#SILENTBUTDEADLY! GIFS REQUESTED BY YOU! PHIBES CLEGG SANTA AND ASYLUM!

#SILENTBUTDEADLYWEDNESDAY: YOUR REQUESTED GIFS, muted and monstrous! For Sam K. J. from N.J : This chuckle clip of Vincent Price with Valli Kemp from Dr Phibes Rises Again, in which Cushing had a very short whisper of a guest appearance, which is all the more frustrating considering he was approached to star in the FIRST PHIBES movie. Sticks in my throat every time I see this clip..a bit like this fish bone....! Great movie though . . .

#SILENTBUTDEADLYWEDNESDAY!: THE REVEREND BLYSS, alias Captain Clegg, can not contain his contempt and laughter at the bumbling Excise Men. But they are...on his coat tails. 'Night Creatures / Captian Clegg (Hammer films) Requested by Tomas Griffiths.

 MORE ON NIGHT CREATURES /CAPTAIN CLEGG WITH RARE PHOTO-GALLERY

RIGHT HERE!

#SILENTBUTDEADLYWEDNESDAY!: AMICUS FILMS, sure did know how to tell a  good spine tingling short story, and this is one of them. "And All Through The House" is one of the tales presented in the portmanteau style of Amicus films, 'Tales from the Crypt', starring Joan Collins and Chloe Franks. I have seen both of the episodes in the TV series that contain remakes of this story. Even though they have all the more modern cinematic devices and bigger budgets, compared with Amicus films, tiny budget and tight deadline of 1972, I found them, personally ...not to be as effective. Any one else think that?? REQUESTED BY D.D. DEADMAN.

#SILENTBUTDEADLYWEDNESDAY!: BARRY MORSE was a very adaptable actor, and here in Amicus films, 'ASYLUM' (1972) in a short story called 'The Weird Tailor', his poor and gentle of the title, was a very sensitive playing of a man tricked from his fee, but got a lot more than he bargained for. Appearing with Peter Cushing (Mr Smith)  you would never guess that their association and friendship went back years, before and after WW2. More, Cushing and his wife, Helen were once on board a bus in London, which narrowly escaped a stray German 'Doodle-Bug' 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  

#MONSTERMONDAY : CHLOE FRANKS AND AN AMICUS DRIPPING HOUSE!

 

#MONSTERMONDAY: Hide your toys, your dolls, and put that fire OUT! One of Amicus films smarty creations, Jane Reid from The House That Dripped Blood, and played wonderfully by a young Chloe Franks. Christopher Lee was great as her father, in a performance that kept you guessing to his motives. Was he a victim? And how about the little one in the frock??

FRANKS was great in Tales from the Crypt too... didn't seem at all bothered being in the company of monsters and madmen. Ironically, Franks went on to work with in the medical field, working as a consultant in mental health....

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JOAN COLLINS DISCOVERS SANTA HAS ARRIVED !

#GETTHECUSHIONITSCUSHING: This week's classic clip is from 'And All Through the House' segment from Amicus's Tales From The Crypt (1972)

After Joanne Clayton (Joan Collins) kills her husband (Martin Boddey) on Christmas Eve, she prepares to hide his body but hears a radio announcement stating that a homicidal maniac (Oliver MacGreevy) is on the loose. She sees the killer (who is dressed in a Santa Claus costume) outside her house but cannot call the police without exposing her own crimes.

A WONDERFULLY SUSPENSEFUL story with Joan Collins really going all out with her performance and stylishly directed by Freddie Francis. The story was remade in 1989 as an episode of the TV series Tales From The Crypt (1988-96) directed by Robert Zemeckis.

How do you think the two versions compare?

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IF WALLS COULD TALK! THE AMICUS FILMS OF PETER CUSHING: PART THREE

When Cushing, Lee and Subotsky reunited for The House That Dripped Blood (1970), it was in the more familiar context of the horror anthology. The script was again penned by Robert Bloch and it offered an uncommonly consistent array of stories linked together by an interesting mystery device. A skeptical police inspector (John Bennett) is looking into the disappearance of horror star Paul Henderson (Jon Pertwee), whose last known residence was the creepy house of the title.

In the course of his investigation, he is told of some other bizarre occurrences that unfolded in and around that house: horror novelist Charles Hillyer (Denholm Elliott) is driven to madness when it appears that his “fictitious” strangler, Dominick (Tom Addams), has taken on a life of his own; retired stock broker Philip (Cushing) becomes obsessed with the figure of Salome at a nearby wax museum; chilly widower John Reid (Lee) dishes out cruel punishments to his little girl, Jane (Chloe Franks), but it could be that it’s the little girl who is really in charge; and lastly, we see how Paul Henderson may have met his fate while appearing in a low budget horror film at nearby Shepperton Studios.

Director Peter Duffel made his feature debut with this film and he did a magnificent job of it: the individual stories are well paced and executed, while the linking segments keep the suspense factor high until the very end.  Unlike most anthologies, there really is no weak link, though many viewers complain that the Cushing segment doesn’t quite fit the overall theme of the picture; there’s some truth to this, but as an exercise in melancholy mood, it’s hard to fault.

The entire cast is in good form: Cushing’s off-screen suffering over the declining health of his beloved wife, Helen, manifests itself in his character’s sense of loss and regret, Lee is splendid as the aloof father who isn’t quite what he appears to be, Elliott is his usual brilliant and neurotic self as the horror novelist on the verge of a breakdown and Pertwee is a delight as the hammy horror star.

Not surprisingly, Vincent Price was originally offered the latter’s role, but AIP wasn’t involved in the financing and refused to allow their top horror star to go and appear in a film for the “competition.”  Price was reportedly furious over this and dragged his displeasure with him on to the set of his next AIP assignment, Gordon Hessler’s stylish but confused occult thriller The Cry of the Banshee (1970).

 

Duffel was appalled by the film’s brazenly exploitative title, but co-producer Max J. Rosenberg correctly maintained that it would pack audiences in.  The end result was another hit for the company; it arguably remains their finest anthology and one of the great, albeit unsung, examples of subtle, low key horror.

The Amicus Films Of Peter Cushing Is written by Troy Howarth
with artwork and images by Marcus Brooks

Part Four Coming Soon: I, Monster.

BLOCH, STEVENSON AND A LITTLE HELP FROM SAMMY : 'A TALENT TO TERRIFY' PART FOUR

The appeal of Hammer horror extended across the globe, earning Lee and Cushing fans in all walks of life. One such fan was Sammy Davis, Jr., who pulled his weight on the set of One More Time (1970) by compelling director Jerry Lewis to bring the two actors in for a cameo appearance.

 

The loosely plotted and non-too-amusing sequel to Salt and Pepper (1968) focused on the continued adventures of nightclub owners Charles Salt (Davis, Jr.) and Christopher Pepper (Peter Lawford).  The addition of a sight gag involving the sudden – and poorly covered – appearance of Count Dracula (Lee) and Baron Frankenstein (Cushing) in a rather impoverished-looking “mad lab” set no doubt baffled the film’s target audience.  In any event, Lee and Cushing appear to have had fun filming their cameo and working with the gifted Davis, Jr. Next up, Lee and Cushing returned to Amicus for another anthology.  Lee had originally been slated to appear opposite Cushing in the “Man Who Collected Poe” segment of Torture Garden (1967), but Columbia wanted an American star – so Jack Palance got the gig instead.

Cinerama, the distributors of The House That Dripped Blood, were only too happy to have the reigning British kings of horror on board.  The screenplay was penned by Robert Bloch and dealt with a house with an unfortunate past, which is at the center of an investigation into the disappearance of ham horror star Paul Henderson (a terrific Jon Pertwee, playing a role originally ear-marked for Vincent Price).

Lee and Cushing would not share any screen time, as they occupied separate segments, but both actors were at the top of their game here.  Lee is by turns imposing, frightening, despicable and moving as the ice-cold father of an angelic little girl (Chloe Franks, who very nearly steals the show) who is not everything she appears to be.

 

Cushing brings an air of melancholy to his role as a retired stock broker who falls under the spell of a statue of Salome.  The sadness radiating from Cushing could be attributed to his ongoing panic over the deteriorating health of his beloved Helen.  The actor was reluctant to face facts, but she was not to be by his side for much longer.

The film was another hit for Amicus, thanks in large part to an admittedly tacky title which would prove to be the bane of director Peter Duffell’s existence; it wasn’t subtle (even if the film itself was – you’ll note, there isn’t a drop of blood in the film itself) but it helped to put people in the seats.

Lee and Cushing would round out 1970 by reteaming for another Amicus production.  On the face of it, I, Monster was more typical of Hammer than Amicus: it was period-set and would tell only one story.  The adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s venerable “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” would remain true to the source material – and to Subotsky’s overall credo with regards to downplaying graphic shock effects.

Full Interview with Stephen Weeks Here

Sadly, the film would be overrun with bad luck.  Peter Duffell elected to pass on the picture, fearing becoming typecast as a genre director, and Lee would recommend the young (21 at the time of filming) filmmaker Stephen Weeks on the strength of his short film 1917 (1970), which had impressed the actor.  Weeks would prove ill-equipped to cope with Subotsky’s dialogue-heavy script or the additional baggage of a half-baked 3D process with which the producer decided to burden the production.  Thoughts of 3D exhibition dried up part of the way into filming, but the damage was already done – the material would prove awkward and difficult to cut together, and the film would pretty much just lie there… bereft of life, despite some interesting art direction and a brilliant central performance from Lee.

 

As Lee has often said, it makes very little sense that Subotsky saw fit to write the most faithful adaptation of Stevenson’s novella, only to change the names of the central character(s) while leaving all the other names intact.  Whatever the thinking was, the moniker I, Monster would prove to be off-putting for many viewers and the film would slide into relative obscurity.  This is to be regretted because, at the very least, the film is worth seeing for Lee’s performance.  He is tremendously effective as the repressed Dr. Marlowe, who transforms into the free-spirited and vicious Mr. Blake.  Lee seizes every opportunity available to him, making this one of his most memorable characterizations.

Cushing, sadly, is squandered in a dull supporting role.  His performance as the stuffy lawyer Utterson is professional, but the role gives him no opportunity for shading or nuance.  Worse still, he is forced to share several scenes with the amateurish Mike Raven, a disc jockey turned actor who was making an open bid for horror stardom at that time.  The film would prove to be a relatively minor footnote in the Amicus canon, but a life-changing event was in the works for Cushing – and from that point on, life, as he knew it, would hold precious little meaning.

Next Time: FOSSILS, FINGERS AND THE COUNT IS BACK! 

'A Talent To Terrify : The Twenty Two Films Of Peter Cushing And Christopher Lee' is written by Troy Howarth with Artwork and Images by Marcus Brooks. 

DUFFELL AND PETER CUSHING: ON SET PHOTOGRAPHS FROM 'THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD' (1971)

THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD:

CAST:

Linking Story:– John Bennett (Inspector Holloway), John Bryans (Stoker), John Malcolm (Sergeant). Method for Murder:– Denholm Elliott (Charles Hillyer), Joanna Dunham (Alice Hillyer), Tom Adams (Dominick), Robert Lang (Psychiatrist). Waxworks:– Peter Cushing (Philip Grayson), Joss Ackland (Neville Rogers), Wolfe Morris (Proprietor). Sweets to the Sweet:– Chloe Franks (Jane Reid), Christopher Lee (John Reid), Nyree Dawn Porter (Ann Norton). The Cloak: Jon Pertwee (Paul Henderson), Ingrid Pitt (Carla), Geoffrey Bayldon (Count Von Hartmann)
 

PRODUCTION:

Director – Peter Duffell, Screenplay – Robert Bloch, Based on his Short Stories, Producers – Max J. Rosenberg & Milton Subotsky, Photography – Ray Parslow, Music – Michael Dress, Art Direction – Tony Curtis. Production Company – Amicus. UK. 1970.

SYNOPSIS:

A police inspector, searching for a missing horror film star, visits the house that the actor rented. There the realtor and a local police sergeant tell a series of stories about the house and the strange effect it has on the inhabitants. Method for Murder:– Horror writer Charles Hillyer creates the character of the strangler Dominick for his next book. However, Dominick then turns up for real and tries to strangle Hillyer’s wife – but she insists that it was Hillyer acting under subconscious compulsion. Waxworks:– Retired stockbroker Philip Grayson becomes obsessed with the exhibit of a beautiful woman in a wax museum and comes to realise that it may be the owner’s wife. Sweets to the Sweet:– John Reid hires Ann Norton as anew tutor by for his daughter Jane. Ann then discovers that Jane, who is harshly closeted by Reid, is taking revenge against her father using a voodoo doll. The Cloak:– The missing horror film actor Paul Henderson rents the house. Seeking authenticity in his next film, Henderson is given a cloak that was purportedly worn by a real vampire. However, when Henderson puts the cloak on it makes him fly, develop fangs and a thirst for blood.