IT'S NO JOKE! HELEN CUSHING AND THE SPOOKY ARM APPEARANCE PLUS DAVID PEEL AND LAST WEEKS TOUGHY ANSWER!

THIS WEEK'S TUESDAY TOUGHY! It sounds like a joke OR maybe there is a catch? Not so. Without giving too much away, all I can say is, this NOT about Cushing deciding he one day wanted a tattoo! I'll be giving you the answer NEXT TUESDAY. In the meantime, good luck!

THE ANSWER to last weeks TUESDAY TOUGHY is TOD SLAUGHTER, is the name of the  ominous face on the left. As JIM SHORTER commented on the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE Tod had quite the reputation as an English actor, who was best known for playing over-the-top maniacs in macabre film adaptations of Victorian melodramas. Slaughter made the films, for the most part, exactly as he liked, with all the larger than life, melodramatic acting of a bygone age, just as he did in the stage adaptions, in which he also starred. Born in March 1885 as Norman Carter Slaughter, during in his early stage career, hit gold and blood, when he appeared in SWEENEY TODD : The Demon Barber of Fleet Street in 1936. He had started to pave the way to his thrills and spills reputation when he appeared in his first film, as a villain the previous year, in 'Maria Marten or Murder in the Red Barn'. He followed these with further OTT adventures in films like, 'The Crimes of Stephen Hawke' in also in 1936, 'It's Never To Late To Mend', 'The Ticket Of Leave Man' in 1937, 'The Face At The Window' and 'Crimes At The Dark House' in 39 and 1940. These quota-quickies, quickly made Slaughter into a British horror star, almost in some ways, as a precursor to the career of Peter Cushing's . .

ABOVE: PETER CUSHING PERSONAL THE GAY INVALID THEATRE PROGRAMME AND SIGNED NOTE-LET INCLUDING ALL CAST MEMBERS SIGNATURES!

THE PLAY in which both Slaughter and Cushing appeared in together was THE GAY INVALID by Sir Barry Jackson in 1951. Slaughter played Professor Purge and Cushing as a young soldier named Valentine. Opening for two months at the Garrick Theatre, London in September of 51, and called, 'Moliere without tears!', it ran until March 24th 1951.

 

THE FILM that in which Tod Slaughter starred , that was later adapted and starred Peter Cushing was called, 'The Greed Of William Hart and was released in 1948 and was based on the gory history of  body snatchers, Burke and Hare. Director and screen-writer John Gilling adapted the story and  Cushing went on to star as Dr Knox, in the remake and retitled, 'The Flesh And The Fiends'  in 1959. Congrats to ALEX WILSON who was the only one to nail all three questions, at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE . A thumbs up to Phillip Jones, who did name Mr Slaughter though . . .!

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE FLESH AND THE FIENDS WITH GALLERY HERE!

TODAY we remember actor DAVID PEEL who was born today 19th June 1920. There are few who have made such an impact as Peel. He only appeared in ONE film for Hammer films and I believe only appeared in one film with Peter Cushing.

ONLY ONE ROLE, one film and yet, enter VAMPIRE HAMMER into google images, and he will appear in most of the pages. Despite the success long after The Brides of Dracula was made...audiences felt a little cheated that it was a DRACULA film, without Dracula!....I suspect that Peel wasn't impressed with either the film or the subject matter either! You probably know, he left the industry early on and went into antiques and real estate, but life for Peel was certainly difficult. We remember him today though, for that one Hammer film and the impressive performance as Baron Meinster, the boy vampire who certainly pushed the boundaries of vampire film!

THE LONG AND SHORT OF WAITING FOR AD 72 AND SATANIC PLUS GIFS FROM AMICUS HAMMER AND KNOX

WE JABBER on and on about these two Peter Cushing / Christopher Lee Hammer films . . . just type the titles into google images, and you'll discover a virtual digital archive, masses of our posts from the last six years! Why? Well, despite both of these late Hammer films, being out of favor and fashion for the best part of 40 odd years . . . I have a great fondness for the idea of Van Helsing and Dracula locked into a modern day dramatic ding dong, on my doorstep... rather than, some Gothic castle , in fictional Olde Worlde Karlsbad? Even though it's chosen location of London, is long gone, along with the loon and flapping flared denims and bat winged shirt collars . . . that era too, is now something locked into the past. Both would make an excellent package for Cushing, Lee and Hammer fans alike.

Our Feature and behind the scenes gallery on 
The Satanic Rites of Dracula can be found : HERE!

YOU WANT EXTRAS??? There is a MASS of material available... even if the likes of the cheapest cheapskates of distributors, there are several cast members who are still breathing, for use in those, oh so lazy talking head interviews. The bottom line for any distributor, even the cheapest is, will it SELL? Warner Brothers proved a point, last year when they released probably the smartest looking Hammer film box set ever! . . . .Clean, remastered, region free, Hammer films starring their two biggest stars SELL...even without extra features. The Warner box set, set a standard and fans purchased the lot! So how about it? . . . Would you BUY??

#SILENTBUTDEADLYWEDNESDAY: Herbert Lom in Amicus films, ASYLUM (1972) as Dr. Byron in the story "Mannikins of Horror" . .. it's a neat story, and the 'mini Lom' was a nice touch too. Cushing's story 'The Weird Tailor', was based on a Robert Bloch's story from Karloff's 'Thriller' TV series (1961) . . . these are probably the strongest stories of the bunch maybe? Not counting Cushing's 'Poetic Justice' in 'Tales from the Crypt' . .. of all the portmanteau stories in the Amicus films...do you have TWO FAVORITES??? Tell us why

#SILENTBUTDEADLYWEDNESDAY!: I LOVE THIS SHOT from DRACULA AD 1972 . . . not unlike the 1934 Lon Chaney Jr Universal film, 'SON OF DRACULA', where Dracula turning up under a 'non de plume' as something so ridiculously obvious as ALUCARD, hits every member of the cinema audience  . . . but no one ON the screen. Here our learned Professor, burning the night oil pours over this  anagram . . .and BANG, the LIGHT BULB moment! Cushing just about manages to carry this one off, thanks to that chilling look into the eyes of his ancestor . . .Well, come on. It would have been a very short film, had Van Helsing cottoned-on in the first reel . . .

#SILENTBUTDEADLYWEDNESDAY! . . .AND FINALLY, a request from PAM D.D of this knock out shot from Cushing's performance ad Dr Robert Knox in 'FLESH AND THE FIENDS' (1960). A little girl in the street begs alms from Dr. Knox (Peter Cushing). tells her that he doesn't have any money with him, but if she will step over to his house he will give her some. The little girl politely declines the offer, saying, "Oh, no, you might be Dr. Knox." The unspoken response is a wonderful of example of Peter Cushing's acting skill saying so much with just a look, no words needed.

OUR FEATURE AND RARE STILLS GALLERY CAN BE 

FOUND AT OUR WEBSITE: HERE! 

A FILM WITH A STELLAR cast with actors Donald Pleasence & George Rose as Buke and Hare, Billie Whitelaw & Hammer regular George Woodbridge. As per our last post, this is another film crying out of a blu-ray release as it considered by many to be the one of the finest films made about Dr. Robert Knox.

 

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  . . 

WATCH THE VAMPIRE LOVERS AND DARKNESS SIGNED TRIBUTE

#THROWBACKTHURSDAY! Hammer films, 'The Vampire Lovers' just uploaded at our YOUTUBE Channel marked the first time that Peter Cushing met the lovely, Ingrid Pitt. You'll find lots of features at the website about how he and his wife, Helen became very good friends with Ingrid and how Peter encouraged her on the set of this film. They were to be cast together again later in the year in the Amicus production, 'The House that Dripped Blood' . .. though sadly they did not share screen time together...'The Vampire Lovers' marks a change in direction for Hammer films. Times had changed and the suggestive gossamer gowns and flirtatious nature of their female vampires would now appear minus gowns and engage in much more than a nibble!

The upload at the website and this youtube account is uncut, and in accordance with the sites regulations, our facebook fan page has always been restricted only to followers OVER the age of 18..as is this Youtube channel, and website. So beware, there IS flesh ahead. Depending on your sensibilities, the content of the film maybe very tame by today's standards, but not everyone has the same...standards. Though never asked at the time, I would have loved to have learned what Peter though of it all! For many, it was a step in a direction, in which Hammer could never return from . .. or recover. What do you think? 

#THROWBACKTHURSDAY! You know I mentioned, how much I look forward to your posts, and the goodies you share and send in here? While watching Horror express (!!) Follower Andy Isaacs shared this priceless framed tribute to Hammer films, 'Dracula, Prince of Darkness' ...a beautiful press still of Christopher Lee as Dracula, SIGNED by Lee, two lobby stills from 'Darkness' AND a great repro of the 'Darkness poster, signed by the late Francis Matthews and actress Barbara Shelley who both starred along Lee in the film also! I don't need to tell you about Lee's aversion to signing any stills depicting 'The Count' . . so this is outstanding on many counts..pardon the pun! Thank you Andy for sending this pic in and sharing it with us for today's theme! What do you think of this framed, signed tribute????

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 

#SILENTBUTDEADLYWEDNESDAY! GIFS SHERLOCK COMEDY VAMPIRES AND TITLES

#SILENTBUTDEADLYWEDNESDAY!: PLAYING THE ROLE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES was something that Peter Cushing enjoyed very much indeed. Being a student of the stories and everything that went along with that, was indeed  a Cushing thing! Cushing had an eye and attention for detail, pouring over the structure and methods, in the story of 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' for Hammer films in 1959, he was very much in his element. 

THE FACT THAT he signed on for the Hammer Hound, then in 1968 16 episodes of the BBC television serial and finally choose to neatly wind down his career, with a 90 min tv movie The Masks of Death in 1984, playing an elderly Holmes, who was also bringing his long and distinguished career to an end, says much. Had failing heath not intervened, Cushing would have rubbed his hands together and prepared for another feature film, The Abbott's Cry,  in 1985. But sadly, it was not to be.

#SILENTBUTDEADLYWEDNESDAY!: WHEN DIRECTOR Peter Duffell read the script for 'THE CLOAK' story that was part of the four stories that made up Amicus films, 'The House That Dripped Blood' in 1972, he started to form a plan. The script outlined the climax and death of Jon Pertwee's vampire character, and that this particular tale was to be 'the comic relief' in the film. He hit on the idea, that maybe the comedy should be cranked up to max, and that the chase and staking would great if, it was shot and edited in a 'silent movie style'. He almost got his way. The producers first wasn't sure if this sudden changed of gear would lose the audience, and ruin the tension that had been built with the previous story. They drew the line at the use of black white photography and a flicker effect.

ORIGINALLY, Duffell wanted the whole story to be shot in monochrome, and the death scene to be sped up, with a 'keystone cop' frame flicker. Producers tuned Duffel's idea down, pleading that monochrome would be far too expensive for an entire 15 to 20 minutes, and that the flicker would jarring. But,  Duffell did get his under-cranked camera speed, and a slap-stick ending. NOTE: Subotsky liked the concept of a story set in a horror film on the Hollywood studio lot, and revisited the idea in one of his last anthology films, 'The Uncanny' starring Peter Cushing and Donald Pleasence in 1977.

#SILENTBUTDEADLYWEDNESDAY! THIS SHOT gets requested a lot! Director Freddie Francis must have known he was really onto something when he came up with idea, of POV shooting through the SKULL'S eye sockets in Amicus films, 'THE SKULL'...so much so he repeated the whole thing in Tigon's 'THE CREEPING FLESH' with Peter Cushing a few years later! Point Of View camera work was nothing new in 1965, but through a skull? Yup. 

FREDDIE CRANKED up the terror with whole sequences of POV's in Tyburn film, 'LEGEND OF THE WEREWOLF' with Peter Cushing. The added effect this time, was a RED tint to the vision, giving the impression we were 'seeing what the werewolf' could see through his bloodshot eyes! It was very effective and saved money in the budget on showing the werewolf too!

#SILENTBUTDEADLYWEDNESDAY! I DON'T get requests for title sequences from trailers that often, but this one is a good one. Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee credits, with supportive text from 'THE GORGON' (Hammer 1964) I LOVE the font styles in 1950 and 6o's trailers. They seem to scream from the screen at you. Back in the day, text added to film was done in the labs optically, and was a highly skilled job. There were standard text styles that were used in rolling credits to be seen at the end of beginning of most films. But often, for something that came from Hammer films, the studio would ask for something a little special, like the title font style in these gifs here. Illustrators would attempt to evoke the genre or subject matter of the film through the letter forms. Here sharp, angular typography is used evoke the disturbing subject matter, also maybe echoing the work of German Expressionist illustrators like Josef Fenneker. 

IN THE DAYS BEFORE SOUND FEATURES, titles were standard and used to communicate the dialogue and direction of the story, but by the mid-late 1930s, film titles started serving a narrative function and were designed to prepare the viewer for the mood and story of the film. Hammer, Amicus and Tigon used this very effectively. 

AT THE TIME  THE GORGON was in production, title artists like SAUL BASS had made the film title an art form, with films like PSYCHO. Bass titles were legendary and he created what are still some of the best title designs for directors like Alfred Hitchcock. Bass once said, “For the average audience, the credits tell them there’s only three minutes left to eat popcorn… I aim to set up the audience for what’s coming; make them expectant,” says Bass. DO YOU have a favorite TITLE SEQUENCE from a Peter Cushing films? We are planning a feature all about title sequences in Cushing films. I would love to hear about it!

GIFs REQUESTED BY Shelley C.

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.