BEHIND THE SCENES ON CLASSIC HAMMER VAMPIRE FILM ALMOST 50 THIS MONTH PLUS PHOTO CONTACT SHEETS!

 

THIS MONTH 'OCTOBER 2019' marks the 49th anniversary of a Peter Cushing Hammer film, that kind of shook up the 'adult' content of his future 'horror films', for Hammer. 'The Vampire Lovers' is a neat short clip of raw footage, unedited and very entertaining, from a BBC film programme that featured the making of the film in 1970. This was shared here quite a long time ago, so certainly worth a re-airing today! Peter is seen very relaxed, having a giggle about an actor he spotted on the train, who was quite the character... and liked... a glass, or two.. or three. Director Roy Ward Baker, ever the pro, arranges shots, lighting and motivation . . there is a charming shot of Ingrid Pitt too, in this her first leading role and third film. You can't help but notice the huge difference between Cushing's character voice and authority .. and that of the softest, sweetest gentleman, chatting while having his hair stylds by the lovely Pearl Tipaldi, the production hair-dresser. Enjoy!

'THE VAMPIRE LOVERS' was released in the UK on October 4th 1970, making a star of it's lead, #IngridPitt. For the future, she would always be known as a #ScreamQueen, playing a vampire in her next film for Amicus, 'The House That Dripped Blood' and 'vampire with a twist' in Hammer's #CountessDracula' also in 1971. The film did well at the box office. Cushing was almost supporting with actors Douglas Wilmer and George Cole along with love interests of Jon Finch and #MadelineSmith and #KateOMara, pulling together a script based on Sheridan Le Fanu's classic vampire tale, 'Carmilla'.

THE CENSOR LAWS lost their grip, man in macs queued in the rain to see botts and bosom's compete with #blood and #fangs . . there was no turning back after this one. It provided a much needed zap to the now, slightly predictable Hammer presentations . . #vampires for Hammer would never be the same again. So it's Happy Birthday The Vampire Lovers Where does #TheVampiresLovers sit on your TOP TEN of Cushing #Hammerfilms 😮 ..

INCLUDED in this photo selection, I have reposted SIX rare contact / proof sheets of stills from the film, that were posted a while ago. Some really like and collect these, and have told me you missed them when first posted, so here they are again, for your pleasure!

'TWINS OF EVIL' RARE BEHIND THE SCENES GALLERY TWO

AS PROMISED HERE is ALBUM TWO of our PCASUK rare behind the scenes gallery from #HAMMERFILMS 1971 classic, 'TWINS OF EVIL'! Some interesting images here, many seen for the first time. NEXT WEEK it's our last album, but we are rolling out an entire gallery of colour transparencies. Cushing and the Collinson Twins along with lighting from Dick Bush and John Hough's direction, look amazing! JOIN US NEXT WEEK!

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.

THROWBACKTHURSDAY: TO VINTAGE HAMMER FRANKENSTEIN AND MUMMY ON SET

#ThrowbackThursday: A rare peep onto the set of Hammer films, 'Frankenstein Created Woman' at Bray studios, with Peter Cushing and Peter Madden all set for the camera to roll. Those you who know the film, will also know this scene is one of Cushing's Hammer Frankenstein vocal repore highlights, where his dialogue in the dock, shows how the Baron could, if needed, reduce authority figures into a bumbling half-wits. We would see it again,to jaw drop and marvelous effect in Cushimg and Hammer's next Frankenstein film, 'Must Be Destroyed', where his sharp tongue would 'slap the pomp and stupid' out of a party of toffs and top hatters 😉 Peter Madden would also appear, sadly briefly, in the last Hammer Cushing Frankenstein film, 'Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell' in 1974.

#THROWBACKTHURSDAY: January 11th 1971. An on set, off camera rare photograph of Peter Cushing as Professor Julian Fuchs and Valerie Leon as daughter Margaret Fuchs , during Peter Cushing's one day of shooting on the Hammer films, 'Blood From The Mummy's Tomb'. Sadly, it was a set and role to which Cushing would never return, Helen Cushing, Peter's wife was taken ill on this day and died shortly after, on January 14th 1971. Actor Andrew Keir would step into the role, just three days later. Cushing would return to work and Hammer films two months later, with the role of Gustav Weil in 'TWINS OF EVIL'.

FULL FEATURE AND STILLS GALLERY FROM 'TWINS OF EVIL' : The Collinson PUT THE BITE into HAMMER : CLICK HERE!