WORLD PREMIER OF HAMMER FRANKENSTEIN AND DRACULA SCORES RELEASED!

NEWS: AS REPORTED here at PCASUK in MAY this year, TADLOW MUSIC had been very busy recording the COMPLETE musical scores of BOTH Hammer films 'The Curse of Frankenstein' and 'Dracula' as written by James Bernard. BELOW is a link to not only place your easily place your order, but also sample some of the score, all Newly Recorded in Stunning and Dynamic Digital Sound! The scores are performed by the Acclaimed and Award-Winning City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra Conducted by Nic Raine with some new score and Bernard’s own Orchestrations Reconstructed by Leigh Phillips . Each disc is accompanied by a 20-Page Full-Colour Booklet with Informative Sleeve Notes by Hammer Film Music Expert David Huckvale – plus numerous original film stills and posters. Both discs sound amazing! The RELEASE Date for both recordings is OCT 25th 2019….just in time for Halloween !

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO SAMPLES and place YOUR order :HERE!

NEWS: CLASSIC DRACULA AND FRANKENSTEIN ENTIRE SCORES PREMIERE ON CD RELEASE THIS SUMMER

NEWS: COMING THIS SUMMER! 'Dracula / Horror of Dracula' and 'The Curse of Frankenstein' World Premiere digital recording of the COMPLETE scores composed by James Bernard, from the classic Hammer horror films, starring #PeterCushing and #ChristopherLee. Performed by the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and conducted by Nic Raine. Scores reconstructed by Leigh Phillips. CD booklet notes by Hammer film score and music aficionado, David Huckvale. Produced by James Fitzpatrick and Leigh Phillips. Release Summer 2019. These releases are not to be confused with any previous Hammer film soundtrack releases on CD. More NEWS and details as we get it 😉 - Marcus

ABOVE A LARGE SCAN taken from our original press kit photograph of Christopher Lee and Melissa Stribling in Hammer films, 'Dracula' / 'Horror of Dracula. It was this photograph that amazing artist Bill Wiggins, used for the UK quad cinema poster. That poster sold in auction last year in Ireland for £14,000 
 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MELVYN HAYES : THE YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN OF 1957!

JOIN US IN WISHING MELVYN HAYES a VERY Happy Birthday today. Melvyn was born today January 11th 1935, and since 1950 when he was "disappearing twice daily for £4 per week" performing the indian rope trick in Maskelyne's Mysteries at the Comedy Theatre in London! A very long and accomplished career on stage, tv and the big screen. Melvyn is quite an institution in the UK, having appeared in many TV dramas, soaps and comedy shows, the most successful probably being 'It Aint Half Hot Mum' in the 1970's. The show is now banished to 'Room 101' at the BBC, being considered like many shows from that era, quite UN-PC... you decide?

MELVYN WORKED WITH Peter Cushing as the young Baron Frankenstein in Cushing's first film for Hammer, 'The Curse of Frankenstein' (1957) he appeared as Daft Jamie in the brilliant 'Flesh and the Fiends' (1960) and with Cushing in 'Violent Playground' (1958) His last appearance with Peter was in the doomed 'A Touch of the Sun' in 1979 with Oliver Reed..

HAYES, MCCALLUM and ONE OTHER Brit comedian, in the middle! Can you name him?

A VERSATILE ACTOR, who stays young at 84, who will no doubt be having a real knees up and party as we wish him, Many Happy Returns Today 😉 Happy Birthday Melvyn and many more to come!

ON THE FACE OF IT MUCH WORST IS YET TO COME!

THE HAVING FUN promotional photograph of both actres sDONNA REED and CHRISTOPHER LEE at the Savoy Hotel, during a cock-tail party for the release of 'BEYOND MOMBASA' a film that Reed and Lee starred in, gives a little insight to how soon Christopher Lee's career and public persona would soon change forever and no one would dream of pulling his beard ever again!

EVERY POST THAT WE MAKE HERE is also posted and shared onto our FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE where fans and lovers of Peter Cushing life and work, debate and comment on the post. If you would like to join them along with 33,000 other friends and followers, simply CLICK HERE  and CLICK LIKE there! You will be most welcome!

THE SUNDAY DOUBLE BILL: CALLUM MCKELVIE TAKES TWO!

THE 'DOUBLE BILL' is something of a tradition within the film industry. Simply put it meant- ‘two for the price of one’. Originally used pre-cinema in Opera houses, it came into prominence in the 1930’s after the Great Depression. With the film industry suffering heavy losses, a number of cinemas chose to offer the two-for-one scheme, as a hope of luring punters back into the seats. 

SUFFICE TO SAY it worked and since then double bills were something of staple. However by the end of the 20th century, as the number of low-budget films being given theatrical releases lessened they began to go out of fashion and are now exceedingly rare. None the less the appeal to ciniphiles is still there and they can often be found at festivals, usually featuring two themed or related films.

THE 'THEMED DOUBLE BILL' is the subject of today’s piece (and of two following pieces), namely what is the perfect Cushing double bill? I’ll be discussing three trios of films that in my mind complement each other. They can be directly related, as are today’s or can simply be of thematic interest. However, they must of course both star Peter Cushing in some capacity. 

STATING WITH a somewhat obvious one, today I’ll be discussing 1957’s The Curse of Frankenstein and 1958’s The Revenge of Frankenstein, but more specifically, how they complement each other. Curse and Revenge are the first two instalments in Hammer’s Frankenstein series, one of course being the granddaddy of Hammer’s gothic output. Whilst the first is a truncated retelling of the Frankenstein story, putting emphasis on the Baron as more of a villain, the sequel brings events full circle. Together, they show the rise and fall of Baron Frankenstein with his eventual fate as his own creation.

TO BEGIN WITH, this probably makes the most obvious pairing simply as Revenge picks up exactly where Curse left off, meaning that watched back to back it feels like one consistent epic.  Furthermore, unlike some of the later incarnations of the character (for example the more softer version seen in The Evil of Frankenstein or vicious incarnation that features in Frankenstein Must be Destroyed) these are clearly supposed to be the same man.

MUCH OF THE SETS are recycled and  virtually identical and Hammer even got the same actor (Alex Gallier) who played the priest in Curse to reprise his role at the start of this film. This means that unlike other Hammer sequels, Revenge often feels like a natural progression of Curse. Terrance Fisher returns and the only notable admission is James Bernard, who is replaced by Leonard Salzedo. I for one adore Salzedo’s score and it’s certainly up there with my favourite Hammer soundtrack, fitting the atmosphere of Revenge perfectly. The final end credits fanfare is chillingly powerful.

WHAT REALLY MAKES these two films complement each other however, is the rich thematic nature in which one story reflects the other. I discussed briefly some of the varying levels in Revenge’s script during my tribute to Jimmy Sangster. However when watched back to back these two films have elements which show a great intelligence in Sangster’s work. The progression to brain transplants comes across as incredibly natural and the bravery in having the revenge as not a physical one (a slice and dice would have been so easy) but more of a philosophical one (he has to prove himself right), shows an incredible understanding of the character. With the Baron somewhat younger in the first film, he is the pupil to Paul Krempe (Robert Urquhart) who through the course of the film becomes the more dominant figure. 


IN REVENGE that Baron seems to have aged tremendously due to his near death experience and this time it is he who has the pupil, in Francis Matthews’s Hanz. Throughout the course of this film we see Hanz grow and learn, until at the finale it is he who must perform the brain transplant upon the Baron. 

THE FACT THAT this then results in the only successful operation, the final shot being Hanz looking on proudly at the new Baron, presents a wonderful circularity to these films. We see the Baron first develop his concept of creating life and then further this into brain transplants. We see his two failed experiments but we also see him grow and develop as a character, from pupil to teacher.

OF COURSE MUCH of this is down to Cushing, who in the space of a year manages two performances of the same character but in entirely different mind-sets. Thanks to him, we believe that this is the same man and that he really has been through a horrific experience, which has just made him more determined to continue. Indeed the most horrifying thing in Revenge is Cushing’s uttering of the line ‘they will never be rid of me’. The determination is so powerful as to be utterly chilling.

WELL THAT'S IT for this weeks double bill, but join me again next Sunday as I’ll be discussing another perfect pair…
 

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 

WHEN MELVYN HAYES MET CHRISTOPHER LEE . . AGAIN!

#CHRISTOPHERLEESATURDAY! WHEN ACTOR MELVYN HAYES met Christopher Lee many years after he played a young Baron Frankenstein to Peter Cushing adult Baron in Hammer films first Frankenstein film, 'The Curse of Frankenstein' (1957) Christopher Lee was a virtual unknown actor at the time he appeared in the film as the 'creation' / 'monster' . .. which both Hayes and Peter 'MADE' in the movie. . . . .cringe....

THE VERY FIRST TIME I ever saw MELVYN HAYES, was on the big screen in a SATURDAY MORNING FILM CLUB for children when I was about nine years old. He played a character called ALBERT, that I loved very much, in a weekly film serial that was screened as part of the morning's entertainment called, Here Comes The Double Deckers!'. It was produced by the UK Children Film Foundation, which I believe provide funded by RANK CINEMAS, who provided all the films we watched. Maybe some of you from the UK may remember this?

IN THE COURSE of my duties managing PCASUK in the 80's I finally got to meet Melvyn. He was extremely friendly, loved to talk and share stories. Melvyn also appeared in other films that starred Peter Cushing, 'VIOLENT PLAYGROUND' (1958) which as he said, is a REAL time piece and as Daft Jamie in 'FLESH AND THE FIENDS' (1960) and finally in,  'A TOUCH OF SUN' (1980) which was one of the lost film features in our 'LESSER SEEN PETER CUSHING FILMS' season. It can be seen at our PCAS YOUTUBE CHANNEL 

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  

WHAT A BOUNDER! CHEAT AND CAD! MONSTER MONDAY : PAUL KEMPT

#MONSTERMONDAY! If I may borrow from the late, Terry-Thomas, What A Bounder! Paul Kempt, assistant to Cushing's Baron in Hammer films, #thecurseoffrankenstein. At the Baron's hour of need, just minutes away from the guillotine, he begs for his friends help.... Cushing pulls out the stops in his emotional pleading . It's a cracking scene, made all the more powerful by Paul's cold stand off behavior. Should he have helped the his friend, Frankenstein?? What a monster! You DECIDE . . .

AROUND THE 48 SECOND MARK, Cushing applies quite a clever technique... for just a second, he looks at the camera, deliberately. He breaks, THE FOURTH WALL, in order to connect with the viewer. It's pretty neat, and something I had not noticed before today, while looking at the clip. If you take a look at a similar scene at the end of his performance as Winston Smith in the BBC 1984 (1954), he does it there too, to brilliant effect. 

(THE FOURTH WALL is a theatrical term for the imaginary “wall” that exists between actors on stage and the audience. ... The same effect often occurs in movies, only the fourth wall in that instance is a camera lens.)

#petercushing #frankenstein #hammerfilms #wow! #didntknowthat #bounder

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 . . 

BREAKING NEWS! TCM HAS A CUSHING FEST LINE UP FOR HALLOWEEN 2017

NEWS: Coming up during October a selection of Peter Cushing films to be aired on TCM in the US.

15th - Horror of Dracula (1958) - 8pm eastern/5pm pacific

15th - The Brides of Dracula (1960) - 9:45pm eastern/6:45pm pacific

17th - The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) - 9:45pm eastern/6:45pm pacific

17th - The Mummy ( 1959) - 11:15pm eastern/8:15pm pacific

24th - From Beyond the Grave (1973) - 3:30am eastern/12:30am pacific

29th - Dracula A.D. 1972 ( 1972) - 10pm eastern/7pm pacific

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   

#CHRISTOPHERLEESATURDAY! CHRISTOPHER LEE AND EDDIE POWELL STUNT-DOUBLE POSE FOR A SNAP

#CHRISTOPHERLEESATURDAY! LEE X2! Christopher Lee and his long time stand in and stunt double, the lovely Eddie Powell on set during the making of 'The Care of Time' (1989)

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