NEED A PICK ME UP? THIS MIGHT JUST DO THE TRICK!

I NEEDED A PICK-ME-UP this morning 😐 ...and this really did the trick! Maybe you do too? You are right, it's NOT Peter Cushing's Birthday today . . Here is something we posted on #PeterCushing's anniversary of his birthday here last year. I am posting it again today here and at the Facebook PCASUK Fan Page, to maybe help maybe take you to another place for half an hour? It's part of a series of #PCASUK edited clips of Peter Cushing and #ChristopherLee, candidly chatting that was amazingly not planned and caught on amateur video during the preparation of the last time Peter and Christopher worked together on the narration of Ted Newsome's #Hammerfim documentary 'Flesh and Blood' released in 1994. There are some gems here, when posted last year, seen for the first time. Both Cushing and Lee were big fans of entertainer and actor Jimmy 'Snozzle' Durante, loved #WarnerBrothers cartoon esp Yosemite Sam, Sylvester the Cat etc.. you'll see Peter prompt Lee to 'do' his impressions of them. As you all know, both Peter and Christopher Lee were very close and long time friends. They had a short hand of communication and knew instinctively what made each other laugh and stories they loved to tell each other. Peter was just a short time away from leaving us here, was quite weak, but wouldn't have missed this meeting for the world... you shouldn't either. Enjoy Safe Safe, stay well, INDOORS and look after each other 😉- Marcus

 

 

 

 

YOU WILL FIND all 11 other clips from this day and further chats and laughs with Peter and Christopher Lee HERE at our PCASUK YOUTUBE CHANNEL : HERE!

 

 

TERENCE FISHER REMEMBERED TODAY

REMEMBERING TERENCE FISHER TODAY 😊 If you enjoy any of the better Hammer films of the 1950's and 60's . . this is the point, you doff your cap 😉 There can be few directors who worked for Hammer films, who did so much to develop that Hammer-in-house style. Terence Fisher, WAS Hammer. Along with Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and the players who helped under pin the rich vision of fairy-tale come Gothic nightmare style. Even when the 'monsters' were 'shaky' the script, with more holes than a Swiss cheese... the look, pace and world beautifully styled by Fisher, just sat so well. The Curse of Frankenstein in 1957 was the first, it also lit the rocket that would spin Peter Cushing into a new and long lasting career within the fantasy genre and Christopher Lee, on scraping off the make up and anonymity as 'the monster', would soon don a cloak and a feral shocking performance as Dracula, that set him on path, for more Fisher, Cushing Hammer classics to come. The Mummy, The Gorgon, and The Hound of the Baskervilles, still stand, as maybe the best of Terence Fisher and Hammer. 

TERENCE FISHER was one of the most prominent horror directors of the second half of the 20th century. He was the first to bring gothic horror alive in full colour, and the sexual overtones and explicit horror in his films, while mild by modern standards, were unprecedented in his day. Fisher although aware of the terrifying elements of his Hammer films, would only smile when questioned about their shock factor, and answer...'I make wicked fairy tales...!' Fisher also along with Lee and Cushing, had a wicked sense of humor, hints of which can often been seen on the screen. Given their subject matter and lurid approach, Fisher's films, though commercially successful, were largely dismissed by critics during his career. It is only in recent years that Fisher has become recognised as an auteur in his own right . . .

'BACK IN MARCH 1980, I was just 19, living in Kent and scuffling back and forth to London, jobbing in very basic model and extra work, desperately earning my actors 'Equity Card'. With PCAS has my hobby, I was living in digs, that belonged to a family who were organizing a fantasy convention in London just a few weeks away. They were very kind people and good friends of Terence Fisher's, who had now retired, and was sadly, not in very good health. But he had agreed to attend the convention. While sitting in the kitchen one evening, I was star struck to hear, they were chatting with Fisher on the telephone. I had spent the last two days laughingly trying to get myself an agent in London, the shambolic details they shared with Fisher. Laughing into my coffee I shouted across the room, 'Ask him if he knows any charitable, kind and helpful agents!'. There was a pause and a howl of laughter. I asked, what was his answer? 'Oh, you'll never find one of them!' was his reply . . and he is still laughing down the phone!' 🤣🤣 Sadly, Fisher passed in June. I did get my Equity card, thanks to sponsors, actor Michael Ripper and Make up artist, Roy Ashton... who strangely enough, held a membership of the Equity Union, for many years! So, I sadly never got to meet Terence Fisher... but I did get to make him laugh 😀😊' Marcus Brooks

PETER CUSHING AND THE DIRECTORS: PART ONE OF FOUR: HERE!

#THROWBACKTHURSDAY: A MIXED BAG OF GOODIES PAST!

#THROWBACKTHURSDAY: The Peter Cushing bio-documentary was broadcast TWENTY EIGHT YEARS ago this week. Produced by Tyburn films and interviewed by Dick Vosburgh, the 90 minutes goes by very quickly, with Peter Cushing sharing stories of his life on and off the camera....

#THROWBACKTHURSDAY: As promised, here is a clip of Peter Cushing from 'One Way Ticket To Hollywood' broadcast 28 years ago this week... He gives a very insightful clue about Christopher Lee here...and there's THAT laugh again!!!!

#THROWBACKTHURSDAY: AND FINALLY. . . A snap behind the scenes of Christopher Lee as Captain Zantor in the SPACE 1999 episode 'Earthbound' in 1976.

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#MONSTERMONDAY: THE MAKING OF THE HOUSE OF LONG SHADOWS PART TWO

MICHAEL ARMSTRONG'S disappointment at the cuts in the final cut of The House Of The Long Shadows was matched by the reaction of the stars of the film. Vincent Price, in particular, was so upset that his role had been reduced by the cuts- especially in the music room scene- that he denounced the film openly and refused to aid in it's promotion or have anything more to do with the film. 

Michael Armstrong recalls: ' I got a call from Cannon just before the film was due to open in the UK, telling me about Vinnie's reaction and asking me if I could try and change his mind. Apparently, he had refused to speak to anyone at the Cannon offices. He was staying in London at the time, because his wife Coral Brown was at that time receiving specialist treatment for cancer here. I called him and tried to persuade him to talk to Cannon, but he was adamant. He was so angry and so very upset because he'd loved doing the film and thought it was some of his best comedy work and then to see so much of his performance cut...but what could I say?'

Armstrong, continued 'I was totally in agreement with him and, as I pointed out- the cuts to his dialogue were equally the cuts to my dialogue. We were on the phone over an hour and a half. By the end, we were commiserating with each other. He never did speak to anyone at Cannon, although he and I continued to stay in touch right up to his death.'

ABOVE: PETER CUSHING PROMOTES THE HOUSE OF THE LONG SHADOWS ON THE UK BBC BREAKFAST TIME PROGRAMME 1983. CLIP QUALITY FLUCTUATES BUT IT'S WORTH IT!

HOUSE OF THE LONG SHADOWS opened in London in 1983 at the Carlton Cinema in the Haymarket to mixed reviews and a disastrous box office. Cannon's decision to sell the film as a straightforward horror film had only resulted in confusing both the critics and the audiences who, without having the benefit of knowing beforehand that it was meant to be a tongue-in-cheek lampoon of Gothic melodrama, mistook all the wit and pastiche jokes as an attempt at the real thing. Those critics, however, who did realise the films intent, raved- in particular over the screenplay and the stars. Similarly the film went on to win prizes for best film, best screenplay and best actors (jointly for the four stars) at Avoriaz, Sitges, Paris and other genre festivals around the world.

DISMAYED AT THE London box office results, Armstrong persuaded Cannon to let him experiment with a different approach for the regions in the UK and sell the film as the comedy it was, rather than the horror film that it wasn't. To test this the East Anglia release was launched with a specially organised gala night audience in Stowmarket being issued with souvenir programmes quoting those reviews recognising the film as a comedy. The result was a packed house loving the film, laughing and applauding throughout. As Armstrong points out, 'It was exactly the same audience reaction we'd seen at Avoriaz and in Paris where it had won the audience prize for Best Film at the Paris Film Festival'.

 THE BRITISH QUAD CINEMA POSTER FOR 'HOUSE 

OF THE LONG SHADOWS' WAS SCALED DOWN FOR THE

CANNON VIDEO RELEASE

DESPITE THIS EVIDENCE of the audience reaction, it was too late to change anything. Cannon's original marketing plan remained and the film continued to fail at the UK box office. With a far more tongue-in-cheek marketing campaign the film fared better upon it's American and international release, once more mainly garnering good reviews. Its excellent entry into the video market, however, was cut short by the collapse of Cannon. as part of the company's product sell off, the film was included in a package required by MGM and along with so much of the Cannon product was lost in the archives.

ARMSTRONG SAW THE PROBLEM, 'The problem with parody is that unless you know what is being parodied, you miss the joke and I think that's where certain people missed out on the film. It's a pity because The House Of The Long Shadows is so full of jokes for the movie buff- almost every single line of the dialogue has a reference point to some movie or another - I defy anyone to get them all in a single screening. Apart from the movie references, though, The House Of The Long Shadows exits on several levels, which is why it really needs more than one viewing to appreciate it fully. It was also made with a great love for the film it so affectionately lampoons and as a swan song to the horror careers of the four. Just take a look at their dialogue to see what I mean. I firmly believe when it does finally emerge on DVD, it will finally be recognised, not only as one of Pete Walker's best and most complex films, but as a fitting tribute and elegy to a bygone era'

BUT IT DIDN'T STOP THERE . . 'The House Of The Long Shadows' until 2013 was still in limbo, regarding a legitimate release. Maybe Peter Cushing Centenary was an opportunity too good to miss? Whatever it was, the powers that be, finally gave us what we had been waiting for. 'The House of the Long Shadows' arrived in not only ONE blu ray package, but quite a few! The region FREE blu ray was followed by a German blu ray, then Spanish...and many more there after. The news is good, seems someone turned on the lights at the home of the Grisbanes, and now, the once foggy, under-lit scenes are presented, just as they should have been, when we spent our hard earned cash for groggy dvd copies. The picture quality is great, audio too! The Horror Channel has screened the movie several times over the past five years too! Seems, just like Roderick in the story, if WAIT long enough...you'll get what you want!

HOW WE REPORTED ON THE US REGION BLU RAY RELEASE

PART ONE

PART ONE OF THE MAKING OF THE HOUSE OF LONG SHADOWS 
CAN BE FOUND :  HERE!

THE LATE CHRISTOPHER LEE HAS THE LAST LAUGH ....LITERALLY!

WHILST CONDUCTING the digital remastering process on his collected musical works, Mel Croucher unearthed a never-heard-before gem: An ‘evil laugh’ competition between Christopher Lee and fellow actor Joaquim de Almeida.

IN THE DAYS  when computer games came on cassette, Automata were well known for including music tracks on the reverse side as a ‘bonus’ for the players. The Games Collector, a UK-based company is now selling those music tracks as a collection on crowdfunding site Indiegogo. When it came to re-mastering the audio for Deus Ex Machina 2, the sequel to Automata’s most famous game, an outtake was found in the archives in which Christopher Lee - at that point in his nineties and recording one of his final voice acting roles – competed with Joaquim de Almeida to see who could laugh in the most evil way possible, with Croucher himself the judge! Who won? Well, that would be telling…!

WITH THE REMASTERING complete, the evil laugh competition is included as a bonus extra on one of the five albums that make up Insπred: The Collective Works of Mel Croucher. Croucher himself is considered the father of the British gaming industry; at a time when most computers were being used to calculate the compound interest on the revenue from a year’s worth of potato sales, he was selling his eclectic range of games for the ZX Spectrum through eye-catching adverts on the back pages of the popular computing magazines of the day.

Interested parties can reserve their collection through the campaigns crowdfunding page at igg.me/at/pimania  A preview of Mel’s music is available on Soundcloud at bit.ly/2oHZlae

The Games Collector Ltd is the result of decades of playing and creating games and the obsessive collecting of memorabilia by its founders. With a product line up featuring exclusive, exquisite and highly desirable collectibles, the company aims to bring fans the items they long for, and maybe even a few they didn’t know they wanted!

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