SHERLOCK HOLMES TAKES ON THE MASKS OF DEATH! #WATCHWITHCUSHING #WATCHPARTY!

DON'T THINK FOR A MINUTE THAT YOU CAN'T take another post of a Cushing Sherlock Holmes adventure? Snap out of it.😉😀 This one... is different 😉 #SirIanMckellen was 75, when he made that amazing Mr Holmes feature back in 2015. #PeterCushing was 71 when he appeared in what would almost be his 'swan song' for the big screen, and he pours just about everything he has in it 😊'Sherlock Holmes and the Masks of Death' (1984) is a pretty clever film, with a very cool cast to help make it work. 

THE THREE FACES OF Peter Cushing's Sherlock Holmes 

'The Hound of the Baskervilles' (Hammer films 1959)

Peter Cushing as Sherlock Holmes in the BBC Television series of 1968

Cushing's Holmes in semi retirement in 'Sherlock Holmes and the 

Masks of Death (1984)

THERE ARE MANY very nice touches in this film and despite Peter's obvious age and his belief he was too old to play it, it works, helped by Cushing's good friend, John Mills who fills the role of Dr Watson confidently and with a few well timed 'matured-creaks and groans'. Roy Ward Baker directs also Ray Milland, Anne Baxter and #AntonDiffring are all lovely to watch and help put the cherry on what could have been quite a stale and mouldy cake! 

I VERY MUCH LIKE the story in this film. At times it's bleak, quite dark and uses one of the 'world's darkest of times' to under pin the evil and threats' in this #Sherlock and #Watson drama, written by Hammer's Anthony Hinds and N.J Crisp. It is a shame Cushing thought himself not fit enough or capable to nail another Holmes film, which was planned for production after this one. But, he did wait while Tyburn were trying to source funding.  

CUSHING MADE '#Biggles' (1986) while waiting, which would be his last cinema role. I think he more than managed to do his last Sherlock justice and finally bow out from one of his most accomplished and always most confidently performed roles in his long and varied career. I hope you enjoy this too 😊Marcus

CATCH UP on ALL the PCASUK '#WATCHWITHCUSHING! 'watch parties' at the FACEBOOK UK PETER CUSHING APPRECIATION SOCIETY FACEBOOK PAGE HERE!

'THE NIGHT THEY TERRIFIED THE WHOLE COUNTRY' : BBC ORWELL'S 1984 INTERVIEWS

FROM 1960, Peter Cushing, Yvonne Mitchell, writer Nigel Kneale and director Rudolph Cartier reflect on the huge reaction to the live broadcast of the BBC Sunday Night Drama, '1984' aired 12th December 1954. For any television broadcast to prompt any reaction from the government at this time, was indeed quite rare. But watching Peter, Yvonne Mitchell and Morell here, gives a pretty good idea of THEIR fears too... To an extent it changed drama on the BBC and put Cushing into a another area of work all together, for many years to come... It's a short feature and certainly worth watching... 

PC 'BUILDS UP' TO ANOTHER GREAT TELEVISION PERFORMANCE FOR ORSON WITH NETWORK DVD

RELEASED TOMORROW 'Orson Welles Great Mysteries' and along with a feast of other great names and casts, Peter Cushing stars with Susannah York in 'La Grande Breteche' ... Cushing gives us a top notch 'sly and cruel' performance. 

NO MERCY IN THIS CUSHING ROLE, for sure. But it is wonderful to see this very cool TV series from the 1970's. Network has a done a very good job in presenting the series, just as it was seen back in the day.  

SHOT ON 'EARLY DAYS' VIDEO, with some film inserts, it is, what it is. Anyone who is familiar with the visual quality of Anglia TV's early 'Tales of the Unexpected' or some of the Cushing's BBC Sherlock episodes, will be aware of where studio television production and editing was at, during this time. If you are familiar too with the quality of the BBC 1970's classic, 'I, Claudius', you'll know there was little room for tone and shadows, early TV video cameras, needed light. But that doesn't spoil or take anything away from what we are watching here. In this first Volume from Network..let us hope there will be a second...it's the performances, the drama and tension that is worth every penny!

SOME REVIEWERS, will have already received their copies and maybe some of you too? I would love to hear any opinions you may have on this much awaited for TV classic!

BBC CHILLS IN LIVE DRAMA WITH MORE THAN SNOWMAN : THE FIRST TUESDAY TOUGHY OF 2019

 

HERE IS OUR FIRST CUSHING TUESDAY TOUGHY of 2019! You'll be pleased to see, I haven't spared the trickiness 😏 When Peter Cushing's BBC 1954 drama of THE CREATURE was broadcast LIVE over two evenings back in January and February of 1955, it was ONLY just FIVE weeks after Cushing and the BBC had shocked the whole nation with their live broadcasts of George Orwell's 1984. With front pages of newspapers screaming the cries of a trumatised telly watching public and questions being asked by the government in the House of Commons about if Cushing and the BBC had gone too far, all eyes were on Cushing's latest 'nail-biting' SUNDAY evening BBC television drama. 

THE KNEES OF THE BBC must have been really trembling, but not enough to stop this planned drama to not only star the lead responsible for last year's controversial show, but also the same director, Rudolph Cartier! This production was also granted a larger budget, with exterior shots of the snowy mountains and hillsides of the Himalayas filmed on location in Switzerland, just two weeks before the live broadcasts. Surprisingly, the production was allowed a substantial amount of filming to supplement the modest BBC studio facilities available for the otherwise live transmission. Location filming was essential to establish the mountainous environment of the play, though the play's designer Barry was uneasy with Cushing’s involvement in this location filming, fearing for the star’s safety, and suggested a double be used instead. Typically, Cushing said he disliked the use of doubles and the loss of continuity of performance that this entailed, and wrote to Barry to personally assure him of his preference to take part in the location expedition!

GALLERY OF RARE IMAGES from the BBC production, Hammer films version and more besides! Catch up on our PCAS feature on Peter Cushing's 'The Abominable Snowman' elsewhere at this website or go directly to it HERE!

DESPITE ALL THE PRE PUBLICITY and advanced column inches in newspapers, this script and story by Nigel Kneal, was a quite different affair to 1984. No torture, but lots in the way of tension and a moral for all to think about later. Hammer films, never one to miss an opportunity, invited Cushing to play his role of John Rollason, for their big screen version. Sadly actor Stanley Baker was not invited along to join him and US actor Forest Tucker, played the role of Tom Friend, producers following their mantra of always casting actors from across the Atlantic, to improve the box office potential when the film was released overseas. Cushing's Rollason was also guven a wife in Hammer's revamping. She was also called Helen. Richard Wattis returned for gentle comic relief as Rollason's assistant Peter Fox. Arnold Marle also repeated his performance as the Lama, giving a very memorable and yet weird performance. 'Act in the name of Mankind and act humbly' the Lama warns Rollason, as he sets out in search of the YETI. 'For man is ndear to forfeiting his right to lead the world'. A message from over 60 years ago, that in today's world means more than ever . . 

YOUR ANSWER to our previous CUSHING TUESDAY TOUGHY! How did YOU do with YOUR answer?

CASH ON DEMAND WRAPPED 57 YEARS AGO TODAY!

FIFTY SEVEN YEARS today Peter Cushing just wrapped with shooting one of his least expected, successes with Hammer films. A neat, tight and dramatic bank robbing saga, that started life as a BBC tv play just twelve months previously called, 'The Gold Inside'. Cushing plays a bank manager called Harry Fordyce, Andre Morell who had played Cushing's Watson just two years before, plays a foxy confidence trickster, called Colonel Gore-Hepburn. 

'CASH ON DEMAND' (1961) is quite a marvel really. With an almost penny-halfpenny budget, it holds the suspense and drama, through out it's 90min duration . . . which is real pay-off, when the plot, the nuts and bolts of the crime are revealed. It's a credit to Hammer films, who sometimes did not do as well, with their non horror movies. Cushing and Morell are superb. I know it's a favorite here, and this little GIF just about shows you, the spins and traps that Cushing's up-tight manager is put through. . . Recommended, wouldn't you say?

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 NATION IS TERRIFIED : LATE NIGHT LINE UP ON BIG BROTHER 1984 AND REMEMBERING ERINE!

#MOMENTSOFTERRORMONDAY! BACK IN 1954, Peter Cushing Cushing's appeared in a little BBC television drama entitled, 1984 . . .based on the novel by George Orwell. The show went out LIVE on December 12th and 16th December 1954. Such was the response to the first broadcast, the government at the time met at discussed if the show show be repeated after the initial broadcast.... it made a star of Peter Cushing, and sent his career in path that would change the public perception of the meekest of actors...

THIS LATE NIGHT LINE UP program was broadcast by the BBC in order to meet the huge reaction to the show. Interviewed are Peter Cushing his co star's Andre Morell, Yvonne Mitchell, director Rudolph Catier and the writer and script adapter, Nigel Kneale.... Television was never the same, and Peter's Winston Smith helped lead the way...... 

REMEMBERING Lttle Ern' 🙂 Born today, Ernest Wiseman, one half of probably the most successful comedy duo to ever come out of the UK... Morecambe and Wise. A good friend of Peter Cushing's, who attended Peter's 80th birthday bash and if the scripts are to believed... kept Peter short of his appearance fee, and provided us with probably one of the funniest and longest running gags, in the whole Eric and Ernie repertoire! When Eric his partner passed in 1984, no one looked more lost than Ernie.

BUT HE CARRIED ON, working, doing interviews, panto..until his retirement. The Eric and Ernie, even though they claimed it was based on their heroes work, Abbott and Costello, they were certainly stamped well, as Britain's favourite comedians, Christmas isn't the same without at-least one of their many repeated shows on tv. Happy Birthday, Little Ern, God Bless your short 'fat-hairy legs', and that 'join' you could never see.

How many times did Peter appear on the Morecambe and Wise Show? Which is your favourite appearance routine? and Do you remember HOW Peter Cushing finally managed to GET his MONEY??? You can find ALL of Peter's routines on the Morecambe and Wise Show in a playlist at our PCAS YOUTUBE CHANNEL PLAYLIST!

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  . 

'RARE LESSER SEEN PETER CUSHING SEASON': SOME MAY LIVE (1967)

SPOILERS: Here's a little PCAS exclusive, to start our 'Lesser Seen Peter Cushing Season'. 'SOME MAY LIVE' isn't a film you will see mentioned in many books on Cushing, if it is it will be a short synopsis, cast and distributor. It's a title that has out foxed most researchers, and has sadly been largely forgotten since it's short release by UK distributors Butchers in August 1967. Unlike many Vietnam War dramas, 'Some May Live' was produced while the War was still very much rolling on.

PRODUCED AT A TIME when GB was starting to feel the economic pinch and studios were looking for cheaper pot-boilers to bring in much needed work and finance, Foundation Pictures Krasne Entertainments, were looking for a film that could package Hollywood actors for the US market and secure a name for the home shores too, they offered Peter Cushing the leading role of John Meredith, shortly after he had wrapped work on Hammer films , 'Frankenstein Created Woman' at Bray studios and 'Night of the Big Heat' both with director Terence Fisher. Here Cushing is directed by Vernon Sewell, who in a just few weeks after completing this film, would go on to direct Cushing in 'Tigon films 'The Blood Beast Terror'.

'SOME MAY LIVE' tells the story of Kate Meredith, a decoder for American intelligence, who is compelled by her foreign correspondent husband, to give him classified information, which is then passed on to the Viet Cong. She is plagued with guilt, especially after her activities lead to an attempted assassination of a U. S. senator. In addition, she becomes disillusioned by her marriage and has an affair with the assistant to a high level army intelligence official. She becomes persuaded to relay false information to her husband even though she knows that it will likely result in his execution by the Communists. 

IT'S A GOOD WATCH, an entertaining film, with Hollywood actors Joseph Cotten and Martha Hyer adding name value, weight and drama, Cushing gets to flex some character muscles we don't see that often, which makes some scenes worth the watch in itself . .. MORE titles to come and another 'Lesser Seen' Peter Cushing film, next Wednesday...HERE! MANY thanks to film collector and archivist JEAN LAYETTE for helping us bring this little gem to your attention..You'll be hearing much about Jean in the coming weeks! MERCI JEAN!

ABOVE: One of the RARE airings of #SOMEMAYLIVE 

on television in 1993

TRIVIA: What is the connection between THS FILM and the BBC tv series, 'MONTY PYTHON'S FLYING CIRCUS'? 

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

#TOOCOOLTUESDAY: CALLING MOFFAT AND GATISS: CAPALDI DRACULA MASH UP

#TOOCOOLTUESDAY! GOODNESS!! What do you think???? #petercapaldi #dracula #petercushing #greatidea #casting #doctorwho

NO STRANGER TO the story or character, Peter Capaldi appeared in a production DRACULA, at the half Moon Theatre (1985-85) in the role of Jonathan Harker, with actor Daniel Day Lewis playing, Dracula . . . 

 

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