#WATCHWITHCUSHING! IN THE PARIS SEWERS THEY CAN HEAR GROWLING! #SELFISOLATEANDWATCH!

TODAY'S  #WatchWithCushing is 1975's 'LEGEND OF THE WEREWOLF' at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE! Along with Tyburn's 'The Ghoul' these were films that were produced in a style from another time...and that was the producers intention. Hope you enjoy it! If you have not seen it before, we'd love you to  post your opinions and views on the news thread.

HERE IS PART ONE of our PCAS 'THE MAKING OF THE LEGEND OF THE WEREWOLF' feature which includes rare images, quotes and interviews with actor David Rintoul on playing the role of Etoile and the task of applying the make up. There is also quite extensive details from Peter Cushing on how he prepared for the role of Parisian pathologist, Paul Catafanque. Along with details from producer, Kevin Francis it makes an impressive first look into the huge task of making a movie...

ABOVE: THE UK 'LEGEND OF THE WEREWOLF' TRAILER, with DANISH subtitles and a narration by the wonderful tv, radio and film veteran, Valentine Dyall!

#PETERCUSHING MOMENT OF TERROR MONDAY! LEGEND OF THE WEREWOLF : HUNT IN THE SEWERS OF PARIS!

#MOMENTOFTERRORMONDAY! Carrying on....from the werewolf themed  films featured in yesterday's Weekend Double Feature here at the website, I've pulled the final moments from 'Legend of the Werewolf' (1975) for this weeks, #CUSHINGMOMENTOFTERROR MONDAY!. As most of us here know, it's one half of a pair of films, that #PeterCushing made with Tyburn films in the mid 1970's... a nice little thriller / horror film made in the style of films that were made twenty years or so, BEFORE this one. At the time this film was made, the film industry in the UK was in pieces, despite CEO Kevin Francis making a few features with his company Tyburn, plans to produce other movies, were shelved and the two Tyburn terrors, both starring #PeterCushing, still awaiting a legit dvd or blu ray release, becoming maybe two of the 'most wanted' on most PC's fans film wish list.

 CATCH UP WITH THIS REVIEW AND GALLERY FROM 

THE PCAS ARCHIVES : HERE!

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

A HOWLING DOUBLE BILL WEEKEND : CALLUM MCKELVIE ON SUNDAY CLIPS GIFS STILLS AND WHOLE MOVIE!

OUR FINAL Cushing-double feature this week is intended to go against the grain somewhat. The Curse of Frankenstein and The Revenge of Frankenstein were thematically, visually and stylistically linked being the first two entries in a series. The Skull and The Creeping Flesh on the other hand, despite being years apart shared the same director and had very similar thematic interests. Today’s final double bill features two films that both belong to the same sub-genre but apart from that are stylistically and thematically different. It is those differences I want to discuss and those differences that I feel make The Beast Must Die (1974) and Legend of the Werewolf (1975) the perfect ‘werewolf’ double feature.

DESPITE BEING THE ONLY TWO Werewolf movies Cushing made (well unless you count the segment in 1964’s Dr Terrors House of Horrors that he’s not in) there’s very little to connect these two films. The Beast Must Die is in reality more of an action thriller, attempting to ride the ‘Blaxploitation’ wave that was occurring at the time. Thus the film is accompanied by a ‘funky’ soundtrack and numerous action set-pieces.

TELLING THE STORY of Calvin Lockhart’s obsessive hunter Tom Newcliffe, the plot follows his gathering of five individuals at his home. Early on he reveals that he believes one of the gathered number to be a werewolf and he is determined to hunt the creature down. The film is the same manner as a contemporary thriller but mixed with an Agatha Christie like sensibility. Legend of the Werewolf on the other hand (along with the excellent The Ghoul) is one of a number of Tyburn films that were deliberate throwbacks to the early years of Hammer . A period piece, the film reverts to the traditional ‘werewolf as tragic figure’ mould and has a number of similarities to 1961’s The Curse of the Werewolf.

SO IF INDEED, other than both featuring a werewolf and Peter Cushing, there is very little to connect these two films, why would I suggest watching them as a double bill? Well put simply that is the reason. Two films from the dying days of the British horror boom, they demonstrate remarkably different approaches to the crisis. Both use the Werewolf myth (why that monster in particular I have no idea) but it is the difference in treatment of this well-known monster that makes these two films interesting.

THE BEAST MUST DIE looks across the pond to the American thrillers being produced at the time and thus chooses to rely less on the horrific and more on action. I did a larger piece on The Beast Must Die sometime back and it’s a film which though certainly entertaining, few would call outright successful. However when watched back-to-back with Legend of the Werewolf, I actually found myself gaining much greater appreciation for Beast. Now I want to point out that I adore Legend but when viewed in the context of the time it was made, it appears a very odd move to do something that relies as much on old tropes and conventions as this film does. 



IN THE FACE OF MUCH DARKER and more visceral horror’s along the lines of The Exorcist, Night of the Living Dead and Texas Chainsaw Massacre it seems a bizarre move to emulate the early years of Hammer, a studio who by this point was on its last legs. Watched devoid of any of this context, Legend is a rip roaring gothic melodrama in the style of old. Watched within this context it’s a fitting tribute to the main figures within Hammer but can only really be viewed as something of poorly judged exercise in nostalgia, looking back to the past, when the present was taking the genre in new and exciting directions.

THE BEAST MUST DIE on the other hand is a similar misfire, but all the more enjoyable for the brave attempts to try and escape the rut that most of its British Horror contemporaries had entered. Unfortunately poor production values and a script that stretches its thing plot far beyond its means, doom what could have been a powerful early 70’s thriller. As it is Beast stands as a fascinating artefact of the bizarre ways that the giants of British Horror cinema were attempting to cope with the ‘new wave’.

 

 

I REALISE THAT throughout this piece I’ve sounded incredibly negative towards these two films, truth be told both are incredibly enjoyable. Which is the best? Well without doubt Legend but Beast has its moments too. Before starting this double bill I suggest watching the third instalment of Mark Gatiss’s excellent A History of Horror which contextualises the environment in which these two films were made and shows what they had to compete with. As it is, Cushing’s two entries into the werewolf sub-genre make an excellent pairing, demonstrating two different approaches to dwindling box office returns on British Horror films. 

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

#MONSTERMONDAY: LEGEND OF THE WEREWOLF : DANISH TRAILER

#MONSTERMONDAY: Before we announce the WINNER of our Peter Cushing 'The Ghoul Autograph' Competition...here's another example of Peter's work with Tyburn films, 'The Legend of the Werewolf', a quite rare trailer, with Danish subtitles! I am sure you can guess who that is doing the voice over on this? We'll be announcing our LUCKY WINNER next, here and at our PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE!

WATCH THE MASKS OF DEATH : HERE  & LEGEND OF THE WEREWOLF : HERE

Our REVIEW FEATURE and RARE STILLS GALLERY on 'LEGEND OF
THE WEREWOLF' HERE!

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: TYBURN'S LEGEND OF THE WEREWOLF ETOILE

#MONSTERMONDAY: WHEN HAMMER FILMS released their one and only 'werewolf' themed film in 1961, The Curse of the Werewolf, Oliver Reed's portrayal of the cursed 'Leon' cast a very large and terrifying shadow over any attempt at that theme for a long time. Maybe it was only in 1981, with the arrival of 'An American Werewolf In London' did the 'go to' reference shift from Olly and Hammer. 

IT WASN'T AS IF there were no other lycanthropic releases until then,far from it, it's just that like many 'Monster pictures'...the film flies or fails on the performance of the actor and without doubt, the appearance and standard of the make up job. Roy Ashton, the artist behind the hammer make up on Curse, did such an amazing job, to take what had been seen sometimes as, 'an actor with a LOT of YAK hair glued to his face.... and make a convincing wolf-man creation, from latex and hair. 

#MONSTERMONDAY: Professor Paul (Peter Cushing) saying goodbye to his sliver cane from Tyburn's Legend Of The Werewolf (1975)

BOTH ASHTON and 'Legend' make up artist Graham Freeborn, favored the 'white timber-wolf' appearance...which somehow gave the man wolf a more neater, groomed and realistic appearance..a far cry from what had sometimes looked like the results of man caught in 'glue pot, freak wind, sweepings from barber shop floor' incident! David Rintoul played the unfortunate Etoile, the lycanthrope of the film's title....who until that time, had never set foot or paw in a film studio.

MORE ON LEGEND OF THE WEREWOLF : HERE!

HOW DO YOU RATE Rintoul's werewolf appearance and performance? BTW.....Back in 1978 we were the first to have interviewed David Rintoul about this role and his time with Peter Cushing and Tyburn..... I hope to share this video interview, in it's entirety when we launch the PCAS POD CASTS and on our ever expanding youtube channel later in the year...

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 reach our 30K following total for Peter Cushing BIRTHDAY on MAY 26th 2017 AND Help Keep The Memory Alive!

#TBT : A BIT OF A CANINE WHIFF TO TODAY'S POSTS . . .

THERE'S A DEFINITE CANINE WHIFF, to this weeks ‪#‎throwbackthursday‬! A lovely example of Peter playing 'black comedy' in a scene from Tyburn films, 'Legend of the Werewolf' below, as we remember one of three flirts Cushing had with monsters, of the barking kind! Later today, we have the very 'barking' results from last weeks' 'Twilight Time Baskervilles Blu Ray Compo! 

THEN WE WILL BE BRINGING YOU SOME very early Hollywood Peter Cushing, in a clip from a film, that sounds as if it COULD be about a dog, but thankfully isn't! All that to come, in the meantime, let's sit and 'growl' about the fact that Legend of the Werewolf STILL isn't available as a commercial dvd or blu ray... it's enough to get anyone howling!!

Join US at our FACEBOOK FAN PAGE AND here at the WEBSITE!

#TOOCOOLTUESDAY : CUSHING POSES FOR LEGEND OF THE WEREWOLF PINEWOOD

#toocooltuesday : Peter Cushing poses for the press at Piewood studios, during the making of Tyburn Films, Legend of the Werewolf (Francis 1974)

Find out MORE on Legend of the Werewolf 

in our FEATURE above : CLICK HERE

 

FEATURE and GALLERY OF HI RES LOBBY STILLS to be found at our

website. Just CLICK HERE

Please come and JOIN US at our OFFICIAL Facebook Fan Page! UPDATED

EVERY day! News, Features, Rare and Unpublished photographs

and COMPETITIONS! Just CLICK HERE 

LEGEND OF THE WEREWOLF: 'I AM PARTICULARLY INTERESTED IN YOUR WOLVES!'

 

Peter Cushing as police pathologist and amateur detective, Paul Cataflanque in 'Legend of the Werewolf' (Tyburn 1975)

.....'..Cushing seems to be enjoying himself enormously - almost all his scenes, until the last have a ghoulish humour about them. It is never forced, it is just a witty, clever, concentrated performance. Cataflanque is eating his tea as the newest cadaver is brought in. 'Ooh dear,' Cushing clucks, with his mouth full, peering under the sheet, 'that's very nasty...' He gets rid of his pompous superiors by mischievously presenting them with a gullet and when he does a bit of undercover research in the local brothel he is left bashfully holding a frilly garter!'
( David Miller, The Peter Cushing Companion. 2000)

'LEGEND OF THE WEREWOLF' RON MOODY AND PETER CUSHING

Ron Moody Remembers Peter Cushing:
 

"Some scripts are so terribly over the top, there's a terrible temptation to send them up" I said to Peter Cushing. We were sitting in the late summer sunshine outside a very realistic French bistro on the lot of Pinewood studios, between takes on Tyburn films, 'Legend of the Werewolf'. I was playing the zooo keeper, and regarded the whole thing as a bit of a half term holiday, so i was decked out in a stove pipe bowler hat, a black embrosse wig, a ten o'clock shadow and set of buck teeth that made me look like a Neanderthal throwback! Actually, I rather thought I looked like Humphrey Boart. Anyway, if the hero could be a werewolf, why shouldn't the zoo keeper be an ape? Here, I must add, Freddie Francis, the director, thought it was a very funny idea.

Peter didn't. He surveyed me quizzically for a moment, his eyes twinkled. "If you were sending it up" he said, "We wouldn't have you on the film." And he MEANT it. For this sweet-natured, gentle man, dangerously on the verge of sainthood, there could be no mockery of his beloved craft. He played every one of his 'horror roles' with no less dedication then he had applied to his earlier classical career and the stream of powerful dramas that had established him as television's leading actor. His total belief and immersion in everything he did lifted these fantasy / horror tales from the banal to the believable, he commanded respect for the genre, lifted it up, almost single highhandedly, to the level of credibility that made everyone of them a minor classic!

Working with a great actor, something always brushes off! My zoo keeper, hair, hat, teeth and all, was never sent up! In fact, I like to think that my animal man was totally believable, completely identified within film, and had, dare I presume to say it, a touch of Cushing

DAVID RINTOUL PETER CUSHING AND RON MOODY: TYBURN'S 'LEGEND OF THE WEREWOLF' LINK

Don't miss our Feature and Gallery on Tyburn Films 'Legend of the Werewolf' Starring Peter Cushing, Ron Moody and David Rintoul. Just click on the link: HERE

LEGEND OF THE WEREWOLF: PETER CUSHING AS PAUL CATAFLANQUE

Peter Cushing as Paul Cataflanque in Tyburn Films 'LEGEND OF THE WEREWOLF' (1975)