#CALLUMMCKELVIE SUNDAY! THERES NO DRACULA BUT BRIDES STILL HAS A LOT OF BITE!

COUNTINUING MY TRIPS down memory lane, I’m going back a little earlier than my l piece as week on HORROR EXPRESS (1973). As I said previously.  When I came across Horror Express, I was already well acquainted with the work of Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and the gothic horror movement of the late 50’s- 1970’s. The subject of today’s piece, The Brides of Dracula, was one of the first films I encountered on my journey into this world and the first that really made me take notice of Cushing as an actor. 

MY INTEREST IN THE GENRE went something like this; finding Quatermass and the Pit (1967) through references in Dr Who magazines and then researching its background. From there I saw Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb (1964), chosen due to my interest in Egyptology (and the fact that it was the easiest Hammer-Mummy film to get on region 2 at the time) and the other Quatermass films. Then, I started to dip my toes into Hammers other franchises, Amicus films and the work of contemporaries like Roger Corman. I would do this by heading along to the UK HMV store and picking a random title or two, fortunately for me Halloween usually involved a sale on the horror section and two for £10. 
 

I BELIEVE IT WAS HALLOWEEN 2008 when, in the very early days of my hammer collecting, I grabbed both The Devil Rides Out (1968) and Brides of Dracula. I’d been after Devil for some time, but Brides I knew very little about and indeed only chose it to see an example of Hammer’s Dracula series. Rushing home with my two purchases, I had a habit at this age of turning any film I really wanted to see into something of an ‘event’, buying snacks and leaving it until late evening. The film I gave that honour too was The Devil Rides Out, but deciding I wanted to watch something however, I popped the disc of Brides into the player.

I THINK, IN MANY WAYS Brides of Dracula, is the perfect film in which to fall in love with both Hammer and Cushing. Whilst the script, can at times be a little messy, it is the atmosphere and performances that set this film apart. Visually the film is somewhat different to 1958’s Dracula, the slightly rougher aspects of that film are completely gone, primarily anything shot on location.

IN DRACULA , this was beneficial atmospherically as for the most part that film functions as a thriller in the guise of a horror movie. Think about it, a man hunts down an evil villain and dies in the process, a relative and the man’s accomplice in his mysterious work then embark on a cat and mouse chase with the villain. Of course I am being a little ignorant in this description of the gothic atmosphere and various staking’s etc., etc.

HOWEVER PURELY in terms of its various script beats, Dracula follows a classical thriller mould. Brides on the other hand is a fairy-tale, a dark fable of a girl who enters a strange country and rescues a prince (well Baron) only for him to turn out to be cursed. It is up to a brave hero (Van Helsing) to save the day. Perhaps reacting to this, Terrance Fisher opts to shoot Brides as mostly stage bound with very little obvious location footage. The set design is far more extravagant and what results is an utterly beautiful self-contained gothic world. The blacks and browns used in a lot of the sets in Dracula, are replaced with vibrant purples and reds. As a young horror fan, I fell in love with this gothic fairy-tale landscape.

A HUGE COMPONENT of this is David Peels performance as Baron Meintser, a character who somewhat divides the fans. Honestly, whilst I adore Christopher Lee as Dracula, I think it’s very unfair to compare that performance to this one. What is being exercised in the two movies are two very different portrayals of the ‘Dracula’ type character. 

WHILST CHRISTOPHER LEE gets his brief ‘refined gentleman’ moment in the opening scene of the earlier film, his Dracula is an animalistic, vicious character. The sexuality comes from that, with Lee's Dracula presented as a highly sexualised creature, not in a romantic way but a lustful and primal one. Peel on the other hand, feels as if the Hammer team were going for an entirely different approach, presenting him as a suave and debonair figure. For the most part he spends his time talking and being legitimately charming, as opposed to Lees snarling and hissing. This works within the films ‘fairy-tale mould’, after all the wonderful opening sequence in which the character of Marianne ‘frees’ him, wouldn’t work as well unless the character was a romantic one.

IN MANY WAYS, Peel's performance pre-empts the take that Frank Langella would have on the character many years later. And then of course there’s Cushing himself, giving what is perhaps his best performance as Van Helsing. I remember being utterly captivated by the determination in his performance, most notably the celebrated scene where he is forced to use a branding Iron on his neck to save himself from the curse of Vampirism.

THE SHEER FEAR mixed with determination presented here gives Van Helsing a warmer presence than he had in the earlier film (Teddy-bear coat scenes aside) and his bond with Marianne does hint at a romance between the two. It’s the performance that made me fall in love with the man and I quickly hunted down several of the Frankenstein entries to see more.

RETURNING TO MY little story of how I discovered Brides, whilst I did enjoy The Devil Rides Out, the film that really stole my heart that Halloween was Brides of Dracula. For me, it’s the only film to watch that time of year and I’m always ready to immerse myself in its rich gothic atmosphere again and again. Whilst I of course adore Dracula, in many ways Brides is a superior film and for me is Fishers masterpiece. If you ever want to indoctrinate anyone in the ways of Hammer, this is the one to go for- after all it worked for me!

AND WHAT ABOUT YOURSELVES dear readers? What were the films that really made you fall in love with Cushing? If you have any comments, suggestions or feedback about this or ANY of my features here at PCAS you can contact me HERE at spookycallum58@gmail.com

PART ONE OF OUR Femme Fatale Feature on YVONNE MONLAUR 

star of BRIDES OF DRACULA can be found HERE!

 

MOMENT OF TERROR MONDAY: COMPETITON BIRTHDAYS AND MORE!

YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I LOVE this magazine. We have covered various pieces on it over the last few months and thought it was about time, we honored it with a PCAS COMPETITION too! We done competitions with Warner Brothers, Hammer films too, Lionsgate, various actors and directors too.  Even full scale legitimate publishers. So it is a real treat to find an affordable magazine, edited and written by someone, who loves what he does. MUCH of this chap you can find on this site elsewhere! DARIO LAVIA editor of CINEFICCION has donated FOUR issues of the LATEST edition of the magazine. PACKED as usual, full of great stuff. THIS issue features MUCH about the history of WEREWOLVES and WOLFMEN on the big screen ...and elsewhere! There is a fabulous colour feature too. If you liked the AUTOBIOGRAPHY editions he did on Cushing, Lee, Price, Karloff and others, you will LOVE the concept behind the regular editions. 

CINEFICCION is written in SPANISH. And for all Spanish speaking fans of the Horror and Fantasy genre, THAT is a WONDERFUL asset! IF only the UK had a magazine THIS professional produced! PCAS since the beginning, has always been an INTERNATIONAL society. There are many many followers of this website and our other social internet sites from all over the world. Before we closed our PCAS Facebook Fan Page, it was always a thrill to meet Cushing Fans from just about everywhere! We STILL DO have a Russian PCAS website!

THAT IS WHY it's always a honor to be friends and fellow fans of Peter's work and help OTHER too!

HERE IS HOW YOU CAN WIN A COPY! BELOW are FOUR different GIFS from films that featured a WEREWOLF or WOLFMAN. NAME THE FILM and give us the actor who PLAYED them in our GIF! HERE THEY ARE . . . 

NUMBER ONE

NUMBER TWO

NUMBER THREE 

NUMBER FOUR

SEND YOUR ANSWERS to our EMAIL ADDRESS: petercushingpcas@gmail.com THIS OPPORTUNITY TO WIN is only open until FRIDAY 23th of MARCH 2018. COMPETITION CLOSES AT MIDNIGHT GMT that evening. WINNERS will be announced the following day here, during #CHRISTOPHERLEESATURDAY! GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!

YOU CAN ORDER YOUR COPIES OF CINEFICCION HERE!

THERE ARE TWO HAMMER FILM STARS who worked with PETER CUSHING and who are sharing a birthday TODAY!  John Van Eyssen who sadly passed BUT still very much with us is SHE herself...URSULA ANDRESS. 'SHE' (1965) was the first film from Hammer to be built around a female star. Tall and statuesque, Ursula Andress was a perfect choice to play Ayesha, though in retrospect she claims to have disliked the role. 

ANDRESS HAS BEEN criticized by reviewers for her icy demeanor and aloof detachment, but these characteristics proved beneficial for playing the steely-eyed Ayesha. Costumed in a selection of warm-colored, Grecian-styled gowns and gold jewelry, she glows onscreen, partly due to the flattering, high-key lighting of cinematographer Harry Waxman.

BORN IN SWITZERLAND to German parents, the exotic-looking beauty spoke with an accent, which Hammer's producers found too distracting. Andress's entire role was then re-voiced and dubbed over by an actress named Monica Van Der Syl, who mimicked a slight Swiss accent so audiences did not suspect the truth. John Richardson's lines were also dubbed in post-production by the actor himself, perhaps to give his line readings an added emphasis, since he tended to be overshadowed by Cushing and Lee. Lee and Cushing appeared to enjoy working with Andress, and appearing in the film. Lee died with a nice touch and Cushing got to DANCE!

TODAY WE REMEMBER Hammer's first vampire hunter John Van Eyssen.Best known for starring in Hammer's DRACULA /Horror Of Dracula as Jonathan Harker. Eyssen also starred in Hammer's QUATERMASS 2 and a early Terrence Fisher Hammer film called The Four Sided Triangle in 1953. Van Eyssen did a great job of playing Harker, and went on to appear in only nine other feature films, then leave his acting career in 1961 and become the head of the Grade Organisation literary agency.  He then left the business in 65 to take up a position in the UK division of Columbia Pictures, eventually becoming Managing Director in July 1969. Finally in 1970, he was promoted to Worldwide Head of Production (ex-USA) and moved to New York.

#MOMENTOFTERRORMONDAY! IS ALWAYS a pleasure to post! We get to pick and edit, what is another classic moment from a Cushing film, and this one, might not be so well known as the Amicus and Hammer films shocking scenes, but it does do VERY well! LEGEND of the WEREWOLF has been covered many time at our website, what was once our facebook page, before THEY turned into a TERROR...and again on our PCAS You Tube Channel today. On the theme of WEREWOLVES, it ALSO TIES IN  well with our SPEEDY COMPETITION today too! 

OVER THE YEARS, it has been gaining a lot of notice, more than when it was made in 1975. Some of it may have to do with the fact that this and THE GHOUL Cushing films from TYBURN FILMS ..still has not had a legit release of dvd or Blu Ray. MANY MANY illegal and poor releases, but we still await the arrival. Cushng is smashing, Rintoul as our Werewolf is top dog and Ron Moody and Roy Castle make the film fun. Until that release arrives, here is another clip, sharpened for the TERROR factor!

FEMME FATALES FRIDAY : THE GIRL WHO FELL DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE: THE LIFE AND CAREER OF CAROL MARSH

 . . .MARSH was only twenty one when she made the film, but she privately expressed later that she had an emotional age of about ten at the time . . .

THE FIRST FILM: 
LONG BEFORE actress CAROL MARSH became known for her famous role in Hammer films, 'DRACULA' in 1958. Marsh started as an English film actress, and known for winning the astounding role of Rose, in the 1947 British block buster 'BRIGHTON ROCK', which also starred actor, Ricard Attenborough. MARSH won the role of gullible 'Rose', after thousands auditioned for the role. MARSH was only twenty one when she made the film, but she privately expressed later that she had an emotional age of about ten at the time, and was 'preyed upon' during the filming: She once shared, ‘People were very, very cruel. Why didn’t they just leave me alone?....I’ve never seen the film and I couldn’t bear to….All I’ve seen are when I’ve been sitting at home and clips come on the TV. I was riveted by one shot of me running down the Pier and saying ‘Pinkie!’ I thought, My God what a sweet little girl. So naturally sweet. . . . . .’

THESE ON SET photographs were taken for publicity. MAYBE one or two would have been intended for NEWSPAPERS or FILM MAGAZINE features? It never happened. These were never used. NOW showing both MARSH and ATTENBOROUGH OUT of character and taking advice from DIRECTOR JOHN BOULTON and enjoying the beach and the sea. TRUTHFULLY, DESPITE MARSH"s relaxed and committed appearance . .  she much later shared that she felt angry, frightened and worried. A position as an actress and a single woman, she would never quite understand or change . . .

CAROL was only 20 when she read for the part with the producer John Boulting and the star of the film, Richard Attenborough. As the impressionable young woman who falls for and marries the vicious small-time gangster Pinkie Brown (played by Attenborough), Carol Marsh turned in a performance of powerful pathos. The close of Graham Greene's novel, in which Rose returns home looking forward to listening to Pinkie's recorded "love letter", has been called one of the great harrowing finales of 20th-century English literature. As we can see in the VIDEO CLIP ABOVE, before ATTENBOROUGH's Pinkie is killed falling from the pier, he records a message for the doting, oblivious MARSH's Rose in a "make-your-own-record" booth: "You wanted a recording of my voice, well here it is. What you want me to say is, 'I love you'. Well, I don't. I hate you, you little slut... But actually, the film differs from Green's book in that, when Rose plays the record, the needle "sticks" – and she hears only "I love you", repeated over and over again.

CAROL MARSH was born Norma Lilian Simpson on May 10 1926 in Southgate, North London, the daughter of an architect and surveyor. She was educated at a convent school in Hammersmith, where she often performed in school plays. Her first desire was to sing, and she won a £7-a-year scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music, where she studied speech and drama, with singing as a second subject. 

LATER MARSH went on to the Rank Charm School before joining Rank's repertory company at Worthing, where her performances in As You Like It and White Heather won high praise.

AFTER BRIGHTON ROCK,  . . for which she changed her name to Carol Marsh . . she dyed her hair platinum for the title role in Alice in Wonderland (1949) (ABOVE) . In the same year she was in three comedies: Marry Me, Helter Skelter, and The Romantic Age, (BELOW) in which she appeared with Mai Zetterling and Petula Clark.

 

MARSH WAS THE FRAGILE, delicate yet ghoulishly determined Lucy, Christopher Lee's ill-fated victim, in the 1958 Hammer production of 'Dracula', (ABOVE) the first colour version of Bram Stoker's classic. In the 1951 film of 'Scrooge', with Alistair Sim in the title role, Carol Marsh played the old skinflint's sister Fan, who dies giving birth to his nephew, Fred.

CINEMA POSTER: IN A SERIES OF MOVIES IN 1952, CAROL APPEARS 

IN PRIVATE INFORMATION

CAROL CAREER continued into the 1960s with films such as Man Accused and parts in television dramas, among them 'THE ADVENTURES OF SIR LANCELOT' (ABOVE) and Dixon of Dock Green. In the 1970s she appeared in the record-breaking West End play THE MOUSETRAP (BELOW). . . playing MOLLIE RALSTON, again character with a young minded role . . 

MARSH HAD MADE HER television debut in 1950 in The Lady's Not For Burning, starring Richard Burton and Alec Clunes. She was Miranda in a children's version of The Tempest, and Alexandra in Little Foxes (both 1951). She featured in the 1959 Trollope serial The Eustace Diamonds, playing Augusta Fawn, and was Mrs Blacklow in the Arnold Bennett serial Lord Raingo of 1966. . . .all productions were again, as ever, she could play a role that she could understand, STILL being a person, she felt, had a YOUNG emotional age and now, experience. Sadly now, many of those productions, hold little or NO photographs, archive footage or publicity written material.  

FROM 1966 until 1979, Carol was busier on radio, and was a member of the BBC Drama Rep . Even though she had always encouraged photographs, interviews and making herself seen before this time, now in life, Carol Marsh shunned all interviews and publicity. So it was surprising,  when she was reached her sixties, the journalist Nigel Richardson traced and interviewed her for his travel book Breakfast in Brighton (1996)

"People kept telling me, 'When the next film comes out you'll be a star forever!'," she told Richardson. "But it never happened." By then she was living a reclusive life in Bloomsbury, "....with no one to please and no one to hurt me". When Richardson praised her luminous performance in Brighton Rock, she replied that the thought of how good she might have been, "crucified" her: "I've never seen the film and I couldn't bear to."

NOTE: It seems that after her first film, 'BRIGHTON ROCK' Carol lived and worked in a shadow of disappointment. Some how her experience, after working on that film, made her feel she had missed the opportunity of better work, that she could have been a star! She thought that as a person, her lack of maturity, and how she HAD to PLAY roles, had crushed her chance. She thought no potential would now come her way, after making BRIGHTON ROCK. So for the majority of her career, and certainly in the later years, she thought anyone wanting to interview her, was mistaken, that she didn't possess what the public and fans, thought she had. When Marsh appeared as Lucy in Hammer films, DRACULA, to her it was just another role, but one she felt she COULD play. LUCY was young, innocent, simple minded. EXACTLY how CAROL saw herself. From around 1966, when Hammer produced their second Christopher Lee  DRACULA film, with DRACULA PRINCE OF DARKNESS, a keen interest started in the FIRST DRACULA from 1958, and her role became part of the pattern of publicity. MARSH never understood the impression and influence she had achieved. For many fans, her performance in the role of Lucy, was one of the great highlights of the film, and MARSH was highly respected for that. An opinion she never understood or believed.

FOOTNOTE: IN THE EARLY 1990's, I attended a convention, purely out of fun. I was now working in the industry myself, no longer managing PCAS, but going along to introduce my children to the fun, films and performers, that had entertained me at their age. They too had a few copies of the Hammer films and enjoyed them very much. This event was open for the day, in London with several actors, actresses and connections with Hammer films and fantasy tv shows. It was for us, a few hours, while waiting to attend a theatre production, that a few of my friends were starring in. After an hour my sons and daughter went off and looked up some magazines, they hoped connected with STAR WARS, I took a break and went to make a telephone call, in the reception area. Sat by a phone shelf, was a woman who told me, the phone was free.  She had just used it and was now waiting for a taxi to arrive, that she had called. I asked her, had she been enjoying the convention, did she arrive early that morning, to meet some of the big names. She told me she had only been there half an hour, and was now leaving, that it wasn't right for her...! It was only then, when I made eye contact with her, and saw her NAME BADGE, I released she wasn't a fan or a visitor at all, she was one of the GUESTS! It was CAROL MARSH. I could sense her annoyance, she was ready to leave. 'I haven't really made anything that would interest anyone here. I thought it was a ridiculous idea, to come along' Before, I could say anything, she looked past me, smiled and nodded with relief. 'Lovely, it's my taxi!  I timed it right. Timing has never been my gift. It was bad enough with BRIGHTON, but when I fell down the hole as ALICE, I REALLY did fall. My chance in my career was over. Mr Fisher was gentleman, not that anyone would know or remember THAT role here!' She picked her handbag off the floor, took out her purse for her taxi fair. 'Well, I hope you have a nice time here...'At that point my two sons and daughter, joined me. My son showing me a FAMOUS FILMS issue two magazine, that he had just bought for ten pounds, which featured an entire photo script of every shot from the 1958, DRACULA...starring, CAROL MARSH.  'Dad, look Hammer's DRACULA 1958!, he cheered. 'Yes..' said CAROL, 'Peter Cushing was lovely! He loved children. Oh, my isn't taxi driving off is it??'' My son was still flicking through the photo pages, 'This is great, Dad. Look photos of LUCY the vampire girl! Was she a girl? She seemed really young! How old was that actress?'. I turned around towards CAROL and the front door,  she didn't turn to us . . . . four steps and she was gone.

 Marcus Brooks.

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