'Young Winston' in 1972. Maybe that is how the press and publicity agents remember it....but for Ward, it was not so.

WARD ACKNOWLEDGED Hammer films 'Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed' made in 1969 as the film 'that started it all' and the generous help and assistance from his co star Peter Cushing, that made anything afterwards possible... In a interview with PCAS in 1979, Ward acknowledges his debt to Cushing, who he said, '..had time and patience with me. I knew nothing of the technique needed for working with a camera or about the studio floor. Peter was extremely kind, taking time to explain the simple but very important rules of pace and nuance, so the editor can get in there. This and try to not fall over the cables. He did so much for me. Quite extraordinary. I mean, no one has the time to do that, everyone is busy. But he did it for me, many times through out the film. And it's something I've always remembered, and not come across since... a very kind, gentle, gracious man. He really did save my skin'.

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 .

MR SMITH'S SON IS BACK FROM THE DEAD! HE IS VERY ANGRY AND NO DUMMY!

#MONSTERMONDAY! Asylum as most of you will know is a British Horror film, made in 1972, starring among many others, Peter Cushing, and Barry Morse. It is a horror anthology film, one of several produced by Amicus during the 1960's and 1970's.

Here Cushing and Morse star in a story entitled, 'THE WEIRD TAILOR' Here it is for your enjoyment! TRAVIA: Cushing Morse and their wives, Helen and Sydney were once traveling across London together in a double decker bus during the end of WW2...and were almost killed by a flying bomb....!

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   

CALLUM MCKELVIE REVIEWS : A TALE OF TWO CITIES : CUSHING KRIGE AND SARADON

At least in my experience, 1980’s A Tale of Two Cities, often seems to receive decidedly little discussion by Cushing fans. Perhaps due to it not receiving an official UK DVD release, being a TV movie and not part of an established fan-base (such as many of his Horror films, Star Wars and the Dr Who movies) it has slipped into obscurity. This is a shame because (along with 1984’s The Masks of Death) it’s not only one of his last great roles but one of his very best performances. 

The two cities of the title are of course London and Paris, with the film taking place in the run-up to the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror. It tells the story of Dr. Manette (Cushing), a man wrongly imprisoned in the Bastille for eighteen years. He has never met his daughter Lucy, who now remains in England. The film follows events concerning them and Lucie’s lover, Charles Damay who has an uncanny double in Sydney Carton who (you guessed it) also loves her. I’ll keep the plot explanation brief for those who have yet to see today’s upload!

The adaptation was the tenth film/television version of Charles Dickens novel, and was produced by Hallmark Hall of Fame who assigned Jim Goddard to direct. By this point, Goddard was well known as the director of the original The Black Stuff the play that went on to launch the Boys from the Black Stuff series and had made a name for himself as a successful TV Movie director. Hallmark appear to have splashed out as the film is lavishly produced, with impressive sets and large crowd scenes. Oddly enough the production was criticised for showing: ‘Little sense of the mob, or of an overall social sweep’[1], though I found this to be one of its strengths! Scenes showing the general poverty (such as one where a crowd sups wine from the floor) are amongst the adaptions most powerful. Whatever was felt to be its misgivings, it was nominated for both an Emmy and the Golden Globes in 1981, though it won neither. 

Cushing himself is on top form and I in particular count it among his best performances. One particular scene in which Cushing meeting his Daughter for the first time, is arguably his most moving portrayal of a character. Having been a prisoner for so many years, he has become frail and senile, almost at breaking point from the years of imprisonment. It really does stand amongst his best work and considering that this happens within the first ten minutes, you really have to prepare yourself for what is a pretty emotional ride! The really genius of Cushing’s performance however is how he shows his character of Manette slowly regaining a lot of his self-esteem and confidence, culminating in a rousing sequence where he urges the crowd to free an innocent man and take him instead. Unsurprisingly, Cushing steals the show!

The supporting cast is full of recognisable faces. Chris Sarandon, perhaps most well known as Jerry Dandrige in Fright Night (1985) and the voice of Jack Skellington in The Nightmare before Christmas (1993), plays the dual roles of Lawyer Sydney Carton and Charles Dannay, providing a few recognisable differences for the audience between the two. 

Alice Krige, who would later become primarily known as the Borg Queen plays Manettes Daughter Lucie. Kenneth More puts in a memorable performance as Dr Jarvis Lorry, all the more astounding considering he was suffering from Parkinson’s disease. However, Billie Whitelaw…nearly very nearly manages to steal the show from Cushing with her malicious Madame Defarge. Whitelaw, channelling a completely different type of viciousness to that that gave her such power as Mrs Baylock in the Omen, being utterly repulsive yet utterly watchable.

There are a few notable Cushing connections in some of the supporting cast and bit-players. Robert Urquhart, who appeared alongside Peter Cushing in The Curse of Frankenstein as Paul Krempe, has a very small role as the Chief Adjudicator whilst Kevin Stoney (from The Blood Beast Terror) appears as the Chief Lord Justice. Also look out for a very young and pre- Poirot David Suchet In his first on-screen role.

One another odd note, very possibly it was scheduling conflicts with this film that stopped Cushing appearing in Lucio Fulci’s The Black Cat (1981)[2]. Though the actual reasons are unknown, it is perhaps something of a blessing.

It’s hard to believe Cushing would have been comfortable with Fulci’s penchant for extreme gore and we would have missed out on a role that is both a joy to watch and one that was clearly very close to his heart.

As previously stated the film has no official UK DVD or Blu-Ray release, but Shout! Factory did put out a very good Blu-Ray that is currently still available in the US.

WATCH THE FILM WHOLE  ABOVE!

Screen Caps and Gifs: Jamie Somerville
Feature: :Callum McKelvie.
Callum McKelvie, is the new head features writer at the Peter Cushing Appreciation Society. You can read more of his reviews and features here at the PCAS website, and shortly at the relaunched THEBLACKBOXCLUB.COM website and Black Box Club Facebook Fan Page. 

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[1] Miller, David: Peter Cushing: A Life in Film p161

[1] Glavin, John: Dickens on Screen, p213 

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