HAPPY BIRTHDAY VERONICA CARLSON TODAY

THE CREEPING FLESH: LORNA HEILBRON AND PETER CUSHING'S PLAYING OF PROF HILDREN

Peter Cushing commitment to the role of Emmanuel Hildren was as strong as ever, and his professionalism absolute.He still concerned himself with not only his performance, but every aspect of filming. His copy of of the script is enthusiastically annotated with character details and instructions to himself.

'Don't gabble. Don't over act. Don't be conventional absent minded professor' And there, mixed up with notes about hairpieces and how to prepare lab slides are the words, 'Bois' 'Helen' 'Us'.

Peter related to me as a father and was tremendously caring and supportive' co star, Lorna Heilbron remembers today.'I played his daughter. He felt that I resembled his wife, Helen, so we had a rather intense relationship where I felt he really lived his part in the film.'

To play the deranged Hildren in the prologue and epilogue, Cushing again sacrifices any shred of vanity - without the toupee, which he wore in practically every film now, his hair is whitend and disarrayed and his cheekbones are strongly emphasisedf with make up. A quavering voice, insisting 'I alone can save the world', completes the impression of the character's tragic mental collapse.

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MEMORIES OF THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN: CUSHING AND LEE ON SET

HAMMER FRANKENSTEIN FRIDAYS : EVERY FRIDAY : ONLY AT PETER CUSHING

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NEWS: TWILIGHT TIME RELEASES SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN BLU RAY IN U.S.

NEWS: TWILIGHT TIME RELEASES SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN ON BLU RAY IN U.S : Amicus' only film to feature Peter Cushing, Vincent Price and Christopher Lee gets a Pre-order date of Wednesday, September 30th at 4 pm EST. Release Date: October 13th, 2015. REGION FREE.

Some very nice Special Features include: Isolated Score Track / Audio Commentary with Film Historians David Del Valle and Tim Sullivan / Gentleman Gothic: Gordon Hessler at AIP / An Interview with Uta Levka / Still Gallery / Radio Spot / Original Theatrical Trailer.

SYNOPSIS AND QUICK CRITIQUE: A killer is stalking women in London nightclubs and drinking their blood; a jogger wakes up in a hospital bed to find his limbs amputated one by one; and a ruthless psychopath seizes power in a totalitarian Eastern European state. Bewildering and exhilarating by turns, Hessler's adaptation of Peter Saxon's novel The Disorientated Man is an ambitious attempt to drag classic horror stars (Price, Lee, Cushing) and themes (Frankenstein, vampires) into a modern Swinging London of grooving dolly-birds, mauve silk shirts and political paranoia.

It's not entirely successful: the film's obsession with human partition, seen in the limb-lopped jogger, the vampiric Keith's torn-off hand and a freezer full of body parts, has its parallels in a narrative that is so fragmented as to be a near-incoherent patchwork of scenes that fail to make the most of their horror stars (Cushing's role is a cameo, and Lee and Price only meet for a brief confrontation at the climax) or the collision of styles ranging from generation-gap movie through mad science to '60s super-sleuth - as though John le Carré, his mind buzzing with topical events (Gary Powers's spy plane) and ambient fears (organ transplants, cyborg technology), had rewritten Frankenstein as a tribute to Bava's Diabolik (1968). 

Our Full review and Full COLOUR STILLS Gallery : HERE 

But, as Hessler avoids static camera set-ups in favour of hand-held cameras and rapid edits, even if the film is finally little more than a collection of dissociated set pieces, they're so bizarre and Adrenalin-charged that Scream remains enormously entertaining, trading on such extraordinary sequences as cyborg vampire Keith (Michael Gothard in a wonderful Austin Powers turn - "lovely mover", one of the habitués of the Busted Pot observes as Gothard shimmies to the sound of the Amen Corner) being chased around south London by police and tearing off his hand to escape, all fueled by a jazz score that kicks into high gear at the slightest provocation.

Part Two of our The Amicus Films Of Peter Cushing

features an in depth look at SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN

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CHRISTOPHER LEE AND THE STEAMING BANDAGES

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COMPETITION: THREE PETER CUSHING BBC SHERLOCK HOLMES BOX SETS UP FOR GRABS : COMPETITION POSTED AND NOW OPEN

All episodes star Peter Cushing as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel stock as Dr Watson and were originally broadcast as the BBC television series 'Sherlock Holmes' in 1968. All programmes are in colour. The discs are region 2.

THE PRIZES:
We have THREE DVD BOX SETS up for grabs. Each box set contains the following episodes: The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Blue Carbuncle, The Sign of Four and The Boscombe Valley Mystery.... and here's YOUR chance to bag your own BOX SET!

ALL YOU HAVE TO DO:
Take a look at PHOTOGRAPH ONE and PHOTOGRAPH TWO above.... No. A CLOSE look. Several CLOSE looks. On closer inspection, you will notice there are some differences between the two pics. They are not identical. Some differences are easier to spot than others. We have hosted 'Spot The Differences In The Photographs' competitions in the past, and they have proven very popular. We post the pics, tell you how many differences there are, and you try and spot em! Where THIS 'Spot The Differences' competition is fiendishly different is, this time, we aren't going to reveal HOW MANY DIFFERENCES Photograph Two actually contains... it could be three, six, five, two or seven? It's your job to use your powers of detection and spot them ALL! There are NO trick differences. It's either THERE or it ISN'T !

WHAT YOU DO NEXT, WHEN YOU'RE FEELING QUITE NAUSEOUS, CAN'T LOOK AT THE PICS FOR A MOMENT LONGER, BUT THINK YOU HAVE SPOTTED ALL OF THEM :
When you think you have spotted all of the differences between Photograph One and Photograph Two...send your answers, telling us where the differences are and how many there are in total. You do this by sending us an email at theblackboxclub@gmail.com. You MUST include ALL the differences to qualify as a correct entry.

YOU HAVE SEVEN DAYS. JUST IN CASE YOU WANT TO BE QUITE SURE, YOU HAVE SPOTTED ALL OF THEM:
The competition is open until SUNDAY 13th (Oh Dear!) SEPTEMBER MID DAY GMT. THREE correct entries will be chosen at random and declared the winners, one hour later at 1pm GMT and announced on the page and contacted through your personal message button on your account! So, DO check your personal messages on Sunday.

Good luck everyone. HAVE FUN!

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SHERLOCK BOX SETS COMPETITION KICKS OFF TOMORROW

We have THREE BOX SETS of Peter Cushing's 'Sherlock Holmes' BBC series to giveaway in our competition TOMORROW. All you need is your powers if DETECTION and a MAGNIFYING GLASS... wearing your deer stalker hat, is optional! The competition will run for SEVEN DAYS, ending on AUGUST 12th 2015. Below are  our reviews complete with galleries of each episode in the box set.

Our 'Hound of the Baskervilles' FULL REVIEW AND GALLERY: HERE

Our 'A Study In Scarlet' FULL REVIEW AND GALLERY: HERE 

Our 'Sign Of Four' FULL REVIEW AND GALLERY: HERE 

Our The blue Carbuncle' FULL REVIEW AND GALLERY: HERE

Our The Boscombe Valley Mystery FULL REVIEW AND GALLERY: HERE 

Each BOX SET contains FIVE classic episodes from the 1968 TV series based on the famous stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, starring Peter Cushing as Holmes and Nigel Stock as Dr Watson. In THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES (Parts 1 and 2)', based on the most well-known Sherlock Holmes story of them all, Holmes travels to Dartmoor to unravel the murder mystery that has haunted the Baskerville family for generations. 'A STUDY IN SCARLET' is based on the very first Sherlock Holmes story, in which Holmes must track down a relentless killer when the dead bodies of a string of victims are discovered, all with the word 'Rache' (German for 'revenge') written in blood next to where they are lying. In 'THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY', Holmes must prove that a young man found next to the dying, brutally beaten body of his tyrannous bully of a father is not guilty of his murder. In 'THE SIGN OF FOUR', Holmes and Watson are intrigued by the case of Mary Morstan, whose father disappeared ten years previously. Every year since, Mary has received a pearl from a mystery benefactor, and she now requires the Baker Street detective to act as her escort in a meeting with the unknown patron. In 'THE BLUE CARBUNCLE', a priceless jewel with a sinister history has been stolen from its owner, the Countess of Morcar. When it is found in a goose's crop, the events surrounding how it got there and who the true thief is are puzzles only a genius such as Sherlock Holmes can unravel. This was the last episode in this series (which was one of the first TV series ever to be shot in colour), and was originally screened on 23rd December 1968.

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RAISING HAIR PROBLEMS: THE CHANGING HAIR AND FACE OF COUNT DRACULA : CHRISTOPHER LEE :

Hair and actors, for men particularly, can be a sensitive subject. Thinning hairlines for some like, signaled the beginning of a life tied to hiding their thinning locks, with endless spraying and careful combing or gluing down hair pieces and relying on were sometimes not the most convincing of toupees. Yul Brynner celebrated, his head minus hair, it was never a problem. Telly Savalas too, when he got fed up with combing-over the last strands, took to the shaver, and whipped, what he had been holding onto, off ...and never looked back. But for many actors, they believed not having a full head of hair, lessened your chances in casting....

For the majority of his film roles, from Hammer's Hound of the Baskervilles onwards in 1959, Lee wore pieces, with the exception of Mycroft Holmes in 'The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes' (1970) here Lee, for the only time, went completely  'sans toupee'! When this brave, but strange decision drew a little too much attention, Lee explained it away, as an act of dedication to playing the role and that he had simply shaved his head!  But all these wigs he wore, also explains why he had such a weird hair line and bouffant top in 'Risen From the Grave'...and a really good wig in AD 1972 and Satanic Rites...and I think more than one in Dracula 58, in the first close up shot where he welcomes Harker, the hairpiece looks a lot smaller, than in the rest of the film...and in Darkness it had less widows peak. Taste the Blood was maybe too full and his own hair sometimes flopped over his ears, Scars of... was a good one!

For many actors, with 'the advancement of the years', and  long careers, very few ever get away without any some help from a weave or wig. Think Humphrey Bogart, David Niven, John Wayne, all piece wearers on and off screen. To be fair, I don't think this is only or just about vanity. In Christopher Lee's case, early hair thinning, caused a problem and throughout his career, he had to present himself as the person / actor that his audiences recognised. Without his hair, he wasn't the Christopher Lee the public knew. He was Christopher Lee without hair.

Peter Cushing and Vincent Price, were lucky to have 'some' there. In later years, Cushing would whip his into, what could be quite a complicated quiff, that must have been held together with a lot of hairspray... but at least he didn't have to sit for an extra hour while they glued the webbing and pinned a 'rug' down. I think when he first appeared without it, around 1974 and the time of the productions of Shatter, The Uncanny, Earth's Core, The New Avengers... he must have been reviled to be finished with it, having worn toupee and weaves since around 1967...

 

If you look at some of Cushing's jottings and requests on his scripts, you see his recommendations for particular hair pieces that he had worn in previous productions. Film production companies rarely stocked wigs, depending on the budget, make up men or hairdressers/ wig makers would make pieces to order or from stock, they would be hired. For many years, Cushing had his own personal hair piece, which he might wear in a film and in public. You might remember, when Cushing was pounced on by Michael Aspel for his appearance on This Is Your Life in 1990, he is heard to say, 'It's just as well, I wore my toupee today, isn't?'

WHEN VIOLET HELENE BECK MET PETER CUSHING FOR THE FIRST TIME

When Violet Helene Beck...Met Peter Cushing. Mrs Helen Cushing was born, Violet Helene Beck on February the 8th 1905 in St. Petersburg, now Leningrad in the USSR. She was the daughter of a wealthy cotton mill owner and lived a life of luxury with her three sisters and two brothers. When the Russian revolution began in 1917, Helen and her family fled from Russia, settling into England. Fortunately for Helen, she fluently spoke several languages... English, French, Russian, and German,and took a job as a tutor. It was later when taking a job as a chorus girl and an actress, that by chance, in May 1942, she met Peter Cushing, as she was the replacement actress in an ENSA tour of Noel Coward's play, Private Lives.... Upon entering the stage door, she looked up and noticed a man which she described in the fashion:

“From the stage door stepped a vision, and my heart skipped a beat. I had never met him, yet I knew, deep in my deepest heart, we had been together before. Tall and lean, a pale, almost haggard face, with astonishing large, blue eyes: on his head an old grey velvet hat, with a hole between the dents of its crown, a jacket beyond description and repair, spotless white shirt badly frayed at the cuffs and collar, a pair of once dark blue corduroy trousers, most of the nap long since worn away through constant wear, down-at heel shoes of grey suede. Later, I was to discover the soles were as worn down as the heels, and had holes as large as half crowns in their centres, also woollen stockings that have never known the comfort of a darning needle.He walked with a slight limp, using an ash walking-stick, the ferrule now a mere useless ring of metal around its tip, on his back a huge and obviously heavy kit-bag, such as sailors use.

There was an aura about this ‘beloved vagabond’. His hands told me he was either a musician or an artist – they reminded me of those drawn by Albrecht Durer – and when he bent over one of mine to kiss it, a faint and quite delightful waft of tobacco and lavender-water hung upon the air. I knew I would love him for the rest of my days – and beyond.”.... Peter Cushing and Violet Helene Beck married and became Mr and Mrs Cushing on Saturday, April 10th 1943.

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CLASSIC AMICUS COMES TO BLU RAY IN UK : TALES FROM THE CRYPT FROM FINAL CUT ENTERTAINMENT

UK based FINAL CUT have announced the release of their blu ray of TALES FROM THE CRYPT for 19th October 2015. Starring Peter Cushing in his superb 'Poetic Justice' story as Arthur Grimsdyke, Joan Collins and Ralph Richardson.. the extra feature on this FIRST TIME RELEASE IN UK ON BLU RAY package includes, a new 36-minute documentary featuring Reece Shearsmith, Jonathan Rigby, Steve Chibnall and others.

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