#SILENTBUTDEADLYWEDNESDAY! : LEE PLAYS WICKED : RIPPER PLAYS MIPPS : CUSHING PLAYS EVIL

#SILENTBUTDEADLYWEDNESDAY!: I GUESS, if you had to quickly come up with a list of what one would consider to be, Christopher Lee's FIVE most wicked roles, Dracula would be in there. So, would Rochefort from the 'Three Musketeers' and maybe Fu Manchu. But, I doubt if many would count or include this chap, Professor James Hildern from the 1973 film, 'The Creeping Flesh'. 'Flesh' also starred Peter Cushing, as his Lee's half brother, Emmanual and unlike many of the roles that he played in a rash of  British horror movies through out the 1960's and early 70's, Lee's James Hildern is a villain, thankfully, with a cause! Jealously and ambition. Hildern didn't just push obstacles aside, he cold bloodidly crushed them. 

If you though the chemistry of 'Cushing hero' versus 'Lee's black hearted monster' was magic, then 'Cushing weak and tortured' versus 'Lee merciless and Machiavellian' is a test tube, that holds a chemical reaction that gave both actors, the opportunity to really pull out the stops. Whether slaughtering and torturing patients in his care, or turning the thumbscrews on his poor half sibling, Lee is wonderfully wicked. It's a film, that has over the years sadly snuck past the notice of many a Brit Gothic horror fan. To have enjoyed the classic cinematic teamings of Cushing and Lee, watched their Hammer horrors and their Amicus adventures, but then to have never seen this Tigon tale of terror.... you have missed out on one of their best.... and that's just wicked!   Requested by Alan Goodfield. UK.

#SILENTBUTDEADLYWEDNESDAY!: A SET UP from Hammer films, 'The Evil of Frankenstein' that Peter Cushing, no doubt enjoyed blocking and performing. All appearing like one continuous shot, but really three edits. And just how did they get that spilled acid to stop, just short of Cushing's forelock, like that???

#SILENTBUTDEADLYWEDNESDAY! : THERE IS AN obvious comment or question to ask about this shot, but I'll avoid it here and instead, let's focus on why David Meredith from the UK requested this shot as one of this weeks #GIFS. The role of Coffin maker, Jeremiah Mipps, in Hammer films, 'Night Creatures' / 'Captain Clegg' (1962) was actually a character role that Ripper was quite proud of. In a PCAS interview in 1981, he told us his most favorite role for Hammer films, was Longbarrow in 'The Mummy's Shroud', but 'Clegg' gave him the opportunity to try something a little different. When given the chance Ripper was a great character actor. Michael Ripper holds the record for being the single actor, who appeared in more Hammer productions, than any other.

#SILENTBUTDEADLYWEDNESDAY! : JUDY GEESON staggers into a chilling secret, at the school where all isn't what it seems. Peter Cushing's Headmaster, Michael Carmichael is in a class...of his own, in Hammer films, 'FEAR IN THE NIGHT' (1972).

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  

CLEGG HERO OR MONSTER : MONSTERMONDAY

#MONSTERMONDAY: Peter Cushing's Captain Clegg aka Rev. Dr. Blyss comes from the much loved Dr Syn pirate adventure books written by Russell Thorndyke.... Much has been shared here about the alternative titles used during the release of this Hammer film, 'Night Creatures (US) Captain Clegg (US) and the copyright problems with the name of Syn and the bad timing of being produced the SAME TIME as Disney's Dr Syn The Scarecrow feature film! ...Want to know more about that... you'll find extensively illustrated features starting  HERE at this website!

WAS BLYSS a good man, robbing from the Tax Collectors and Exercise Menand giving to the poor of his parish..OR was his treatment of Milton Reid's character... cutting out his tongue and banishing him to an island, a bit on the rough side of justice??? He WAS a pirate. He did fight and kill....the stories of his fights were legendary in the books.. he was a man to be feared! This still stands as one of the Cushing films that is least seen by most people here. If you haven't caught this one, now is the time... in the tradition of Robin Hood and Errol Flynn Peter LOVED playing this role and even spent time writing a sequel to this Hammer classic! So, Clegg...Villain, Monster and a Slayer on the High Seas....or a Hero? YOU decide!

TRIVIA: Above is the face well known of a quite well known British character actor who appeared in Captain Clegg / Night Creatures and at least TWO films with Peter Cushing... but can you name him and the title of the ONE television show he also appeared in with Cushing? ANSWER later....

GIF GALLERY NUMBER 5 OF CUSHING HAMMER FILMS TOP MOMENTS

HERE'S ANOTHER GALLERY of great moments plucked from some of Peter Cushing's classic films with live links to features and vintage galleries on the film the gif was taken from, at our website.

PETER CUSHING in  full on Errol Flynn mode, swinging across the head of his congregation in Hammer films, 'CAPTAIN CLEGG' aka 'NIGHT CREATURES' (1962)

PETER CUSHING as Gustav Weil gives this Collinson twin the chop, in Hammer films, 'TWINS OF EVIL' (1971)

A FILM FULL of scuffles! Hammer films 'The Evil of Frankenstein' (1964) has Cushing hanging off curtains, swinging on ropes, fighting fires . . never one to shy away from the opportunity to do some swash and buckle, Cushing gives it his all! There's a whole gallery of beautiful colour transparenciesand stills to be found in our feature, if you CLICK right HERE! 

A LOOK of exasperation captured beautifully from the BBC series, Sherlock Holmes starring Peter Cushing in the title role and Nigel Stock as Dr Watson. This episode 'THE BLUE CARBUNCLE' is one of the better ones of the few that still survive. Appearing with Cushing in this scene is Australian actress Madge Ryan in the role of Lady Morcar.

ANOTHER FINE SCUFFLE! This time Cushing's Van Helsing wrestles with actress Freda Jackson in her role as Greta in Hammer films, 'THE BRIDES OF DRACULA' (1960) 

Please join us at our FACEBOOK FAN PAGE, for more posts, pic and chat every day! Just a CLICK AWAY HERE

'SO YOU THINK YOU KNOW: PETER CUSHING? COMPETITION

So, we've had 'So You Think You Know: Dracula? Captain Clegg? Competitions, now as promised, here is your 'So You Think You Know: Peter Cushing? ' Competition. Lots here to test your Cushing Grey Matter!

THE PRIZES:

There are THREE copies of Wayne Kinsey's fabulous 'The Peter Cushing Scrapbook' up for grabs as prizes. It's a beautiful soft back book, with a  foreword by George Lucas and afterword by Janina Faye. What you get are 328 very nicely designed pages! A4 size landscape, with Full Colour throughout! What Wayne Kinsey has managed to show in his book, is what we all have always suspected.....Peter Cushing as perfectionist in his work and a talented artist in every sense of the word,  with a great sense of humour ....and always a boy at heart! 

The pages are lavishly illustrated with items from every part of Peter Cushing life and career, Annotated script pages, candid photographs, humorous cartoons drawn for his wife, Helen, personal correspondence and letters.Plus material from the estate of Roy Ward Baker, notations for photographs written by Peter Cushing, film props, an alternate script for Captain Clegg, and rare material from two unfilmed Hammer projects to have starred Cushing; Kali – Devil Bride of Dracula and The Savage Jackboot. 

The prizes featured in this competition will be awarded to THREE lucky winners, who answer ALL TEN questions correctly and are pulled out of the 'hat of good fortune' containing all correctly answered entries!

Many thanks to both Wayne Kinsey and Steve Kirkham for making this competition possible

WHO CAN ENTER?:

As with ALL our PCASUK competitions, this competition is open to everyone! Even if you are not a subscriber to this website....

YOUR ENTRY:

PLEASE ONLY SEND US your answers BY EMAIL to: theblackboxclub.com

DEADLINE:

ALL entries must be in by the closing date of this competition: 12 o'clock MID DAY GMT SUNDAY 13TH JULY 2014. The winners names will announced here on the pcasuk facebook page ONE HOUR LATER.

AND FINALLY...
Good Luck Everyone. Have Fun - marcus (admin)

HERE WE GO....

 

You can still order a copy of The Peter Cushing Scrapbook 

for a super Deal price. Just CLICK  HERE

 

Find out more about Peveril Publishing Here

CAPTAIN CLEGG : PIRATES, SMUGGLING AND MARSH PHANTOMS: SOON ON BLU RAY.

A small English village is beset by a horde of "phantoms" on horseback and it's up to the intrepid Captain Collier (Patrick Allen) to get to the bottom of things...

Author Russell Thorndyke hit paydirt in 1915 with the release of his book Dr. Syn: A Tale of the Romney Marsh.  The book proved to be so successful that he was able to revisit the character for further installments in the mid 1930s.  The story caught the attention of British filmmakers in 1937, when it was first adapted to the cinema as Dr. Syn.  The legendary stage and screen thespian George Arliss played the lead role(s): the mild-mannered parson Dr. Syn who is really just a front for his true, bloodthirsty persona of the smuggler, Captain Clegg.



The film was directed by the gifted Irish-born filmmaker Roy William Neill, who found success in Hollywood directing the superior Boris Karloff vehicle The Black Room (1935) before becoming identified with the Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce series of Sherlock Holmes sequels at Universal.

When Hammer decided to take a stab at the property in the early 1960s, they did so without realizing that filmmaking giant Walt Disney had already optioned the Thorndike property for a film of his own.  Hammer eventually got wind of this, however, and decided to change the name of the central character in  order to avoid any possible legal woes.  And so it came to be that Captain Clegg (as it was known in the UK; the film would be released in America as Night Creatures) went before the cameras, in slightly revised form. The film would beat the Disney version to the punch by one year and for many, it remains the superior film.

 

The Disney production had a top notch cast, headed by the great Patrick McGoohan (just a year from his turn as TV's Secret Agent, and several from his most iconic role as The Prisoner), but felt a bit watered down and too mild for its own good.  The Hammer version may have lacked the studio's traditional emphasis on bodice-ripping and Kensington gore, but it made up for it with oodles of atmosphere.

The film is inevitably dominated by the presence of Hammer's top star of the time, Peter Cushing.  Cushing approached the role of Dr. Blyss (as he had been renamed) with tremendous enthusiasm. Indeed, he was so pleased with his work on the film that he yearned to make a sequel of his own.  He even took it upon himself to pen a script outline, but it never went beyond that.  Captain Clegg thus presented him with his only opportunity to play the challenging dual role and he certainly made the most of every opportunity.  Cushing's studious and kindly persona is well suited to the outwardly meek character of Blyss but, true to form, he is able to switch off the charm at a moment's notice and play it properly ruthless when he lets his mask down and reveals his true nature as Captain Clegg.  Cushing's dedication extended to participating in some potentially dangerous stunt scenes, whether it be grappling with monolithic Milton Reid or indulging in some bouts of Douglas Fairbanks-esque derring-do.

In addition to Cushing, the film is graced with an outstanding supporting cast.  The delightful Patrick Allen is, well, a delight as the rather thick-headed but brave Captain Collier.  Allen's latern-jawed good looks and imposing frame make him an ideal adversary to Cushing's wily anti-hero and the two actors play off each other beautifully.  The scene wherein Collier tries to get the upper hand on Blyss but is too dim witted to be able to follow it through to its logical conclusion is a master class in acting, with Cushing subtly conveying a condescending air of contempt while Allen bluffs and blusters without realizing just how right he really is.

Oliver Reed is cast in the somewhat less rewarding role of Harry, the young juvenile.  Reed's magnetic screen presence helps to bring the character to life, but it's a wet towel of a role and there's only so much he can do with it.  Hammer fans will no doubt get a kick out of seeing him performing some love scenes with the statuesque Yvonne Romain, however, given that the previous year the two had played - get this - mother and son in Curse of the Werewolf!  Romain is adequate in her role, but the real meat is to be found in the character roles played so beautifully by the likes of Jack MacGowran (in his only Hammer horror), Derek Francis, Martin Benson and, most notably, Michael Ripper.

Ripper had played his fair share of grave robbers, village drunks and inn keepers for Hammer - he'd even been uncomfortably cast as a Japanese officer in Camp on Blood Island!  Few of these roles gave Ripper a great deal of screen time, but that changed with his appearance in this film as Mr. Mipps.  Mipps is Clegg's right hand man, a loyal and faithful retainer who is willing to lay down his life to protect his master.  Ripper is heartbreaking in the role, which gives him far more to do than any of his other roles for Hammer, barring his juicy parts in John Gilling's The Reptile and The Mummy's Shroud

The film is very well directed by the late Peter Graham Scott, who made his one and only film for Hammer here - fortunately for the fans, it's a good one.  Scott paces the action very well, ensuring that it seldom gets bogged down in overly padded dialogue scenes, and working in tandem with director of photography Arthur Grant, he creates some stunning images of the so-called phantoms (in reality, disguised smugglers) riding through the swamps at night.

It's a brisk and entertaining film, milder than the norm for Hammer, but still well worth seeing. Cushing and Ripper fans will find it to be essential, in particular.

Review: Troy Howarth
Images & Artwork: Marcus Brooks