CHRISTOPHER LEE SATURDAY: GET YOUR TICKET FOR TOMORROWS TRAIN AND YVONNE MITCHELL REMEMBERED

#CHRISTOPHERLEESATURDAY! THIS WEEKEND much of our time is more than taken making a short journey through the film 'HORROR EXPRESS' from 1972. It was film that both Christopher Lee and Cushing enjoyed making. Even though, as you will read above, Cushing was still much effected by the terrible loss of his wife, Helen, Lee managed to have Peter focus on the production at hand. The result is a film that was appreciated back then on it's release, and even today. Recent DVD and BLU RAY releases have sold well, and gained even more appreciation. The two roles that Lee and Cushing play, come over well. A change from their usual roles of one destroying the other, here we have interesting characters who are in competition, but have to pull together to destroy someone else and all their supporters!

BELOW: THIS SUNDAY sees CALLUM MCKELVIE's weekly feature focus on, HORROR EXPRESS TOO. A personal spin on his first memory of watching the feature plus we'll be uploading the ENTIRE film from our PCAS YOUTUBE CHANNEL, with many images and supporting images through out the feature. JOIN US TOMORROW! We will also be posting the FOUR WINNERS of our CINEFICCION  MAGAZINE prizes!

BRITISH ACTRESS YVONNE MITCHELL  was first and foremost a stage actress who began her career quite early as a teen. By the time of her death, she had performed under the theatre lights for over four decades. Her output in films and TV paled in comparison, but the work she put out in those mediums were of unusually high quality with mature themes. The dark-haired actress made her film debut in a key role in The Queen of Spades (1949) and proceeded to become a moving, thoughtful, often anguished presence throughout the 1950s, winning the British Film Award for her touching, sterling performance as the biological mother of a foster child in The Divided Heart (1954). A year before that, she appeared with PETER CUSHING in the BBC production of '1984' as Julia. The broadcast gained much publicity for both her and Cushing, stirring the public in it's two live performances.

THE PUBLIC WERE so upset by Orwell's story and the BBC almost uncensored production that a debate in the government  House of Commons, after the first LIVE show and the planned second live broadcast, debated if the broadcast should go ahead at all. It did. It certainly didn't mar her career, but for Cushing it set the motion of his career forever becoming tilted towards the Horror and Fantasy genre, on both the big screen and tv. Yvonne's  slovenly, cuckolded wife in Woman in a Dressing Gown (1957) won her the Berlin International Film Festival Award. Other important films included Escapade (1955), Sapphire (1959), The Trials of Oscar Wilde (1960) and Johnny Nobody (1961). On the sly, Yvonne was a novelist of both children and adult books and an award-winning playwright. She also penned an enormously successful biography entitled "Colette--A Taste for Life" based on the famed French writer. The wife of film and stage critic Derek Monsey, she wrote her biography in 1957.

YVONNE MITCHELL, changed her name legally in 1946 from Yvonne Frances Joseph to Yvonne Mitchell (Mitchell was her mother's maiden name). She also deducted a decade from her age, which is why many sources have listed 1925 as her birth year. She married author and critic Derek Monsey in 1952, the couple would later divorce, only to be reconciled. They would remarry in late 1978, just months before Monsey died of a heart attack on 13 February 1979, with Mitchell dying of cancer just over a month later.

NO PARTICULAR LIST OR ORDER : CHOICEST CUSHING : CALLUM MCKELVIE

HELLO ALL! A little bit of a departure this week. Instead of my usual ramblings on a particular film or films, in my last three defending what I think can often be considered lesser Cushing entries, here I’m going to get a little personal! For roughly a month now Marcus has very kindly let be contribute a weekly post and given me pretty much free reign to write on whatever aspect of Cushing based fandom I wish. However I realise I’ve done this with very little introduction to myself, my name being slapped on post after post but with no one having any real idea of who I am.  . . .!

SO, I’m Callum McKelvie, a recent Masters graduate having studied history. I got into classic sci-fi around age six, and moving into horror at about 13 or 14 when I saw Quatermass and the Pit and it blew my mind. At university I wrote extensively on genre cinema as a historical source, examining the Quatermass trilogy in my undergraduate dissertation and the Occult boom of the 1970’s for my Masters diss.

SO, THIS WEEK I thought I’d make it a little personal by naming a number of my favourite Cushing performances and why. Not the top five by any means, but five which bring me special pleasure. This is in no particular order and it’s not the best film but the performances that bring me the most joy, concentrating purely on Peter and his interactions with the other cast members. You won’t find Hammer films 1958 'Dracula' or 'Horror of Dracula', 'Hound of the Baskervilles' or 'The Skull' here simply because we all know how amazing he is in those films. The purpose of this list is to highlight a couple of performances that, whilst generally viewed as good, are special to me (The Skull fits that bill too but it’s been written on so much I thought I’d give it a rest). I might mention a portrayal of the same character twice, but from different films. That’s because I’ve always admired Peter’s ability to change his characterisation ever so slightly, to fit the tone of the script. So, without further Aude…

'FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL' (1974)

SO YES, I KNOW there were several more Cushing/Hammer films after this, but for me this is their swansong. Designed as a throwback to the earlier Hammer Frankenstein’s, the feeling of the end of an era permeates the entire film. Cushing’s Victor Frankenstein is the closest to his portrayal from the first two, out of all the sequels. Once again he finds a middle ground between the viciousness of Frankenstein Must be Destroyed and the charm of 'The Evil of Frankenstein' and 'Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed'. However here he adds something else, exploiting lines of dialogue such as ‘You’ll learn…I had to’ and the brilliant ‘If I’ve succeeded this time…then every sacrifice will have been worthwhile’. Cushing brings an immense melancholy to Baron Frankenstein, showing us a man who is determined as always but is now desperate to succeed. The final shot of him sweeping up the glass, chattering happily about how to start again- finally having snapped, has something immensely fatalistic about it.

READ THE ABOVE FEATURE WITH FULL COLOUR GALLERY
AT OUR WEBSITE : HERE!

ON SET BEHIND THE SCENES PHOTO FEATURE ON 'HORROR EXPRESS' AT OUR WEBSITE:  HERE!

'HORROR EXPRESS' (1972)

FROM ONE OF Cushing’s more tragic portrayals to one of his most fun and lighthearted. Horror Express is in my eyes THE Cushing and Lee vehicle, giving them a wealth of screen time together, as friends for once and not as enemies. The result is easily one of the most fun and funny Cushing portrayals, from the memorable ‘MONSTER? We’re British you know!’ to his smirk as he attempts to bribe his way onto the train. 

Cushing and Christopher Lee on set with Director, Eugenio Martín during the shooting of  'Horror Express' . . .

Not only that but in Dr Wells he manages to mix humour with his usual sternness when preforming the autopsy on the body of the baggage guard. However the highlights are his interactions with Christopher Lee, indeed when Lee passed away a few years ago this was the film I chose to watch. Seeing the two old friends bounce off each other and have genuine fun is always a joy.

'SHE' (1965)

ANOTHER MORE kindly portrayal here and another example of how Cushing can masterfully mix a multitude of different aspects of a character. From the more humorous (including a rare opportunity to see Cushing dance), to the melancholic (‘All my life I’ve wanted to find a city like this…now I wish only to see it destroyed) to the furious as he rages at Ayesha during her attempt to kill Ustane, single-handedly out-acting every other cast member. 

IT'S A SHAME Cushing never got to reprise this role….although considering the state of the sequel perhaps not. But a much older Holly, lamenting the loss of his friend would probably have been up there with the emotional power of Grimsdyke in 'Tales from the Crypt'. Honestly though, it’s the little details that stand out for me and the sincerity with which Cushing answers the question, ‘Have you ever been in love?’ responding ‘oh many a time…and truly once’, always brings a smile to my face.

THE HISTORY OF SHE IN THE CINEMA AND BEHIND THE SCENES ON THE HAMMER PRODUCTION: COLOUR TRANSPARENCIES IN OUR FEATURE: HERE!

'THE SILENT SCREAM' (1980)

NOT ONE THAT IS LIKELY  to show up on a lot of lists, this was shown as part of the Cushing retrospective put on by the Abertoir horror festival in 2013. Grabbing some of my friends afterwards I was delighted to discover how many found this genuinely terrifying. It’s a pity Cushing never appeared in Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense but his one off performance stands as one of the highlights of the entire, Hammer House of Horror series. 

THE KINDLINESS that Cushing bestows into Blueck and the slow reveal of what a monster he really is provides the meat and bones of the story. Brian Cox acts off him brilliantly and the final moments when Cushing falls into a trap of his own making provides a chilling finale.

OUR 'REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN' FEATURE WITH VINTAGE STILLS COLLECTION RIGHT HERE!

'THE REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN' (1958)

THIS IT FOR ME. The gold standard of Cushing films. My favourite Hammer films, my favourite Cushing film and one of my favourite films in general. Say what you want about Sangster’s writing (and many people do) but I find the script here to be one of the most clever and thematically deep of all the Hammers. Sangster reverses the Paul/Victor and Teacher/Student relationship in The Curse of Frankenstein, here making Frankenstein the teacher. 

CUSHING RESPONDS to this admirably and considering Revenge was made only the year after Curse, manages to convince the audience that several years have passed for the Baron. His near-death experience has changed him, losing the spoilt brat streak of the first film and giving a more wizened, if even more dangerous determination. His monologue concerning his ‘revenge’ is exceptionally powerful and the drive that Cushing manages to instil in the Baron is genuinely terrifying, far more so than any of the Monsters within the various instalments.

CALLUM MCKELVIE'S REVIEW OF ''A TALE OF TWO CITIES' 1980 featuring Peter Cushing Chris Sarandon Alice Krige, Kenneth Moore . . . 

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! OUR VALIANT DUO TAKE THE ZOMBIE TRAIN TO THE EDGE AND OVER!

#THROWBACKTHURSDAY! FOR MANY of our followers in the UK, watching the opening credits of this films, will bring back misty memories of the first time this was shown on BBC TV. It would have been the first time I had seen this movie too. For a long time, the title #HORROREXPRESS was jotted down in pencil in my Cushing film tally notebook, in GREEN. 

The GREEN PENCIL indicated to my young Cushing Fan eyes, that this one had still to be seen. There were about eight films, pre 'the VHS HOME VIDEO PLAYER' era, that I still dreamed of seeing. Horror Express, i can say was everything I hoped I hoped it would be. Unlike some of the titles, I finally awarded my 'SEEN IT' RED TICK  in the margin. I was such a tough  critic as a kid!

#THROWBACKTHURSDAY! A super BONUS competition for this #CHRISTOPHERLEESATURDAY, even  before our MAIN COMPETITION is over! See BELOW. More details Saturday . . .

#THROWBACKTHURSDAY!: REQUESTED REPOST by Tomas Watkins . . . 'Can we see that photograph with Lee and Price again please, If possible? I want to see if I can identify those medals on Christopher Lee's chest..' For you, tomas... and if you crack it, please let us know - Marcus

#THROWBACKTHURSDAY: IF you went along to to your local flicks back in 1960 to see #HAMMERERFILMS #BRIDESOFDRACULA with #PETERCUSHING . . . you could have picked up one of these Batty Freebie BATS in the foyer! #reasonsforwantingtimemachinenumber562 Now, IS THAT cool or what??

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   

#SILENTBUTDEADLY: THE WEEKLY REQUESTED GIFS GALLERY

#SILENTBUTDEADLYWEDNESDAY!: YOU MAY HAVE noticed from our previous post today, where we mark the two year anniversary of Sir Christopher Lee . . . among his many, many roles in the fantasy genre field, the character of Prof Sir Alexander Saxton in the film, 'HORROR EXPRESS' is one of best! Somewhere in the same field as Colonel Bingham in 'NOTHING BUT THE NIGHT', a kind of Duc de Richleay-lite! Authoritative, but no nonsense roll your sleeves up and get stuck in to 'the monster' sort of guy.

I REALLY ENJOY watching this film, not only because you have Cushing and Lee almost on the same side, but Lee really looks to be enjoying himself. Maybe he was happy that he managed to talk his old friend into staying and making the film. Within days of getting to the studio in Spain, Cushing still deeply effected by the passing of his wife, Helen, was in no hurry to unpack his bags and was ready to catch the next plane back to blighty!

#SILENTBUTDEADLYWEDNESDAY!: Requested by Mandy Edwards is this shot from Hammer's 'THE VAMPIRE LOVERS' with Ingrid Pitt pouncing and Ferdy Mayne, fighting for his life! Though the edit of this GIF doesn't quite show that. A few seconds further in, and the whole match becomes a lot rougher and desperate. 

UNFORTUNATELY, here it looks like Carmilla is in a playful mood and giving Ferdy's Doctor, who doesn't want to play, a teasing tickling! Cushing flies in and out of this one, but still gets the pay-off scene with the beheading of the sleeping Karnstein!

#SILENTBUTDEADLYWEDNESDAY: YOU KNOW THAT FEELING when in the movie, they've played the scene where 'the monster' has been destroyed, and everyone relaxes then, something happens suddenly, and you discover, nope it ain't dead at all? Well, that's what happens in this shot from Amicus films, 'The Beast Must Die'.

IT TAKES quite a time to get to the point where, the identity of the person who is 'werewolf' is revealed, and then the story tips on it's head. It's well timed in this case, and the almost double take from Cushing and Calvin Lockhart, almost takes their heads off! Requested by Bill 'Bertie' Cleverly!

IF YOU LIKE what you see here at our website, you'll  love our daily themed posts at our PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE.  Please Us Help 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.