#HAMMERFILMSSATURDAY : HAMMER'S ARCH VAMPIRE DRACULA

#HAMMERFILMSATURDAY: Few films from the Hammer film catalogue can have made such an impression as the first two films that both Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee made for the company in 1957 and 58.... The Curse of Frankenstein and Dracula / Horror of Dracula. The second really did kick start Lee's career and both set Peter Cushing in a direction that he would never stray very far from for the rest of his career. 

In the segment above from Don Fearney's 'Legend of Hammer Vampires', Edward De Souza tells the story of just how Hammer, Terence Fisher, Cushing and Lee presented the Count and Van Helsing to a new audience. An audience that still shrieks with horror and glee today 🙂 Is this film your favorite of the Hammer / Dracula series?

#HAMMERFILMSSATURDAY: Above Johnny Alucard (Christopher Neame) watching as Count Dracula (Christopher Lee) emerges from the smoke from Hammer's Dracula AD 1972 : Requested by Chris Norman.

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FIRST GIF WEDNESDAY REQUESTS AND MORE CAKE FROM CHRISTOPHER LEE!

FOLLOWING ON from yesterdays post on Christopher Lee and his 'KNIFE AND BIRTHDAY CAKE GAG' this could be where it all started maybe. The year, 1958. The place, Universal Pictures headquarters. Both Cushing and Lee along with chairman of Hammer films, James Carreras and producer Anthony Hinds were invited to a pre-opening night luncheon with the reps and executives. It was Christopher Lee's birthday, the day after Peter Cushing's. At mid-night, the 'The Horror of Dracula' was screened...and the rest, as they say, is history!

#PeterCushing and #ChristopherLee: THE LAST MEETING: Lee and Cushing chat about going to NEW YORK and the DRACULA premier.

THE BRITS HAVE LANDED! Lee, Cushing, Carrreras, and Hinds on the tarmac of the airport having just arrived in New York to attend the Hammer Dracula premier. They would go on from here to meet Alfred (Al) Daff, and hear first hand from him and the Universal executives on how HORROR OF DRACULA had saved the company from bankruptcy...

GIFS REQUESTED BY: Niamh T from N. Ireland, M. Nash UK and S Martin.

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#MOTHERSDAY HAPPY MOTHERS DAY USA CUSHING MUM AND BRIDES OF DRACULA

#‎mothersday‬ Happy Mother's Day to all our Mum's and Mom's in the US! Here is Peter Cushing talking about his Mum!

The Boy With The Curly Locks! Peter making a personal appearance at a book signing of his first autobiography: Peter Cushing : An Autobiography. Here he poses with a page from the book, a photograph of himself aged three, with long hair and wearing a dress.... 'Mother so wanted a girl!'

#MOTHERSDAYWhat a horrible fate to befall a caring and protective Mother... Baroness Meinster in THE BRIDES OF DRACULA (1960) : The wonderful actress Martita Hunt here with Peter Cushing as Van Helsing. Martita told director Terence Fisher that she didn't want to wear the fangs that had been made for her, that she ... didn't need them. She does a superb job of portraying the love and loss of her son, the Baron Meinster ...and the falling victim to his final act of betrayal, to a protective Mother... All sorts of great stories about Martita Hunt's short time with Hammer films, she was one very special lady and the last of a dying breed of classically trained actresses. Having her in the cast of 'Brides' was a very good move on Hammer's part. How do you rate Martita Hunt in Brides??

Dances, Banquets and BALLS!:

Martita Hunt as Baroness Meinster. There is a story that when Maritia was rehearsing the scene where the Baroness laments the loss of the time when the château was once the social hub of parties, banquets and balls, she inadvertently paused and placed prominence on the word....'balls'. Everyone in attendance, broke out laughing, Fisher included...she repeated this in the take that was shot and printed in the final cut of 'Brides'.... #mothersday

#MOTHERSDAYUSA: So, WHO introduced you to Peter Cushing and his work..his films, his name? Through out our time here on FACEBOOK and this website, many of you tell us about the first Cushing film you saw. Sometimes as a child of maybe 9 or 11. Some of you caught the films on the US Horror Movie Hosts shows, some of you here in the UK caught your first Cushing movie during the double bill seasons that ran on BBC tv during the 70's and 80's....But there is one factor that comes up many times.... Many of you watched your first #HAMMERHORROR or a film featuring Peter Cushing with your MUM / MOM/ MOTHER even grandmother... How about you?

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WHAT WE DIDN'T SEE! DRACULA 58 HARKER'S VAMPIRE #MONSTERMONDAY

Today's MONSTERMONDAY features something that has been part of Hammer films lore for as long as I can remember. With the emergence of unseen publicity stills and contact sheets from Hammer films 1958 Dracula, the prompting of all kinds of theories around the missing or censored shots from the final cut of the film can be read on many forums on the net. The release of the remastered blu ray a few years ago, caused a few of us to smile smugly about the inclusion of the footage of Dracula's disintegration. We suspected it was shot, the problem was finding it! Most of that hunch was based on a colour photograph of Lee's Dracula in the final moments of the film, lying on the floor wearing make up that hinted of another stage in his grisly death appearance.

The still of John Van Eyssen as Jonathan Harker in our banner, hints at maybe something similar. We know the character is bitten by Valerie Gaunt, we see Peter Cushing's Van Helsing stake him, finding him in the castle crypt and judging by Van Helsing's grimace on looking on his vampire state, he wasn't a pretty sight! For whatever reason, what Van Helsing saw, was snipped out of prints for the European market. Though, it could have been included in the Japanese print, which provided the source of the missing footage of Dracula's death. As reels 1,2,3 were rendered unusable and damaged after finding the print, the scene where this shot appeared in the feature, was lost to us. Many argue the point that this shot was never included in ANY print, it was never shot...but I'll go with the point I made when the Dracula death photograph was found...Director Terence Fisher I suspect, would not have spent time setting up this scene, without shooting it. Time was premium at Hammer and was never wasted. Cushing himself has stated multiple takes were rare, because of costs...and I can't see Anthony Hinds signing off on a SFX - Make Up head of Harker, with no intention of using it! Hammer did not waste money on a budget that was already tight...

VALERIE GAUNT as the Vampire Woman from

Hammer films'Dracula' / 'Horror of Dracula' (1958)

 ...and Harker's VAMPIRE undead-head at the left

 of the photograph...

 Dracula (1958 film) Hammer Horror from Warner Bros. Christopher Lee

 

Still it looks great, a pity we have yet to see this shot in the film. There is further evidence of this make up head in a publicity photograph of Valerie Gaunt, included in the thread below. It's an interesting pic and story...and for that reason alone, we present it as this week's icky item for ‪#‎MONSTERMONDAY‬ ...what do you think? - Marcus
 

Hammer Horror from Warner Bros. Christopher Lee Horror Film 

REMEMBERING JOHN VAN EYSSEN BORN THIS DAY

Today we remember Hammer's first vampire hunter John Van Eyssen.Best known for starring in Hammer's DRACULA /Horror Of Dracula as Jonathan Harker. Eyssen also starred in Hammer's QUATERMASS 2 and a early Terrence Fisher Hammer film called The Four Sided Triangle in 1953.

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BLAZES! IT'S FOUR FABULOUS FIERY FINALES ON BONFIRE NIGHT!

Blazes and heaven to murgatroyed! What's all this? Bonfire Night in the UK...that's what! The cats are hiding, the dogs are howling and the smell of eggy fireworks and sooty smoke will fill the air for days! Pretty much what it must have felt and smelt like on quite a few Peter Cushing films back in the day... Here are FOUR blazing finishes to FOUR Peter Cushing films. I am sure you'll have no problem naming them. BUT how many more explosive and flaming endings to PC's films can you think of? Answers later on the FACEBOOK FAN PAGE ... after I put out the cat...

MAYBE THE MOST CELEBRATED CHASE SCENE IN HAMMER FILMS' HISTORY

Maybe the most celebrated chase scene in Hammer film history... Peter Cushing as Van Helsing and Christopher Lee as Count Dracula in 'Dracula' / 'Horror of Dracula' (1958 Director Terence Fisher)

Chase to the death!

Dracula (1958)

THE SIX FACES OF FRANKENSTEIN: BRAINS AND EYEBALLS

 

 

'Peter Cushing is immaculate in the role, and he clearly relishes the chance to play a bit of comedy here and there - just look at the scene wherein he confronts the sniveling, sex-crazed Burgomaster (David Huddelston, later to be frozen to death by The Abominable Dr. Phibes) and rants and raves about all the elegant furnishing and clothing the latter has pilfered from his estate. If Sangster saw the character as a villain in Curse, and a frustrated hero in Revenge, Evil presents him as a symbol of progress'. Troy Howarth

Read the whole feature HERE 

Peter Cushing is immaculate in the role, and he clearly relishes the chance to play a bit of comedy here and there - just look at the scene wherein he confronts the sniveling, sex-crazed Burgomaster (David Huddelston, later to be frozen to death by The Abominable Dr. Phibes) and rants and raves about all the elegant furnishing and clothing the latter has pilfered from his estate. If Sangster saw the character as a villain in Curse, and a frustrated hero in Revenge, Evil presents him as a symbol of progress. - See more at: http://petercushingblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/hammer-film-productions-evil-of.html#sthash.DxCN8cmr.dpuf

Peter Cushing is immaculate in the role, and he clearly relishes the chance to play a bit of comedy here and there - just look at the scene wherein he confronts the sniveling, sex-crazed Burgomaster (David Huddelston, later to be frozen to death by The Abominable Dr. Phibes) and rants and raves about all the elegant furnishing and clothing the latter has pilfered from his estate. If Sangster saw the character as a villain in Curse, and a frustrated hero in Revenge, Evil presents him as a symbol of progress. - See more at: http://petercushingblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/hammer-film-productions-evil-of.html#sthash.DxCN8cmr.dpuf

Peter Cushing is immaculate in the role, and he clearly relishes the chance to play a bit of comedy here and there - just look at the scene wherein he confronts the sniveling, sex-crazed Burgomaster (David Huddelston, later to be frozen to death by The Abominable Dr. Phibes) and rants and raves about all the elegant furnishing and clothing the latter has pilfered from his estate. If Sangster saw the character as a villain in Curse, and a frustrated hero in Revenge, Evil presents him as a symbol of progress. - See more at: http://petercushingblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/hammer-film-productions-evil-of.html#sthash.DxCN8cmr.dpuf

Peter Cushing is immaculate in the role, and he clearly relishes the chance to play a bit of comedy here and there - just look at the scene wherein he confronts the sniveling, sex-crazed Burgomaster (David Huddelston, later to be frozen to death by The Abominable Dr. Phibes) and rants and raves about all the elegant furnishing and clothing the latter has pilfered from his estate. If Sangster saw the character as a villain in Curse, and a frustrated hero in Revenge, Evil presents him as a symbol of progress. - See more at: http://petercushingblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/hammer-film-productions-evil-of.html#sthash.DxCN8cmr.dpuf