NEWS: 'SWORD OF THE VALIANT' TO GET BLU RAY RELEASE : SEAN CONNERY AND MILES O'KEEFE

NEWS: SCORPION have announced they are releasing 'Sword Of The Valiant' (1984) on blu-ray staring #MilesO'Keeffe, Cyrielle Clair with #SeanConnery and a cameo by #PeterCushing who plays Seneschal.Directed by Steven Weeks who also directed Cushing in I Monster (1971) for #Amicusfilms

 

ABOVE : THE PCASUK feature and interview with STEPHEN WEEKS director of 'Sword of the Valiant' (1984) and the Amicus film, 'I,Monster' (1971) starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing CLICK HERE! 

PLEASE COME JOIN US at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE! With posts every day, rare images and photographs, features ad prize competitions.. all celebrating the LIFE and CAREER of Peter Cushing OBE! 

WORK AND GOOD GRACE! CAPTAIN INVINCIBLE : DIANA RIGG AND VALERIE VAN OST

WITH MY APOLOGIES, I have had to spend a few days away from the website and FACEBOOK PCASUK FACEBOOK FAN PAGE, with annoying but 'had to do' matters, so only a few post this last week. However, here are the few that have entertained at the PCASUK Facebook Fan Page, this week. Glad to report, biz as usual here on in 😉😊 - Marcus

ABOVE BANNER:

#ChristopherLee Saturday! A little nugget of good advice, from the late Christopher Lee. He must have had nerves and patience of steel!! When you look through that filmography! One film that comes to mind is Amicus films, 'I Monster' (1971) A film he suggested young and new director Stephen Weeks to step into, after 'House that Dripped Blood' director turned it down. It was a script Lee liked, but the film rode a whole saga of issues in regard of the actual production . . a 3D process didn't work... 'the Pulfrich effect' anyone? Weeks did very well considering, even though the film ran out of lolly, before the last shutter... shut! Lee is VERY good, as is Peter Cushing in the role of Utterson. It's a shame that the film performed poorly at the box office, at the time, but as with many of these 'fantasy films from this time', the passing of the years has been kinder to the film and it is now seen as a very faithful adaptation.

'I MONSTER' BEHIND THE SCENES RARE STILLS  GALLERY

PART ONE: HERE 

I DID A FEW YEARS AGO, post two great galleries of rarely seen photographs from 'I Monster' of Lee and Cushing.. and in these pics you can see, both appear to be having fun..and showing ...good grace! 😊

PART TWO OF 'I MONSTER' BEHIND THE SCENES GALLERY WITH #PETERCUSHING AND #CHRISTOPHERLEE : RIGHT HERE!

#CHRISTOPHERLEESATURDAY: ABOVE IS AN INTERESTING PHOTOGRAPH with Christopher Lee and Australian actress Kate Fitzpatrick doing promotion at the Martin Place Amphitheatre Sydney for their film The Return Of Captain Invincible from July 1983 With The Lord Mayor of Sydney, Douglas Sutherland joining them. This sadly is another of Lee's many 'over-looked' films in his long and movie packed career. This film also gave him a chance to doing some singing on film, with Lee playing the main villain, Mr. Midnight

OVER AT THE  FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE we are asking if you are a fan of this one? or not 😊Please share your opinions in the comments in the comment thread!

ABOVE: ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL rare colour photograph we shared of Peter Cushing, as Capt. Richard Pearson, with Robert Stack in 'John Paul Jones' (1959) .. a 'meh' film, but PC is very good! Although, there's lots of comments about the film on the thread at the Facebook PCASUK Fan Page today HERE! This post comes with thanks to Lucy 😉😊

'WOMAN OF MY AGE ARE STILL ATTRACTIVE. Men of my age are not' ... so said, this amazing icon of entertainment last year. And you know, Dame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg, DBE...does have point! Many actors from her era have either left us, or look like an unmade bed! We all know the Cushing Connection here, Mrs Peel in the Brit 1960's TV series, The Avengers, where PC played the very dashing Paul Beresford, a smooth operator, pushing all the buttons as romantic interest for Rigg's all action Mrs Peel and a finger on the button of death that commanded his deadly Cybernaut!

READ  MORE ON DIANA RIGG AND PETER CUSHING in the 'Return of the Cybernauts' 'The Avengers' episode in our PCASUK feature : RIGHT HERE!

DIANA RIGG'S CAREER also features the splendid 'Theatre of Blood' with Vincent Price. She also worked with Christopher Lee in the Avengers tv series.in 'Never, Never Say Die' in 1967. Having recently started in the international hit tv series, Game of Thrones, Rigg is in no hurry to retire, and I think like Mrs Peel, she'll be 'socking it to us' for a while yet! We celebrated Diana Rigg's birthday last week at the Facebook PCASUK Fan Page on July 20th! It was a grand Happy Birthday Diana Rigg, who was born in 1938... Dame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg, DBE is still looking fabulous today!😉😀

YESTERDAY,  marked and remembered the birthday of the lovely Valerie Van Ost who was born July 25th 1944! As reference to her Peter Cushing connections, we mentioned the films 'Corruption', 'Incense for the Damned' and 'The Satanic Rites of Dracula' with Peter.

VALERIE WAS ALSO very popular in the Carry On series of film in the 1960's, in “Carry On Cabby,” “Carry On Don’t Lose Your Head,” “Carry On Doctor” and “Carry On Again Doctor,”. Van Ost’s sad passing was announced by agent Barry Langford who said in a tweet, “A sad goodbye to beautiful Valerie Van Ost, who passed away this week. Valerie gave up her successful acting career to become a respected casting director and was beloved in both profession. A native of Herkamsted, Hertfordshire, turned to acting after she had been a dancer in her teenager at London’s famed Palladium theatre. 

IT'S BELIEVED that at one time, she was once considered to be a possible replacement for Diana Rigg as Emma Peel in “The Avengers,” having once appeared in an episode of the show. In 1973, Van Ost took on her other most famous role, in the Hammer horror movie, “The Satanic Rites of Dracula'.” Van Ost played the role of a Secret Service secretary who is kidnapped by a satanic cult. Van Ost was married to movie producer Greg Smith. Smith had been the producer of Britain’s other great bawdy comedy series, the “Confessions” series of movies in the 1970s.

LATER IN 1985, Van Ost married Andrew Millington, with whom she set up a casting agency. This coincided with Van Ost’s retirement from acting. The pair cast five movies and a television series during the 1980s. Two of those films, “The Boys in Blue” and “Funny Money” were produced by her first husband.
 

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I MONSTER : RARE PHOTOGRAPH GALLERY : PART ONE

EVEN AS THE CAMERA first began turning on 10th of October 1970,  it was felt that the Amicus film 1971 film,  'I MONSTER' was not going to have an easy time either during production or after it. What should have been a subtle dream-like and different gear, for the well worn telling of the JEKYLL and HYDE story, it was instead rapidly turning into a nightmare, just days into production. Amicus films producer, Milton Subotsky was, compared to his business partner, Max Rosenberg, quite a shy and reserved fellow. He left the contracting and book work to Max in the USA, while Milton managed the more creative side of production, at the studios in the UK. Milton though calm and reserved, could be quite passionate and stubborn, when he thought he had discovered something that would improve and enhance any of their film projects. He was known for dabble editing and probing into areas, where crews and managers, reacted in REAL horror. 

IN THE CASE OF 'I MONSTER', Milton thought he had discovered, a cheap and effective way of making the classic Jekyll and Hyde tale, a 3D masterpiece and CHEAPLY! His vision was discovered one day, when playing with his young son at home, looking through plastic candy sweet wrappers, colours blue and red. What Milton had come across was the school boy chemistry set, hit and miss theory of 'The Pulfrich Effect', so named after Carl Pulfrich its founder. It was a system that depending on your vision, could not be relied upon, and certainly not thought good enough, to stand as a 3D effect, to enhance an entire movie. The crew was instructed to suddenly rehash the many weeks spent blocking and plotting camera direction set ups. All of that went out of the window. On top of that, director Stephen Weeks felt rumblings of resistance and the beginnings of a sour working relationship with the crew, who resented an unknown 'young guy' being chief. The industry at this time,  was strongly union, tight and fighting cuts and lack of work. The  shrinking of what was once a major industry in the country, was dying a slow death and Weeks felt that his 'boyish looks and early twenty's age', was going against him. Even though he was more than experienced and competent, the crew made problems. All these factors, made for shaky foundations on what was, a tight budget, short schedule, that now appeared to have changed direction, with a ham fisted idea of 3D, that hardly anyone could see! You can read MORE about this in a NEW feature arriving here at the PCASUK website this week.   

I MONSTER, has been ignored and kept out of any chance of revival, that many other fantasy films made in the 60's and 70's, have enjoyed of late. No remastering, no DVD or blu ray repackage and that is shame. The film does have some issues, but it has three things in it's favor. The direction is very good, the performances of both CUSHING and LEE are as we would expect, excellent. Lee pulls off something quite different, compared to the many of his known characters roles, over those years, DRACULA, FU MANCHU and a VAST array of villains. Lee's Mr Blake is like a brain fractured child, with a sledge-hammer approach to anything he doesn't understand. 

IT REALLY IS SOMETHING quite different for Lee, and is wonderfully enhanced by make up artist Harry Frampton's touch, as Dr Marlowe's face and body, slides into a horrifying vision of  hate and evil! CUSHING did best with what he was presented, playing the 'good-guy' who will save the day. What is different in his role of Frederick Utterson, is how he applies his rules of inquisitiveness and doubt. Unlike with Vampier Hunter, Van Helsing there is no chasing and dramatic crosses and stakes. Here he is trying to rescue his friend and colleague, Marlowe from an unwelcome visitor called Mr Blake. Not knowing, they are one...and the same.  

THE PACE OF EDITING ACCOMPANIED by a beautiful musical score from composer CARL DAVIS, from the beginning flags up, this wasn't going to be anything like the tried and tested, familiar sights and sounds,  of market leader, Hammer films, who were Amicus films only genre competitor in the UK at this time. What we are given is a almost dream-like flip of a well known story. All sets look authentic for the time, as do the costumes. The language and reserved quality of communication among professional men, plays out well. All guys are emotionally tongue tied, stiff as their starchy collars and wrought in the game of upper class frigidness and good manners. 

IT'S BLEAK, and all wrapped up in soup like fog, which Blake LOVES and uses as cover, as he stalks, like some man-child-rabid rat. When the end comes, it's sad to see him go. Like a naughty child, who has no concept or understanding of what he has done wrong, the climax of his violent collapse plays like, the waking up from a personal bad dream. He fades away. But like those nightmares, the visions and echo's of what one has been experienced and seen, stay with you long after the lights have come up, and a new day begins . . .  'I MONSTER' deserves a better and a patience audience, who appreciates, not all tales are told with screaming sound and busty vampire bites!

PART TWO of our I MONSTER GALLEY will be posted here MONDAY 6th AUGUST. Some of the rare pics from this and part one gallery are also posted at our FACEBOOK PETER CUSHING APPRECIATION SOCIETY UK FAN PAGE where followers of the page and lovers of Peter Cushing work, can discuss and debate the film, 'I MONSTER' and Cushing's role in this and other films for Amicus. Wherever you are in the world, you are invited to join us at our PCASUK FACEBOOK FAN PAGE along with over 33 thousand other friends and fans. Just CLICK HERE  and CLICK LIKE THERE! We would love top have you along!  

#GIMMETHEGIFWEDNESDAY: DE SADE, WANDERING HANDS AND ALTER EGOS

#GIMMETHEGIFWEDNESDAY: Here's are this week's selection of requested GIFS, sent in by you the followers and friends of the PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE

THERE IS ALWAYS a good reaction to any posts we make that centre around the theme of Peter Cushing's 1965 Amicus film, THE SKULL. A tight and suspenseful drama, that poses a different kind of threat, namely the 200 year old skull of the Marquis de Sade, a French aristocrat, philosopher and writer of explicit sexual works, who was born in Paris in 1740! But, for Amicus films purposes, the naughty works and business is left for another day!   Again, producer Milton Subotsky came up with another excellent cast with which to furnish his latest horror on a budget flick. Lead Peter Cushing is supported not only by Christopher Lee, but also Patrick Wymark, Nigel Green, Michael Gough, Patrick Magee, Peter Woodthorpe and Jill Bennett. Actors who had been tried out by Amicus in previous outings, and had passed mustard in some Hammer films too. The film uses quick, basic and workable effects, via some strings, wires and some clever editing. Director Freddie Francis using his 'through-the eye sockets pov for the first time here.  A good example is the shot in the GIF above. Peter Cushing would have to be a tad-dab-hand with a dagger, to hit that eye socket the first, second ..even maybe fourth take, if he was lucky. However, placing the hand on the dagger handle, the blade in the eye socket, then pulling the dagger OUT, and cranking the motion BACKWARDS in post, would get you a hit every time! And, just like the movie itself, a HIT . . no matter how many times I have watched it! KEY MOMENTS: Cushing possessed by The Skull tries to commit murder. The nightmare abduction of Cushing and his on-the-edge-of-your-seat trial!

REQUESTED BY A. RANDELL

 

 

'AND NOW, THE SCREAMING STARTS' was Amicus films one and only step into the territory usually inhabited by Hammer films. Spooky castles, creepy graveyards, frilly cuffs and cloaks. Gothic ghost stories, was maybe something they tried, as a scene in a short story in their familiar portmanteau films, but as a full length movie, 'AND NOW, THE SCREAMING STARTS (1973)' was the only full length feature, and the result was patchy. Shot under the production title of 'Fengriffen', the name of the novel by David Case, Roger Marshall wrote a screenplay that at times manages to be, predictable, yet confusing and contrived. However, the cast are entertaining as, Cushing, Ian Ogilvy, Herbert Lom, Patrick Magee and Stephanie Beacham all go through the 'ghost story-by numbers' for what feels like forever. 'And Now . . ' also marks the debut of Peter Cushing's  wavey full head wig! In interviews Cushing compared his 'full mopped' appearance to that of actress Helen Hayes!. However, research has shown, it was Cushing himself who requested the wig and would go on to wear it in Hammer films, 'Frankenstein And The Monster from Hell' and as Count Gerard De Merret in LA GRANDE BRETECHE, an episode of Anglia Television's popular series 'Orson Welles Great Mysteries' in 1973. Fans hated the mop then, as they do now!

Probably the best scene in 'And Now . . . ' can be seen here, in our requested GIF. Desecrated tombs, smashed skeletal remains, a raving madman and face off with an axe, all played out in a lashing storm in a family cemetery, makes for high drama, as Cushing's Dr Pope tries to reason with a not too happy Ian Ogilvy. It's certainly worth a watch, for Cushing's Dr Pope. Although he doesn't get a whole lot to do, the film noticeably lifts, when he arrives and gives the story a high five...and no, I am not referring to the wandering severed hand, that pops up and clumps around either. Yes, the Amicus's clock-work, five fingered fiend makes an other appearance! Having already built up a following after it's debut in ''DR TERROR'S HOUSE OF HORRORS' IN 1965, it turns up in Amicus future features  'SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN' and 'ASYLUM'

GIF REQUESTED BY K.BARNES

 

#GIMMETHEGIFWEDENESDAY: It's interesting that of all the requests we've received for GIFS since last week, and have shared over the last seven days on the PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE  , just under half were from the films that Peter Cushing made for Amicus films. Evidence that maybe Subotsky's and Rosenberg's efforts are getting their fair share of the recognition and a slice of the appreciation pie at last? However, no matter how that tide may turn, like Hammer films, Amicus also had their fair share of misfires. 'I.MONSTER' is not a failure by any standards. The short fall that can be seen and felt in the film, is the product of 'management mangling'. It's a film that frustratingly sits, through no fault of it's director and cast, somewhere between classic and clunky. Destructive meddling and tampering on a fools errand, with the laughable idea, of what was considered by it's producer, to be a cheap way of making a film, in 3D, caused much damage. The film that was ultimately released contained several scenes and shots that were filmed to accommodate that notion. Tracking camera shots from behind plants, obstructing test-tubes and pillars, to say nothing of 'objects being thrust' at the camera, that makes I, MONSTER at times, a very odd watch.

Stylish direction from a very young Stephen Weeks holds the story firmly together, and it's a version that many of the Jekyll and Hyde purists, seems to like*. Performances from Cushing and Lee are very good indeed. Lee owns his Mr Blake. Again, Cushing doesn't have a lot to do in the way of anything dynamic, but it's not that kind of role or film. And though the ending maybe quick, it's a good one, even though time constraints may have been the reason behind the obvious doubling of Lee's stand in, Eddie Powell, getting more than his fair share of the accidental close ups. The supporting cast does well, even with the weird appearance, of Radio DJ Mike Raven strolling through a late 1800's drawing room in full Victorian get-up! All play well and, look great.... the film indeed, DOES have a wonderful air and look of authenticity. Pinewood studio's still standing streets sets, from their mega budget musical 'OLIVER', do much to make the film look far more expensive than it really is. Sets were never Amicus's 'thing'. Many of their films were hurriedly shot at Shepperton and Pinewood, on the sets left behind from other productions, just DAYS before they would be struck or demolished.  For me personally, the problem is the score. A dreary string sawing quartet, pinches out the thinnest of tinny, depressing and mawkish sounds. When taking my annual viewing of this film, I SKIP the opening title roll, or I'd be 'hanging' from the rafters, by the last credit!

GIF REQUESTED BY PAULINE TANKERTON

* Producer Milton Subotsky, decided to rename the lead characters of this Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson  classic, Dr Marlowe and Mr Blake. It has been claimed that he changed the names on learning that Hammer films were  shooting their own variation on the theme, with Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde . When I interviewed Milton Subotsky for the camera in 1982, and asked him to explain his choice of changing names. Milton confidently told me, 'I thought it would be a fun thing to do!..I wanted to add, 'Like making a film in 3D???' but opted to keep my trap, shut tight!

 

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#MONSTERMONDAY: THE CHEMICAL BROTHER: TERROR IN A TOP HAT

 

#MONSTERMONDAY : Here's a particularly nasty fellow. Not even slipping under the pseudonym of Mr Blake, can HIDE this particular monster . . . Christopher Lee as Mr Blake in 'I, Monster' Amicus films 1971.

PETER CUSHING IN A ON SET PHOTOGRAPH FROM 'I, MONSTER' 

 

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I MONSTER : THE FACE OF EVIL AND THE PERFECT CHOICE FOR A BLU RAY RELEASE

Dogged by production problems, a 3D process that didn't or wouldn't work, and a script, no matter what you may read, isn't a faithful adaption of Robert Louis Stevenson story, I, MONSTER still has three very good things going for it. Christopher Lee's performance as Dr Marlowe and Mr Blake, who in all but name are Jekyll and Hyde. A performance that Lee himself said, he was very proud of.

The second would be STEPHEN WEEKS direction, he manages to keep a steady pace and draw something new out of a story that had appeared on screen many times. The third would be Peter Cushing in the thankless role of Utterson.

Yes, the pace of the film is different from any other Amicus or Hammer film. You won't find any whip pans, flash effects or comic book 'dutch tilts'...this is story telling about victorian values, very well sited and dressed in the period. There is almost an echo of the very well respected, BBC productions of M.R, James stories here. It's also very much like another Lee / Cushing vehicle THE CREEPING FLESH made some three years later, this is another tale of transformation and the repercussions of tinkering with science, the mind and 'things best left alone'!

This one is in my personal top five of...well over due a blu ray release! 

Rare photographs, vintage promotion materials, all hand picked and served up in our daily posts, celebrating the life and career of Peter Cushing. The official Facebook Fan Page of The Peter Cushing Appreciation Society, founded in 1956 and still going strong on the web and facebook. Join our Facebook Fan Page, UPDATED several times DAILY. Stills, Prize Competitions, Features and News...and FREE! Just click here to join our growing following of over 20,000 Peter Cushing fans : HERE