THE BARON BELLES! DING DONG! PICK YOUR FAVORITE!

#FrankensteinFriday! HERE IS A LITTLE something we did a long while ago...and is worth repeating with a new banner of pics at the FACEBOOK PCAS FAN PAGE.  In ALL the Peter Cushing Hammer Frankenstein movies, there HAD to be an actress who co starred. Back in the day, box office mattered more than gender equality and producer dictated that no matter if the supportive reason was the acting, star status, eye candy or two other sexist outstanding assets, the actress had to be IN. Whatever your reasons maybe, I would love to know WHO is your YOUR favorite Frankenstein actress who appeared in a Cushing Hammer Frankenstein film . . . phew!

A REMINDER OUR 'FRANKENSTEIN CREATED WOMAN' IS STILL LIVE AND YOU ARE WELCOME TO ENTER WITH YOU ENTRY AT THE FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE!

ABOVE I HAVE PROVIDED images, dedicated letters from A to F and the titles of the films. Feel free to give is your reasons and also a grading from A to F should you wish! Have a Fab #FrankensteinFriday, and hope you have fun 😉 - Marcus

JUST ONE MORE WEEK LEFT OF OUR PCASUK #FRANKENSTEINFRIDAY MONTH!

THE PREQUELS AND THE SEQUELS OF YOUR CHOICE!

A VERY POPULAR POST and question over at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE today, that really is a #THROWBACK THURSDAY idea! Lots of interesting suggestions, even some people requesting not just a one off sequel, but PREQUELS and whole series of films! Below is the text that has accompanied the post on the page. Please feel free to click the blue link and join in with your suggestions 😉

#ThrowbackThursday! IT SEEMS THESE DAYS, that almost every other film that appears in the cinema today is either a sequel or a prequel, of an already existing successful box office film. If we had the power to revisit the times, when both Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee were still with us, and a magic wand, to indulge our tastes, which film that Lee and Cushing appeared in, would you command a SEQUEL go into production? Here is a list of the films that, you could choose from 😉 One choice, your choice 😉 - Marcus

BELOW: THE FANTASY FILMS OF PETER CUSHING AND CHRISTOPHER LEE, for your consideration!

The Curse Of Frankenstein, Dracula/Horror Of Dracula, The Mummy, The Hound Of The Baskervilles, The Gorgon, Dr. Terrors House Of Horrors, She, The Skull, Night Of The Big Heat, Scream & Scream Again, I Monster, The House That Dripped Blood, Dracula AD 1972, The Creeping Flesh, The Satanic Rites Of Dracula, Horror Express, Nothing But The Night, Arabian Adventure, House Of The Long Shadows

THE 22 FILMS OF PETER CUSHING AND CHRISTOPHER LEE: covers in detail all of the connected films in a SEVEN PART series with extensive photographs and images! PART ONE HERE! 

ABOVE: THE ONES THAT GOT AWAY, and in some cases, didn't even get past the 'nice idea at the time' Some surprises and some would have the potential to have maybe changed the direction of Cushing's and others careers! MARK IVESON's excellent feature is supplemented with several 'fake' blu ray cases and art work cover designs, that sometimes makes, the loss very frustrating, for sure! CLICK HERE! 

REMEMBERED: SIR JAMES CARRERAS : 'EVERY POSTER CAN MAKE A MOVIE!'

REMEMBERING: Sir James Carreras, born today in 1909. Son of Enrique Carreras, the co-founder of Hammer Films and the Blue Hall theatre chain... and father of Hammer film producer and director, Michael Carreras. It was JC who hit on the formula of '..design a poster for a potential film, for the backers to actually see!' A simple but very effect method. It is said that he, '..judged the success of his films not by critical plaudits, but strictly on the basis of box office returns.' Maybe so, but for a long time his approached worked, making very large profits for the backers, giving Hammer films the Queens Award to Industry Award back in 1968 and a loyal fan base that remains to this day.

OVER AT THE FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE you can find TWO posts on Sir James Carreras birthday today, including a RARE interview form 1964! Also we are asking everyone, if the can NAME two of the people in the Carreras Birthday Banner above! Any ideas? 

HAMMER FILM DIRECTOR AND WRITER Jimmy Sangster, once said that' It doesn't matter that he is selling film, this man could sell baked beans, and his approach would be the same!' During Peter's career, his agent, John Redway would only on Peter's instructions, negotiate with Carreras. It was all based on contracts, but also the word and handshake of gentlemen. He is remembered each year by Variety: The Children's Charity, with The Sir James Carreras Award. '...This Award honors the name of Sir James Carreras MBE, who served Variety International with great distinction as one of its past International Presidents. It is presented annually to a physician who has demonstrated exceptional dedication and skill in the field of pediatrics'.

WELL DONE, SIR JAMES, you are remebered with respect and dignity having having archived a great deal and helped to leave us a huge legacy in the name of your charity work, and the status of Hammer films

SHANE BRIANT LAST LEAD STANDING

The above titled image is a caption that would I am sure, upon reading it, would have Shane Briant allowing himself a titter! As the title of his autobiography tells us, not only is he is always 'the bad guy', but today on his birthday, he stands as the only remaining lead male actor, from the the final days of that most treasured British institution and regal house of horrors, Hammer studios, still working. 

Looking at the titles of many of Shane's  films and characters, you quickly begin to understand that, he may be still standing, but often he has left our nerves on the floor,  shocking us with his young and deranged Peter Clive in 'Straight On Til Morning', Simon Helder in 'Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell', all for the Hammer studio, but Norma in the landmark BBC production of 'The Naked Civil Servant' in 1975, Sir Clifford Chatterley in Lady Chatterley's Lover in 1980, and Dr. Trayso Talnell / Kaarvok in tv's 'Farscape', prove that Shane is no stranger to the tormented and the slightly skewed and has brought us a feast of 'fabulous fiends', that often stand, hold rank and quite comfortably keep company , with some of cinema's best! 

We invited Uwe Sommerlad, to take a step back and take an over view of the man who has brought us many chilling chaps in the black hat, but in life, couldn't be a more charming, friendly and sensitive man. Shane Briant

Happy 70iest Birthday to Shane Briant! The British actor studied law before he decided on a, hm, less theatrical career as an actor, making his professional debut as Hamlet in Dublin. He then played in London with the splendid Yvonne Mitchell in "Children of the Wolf", winning the Best Newcomer Award.

He played several small parts on the screen before Hammer took him under contract, hoping that he would become a new major Hammer star. Alas, Hammer was going commercially downhill by then, and the four movies Briant did for them - the underrated psycho thriller STRAIGHT ON TILL MORNING (1972; dir. Peter Collinson), the strange Freudian Gothic DEMONS OF THE MIND (1972; dir. Peter Sykes), the experimental CAPTAIN KRONOS - VAMPIRE HUNTER (1974; dir. Brian Clemens, with Horst Janson) and Terence Fisher's last movie, FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL (1973, with Peter Cushing) did not do very well at the box office.

In between Briant went to Hollywood and played Dorian Gray in the TV adaptation THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY (1973; dir. Glenn Jordan), but no horror stardom followed (with Briant not really suited for the "slashers" and Zombie movies to come), but a solid career as a character actor in various movies and on TV. He was a killer in John Huston's THE MACKINTOSH MAN (1973, wiith Paul Newman and James Mason) and Jack Palance's evil son in the trash classic HAWK THE SLAYER (1980; dir. Terry Marcel).

He played a cross-dressing homosexual in the Quentin Crisp biopic THE NAKED CIVIL SERVANT (TV 1975; dir. Jack Gold, with John Hurt), not LADY CHATTERLEY'S LOVER (1981; dir. Just Jaeckin, with Silvia Kristel) but her wheelchair-bound husband, and was suspicious in the Agatha Christie adaptation MURDER IS EASY (TV 1982; dir. Claude Whatham, with Bill Bixby). 

Briant went to live in Australia in the Eighties, where he continued to appear in movies and TV shows, including the horror movies CASSANDRA (1986; dir. Colin Eggleston) and OUT OF THE BODY (1989; dir. Brian Trenchard-Smith), thrillers GRIEVOUS BODILY HARM (1988; dir. Mark Joffe) or TUNNEL VISION (1995; dir. Clive Fleury, with Patsy Kensit) and episodes of SF series TIME TRAX (1994) and FARSCAPE (2001 - 2003). He also became the main villain in children's TV series, namely MISSION: TOP SECRET (1994 - 1995) and SEARCH FOR TREASURE ISLAND (1998 - 2000).

Shane Briant has also turned to writing and had seven novels published between 1994 and 2011. His short film A MESSAGE FROM FALLUJAH, loosely based on Ambrose Bierce's "An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge", won the "Best of the Fest" award at the 2005 Los Angeles International Short Film Festival and was in the final mix of ten shorts for consideration for an Academy Award. In 2013 he played Major Lawrence Miller in seven episodes of the HBO serial, Serngoon Road and last year competed work on the tv mini series GALLIPOLI as Sir Frederick Stopford.

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DR WHO AND THE DALEKS : RELEASED 50 YEARS AGO TODAY

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the release of AARU Productions of 'DR WHO AND THE DALEKS' starring Peter Cushing as Dr Who, supported by Roy Castle, Jennie Linden and Roberta Tovey. The film is based on the second serial of the British science fiction Doctor Who television programme, The Daleks, produced by the BBC. Shot in Technicolor, it is the first Doctor Who story to be made in colour and in a widescreen format.

Peter Cushing's portrayal of Dr Who was never intended to form part of the ongoing storylines of the television series. His role in neither this film or sequel, Daleks Invasion Earth 2150 AD are not considered canon. Elements from the programme were used, however, such as various characters, the Daleks and a police box time machine, albeit in re-imagined forms.

Produced by Milton Subotsky and his partner, Max Rosenberg who formed Amicus Productions in the early 1960's, Dr Who and the Daleks production was managed by an off shoot company AARU, specifically form for the two Dr Who enterprises.The film was at the time, the twentieth biggest British box office moneymaker in 1965.

Good old fashioned family entertainment, from a more innocent time, Dr Who and the Daleks celebrates the 50th Anniversary of the day of it's cinema release in the UK today!

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PHOTOPLAY 1971 FILM ANNUAL PRICE CUSHING LEE THREE FACES OF FEAR FEATURE

How Photoplay Film Annual reported on the success and popularity of  the THREE FACES OF FEAR at the cinema in 1971 : Peter Cushing, Vincent Price and Christopher Lee.

 

SUNDAY TIMES : PETER CUSHING INTERVIEW STAR WARS 1977

An interview with Peter Cushing that appeared in the Sunday Times Supplement August 14th 1977. The 'ghoul' mentioned in the interview is of course actor Don Henderson, during the making of Tyburn films, 'The Ghoul'. This would put the interview taking place at Pinewood studios somewhere in March - April 1974 during production... however, this feature didn't appear until 1977 and the inclusion of a Moff Tarkin image and mention of Star Wars, for sure stamps this as part of the massive press and television promotion campaign, ahead of SW opening in the UK... a nice nod to Peter Cushing's chauffeur and stand in, George Molcroft and his housekeeper, Daisey.

Ghoul of the Month

Peter Cushing

Star Wars Interview

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