DIRECTOR HOUGH CREATES A HAMMER LIKE NO OTHER WITH TERROR TWINS!

BACK IN THE EARLY 1970's mankind made some very interesting and surprising break throughs, technical and domestic... In 1972, interactive games with vastly more primitive graphics only existed in laboratories, until the invention of PONG! Remember that? 1970 brought pocket calculators to students, engineers, and scientists the world over! 1971 brought us something that was huge in terms of its impact, the Intel 4004 Microprocessor! 1973 gave us the first cell phone, the XEROX ALTO, also TCP, Ethernet and fibre optics!

ALL THIS . . but for some reason Hammer films just couldn't NAIL a new and entertaining idea, that worked on the big screen. My opinion, but something I never understood! But that was until... John Hough's 'Twins of Evil' which cast not only Peter Cushing in a new spin on the Vampire Killer, but also someone who wasn't even trying to copy or replace Christopher Lee as a the head and evil 'toothful-one', Damien Thomas made a great Count Karnstein. Denis Price added some casting clout briefly and two sweet, though not innocent Maltese actresses / models Mary and Madeleine Collinson shapely slipped into the shoes of the title twins with ease. It was director John Hough, who brought the whole lot together in a very refreshing way. With Tudor Gates twist on some Sheridan Le Fanu influences, Harry Robertson's outstanding music score and Dick Bush and his beautiful cinematography, Hammer had an original tale that looked great, sounded wonderful and still impresses.

FREE COLOUR DRACULA CONTACT SHEET : CUSHING COLLECTABLE WEDNESDAY!

THIS WEEKS and our FIRST Collectable is a contact sheet of press stills from #hammerfilms Dracula Has Risen From The Grave (1968) The shots were taken during shooting the 'Dracula's hide out' which were shot on sets at Pinewood Studios. Featured the shots are Christopher Lee appearing in his third Dracula film for the studio. Also actress Barbara Ewing as barmaid Zena and Veronica Carlson as Maria. This scene marks the seducation and 'biting' of Ewing's Zena. The film was directed by Freddie Francis. #dracula #hammerfilms #christopherlee

WHAT ARE MOVIE CONTACT SHEETS? : Back in the ‘classic’ movie  days, still photography went hand-in-hand with film making, to the point that photo negatives were just as important as the reel of the film being produced. Publicity shots made the film and its stars eternally shine. Photographers had to show a keen flattering eye for capturing the stars of the film, as the public’s perception, and success of the film, heavily depended on them. From a sheet containing maybe eight to ten exposures, the press office would choose maybe just one or two, which would be published and exhibited. The rest of the poses and pics would never see the light of day or be unpublished. THAT is what makes contacts rare and valuable. It’s sad to say that many contact sheets were trashed after the movie released or had public run. Most of these contact sheets have survived, because someone dug it out of the trash.”

TODAY is the first of our new weekly themed day here at facebook and our PCAS website. #CUSHINGCOLLECTORSWEDNESDAY! Each each week we'll be giving away rare stills, contact sheets from the press offices of the past and other visual goodies for the digital image collectors among you to add to your collections. Not every goody will be Cushing related, some will be, as in this case something from the Hammer or Amicus films archive. But all will be certainly worth having, individually un-watermarked and even if you don't collect...these can be printed off as photographs or large posters.

SO, THIS WEEK we start with TEN colour images still as originally processed by the Hammer films Warner Brothers press office. These images taken by studio stills photographer. They have not been clean or edited. They are in their original state and are YOURS 😉 Feel free to right click, save and copy.

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  

#HAMMERFILMSATURDAY: ROYAL APPROVAL FOR THE BARON THE COUNT AND CO

#HAMMERFILMSATURDAY: In a few weeks time, it will be almost 50 years since Hammer films were awarded the Queens Award to industry Award, a highly sort after and respected acknowledgement of a company's efforts towards the country's economical well being.

THE EFFORTS and contributions of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee were certainly a contribution to all that lolly in the UK's coffers. Here is a lovely GIF taken from news footage shot at the award ceremony, which Peter, Christopher lee, Veronica Carlson and many others from Hammer films attended...It was certainly a day to celebrate. 

THE AWARD is now in a private collection. Look out for our own celebration to mark that day 49 years ago, in a few weeks time!

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 reach our 30K following total for Peter Cushing BIRTHDAY on MAY 26th 2017 AND Help Keep The Memory Alive!

#THROWBACKTHURSDAY: THE QUEEN, THE BARON AND THE COUNT HAMMER FILMS STYLE

#THROWBACKTHURSDAY : PETER CUSHING, Christopher Lee, Veronica Carlson and Barbara Ewing: May 29th 1968, Hammer was awarded the Queen's Award to Industry in recognition of their contribution to the British economy. Hammer had indeed proved themselves to be the most successful British film company ever. Their reported export earnings were in excess of £2.7 million 1968, so Hammer received the Queen's Award to Industry - the first time the award had gone to a film production company, and yet just a decade later, they were struggling to get a single film into production.''

 

 

 

 

 

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JUST EMAIL YOUR REQUEST TO PETERCUSHINGPCAS@GMAIL.COM

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SUNDAY'S FOR SOMETHING NEW! #GETTHECUSHIONITSCUSHING!

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#MONSTERMONDAY : GUSTAV WEIL : TWINS OF EVIL

#monstermonday ON A MISSION FROM GOD or Monster? Peter Cushing's Gustav Weil and his merry band of Vampire Hunters from Hammer's #twinsofevil, always gets a reaction, when we make post about them... This week, Gustav is open for debate. Was his mission really the safety of his village and it's people or was he a merciless monster driven by his own ends..whatever they may have been...?What do you think... A Man on a mission from God or Monster??? You decide. . .

THIS YEAR, 2016 marks the 60th anniversary of PCAS, help us celebrate Peter Cushing life and career, by sharing our post on any of our sites.

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#petercushing #twinsofevil #hammerfilms

BEHIND THE SCENES AND ON SET DURING AT THE EARTH'S CORE AT PINEWOOD STUDIOS

COMING SOON: BEHIND THE SCENES and ON SET on AT THE EARTH'S CORE. Rare pics in a one off special feature!

Photographs in banner: 

Top: Doug McClure and the cast of Mahars' ape-like Sagoth servants. 

Second: Peter Cushing and co star Caroline Munro at the press call for the launch of the film, At The Earth's Core.

Third: Caroline Munro and Doug McClure clown for the camera during press call

wear the wigs that will be worn by the Sagoths!

Fourth: Peter Cushing, Doug McClure on set at Pinewood studios with director. Kevin Connor.

ALSO COMING SOON 

PETER CUSHING : TALES OF A MONSTER HUNTER 

NEWS: ROGUE WARS TO FEATURE DIGITALLY RECREATED CUSHING GRAND MOFF TARKIN

NEWS: AS REPORTED IN MAIL ON SUNDAY TODAY : AUGUST 23RD 2015

As the grim-faced star of countless horror films including Dracula and Dr Frankenstein, Peter Cushing raised life from beyond the grave, But now the British actor, who died in 1994, will be raised from the dead himself.

 

Cushing, star of many Hammer House of Horror movies, will be digitally recreated in the new Star Wars spin-off Rogue One, which is being filmed at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire and is due to be released late next year.

In the original 1977 Star Wars, Cushing played evil Grand Moff Tarkin, commander of the Death Star and 'boss' of Darth Vader. In the new film Cushing, who died of prostate cancer aged 81, will be painstakingly brought back to life using the latest Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) techniques.

A source told The Mail on Sunday: 'This is one of the most complex and costly CGI re-creations ever. Cushing is a pivotal plot line as he was the one to create Darth Vader and there's a whole back story that will come out.'

But the film-makers face one particularly tough task – creating Cushing's legs and feet.

When director George Lucas filmed the original Star Wars, he gave Cushing and other Galactic Imperial officers ill-fitting leather riding boots. Cushing complained so bitterly that Lucas let him wear slippers, forcing cameramen to shoot from the knees up or have him stand behind the Death Star conference table.

'They are going through hours and hours of old footage from the horror movies to recreate his legs and feet to produce realistic movements,' said the source. 'It is eerie to see someone who has been dead for so long come to life on a screen.'

CGI has been used before to complete movies when actors have died during production, including when Oliver Reed suffered a fatal heart attack while filming Russell Crowe's Gladiator in 1999.

 Story:  Caroline Graham for The Mail on Sunday