THROWBACKTHURSDAY: TO VINTAGE HAMMER FRANKENSTEIN AND MUMMY ON SET

#ThrowbackThursday: A rare peep onto the set of Hammer films, 'Frankenstein Created Woman' at Bray studios, with Peter Cushing and Peter Madden all set for the camera to roll. Those you who know the film, will also know this scene is one of Cushing's Hammer Frankenstein vocal repore highlights, where his dialogue in the dock, shows how the Baron could, if needed, reduce authority figures into a bumbling half-wits. We would see it again,to jaw drop and marvelous effect in Cushimg and Hammer's next Frankenstein film, 'Must Be Destroyed', where his sharp tongue would 'slap the pomp and stupid' out of a party of toffs and top hatters 😉 Peter Madden would also appear, sadly briefly, in the last Hammer Cushing Frankenstein film, 'Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell' in 1974.

#THROWBACKTHURSDAY: January 11th 1971. An on set, off camera rare photograph of Peter Cushing as Professor Julian Fuchs and Valerie Leon as daughter Margaret Fuchs , during Peter Cushing's one day of shooting on the Hammer films, 'Blood From The Mummy's Tomb'. Sadly, it was a set and role to which Cushing would never return, Helen Cushing, Peter's wife was taken ill on this day and died shortly after, on January 14th 1971. Actor Andrew Keir would step into the role, just three days later. Cushing would return to work and Hammer films two months later, with the role of Gustav Weil in 'TWINS OF EVIL'.

FULL FEATURE AND STILLS GALLERY FROM 'TWINS OF EVIL' : The Collinson PUT THE BITE into HAMMER : CLICK HERE!

REMEMBER REMEMBER THE FIFTH OF NOVEMBER AND GUSTAV MIGHT JUST BURN YOUR HOUSE DOWN!

BLAZES AND HEAVEN to murgatroyed! What's all this? Bonfire Night in the UK...marking the evil doings of one Guy Fawkes and his band of plotters back in 1605, who tried to burn down and destroy the Houses of Paliament in London 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... BELOW are FOUR blazing finishes to FOUR Peter Cushing films. Just for fun can you name the films? Answers later ALONG with the answer to LAST WEEK'S Tuesday Toughy and a brand now one for this week. PLEASE come join the post at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE , where EVERYONE is having a go at guessing the images!  🙂 Have fun and tonight stay safe!

A COMPLETE GALLERY of rare promo photographs and MUCH more in OUR FEATURE on Peter Cushing and Hammer films, TWINS OF EVIL JUST CLICK HERE!

MOMENTS OF TERROR MONDAY: GUSTAV ON THE MARCH AND FACE TO FACE WITH THE COUNT : TWO CLIPS AND GIFS!

#MOMENTSOFTERRORMONDAY! After, 'You may fire, when ready!' and 'Attack the Daleks!' 'The Devil has sent me, Twins of Evil!' is probably one of the most quoted Peter Cushing lines of dialogue. And with good reason. Peter Cushing here playing the tyrannical, Gustav Weil...see what they did there?... squeezes every drop of fear out of that line. If you've seen Hammer films 'Twins of Evil' (1971) you would have witness, one of the tightest performances, after his turn as Baron Frankenstein in Hammer's 'Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed' (1969), Cushing ever committed to film.

TWINS OF EVIL was the first film that Cushing appeared in, after traumatic passing of his wife, Helen. He spent just three months away from work, the man who returned was a great deal leaner, withdrawn and now sadly broken. What we see on the screen is raw. Which makes the viewing of his playing of Weil, all the more sadder and yet, compulsive . .

SPOILER! If there was ever a on the edge of your seat moment in a Hammer film, featuring Peter Cushing, THIS would probably be it. Count Karnstein and Gustav Weil go face to face, in the final moments of Hammer films, 'Twins of Evil' (1971)

REMEMBER! 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  .

#THROWBACKTHURSDAY! BFI ANNOUNCE CUSHING ACTOR OF THE 70'S AND WE REMEMBER NIGEL STOCK

Remembering Today: NIGEL STOCK a superb Watson in the BBC 'Sherlock Holmes' television series of the 60's, with Peter Cushing as Holmes. Sadly, Stock left us in 1986, aged 66....Today would have been his birthday...

NEWS: #THROWBACKTHURSDAY!THE BFI (British Film Institute) have announced they are BUILDING an online film database in which they are breaking down which UK actors appeared in the MOST films in each decade . .. . Peter Cushing represents the 1970's. Wow! What do you think of THAT???

'To launch its online filmography database, the BFI also broke down statistics by decade. The men with the most film appearances are John Le Mesurier (1960s), Peter Cushing (1970s), Robbie Coltrane (1980s), Keith Allen (1990s), Sir Michael Gambon (2000s) and Jim Broadbent (2010s). For actresses, Marianne Stone dominated the 1960s-1970s, followed by Liz Smith (1980s), Sadie Frost (1990s), Shirley Henderson (2000s) and Kate Dickie (2010s) . .. 'The Daily Telegraph' Sept 20th 2017.

#THROWBACKTHURSDAY!: Here is a meeting of the casts from TWO hammer films in released 1971. . . . almost 46 years ago. Eric Porter from 'Hands of the Ripper', the Collinson Twins and Peter Cushing from 'Twins of Evil' .... in the middle producer / director Michael Carreras.

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     

GREAT GIFS! HEAD GIRL GETS THE CHOP : BYRON NEEDS MORE CREDIT AND FILM POSTER GAG THE FIRST?

#SILENTBUTDEADLYWEDNESDAY! : A fine SHOCK to push poor old Paul Toombes over the edge in Amicus films, 'MADHOUSE'. Toombes played by #VINCENTPRICE is really pulled through the mill in this fine little shocker. Added value of also having Peter Cushing and AIP groomed Robert Quarry in the cast too. There's a very dark thread of humor that runs through this film and the slight lifting of the veil reveals the tacky and catty spats behind the tinsel and glamour of the Hollywood set. A fancy dress 'A-List' party takes place with the usual hanger-on's and ex's in attendance. Price wonderfully, sits bored and boiling in a smoke puffing, pouty sulk, while Cushing glides around, champagne in hand, dressed in a vampire costume. Worth the price of my ticket alone! And  Julie Croswaithe in the gif here? She had it coming .....in the school of horror, she was the HEAD GIRL!

#SILENTBUTDEADLYWEDNESDAY! : If you are a regular to this site, then you'll know how much I love this story from #AMICUSFILMS, 'From Beyond The Grave'. It's a clever device I think, that both THE DOOR and the evil Sir Michael Sinclair are entwined! An axe blow to the fabric of the door, is a blow to Sinclair too! Stand by, as I once again, share glowing observations about the lighting in this story....it's a dream and cinematographer Alan Hume, was a gifted wizard! The set, lighting and dressings are the stars of this segment, not that #IanOgilvy, #LesleyAnneDown and Jack Watson don't do a fabulous job, it all works together. 'The Door' is the twin-terror treat, along with #PeterCushing's 'Poetic Justice' in the Amicus portmanteau party top table spread!

Just two weeks ago...I paid homage!!!

#SILENTBUTDEADLYWEDNESDAY! : 'What kind of plumage is this? For birds of paradise?' You have to love a scriptwriter who gives Peter Cushing, the opportunity to say a line like that! And to say, Gustav's first meeting with his niece's doesn't go well, is an understatement! There are fans who watch #HAMMERFILMS 'Twins of Evil' for different reasons, some for THAT plumage, some for Peter Cushing and some for the several satanic set-to's, between Damian Thomas and Cushing. Me? I get a double treat, not from the two performances, as good as they are, from Collinson Twins... but from Cushing AND KATHLEEN BYRON! It may bypass most viewers attentions that this is THE Kathleen Byron, who starred as Sister Ruth in the truly amazing 1947 classic, #BLACKNARCISSUS, alongside Deborah Kerr, Flora Robson and Jean Simmons.  

Byron also ticked several boxes in the Sherlock and fantasy genre too, with two appearances with Jeremy Brett's Holmes, casting in the Lee and Cushing 'Nothing But The Night', also the spooky 'Night of the Eagle', the cult tv series 'The Avengers' and just about every supernatural drama series that the BBC put out between the late 1950's,  until her sad passing just 2009 at the age of 88. A beautiful actress of substance, who for a time after Narcissus, frustratingly got typed in neurotic roles. Thankfully, she broke that mold and went on to give us many interesting and entertaining performances. Kathleen Byron : 1921 - 2009.

#SILENTBUTDEADLYWEDNESDAY!: I am probably missing something obvious here... but until I saw this shot in the #AMICUS film, 'Dr Terror's House of Horrors', that clever nod to the film, where Roy Castle's character spots a cinema poster, that's promoting the feature film. . . . he was actually appearing in...I couldn't remember another film, that had pulled that trick. CAN YOU?

EVERY #MONSTERMONDAY!

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 : THE TERRIBLE TWINS!

#MONSTERMONDAY, The age ol story of 'good twin, bad twin' worked very nicely in #hammerfilms 'Twins of Evil' and Cushing a rare opportunity to tackle a female 'monster' for a change. Yes, there had been plenty of female vampires, but the cunning 'deadly beauty' and the is she or isn't the evil twin, added another string to plot. Also Maria and Frieda, were the nieces of 'man of God on a mission' Gustav Weil played with much pathos by Cushing.

IT'S A SHAME that the Collinson twins didn't get more opportunities with Hammer, but like the character in the film, come the end...they got the CHOP!

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