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!

REMEMBERING ACTOR JOHN HURT: ONE YEAR ON . . .

TODAY we remember actor, JOHN HURT. Hurts career spanned six decades. He initially came to prominence for his supporting role as Richard Rich in the film A Man for All Seasons (1966). He played leading roles as Quentin Crisp in the film The Naked Civil Servant (1975), John Merrick in David Lynch's biopic The Elephant Man (1980), Winston Smith in the dystopian drama Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984), Mr. Braddock in the Stephen Frears drama The Hit (1984), and Stephen Ward in the drama depicting the Profumo affair, Scandal (1989). He is also known for his television roles such as Caligula in I, Claudius (1976), and the War Doctor in Doctor Who. Seventy Seven seems no age to leave us these days. I think there will always be a very sizeable space, left behind now that Hurt is no longer with us...it would take a very considerable talent and skill, to even approach even the sides of that space... 😉 We Remember John Hurt today . .

John Hurt Alan Bates and Susannah York in THE SHOUT (1978) 

IT'S ONLY MY OPINION but, I have always thought, for an actor, a man with such an instantly recognisable face, Hurt did an incredible job in his characters. He wasn't really an actor who used false noses, teeth and other aids. His portrayals come form within, the heart. He truly did play from the inside out. There will always be 'The Elephant Man' and one or two others, where the addition of prosthetics were used. 

JOHN HURT  as THE WAR DOCTOR in DOCTOR WHO

BUT FOR ME, the roles that stand out, are the ones were it was, him vanishing by his skill. From very early on, in a film like The Ghoul, that face, those eyes...it's John Hurt! There after, he could be anyone, he chose. I only know one other actor today, who comes anywhere near that ability, and that is Gary Oldman . .

 JOHN HURT as KANE ALIEN (1979)

JOHN HURT as KANE from iconic scene from  ALIEN (1979) appearing in spoof SPACE BALLS (1987)

 

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