#TOOCOOLTUESDAY: ABOVE IS THE LEGAL contract between Peter Cushing and Hammer film Productions, for Cushing's LAST FRANKENSTEIN film for the studio, 'Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell' (1973) Along with details regarding Cushing's daily rate of £250.00 ( that by todays rate, allowing for inflation is around £3,000 pounds sterling) there is also an allowance for Peter Cushing's accommodation at Browns Hotel in London and a supplement payment of £25 per week towards the cost of Cushing's driver!
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:TO RESIST the 'THE DEAD DROP IN' pun, is easy. To try and explain WHAT exactly is going on here, with out giving anything away about the twisty-wobbly-plot of #HOUSEOFTHELONGSHADOWS is some-what harder! All I will say is, if you still haven't had the opportunity to watch the ONE FILM where #PeterCushing #ChristopherLee and #VincentPrice star TOGETHER for the first and ONLY time, you need to do so!
THE VERY GOOD NEWS IS if you feel your delicate disposition would collapse under the strain and terror of actually watching 'House of the Long Shadows' ..have no fear! Paper Dragon Productions have just this week launched the PAPERBACK RELEASE of the Michael Armstrong's #SCREENPLAY. Which you can order : HERE! . Hardback signed copies are also available for sale! Look out for our PCAS #COMPETITION soon, where you can #WIN your very OWN copy!
#SILENTBUTDEADLY:I SEEM TO BE getting a lot of interest in requested #GIFS featuring Donald Pleasence at the mo! We have posted several rare pics and bits over the past two weeks, especially from his role in 'BEYOND THE GRAVE'. Here he is playing ham Hollywood film star, Valentine De'ath and cutting off a LARGE SLICE, in demonstrating 'How to play a death screen when you are about to be murdered in an iron maiden!' Hmm, I think we can all see where that's going?
THE UNCANNY is Milton Subotsky's distant relative of product from his beloved Amicus films. Sadly the film gets next to little love, despite having some truly frightening moments. Cushing as ever plays it straight as link man, Wilbur Gray and his disabling fear of milk lapping felines. While Pleasence in his story 'Hollywood 1936', melts the celluloid with fiery spite, ego, and cruelty, it's divine to watch! Donald PLEASENCE worked along side Peter Cushing in several productions. Can you name them? and WHICH IS YOUR FAV? #GIF requested by Marsha Matthews UK
#SILENTBUTDEADLY: IN 1967 THE #HAMMERFILMS Frankenstein series took an interesting turn. After three adventures on film where the Baron rustle-up not the prettiest of creations from the charnel houses and graveyards, his next adventure and focus of attention was something very much easier on the eye. And if that wasn't enough, he accomplishes something that moves his work beyond the stitches, the unpredictable brains and behavior of his reactivated dead, because the Baron captures, THE SOUL!
AS USUAL, Cushing doesn't flinch at these lofty goings-on, and I feel the film 'Frankenstein Created Woman' owes much of it's cult status not just to super siren Susan Denberg, the created Woman of the title, but as ever to Peter Cushing, whose conviction and performance is the real life and SOUL of the film! #GIF requested by Marty Kaiser, US.
#SILENTBUTDEADLY: The world of #DOCTORWHO is experiencing a 'tear in the fan continuum'...! But #PETERCUSHING's Doctor Who say, 'It will all turn out fine'...Agreed? Peter Cushing as Dr Who in film, Dr Who and the Daleks' (1965) ...Requested by Big Red Dalek in the UK.
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
#MONSTERMONDAY:
Here's a treat for our Bank Holiday / Labor Day Monday... It's a look
behind the scenes during the making of the first Peter Cushing Dr Who
movie at Shepperton studios in 1965. Cushing certainly seems to be
enjoying himself, as he and co star Roy Castle break into some song and
dance. It's great seeing Peter Cushing so relaxed. Whatever you may
think of the Cushing Dr Who films, they were very well made for the
time, and the audience of children, for which the film swas made,
certainly lapped them up, as did I. Nope Cushing isn't canon, and that
in some way is a good thing...he is OUR very own Dr Who!!
IF YOU LIKE what you see here at our website, you'll love our daily themed posts at our PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE. Please Us Help Keep The Memory Alive!
THERE'S A WORRY SELECTION of bodies popping up throughout a small
suburb of Paris..and they all have their throats torn out! Police
surgeon, Peter Cushing suspects something is a foot..or paw! Tyburn
films, Legend of the Werewolf is one of a pair of films that neatly
brought the Brit Horror Era to a close. Cushing made both Legend and The
Ghoul with director, Freddie Francis. Kevin Francis, son of Fred was
CEO of Tyburn, and looked at one point to have the winning formula to keep the Brit Fantasy Flick alive.
The Making Of Legend Of The Werewolf
Behind the Scenes Photographs, Script and Interviews HERE! SOON!
ALAS, THE SHIP had already left the dock and was sailing for tastes a
new, splashed with gore, serial killers and mayhem. 'Legend', 'The
Ghoul' and Cushing bring a certain dignity to the screen. A class of
film, that would soon vanish from our screens.
IN THE CLIP ABOVE, Cushing is joined by Roy Castle. A performer who in the
past had been a one man, dancing, singing, musician entertainer who had a
vast experience of performing in variety, on both stage and tv. Castle
appeared with Cushing in two other films, 'Dr Terrors House of Horrors'
and 'Dr Who and the Daleks' both for Amicus films, who at one time were
the only real competition to Hammer films. The Dr Who film was Amicus in
all but name. Cushing and Castle knew each other well enough, to bounce
and feed each other in their two scenes in 'Werewolf', and bring a
certain black comedy-vaudeville to the film.
'LEGEND' WAS IN PART, a Tony (Hammer Films) Hinds script, which
Kevin Francis added to. The two characters in this clip, funnily enough,
do not appear in the first draft of the script! The film has a very
neat cast, even Michael Ripper, credited as a 'Sewer Man', gets to
re-enact his look of horror, first seen in Hammer films 'The Mummy' with
Cushing and Lee back in 1959! Ron Moody plays the lovely scruffy ol zoo
keeper, David Rintoul, the doomed Etoile, Lynn Dalby is a sensitive
love interest, but Renee Houston in her last screen performance before
her death in 1980, as Chou-Chou and Hugh Griffith as Maestro Pamponi,
almost steal the show.
This film at the time of writing, still is without a dvd release.
Here's a HEADS UP and a SNEAK PREVIEW of the extras coming our way in
the LIMITED EDITION REGION FREE STEEL BOOK BLU RAY release of Amicus
films 'DR TERROR'S HOUSE OF HORRORS'. It's available now as a pre
order from http://www.odeonent.co.uk with an official release date of September 21st 2015.
Scanned at 4k by Pinewood Post Production and with newly commissioned
Steel Book art by the renowned Graham Humphreys, this collector's
version is limited to 4,000 individually
numbered Steel Books. Dr Terror (Peter Cushing) is a mysterious fortune
teller who boards a train and offers to tell fellow passengers
(Christopher Lee, Roy Castle, Donald Sutherland) their fortune with
tarot cards. Five possible futures unfold: an architect returns to his
ancestral home to find a werewolf out for revenge; a huge flesh-eating
vine takes over a house; a musician gets involved with voodoo; an art
critic is pursued by a disembodied hand and a doctor discovers his new
wife is a vampire. But they all end in the same result…..death. A
fascinating and fast paced example of portmanteau film-making with a
deadly twist in the tale.
'Things That Make You Go, Oh!'...Never let it be said that Amicus films, didn't take full advantage of the opportunity to promote their films, within..their own films! Here's Michael Craig as Maitland..there's that Amicus name again...in the story 'Bargain In Death' from 'Vault of Horror' (1973), reading the Bantam paperback tie-in novel of the Amicus release, Tales from the Crypt from the previous year!
Though this wasn't the first time Amicus did some 'product placement' least we forget the 'Dr Terror's House of Horrors' poster.. actually featured IN in Amicus film, 'Dr Terror's House of Horrors'! Not the poster art work that was used to promote the film..but near enough. Director Freddie Francis is credited, as is producer Subotsky.... the cast surname of Schreck is a reference to Peter Cushing's character in the film, the sinister Dr Schreck.
The Amicus Films of Peter Cushing : Part One of a serial feature written by Troy Howarth with images and design by Marcus Brooks
When Max J. Rosenberg and Milton Subotsky partnered up to produce films,
they initially had their eye aimed squarely at the youth market. They
scored early hits with rock and roll films like Rock, Rock, Rock! (1956)
and the early Richard Lester film It’s Trad, Dad! (1962), but it was
their moody black and white chiller City of the Dead (1960, aka Horror
Hotel) which would point to their later fortunes. City of the Dead had
been produced under the name of Vulcan Productions, but by the time they
revisited the genre in the middle of the decade, the credits would read
“An Amicus Production.” Amicus, incidentally, was the Latin word for
“friend,” indicating that the company was established with the best of
intentions.
Truth be told, the distribution of work at Amicus was pretty much split
thusly: Rosenberg set up the deals and Subotsky focused on the creative
end of the partnership. It was Subotsky who had enthusiasm for horror,
sci-fi and fantasy; Rosenberg would have been quite content producing
anything that turned a profit. As such, their working relationship
would prove to be harmonious—for the most part. Dissent and hard
feelings would settle in over time, but in the beginning it was a match
made in heaven, with the two New Yorkers feeding into each other’s
strengths.
When they decided to turn their energy to making horror
pictures, they were well aware of the success that Hammer Films were
enjoying in the UK. Subotsky, in fact, had approached Hammer's Anthony Hinds with the
idea of doing a remake of James Whale’s Frankenstein (1931) in the
mid-50s. When Hammer went off and did a very different take on Mary
Shelley’s original novel, Subotsky felt cheated and would often vocalize a critical attitude towards Hammer’s output in interviews.
Subotsky preferred his horror with a bit of subtlety; to his thinking,
Hammer’s shockers were too garish, too gory, too needlessly sexy. Thus,
it came as no surprise that the horror films he oversaw were
comparatively “old fashioned” in their approach. Still, Subotsky and
Rosenberg knew that they needed star power to help sell their films and
they wasted no time in courting Hammer’s two biggest names, Peter
Cushing and Christopher Lee.
Lee would top-line City of the Dead and
would be brought back to star in Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors (1965),
the first of the Amicus anthology films. To play the fortune-telling
Dr. Schreck, they would enlist the services of Peter Cushing. The
combination of Cushing and Lee was good for box office and with Hammer
veteran Freddie Francis also in tow to direct, some viewers may well
have thought that they were seeing a new Hammer film!
Dr. Terror would establish a very different approach, however, one which
would distinguish the Amicus product from that of Hammer. Hammer’s
films were typically period pieces. They reveled in lurid scenes of
gore and sensual sexuality. And above all else, they were always single
narrative pieces. Amicus’ films, on the other hand, would be
contemporary. They would avoid explicit gore and seldom so much as
touched on the subject of sex or sexuality. And they would often
embrace the anthology format which had so impressed the young Subotsky
when he saw Ealing Studios’ seminal Dead of Night (1945).
The formula would prove to be successful. Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors
was a box office hit and it even snagged some favorable notices from
the critics, many of whom were put off by the excesses found in Hammer’s
films. If Subotsky and Rosenberg were taking “the high road” in some
respects, it was due entirely to Subotsky’s own feelings on the matter;
if Rosenberg had produced such a film on his own, there’s little doubt
that he would have hewed closer to Hammer’s example. No matter how one
views it, Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors made an impact and it remains
one of their most purely enjoyable confections. Freddie Francis directs
with style and energy, Alan Hume’s widescreen color photography is
properly colorful and atmospheric, Elisabeth Lutyens contributes a
spare, but chilling, soundtrack.
If it has a failing it’s in the
script, written by Subotsky himself. The stories are a pretty routine
lot and at least one of them (the Voodoo segment with Roy Castle) is basically an uncredited rip-off of
Cornel Woolrich’s story Papa Benjamin, which had been adapted as an
episode of the popular Boris Karloff-hosted TV series, Thriller, in
1961. Even so, the stylish execution and generally excellent
performances help to elevate it and result in a generally enjoyable
film. Like most anthologies, it’s uneven—one good story here, one so-so
one there—but when it works, it works very well indeed. They would
continue to refine the formula in later films.
The experience of making Dr. Terror would prove satisfying for Peter
Cushing. He enjoyed getting to play a real character role, with makeup
and an accent to boot, and he responded to Subotsky’s almost childlike
enthusiasm. Indeed, the two men would find in each other kindred
spirits. Much has been written about Cushing down through the years,
but little of it touches on the complexity of the man. He had his
faults, like anybody else, but one of his great strengths was an
unerring sense of loyalty to his friends. In Subotsky, he found a
producer whose love for creating mirrored his own.
If Cushing had
issues with his writing, as he had with that of Hammer’s Jimmy Sangster,
for example, he kept his concerns to himself—or at the very least
broached the topic in gentle terms that didn’t ruffle any feathers on
Subotsky’s part. Much like the “marriage” of Subotsky and Rosenberg,
the union of Amicus and Cushing would prove to be a productive and happy one; it would also enjoy a happier resolution in the long run.
For their next collaboration, The Skull, Cushing would return to play
the lead, with Lee along for the ride in the capacity of “guest star.”
Freddie Francis was again brought on board to direct and he would
deliver what was for all intents and purposes his masterpiece as a
director.
The slight screenplay, adapted by Subotsky from Robert
Bloch’s story “The Skull of the Marquis de Sade”, served as an ideal
framework for the director to indulge in his love of mobile camerawork
and artfully composed compositions. It may well be a case of style over
substance, but so what?
As a mood piece, The Skull is remarkable well
done. It’s even a little eerie in spots, as Cushing’s character, an
obsessive collector of occult memorabilia, succumbs to the malefic
influence of de Sade’s skull. Subotsky managed to assemble a top notch
cast for the film: in addition to Cushing and Lee, it featured the likes
of Patrick Wymark, Nigel Green, Patrick Magee, Jill Bennett, George Coulouris and Michael Gough.
This reflects a key strength of Subotsky as a producer—his unerring
ability to entice top drawer talent to appear in genre films by offering
them roles that could be filmed quickly, thus enabling them to earn a
little extra money in between more “important” film and theatrical
commitments. Cushing was given an opportunity to carry the film,
appearing in almost every scene and helping to ground it in reality.
He’s splendid in the role, which is in some respects one of his most
under-appreciated performances. He is relaxed and commanding when
needed, but gradually conveys panic and fear as the character’s life
begins to spiral out of control.
It’s a marvelous, low-key,
naturalistic performance from an actor who could sometimes fall back on
mannerisms when he didn’t have something more substantial to work from.
It, too, would prove to be a hit for the company and Subotsky would
waste no time in continuing the association. Their next venture(s), however,
would prove to be controversial among fans and sci-fi buffs in general,
with many viewing the end result as something of a low point for both
the studio—and the actor …
Written By Troy Howarth Images and Design: Marcus Brooks
