'#WATCHWITHCUSHING!' POISON DARTS PEARLS AND MURDER! LOCK-DOWN ENTERTAINMENT

#WATCHWITHCUSHING! IT'S GREAT TO SEE the sharing of #PeterCushing's #SherlockHolmes episodes have been so popular in our PCASUK 'Watch With Cushing Parties' 😊Those you messaging and requesting other episodes from the series, just need to dip into our post from the last three weeks. You will find them there😉 Meanwhile, here we have 'The Sign Of Four' my personal favourite from this Cushing BBC television series, though many see this episode as the weakest!?

OF THE SIX #surviving episodes, from the BBC's 'trashing and wiping tapes fiasco' The Sign of Four' I certainly find it more entertaining and interesting... Peter complained there was too little time for preparation, and some consider the direction of William Sterling, to be without map or steering device! I find these pressures to have enhanced the experience in my viewing. Cushing has to think, react and perform much more quickly. Recorded live, I am sure everyone was flying by the seat of their pants.. . 

NIGEL STOCK AGAIN proves to be a solid and dependable Watson and Cushing's Sherlock at times, leaves his tired and tested performance... all interesting stuff. Supporting actor honours go to John Stratton, another familiar face in the Cushing universe (he would go on to play the comically blustering asylum director in #Hammerfilms / Cushing's 'Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell', 1972), who gives a good account of himself as the clueless and supercilious Inspector Jones. Howard Goorney, a busy character actor whose credits include 'The Evil of Frankenstein' (1964), '#BloodonSatan’sClaw' (1970) and 'The Offence' (1972), also shows up in a small role. I hope this entertains, that you and yours are safe. Take care of yourself and each other, my friends

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THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY TODAYS WATCH WITH CUSHING!

BEFORE we begin a BIG shout out to . . Romina Bond, Kornelis Kalsbeek, Scott Brookman, John Bramwell, Marcia Loisel, Jeffery Kubitz, Jim Morrow, Michelle Lynn Brooks and Lyn Barnes .. . who I hope are going to very much enjoy another Peter Cushing #SherlockHolmes episode this evening.. and I hope you do too! 😃The Boscombe Valley Mystery is one of my favourites from the 1968 BBC television series and it's today's FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE Cushing seems to have much more fun making this episode and their is some amusing bits of business with him and Nigel Stock's #DrWatson too. Director Viktors Ritelis seems to have the right touch for Cushing's style as he directed this and two other episodes of the series, 'The Musgrave Ritual' and 'The Solitary Cyclist'.

SADLY, BOTH EPISODES were victims of the 'BBC great '#junking, wipe and reuse' exercise of the 60's, 70's and 80's. Although the practice was once very common, wiping is now practised much less frequently and since the establishing of an 'archival policy' for television began in 1978, BBC archivists and others have over the years used various contacts in the UK and abroad to try to track down missing programmes. It is hoped maybe one day, the missing #PeterCushing Sherlock Holmes episodes will be found . .and we can enjoy them all! Meanwhile, I trust you are all safe and well and your holiday weekend, finds you and yours in good spirits 😀Please stay in, stay well and safe 😀 - Marcus

PLEASE COME AND JOIN US RIGHT HERE!

SHERLOCK HOLMES TAKES ON THE MASKS OF DEATH! #WATCHWITHCUSHING #WATCHPARTY!

DON'T THINK FOR A MINUTE THAT YOU CAN'T take another post of a Cushing Sherlock Holmes adventure? Snap out of it.😉😀 This one... is different 😉 #SirIanMckellen was 75, when he made that amazing Mr Holmes feature back in 2015. #PeterCushing was 71 when he appeared in what would almost be his 'swan song' for the big screen, and he pours just about everything he has in it 😊'Sherlock Holmes and the Masks of Death' (1984) is a pretty clever film, with a very cool cast to help make it work. 

THE THREE FACES OF Peter Cushing's Sherlock Holmes 

'The Hound of the Baskervilles' (Hammer films 1959)

Peter Cushing as Sherlock Holmes in the BBC Television series of 1968

Cushing's Holmes in semi retirement in 'Sherlock Holmes and the 

Masks of Death (1984)

THERE ARE MANY very nice touches in this film and despite Peter's obvious age and his belief he was too old to play it, it works, helped by Cushing's good friend, John Mills who fills the role of Dr Watson confidently and with a few well timed 'matured-creaks and groans'. Roy Ward Baker directs also Ray Milland, Anne Baxter and #AntonDiffring are all lovely to watch and help put the cherry on what could have been quite a stale and mouldy cake! 

I VERY MUCH LIKE the story in this film. At times it's bleak, quite dark and uses one of the 'world's darkest of times' to under pin the evil and threats' in this #Sherlock and #Watson drama, written by Hammer's Anthony Hinds and N.J Crisp. It is a shame Cushing thought himself not fit enough or capable to nail another Holmes film, which was planned for production after this one. But, he did wait while Tyburn were trying to source funding.  

CUSHING MADE '#Biggles' (1986) while waiting, which would be his last cinema role. I think he more than managed to do his last Sherlock justice and finally bow out from one of his most accomplished and always most confidently performed roles in his long and varied career. I hope you enjoy this too 😊Marcus

CATCH UP on ALL the PCASUK '#WATCHWITHCUSHING! 'watch parties' at the FACEBOOK UK PETER CUSHING APPRECIATION SOCIETY FACEBOOK PAGE HERE!

THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TIGHT BOOTS AND THE TARKIN TEN TOES!

UNBELIEVABLE TRUTH WE CAN REVEAL TODAY!

 

PCASUK WATCH PARTIES NOW LIVE AND YOU ARE WELCOME!

HERE IS AN UPDATE WITH SOME THUMBS :  taken from some of the latest WATCH PARTIES, documentaries and goodies posted over the last few days at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE! If you need to chill, kick back and spend an evening entertained watching, some of best of Peter Cushing's work . .  the PCASUK Facebook Fan Page is maybe the place you should come and visit! I've been busy the last two weeks, chatting, sharing ideas and taking suggestions and requests, from many lovers of Peter Cushing's work, to help launch and share clips and WATCH PARTIES . .  and it's a LOT of fun! So, why not drop by, join us and spend an evening? YOU will be most welcome 😉😊 Just JOIN US JUST CLICK HERE! We are free and open to everyone, wherever YOU are! 

PCASUK CUSHING CHRISTMAS COMPETITION WINNER NUMBER FOUR!!

THE DRAWING OF OUR FOUR LUCKY PCAS Christmas Cushing Competition Winners, is happening throughout today, at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE TODAY! SO HERE COMES NUMBER FOUR!

CONGRATULATIONS FRANTIC FRANKY.. and a Happy New Year!  😃😊😀

THE ANSWER we were looking for was . .  D) Berkley Square! Thank you to everyone who took part in the competition 😊

FOUR PCASUK CHRISTMAS COMPETITIONS are now closed, and proved to be our VERY popular indeed! We shall be sure to do it all again in Christmas 2020! ONE competition, for our New Year remains open until Jan 12th 2020! CERTAINLY worth a try 😉  JUST CLICK HERE!

PCASUK CHRISTMAS COMPETITION NUMBER FOUR NOW LIVE WITH BUMPER PRIZE!

PCASUK CHRISTMAS COMPETITION 4#! IS NOW LIVE at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FACEBOOK PAGE HERE! You can ONLY enter the COMPETITION THERE! A reminder . .  these competitions are open to everyone... whoever, wherever you are! 

THIS PRIZE comprises of SEVEN DVD's... 1) Sherlock Holmes! A box set of FOUR episodes on dvd of #PeterCushing's BBC series from 1968. Included is 'The Hound of the Baskervilles', though by many to be the best tv adaption of the #Doyle story. Each episode comes in it's own case with sleeve. These are believed to be the only remaining episodes from the Cushing 16 episode series, as it was standard practice at the time for the #BBC to wipe tapes and reuse them. Win this competition, and they are yours!

2) 'The Amicus Vault of Horrors'! (region 0) Directed and produced by Donald Fearney, this 146 minute documentary has to be the most comprehensive doc on the history of Amicus films. Narrated by Roy Hudd and featuring interviews with Milton Subotsky, John Carson, #DavidWarner #LindaHayden and many others, you'll find masses of rare footage, rare stills and publicity material, with a script by John Hamilton and editing by Jim Groom, this fear feast leaves no Amicus stone, unturned! 

3) 'The Legend of Hammer Vampires' (region 0) Narrated by Edward (Kiss of the Vampire' & 'Phantom of the Opera' De Souza, directed and produced by Donald Fearney, this 96 minutes of exclusive interviews with many of the key personalities, along with unseen footage and rare stills, that cover the entire history of Hammer's Vampire films and the Dracula franchise. All sales stocks of this documentary are now gone . .. WIN your copy HERE!

WE HAVE TWO batches of this PRIZE for you to WIN. All you have to do is answer the COMPETITION FOUR QUESTION below, send your ANSWER to us, as usual VIA the #PCAS #Facebook MESSAGE BUTTON ONLY! If your answer is correct, it will be dropped into the hat and fingers crossed, pulled out as a WINNER on January 2nd 2020! Good Luck!

COMPETITION QUESTION: Peter Cushing first played the character of Van Helsing, in Hammer films first 'DRACULA' film in 1958... also known as 'The Horror of Dracula'. This was also Christopher Lee's first performance for Hammer as Dracula... for many the climax of the film, is the dramatic slaying of the Count, with Cushing's Van Helsing crossing TWO CANDLE STICKS, forcing Dracula into the light of the rising sun! Cushing is on record to have actually suggested the 'candle stick' idea on the set, during the filming . ..
but he has also given credit to ANOTHER feature film, where he believes he FIRST saw the 'crossed candle sticks' idea used.

YOUR TASK: NAME THAT FILM 😃😉

A) Laurel and Hardy meet Dracula? B) The A to Z of Vampire Killing? C) Home Hobbies: Making Candles? D) Berkley Square? E) Candle Square? F) Candle Shoe?

CHOOSE your answer and send it to us as your entry ONLY using the PCAS Facebook Message Button ONLY!

Have Fun and Good Luck 😉
Marcus

BARBARA SHELLEY IN GORGON MAKE UP : THE FILM FATES OF CUSHING AND CENTENARY OF SHERLOCK'S NIGEL STOCK

FOLLOWING ON from the rare behind the scenes clips we shared with you last week...here's a question for you, again concerning Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee's Hammer film the 1964 'THE GORGON' . .. it's known that actress Barbara Shelley who played Megaera's 'other side' Carla Hoffman, was quite happy to also play the make up laden, three pound head-dressed Gorgon Megaera too! She also stated she wasn't afraid of 'snakes' if they had to be used in the head-dress too! It was Shelley's contractual commitment to other work, that prevented her from playing the role. The whole planning and design of the Gorgon make up had taken much longer than planned.. she HAD to leave and move on to other work.

BUT LOOKING at her in the make up, makes you wonder . . what kind of Gorgon do you think she would have made on the screen. A point that is often made on the hit miss results of the big reveal and drama of the ending of the film... has been, would it have been easier to except the dual identity, if The Gorgon DID look a little like her other identity played by Shelley.... Over at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE, we've asked what do YOU think?

THE MANY FILM FATES OF PETER CUSHING . . . in his own words, text from his second autobiography 'Peter Cushing: Past Forgetting' 1988, Weidenfeld & Nicholson. Cushing had many a dramatic ending for some of his roles, not as many as his good friend, Christopher Lee though 😮😃 . . AGAIN, over at our Facebook PCASUK Fan Page, we are asking . . which PC character 'bow-out' do you find the most interesting, dramatic, emotional? - Marcus

A HEADS UP! a VERY popular series that kicked off  when PCASUK first came to FACEBOOK, 'The Twenty Two  Screen Deaths of Peter Cushing', wrapped through lack of time, quite sometime ago. For those  who enjoyed these posts, you'll be pleased, maybe . . to hear we are  picking up where we left off, in just a few days time 😀😃 Look out for additions to the series soon . .

TODAY ALSO MARKS the Centenary of the birthday of actor, NIGEL STOCK! Stock, played a superb Watson in the BBC 'Sherlock Holmes' television series of the 60's, with Peter Cushing as Holmes. Sadly, Stock left us in 1986, aged 66. The marking of remembering Stock today, is being well supported with comments and opinions at the PCASUK Facebook Fan Page. .  

#CHRISTOPHERLEESATURDAY! Ok... The last time two of these people were on screen together, the set up was quite different...there was a table then too, but the 'lady' was the meal 😮What film was that? Who are the two sitting at the table and name THIS film too! Btw.. we posted the little insert photograph a few weeks ago, but no one then could site where that strange photograph car from...well, today you just might find the answer 😉 At the PCASUK Facebook Fan Page we are suggesting to Lee fans, they SHOULD now nail this quite quickly . . yes? -Marcus

MARKING AND CELEBRATING THE ANNIVERSAY OF PETER CUSHING'S BIRTHDAY TODAY!

TODAY IS A VERY SPECIAL DAY... Peter Wilton Cushing was born today, May 26th 1913.... Please join us in celebrating, leaving your comments and sharing our posts, to mark this very special day and help us to . . . keep the memory alive! 

ABOVE Look out for the NEW clip of 'Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee: The Last Meeting' here at the website, the Facebook PCASUK Fan Page and the PCASUK YouTube Channel. . . 

ABOVE: OUR Peter Cushing Birthday Celebration Competition, will be shared here and at the Facebook PCASUK Fan Page TODAY!

HERE AT THE WEBSITE and over at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE we will be sharing some pretty special posts today, a BRAND NEW TEN minute clip of the last time Peter Cushing and and Christopher Lee met 1994, which I think you will love, and a competition to win five pairs of Hammer and Amicus films documentary dvd's... it's going to be a busy day, with more than our ONE standard daily post here at the website . . . all will continue into tomorrow and then into the shared birthday's of Christopher Lee and Vincent Price too . . so, let's begin, HAPPY BIRTHDAY PETER CUSHING!

BY THE WAY, TODAY is INTERNATIONAL DRACULA DAY! Missing Christopher Lee's BIRTHDAY tomorrow, by HOURS! I wonder, what he would have thought of THAT? 😉😃