DARK CORNERS HAMMER FRANKENSTEIN FRANCHISE 1 AND 2 : MONSTER MUSICAL CONNECTIONS : PC MAN AND BOY!

#PeterCushing Femmefatalesfriday! Here's an interesting musical motif connection, between Valerie Gaunt and Christopher Lee. Btw Valerie is the subject of next week's #femmefatale feature here at the website!

PETER CUSHING AGED NINE, with a letter from his school, that was requested by his father, George. It's interesting to read how even back then, he was consciousness and stood out, even at school! 

THE ABOVE BANNER was posted today at our PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE. With it was a message to everyone who follows and comments at the page, that this is the last post for a while, on the page.  FACEBOOK is a for PCAS is a great tool, to connect with fans of Peter Cushing's work, to devise competitions and get together with others, who have a love of Peter and the whole world, that connects to his work and life. But all of that shudders to a halt, if the followers can nit see the posts we make three to four times daily. Some are reporting seeing none at all, for DAYS! 

ABOVE A FACEBOOK MESSAGE we received seconds after posting the news of taking a some time out from posting on the PCAS facebook fan page. If it wasn't so stupid and manipulative, it would be funny . . BELOW the revised header banner

THE SOLUTION appears to be clicking a button, making a prioritization of the posts you see on facebook..without it, you will not see the PCAS posts, and the account, is starved of the interaction that facebook insists it receives, OR it buries the account. We are taking a few days off from the PCAS PAGE, and waiting to see, if things change . . . .Posts will continue here, unchanged. Thanks to YOU both this website and our PCAS YOUTUBE CHANNEL are very healthy indeed! I'll keep you posted - Marcus 

WHILE WE MAY BE EXPERIENCING visibility issues at our FACEBOOK PAGE, we are still very happy to promote and raise awareness of other society, groups and in this case, excellent video documentaries. I received a message from the chaps at the DARK CORNERS YOUTUBE CHANNEL  a short time ago, asking if we could possibly, post a LINK to their channel. There reason, I had already discovered that very morning. TWO SUPERB documentaries called HAMMER AND THE FRANKENSTEIN FRANCHISE.  Written and presented by Robin Bailes, directed and edited by Graham Trelfer, the docs are in TWO parts, and each are well worth your time, as are many of video docs. Packed with tons of images and clips, both are very well edited and presented, making these many steps above, what usually passes for docs and reviews on Youtube and also many extras on current blu rand DVD releases. Don't take my word for it, go look them up pr click these links for PART ONE and  PART TWO HERE!

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

#SILENTBUTDEADLY: VAMPS FIRE SMOKE AND FIGHTS!

#SILENTBUTDEADLY: THE SCRIPT FOR HAMMER FILMS fifth Frankenstein film 'Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed' afforded the 'creation' an opportunity to share his feelings and emotions, in a way that no other 'monster/creation' had before in any of the previous Cushing / Frankenstein's'. How fortunate than, to have cast the excellent Freddie Jones as the unfortunate Professor Richter / Doctor Brandt, who was able to do that dialogue justice. For once the one who had gone under the Baron's knife, had intelligence and cunning, and no more than in the scene where this clipped GIF comes from.  

WHILE DESPERATELY dashing from room to room, looking for those all important notes, a hidden Brandt stops Frankenstein in his tracks, 'I fancy that I AM the spider and YOU are the fly, Frankenstein'. Lit by the flames of a flickering rag,  Brandt stands at the top of the staircase, holding glass lanterns full of  combustible oil. Brandt invites Frankenstein to a deadly game of cat and mouse. If he wants get out out of the house alive, he will have to out fox Brandt, and his intention of burning down the house, with them inside! Giving us one the all-times best endings to a Hammer film.

FAST LINK TO LOADS OF RARE PIC AND FEATURE ABOVE AT OUR WEBSITE : HERE

#SILENTBUTDEADLY: Van Helsing (Peter Cushing) looks on in horror on discovering his friend, Jonathan Harker (John Van Eyssen) in Dracula's coffin, now transformed into a vampire! There is only one thing for it! Hammer films Dracula Horror of Dracula (1958) Requested by Junior Fleetwood.

OUR #MONSTERMONDAY TRIBUTE  TO THIS SCENE A FEW WEEKS GO!

#SILENTBUTDEADLY: VINNIE GOES PUFF! Paul Toombes sits in total boredom, during the junket party for his Dr Death movies, unfortunately it also brings together people and duds from his past, that he would rather forget . . . Weird coincidence, when I met with Vincent Price in 1980 and asked him about Madhouse, he said, 'I really would rather not talk about that one...!' He smiled and that made me laugh! Personally, it's a film I never get bored of...!
Request by Dan T

RANDOM RARE AND REALLY COOL POSTS: EVERY #TOOCOOLTUESDAY!

HERE AT THE WEBSITE AND OUR PCAS FACEBOK FAN PAGE! CLICK HERE!  

If you LIKE what you find posted here . . Please visit us at our daily themed posts at our PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE and 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.

NOW HE'S REALLY ANGRY! CUSHING LEE DRACULA HARKER HAMMER GIFS

NOW HE'S  REALLY ANGRY! Jonathan Harker in a dance with death! Never has Christopher Lee's DRACULA looked more feral than in the scene from Hammer films, 'DRACULA' /'HORROR OF DRACULA'  starring Peter Cushing as Van Helsing in 1958.

Actor John Van Eyssen did a great job of playing Harker, and went on to appear in only nine other feature films, then leave his acting career in 1961 and become the head of the Grade Organisation literary agency.  He then left the business in 65 to take up a position in the UK division of Columbia Pictures, eventually becoming Managing Director in July 1969. Finally in 1970, he was promoted to Worldwide Head of Production (ex-USA) and moved to New York.

After his tenure at Columbia, Van Eyssen became an independent producer, returning to the UK in 1991 to establish Britain's premier showcase for talented young filmmakers, the Chelsea Film Festival. Born Matthew John Du Toit Van in Africa in 1922, he died in 1995, aged 73 in London. Interestingly, his son, David Van Eyssen, is a US-based producer and director known for the web-series RCVR.

AND HERE'S ONE MORE FOR THE POT! Peter Cushing as Van Helsing on rushing to the celler of the Holmwood family home, finds DRACULA's hiding place, at first minus the Count. Until . . . . .

MORE DRACULA GIFS and trivia soon!

Come join almost 25 THOUSAND other friends and followers at our 

FACEBOOK FAN PAGE You'll be MOST WELCOME!

WHAT WE DIDN'T SEE! DRACULA 58 HARKER'S VAMPIRE #MONSTERMONDAY

Today's MONSTERMONDAY features something that has been part of Hammer films lore for as long as I can remember. With the emergence of unseen publicity stills and contact sheets from Hammer films 1958 Dracula, the prompting of all kinds of theories around the missing or censored shots from the final cut of the film can be read on many forums on the net. The release of the remastered blu ray a few years ago, caused a few of us to smile smugly about the inclusion of the footage of Dracula's disintegration. We suspected it was shot, the problem was finding it! Most of that hunch was based on a colour photograph of Lee's Dracula in the final moments of the film, lying on the floor wearing make up that hinted of another stage in his grisly death appearance.

The still of John Van Eyssen as Jonathan Harker in our banner, hints at maybe something similar. We know the character is bitten by Valerie Gaunt, we see Peter Cushing's Van Helsing stake him, finding him in the castle crypt and judging by Van Helsing's grimace on looking on his vampire state, he wasn't a pretty sight! For whatever reason, what Van Helsing saw, was snipped out of prints for the European market. Though, it could have been included in the Japanese print, which provided the source of the missing footage of Dracula's death. As reels 1,2,3 were rendered unusable and damaged after finding the print, the scene where this shot appeared in the feature, was lost to us. Many argue the point that this shot was never included in ANY print, it was never shot...but I'll go with the point I made when the Dracula death photograph was found...Director Terence Fisher I suspect, would not have spent time setting up this scene, without shooting it. Time was premium at Hammer and was never wasted. Cushing himself has stated multiple takes were rare, because of costs...and I can't see Anthony Hinds signing off on a SFX - Make Up head of Harker, with no intention of using it! Hammer did not waste money on a budget that was already tight...

VALERIE GAUNT as the Vampire Woman from

Hammer films'Dracula' / 'Horror of Dracula' (1958)

 ...and Harker's VAMPIRE undead-head at the left

 of the photograph...

 Dracula (1958 film) Hammer Horror from Warner Bros. Christopher Lee

 

Still it looks great, a pity we have yet to see this shot in the film. There is further evidence of this make up head in a publicity photograph of Valerie Gaunt, included in the thread below. It's an interesting pic and story...and for that reason alone, we present it as this week's icky item for ‪#‎MONSTERMONDAY‬ ...what do you think? - Marcus
 

Hammer Horror from Warner Bros. Christopher Lee Horror Film 

DRACULA : 130 YEARS SINCE HARKER WALKED INTO THE VAMPIRE LAIR

This month, One Hundred and Thirty years ago, Jonathan Harker first walked into the place where angels feared to tread... Castle Dracula! Here illustrated with a little seen press photograph of John Van Eyssen as Jonathan Harker and a colour transparency of Christopher Lee as Count Dracula from Hammer films, 'Dracula / Horror of Dracula (1958) Starring Peter Cushing as Van Helsing.