CUSHING COLLECTOR WEDNESDAY! DRACULA POSTER SELLS FOR OVER DOUBLE AND MORE FREE HAMMER FILM CONTACT SHEETS

#CUSHINGCOLLECTORS WEDNESDAY! Last week, we shared a RARE COLOUR CONTACT SHEET from Hammer Films, 'Dracula Has Risen From The Grave'. It was a VERY popular post, and I'd like to say thank you to the few of you, who downloaded the contact sheet of you  who not only emailed and messaged me to say thank you, but also to send us pics of the hi res contact sheet you downloaded, and printed off to make individual photographs which you FRAMED!  Pretty cool! Well, here are THIS WEEK'S digital images, or rather here are EIGHT digital images to choose from. This week, over at the PCASUK FACEBOOK FAN PAGE we are asking YOU to vote on which TWO we will be posting and sharing here on the website this week. 

ALL OF THE DETAILS on how to vote are over at the page. The choices include contact sheets from Hammer films, 'VAMPIRE CIRCUS', 'CAPTAIN KRONOS VAMPIRE HUNTER', 'LUST FOR A VAMPIRE' a FULL COLOUR CONTACT SHEET from the photo session that produced the iconic publicity shots of Christopher Lee and Veronica Carlson for Hammer films, 'Dracula has Risen From The Grave' There are also hi res full colour shots of Peter Cushing, Patrick Troughton and Christopher Lee. The voting closes 6am GMT. So even the US and OZ can join in! The two most popular pics will be uploaded here in HI RES watermark free TOMORROW! 

VOTE NOW! We'll give the voting a good six to seven hours. It's for fun! The most popular photographs will be posted later today.

#CUSHINGCOLLECTORSWEDNESDAY! You may remember our post about a Hammer 'Dracula' (1958) cinema poster about to go, under the 'Hammer' a few weeks ago? Well, if you do, you may recall, the estimate for this rare and valuable collectors item was between 6,000 and 8,000 UK pounds?? Well, at auction last night at Whyte’s auction house in Dublin, the final and winning bid was... SIXTEEN THOUSAND POUNDS! (22k US Dollars) Someone is a few quid lighter this morning, but probably very happy with this hanging on their wall.

THROWBACK Last week's PCAS post about the auction and estimated price !

THE LOCAL PRESS covered the story today: "A Dracula poster was sold for €16,000 – more than double its estimate at auction. Film lovers vied to get their hands on a fully-restored and linen-backed version of the 1958 print showing Christopher Lee’s iconic vampire. In it, the count is about to feast on Mina Holmwood, played by actress Melissa Stribling. After several minutes of furious bidding, lot 484, which had an estimate of between €6,000 and €8,000, took much more than what was expected. It was just one of 544 unusual lots up for grabs at Whyte’s auction house in Dublin last night. Autographs of all four members of rock band Led Zeppelin, which had an estimate of €1,500, sold for €3,400. Three volumes of JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings sold for €6,400, while hair from French general Napolean Bonaparte went for €130......!

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   

BEHIND THE SCENES RARE STILLS GALLERY PART ONE: THE CUSHING DOCTOR WHO MOVIES

#THROWBACKTHURSDAY!! PRESENTING  PART ONE of a TWO PART PCAS SPECIAL GALLERY featuring many rare photographs from behind the scenes and ON-SET during the making of the two DALEK / DOCTOR WHO MOVIES starring Peter Cushing, Jennie Linden, Bernard Cribbins, Roy Castle, Jill Curzon and little Roberta Tovey. . . .and of course THE DALEKS. Here is an opportunity to view for many, will familiar scenes for different angles, in stills taken by BERT CANN (DIE2150AD) and TED REED (DWATD) the unsung and uncredited stills camera men who captured many of the images you see below, and in PART TWO of the PETER CUSHING DOCTOR WHO MOVIES GALLERY Part Two, VERY SOON! ENJOY!

YOU CAN FIND a whole TARDIS load of information about DR WHO AND THE DALEKS (1965) AND the sequel movie 'DALEK INVASION EARTH 2150 AD' by clicking THESE BLUE LINKS or clicking the LINKS UNDER the feature BANNERS BELOW!

CLICK FOR PART ONE THIS FEATURE AND GALLERY HERE!

CLICK FOR PART TWO OF THIS  PCAS FEATURE AND GALLERY HERE!

#THROWBACKTHURSDAY! WE CLOSE GALLERY ONE win a very special photograph. A reunion of the cast of Cushing's 'DR WHO AND THE DALEKS' film from back in 1965. This photograph was snapped at BBC television Centre during the making of the '30 Years In The Tardis' documentary in 1993. The late Roy Castle didn't actually take part in the documentary, as he was working on his BBC show 'RECORD BREAKERS'.

LOOK OUT FOR PART TWO SOON! HERE AT THE PCASUK WEBSITE!

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 . .  

CONTACT SHEETS CLOTHING AND SHEET MUSIC : CUSHING COLLECTABLES

#CushingCollectables : I have been asked quite a few times over the last few weeks, since we have themed our Wednesday's on, what is out there worth collecting Cushing Fan..if you were so inclined! Well, here are three selections, which might interest you.

#CUSHINGCOLLECTABLES: CONTACT SHEETS. Some people like to collect cinema posters, some press kits and books, some photographs front of house sets from cinemas...and then there are the contact collectors. Contact sheets are also from the age of paper, and hard copy photographs in press kits. Now everything can be placed on a disc or sent digitally.

INFINITELY rarer than most posters or front of house stills, contact sheets were made by placing three strips of negative 35mm film roll, onto 10 x 8 photographic paper, then exposing and developing just like a conventional photograph. They would be usually 10 x 8 colour or black and white sheets with 12 small photographs, that the studio photographer had taken during production and the studio press office would send onto the films distributor, for use in exhibition or publicity... they are rare because only a small amount were printed. From these sheets, the distributor would select maybe 50-100 -300 or depending on budget 30 -40 stills, and then the studio or press office would process those stills into 10 x 8 photographs for promotion use by the distributor....the distributor would then package these stills into 'free press kits' aimed at magazines and print, and kits that could be purchased by cinema and exhibition.

SOMETIMES a film's still photographer would sell the rights to all the exposures he had taken, if he was freelance and working per contract on a particular film. If he was staff all the pics became the property of the studio that employs him or her! Having said that, quite a few photographs, kept copies or masters of negatives, some of these are still being sold by the surviving photographers today! The next step up in collecta-bilty in visuals is TRANSPARENCIES and we'll be looking at those next Wednesday!

NEXT, Clothing! Not everyone likes the idea of buying second hand clothes, even if they DID once belong to Peter Cushing... but some collectors do. Many items of Cushing costumes, and personal clothing have come up for sale and auction over the years, waistcoats, smoking jackets, trousers, shoes and hats, have all been bid on and bought since Peter's passing in 1994.

HERE ARE TWO ITEMS that recently came up for sale... and the sold, for just over £300 = $230 US. Two quite modern designed, light wear jackets and two very nice items of luggage...and on the left, Peter at a signing wearing one of those items. All the items came with certificates of authenticity...which is a must in anything like this, where the item aren't bespoke.

THERE ARE QUITE A FEW people out there with whole suits, with shirts and ties that came from Peter's personal wardrobe. As to any of this being valuable, it's questionable... as with anything, it's only worth what someone would be prepared to pay for it! Nice though!

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PETER CUSHING: 'THE VAMPIRE LOVERS' MGM MIDNITE MOVIES DVD / LOBBY STILLS

"Think me not cruel because I obey the irresistible law of my strength and weakness; if your dear heart is wounded, my wild heart bleeds with yours. In the rapture of my enormous humiliation I live in your warm life, and you shall die – die, sweetly die – into mine. I cannot help it." Sheridan Le Fanu, Carmilla (1872)

By the early 1970s, England's Hammer Films needed to rejuvenate their gothic horror cycle and were ready to supplement their successful Christopher Lee Draculas with a new series of vampire stories. Outside producers Harry Fine and Michael Style brought Irish writer Sheridan Le Fanu's novelette Carmilla to Hammer's attention, and the rather erotic subject matter made a perfect vehicle for Polish-born beauty Ingrid Pitt, who was being molded as their latest femme fatale. THE VAMPIRE LOVERS was a big success, and shortly thereafter, Pitt was offered the even more challenging role of COUNTESS DRACULA.

In THE VAMPIRE LOVERS, Pitt plays Carmilla (also using the name Mircalla and Marcilla), a centuries-old vampire who has retained her youth and beauty. Governed by Countess Karnstein (Dawn Addams) and a mysterious Dracula-like fellow known as the Man in Black (John Forbes-Robertson), Carmilla becomes a houseguest of General Spielsdorf (Peter Cushing) and his young niece, Laura (Pippa Steele). Laura grows increasingly ill and eventually dies, while a local doctor (Ferdy Mayne) discovers bite marks on her bosom. Carmilla then seems to vanish into thin air.

Next stop for Carmilla is the home of Mr. Morton (George Cole), and his innocent daughter Emma (Madeline Smith). Carmilla becomes obsessed with Emma, wanting her to love only her, and when Mr. Morton leaves town for a while, the seductive vampiress turns the whole house upside down. Not only does Emma fall victim to Carmilla's prolonged bloodletting and seduction, but so does the governess (Kate O'Mara) and the butler (Harvey Hall). When Mr. Morton returns, he is convinced that the ailing Emma is suffering from vampirism, but General Spielsdorf has coincidentally brought back Barton Hartog (Douglas Wilmer), who had hunted down the bloodthirsty Karnsteins years ago. With the help of young heroic Carl Ebhardt (Jon Finch), the men set out to uncover Carmilla's crypt and destroy her once and for all.

THE VAMPIRE LOVERS carried Hammer into the 70s with a gothic, poetic masterpiece of erotic horror and doomed love. The stunning Ingrid Pitt is one of the screen's finest vamps, and her portrayal of Carmilla is sympathetic and passionate, while cold and calculated at the same time. Her strong performance is supported by a wonderful cast and the atmospheric direction by veteran Roy Ward Baker, delivering his first full-fledged horror film. Peter Cushing's role is small but momentous, as his familiar vampire-slaying antics play a key role here. Cushing's involvement was reportedly demanded by American International Pictures (AIP) who co-produced the film, and released it in the U.S. with an "R" rating, and it's one of the first, if not the first, horror film to land such a label. Two sequels were produced (LUST FOR A VAMPIRE, TWINS OF EVIL), and although Pitt did not return in either one, she did come back as COUNTESS DRACULA for Hammer.

MGM's new DVD transfer of THE VAMPIRE LOVERS comes off as a great success. For once, the title is shown in its original 1.85:1 theatrical aspect ratio (with anamorphic enhancement), finally giving the film the composition it clearly lacked in past video transfers. The picture is virtually flawless, as the pristine source material manifests rich, distinct colors, strong clarity and nice detail. Darker scenes are never too dark and always clear, while day-for-night shots look like nighttime without having their images obscured. The mono sound is clean, with dialog, music and sound effects all emerging clearly. This DVD of THE VAMPIRE LOVERS also restores an often censored frontal shot of a fully nude Ingrid Pitt getting out of a tub, and this is the first time this has been witnessed on home video. MGM's DVD also restores several graphic and essential decapitations and stakings that were cut from the U.S. theatrical print, which ran only 89 minutes. The DVD presents the film at its full 91 minutes.

With the excellent transfer at hand, MGM has also opted to give us a commentary with director Baker, star Pitt and writer Tudor Gates. Moderated by Jonathan Sothcott, this is a wonderful treat for Hammerheads and horror historians alike. Although Pitt was very ill when the commentary was recorded, she is still very passionate about her role and what this film meant to her career, while the ever-spry Baker and Gates provide a lot of info on Hammer head Jimmy Carreas, the producers of the film, as well as sequence which was eliminated against their wishes. Sothcott keeps things interesting by asking about specific cast members and other topics concerning the film. Features for the VAMPIRE LOVERS are rounded out by the original AIP theatrical trailer, as well as passages from Carmilla (12 minutes) read by Ingrid Pitt herself, accompanied by a video montage of rare color photos from the film. A great idea, and nicely executed.

MGM is the first studio outside Anchor Bay to release Hammer films with audio commentaries, so this disc marks a landmark release of sorts. A lot of care an preparation obviously when into restoring the films and producing the extras, so kudos to MGM for giving us one of their best horror DVD releases yet.

review: GEORGE R. REIS.

You can read more of George's reviews here: CLICK HERE

Images: MARCUS BROOKS