AMICUS FILMS 'ASYLUM' WELL DRESSED AND REVIEWED AS SECOND SIGHT FILMS SCREAMINGLY GOOD LIMITED EDITION BLU RAY

 

FOLLOWING THE SUCCESS of SECOND SIGHT FILMS LIMITED EDITION BOXED BLU RAY release of Amicus films, 1972 'ASYLUM' just a few weeks ago, they have now released a standard BLU RAY package of the film, available NOW for PRE-ORDER and will be released on JANUARY 6th 2020.  Their LIMITED EDITION BLU RAY PACKAGE of Amicus films, 'The House That Dripped Blood' is also available as a standard release on January 6th 2020 and can be PRE-ORDERED NOW too!

THE VISUAL QUALITY:

SECOND SIGHT HAVE transferred ASYLUM, to a neat dual-layered blu-ray, with a pretty much maxed out bitrate. I have read some reviews that claim that this 'master transfer' is the same master as used a while ago by Severin, in their box set, that included ASYLUM. Having watched both, I see no similarities at all!  We reviewed the Severin release at the time of its release, and it seemed that it wasn't just the characters in the 'madhouse' were way off it, the print we watched was far from 'all there', as they say. The first thing some of you may notice, who have previous releases of this film is, the framing is just a little different. Just a snip off the bottom and top, but nothing that drastically changes or challenges your viewing. I found the colours, clarity and sharpness of the film through out, to be very good, what i hoped for as a marked improvement on other releases I own. So soft have been those previous releases, little details of light and exposure are different here, but you can see now, are intended! You will no doubt notice your visuals on this release are sharper, contrast sitting just right, even in darker shots and scenes. What you'll see complements, the excellent score and effects . .  

HOW DOES IT SOUND? THE AUDIO SPEC: 

IF YOU KNOW THIS FILM WELL, from your previous releases, you'll know JUST how it sounds and that the SCORE and MUSIC here makes up a rating on its own! If you are new to ASYLUM, you are in for a treat. Regulars,will notice it's the transfer is the film's familiar audio, using its original mono via an uncompressed 24-bit 1.0 channel linear PCM tack. All the assorted unsettling sound effects, are here and  sound clearer on Second Sights chosen mono track. An improvement then on the previous up converted 5.1 attempts on other releases of late. Douglas Gamley's score is probably the best of all Amicus films title sequences, with his Mussorgsky 'Night On Bald Mountain' clanking it up, even before we get past the titles. The musical accompaniment to Robert Powell's climb up the stairs of the Asylum, while glazing at the framed portraits and drawings of the Mentally Ill and Bewilderd, put a frightening and crueller twist on even Hogarth's etchings of 'Gin Lane and Beer Street' of the 1700's. It's all scary stuff and Gamley, does it so well . .   

THIS SECOND SIGHT FILMS RELEASE not only presents us with a very neat and much improved print of the film, which stars some of the not only past Amicus casts, but a neat crew in 'post production' and behind the camera too. The film has a pretty tight story and each of the four tales of terror skip along, just pausing for breath under Peter Tanner's editing. Tanner had a very good understanding of the pace needed for Brit Fantasy and strange stories, having edited some of the best of the TV series 'The Avengers' in nine episodes during 65 and 66. Tanner worked in a few Amicus films and was very much in demand until 1998, sadly passing at the grand age of 88 in 2002.

IN TODAY'S OFTEN COMPETITIVE MARKET MANY BLU RAY RELEASES have to contain a great package, but you would think judging by the case artwork and packaging that the box holds a horrendous bargain basement crapooey movie! All that work and they fall at the fence because they couldn't drum up decent artwork and packaging! Thankfully, THIS high-definition Blu-ray release of 'Asylum' comes in rigid slipcase packaging with eye-catching new artwork by Graham Humphreys, and really presents the whole deal as something special...and it IS!  They have more than made a VERY good effort  and a lot of thought has gone into design and the actual extras content. This release has some very worth while extras features on it's menu. Having watched film, video and dug around in archives, libraries, scrapbooks and footage for the last thirty five years, most of what is presented here, personally I can vouch I have never seen most of these gems before!

TO KICK OFF, there's a very good audio commentary with the late director, Roy Ward Baker, also a brilliant 1972 BBC report on the making of ASYLUM, featuring candid on the set pieces, with producer Milton Subotsky and many of the cast. David J Schow’s analysis of the career of Robert Bloch gives some interesting background on the author that provided quite few ideas and screenplays to Amicus releases. Milton Subotsky’s widow, Fiona Subotsky also provides some detailed and interesting memories of her husband and his career, along with some never before seen personal photographs. Next, ‘Inside the Fear Factory’ featurette from about twenty years ago, it isn't a new  one, but well worth the watch as it features Amicus producer, the late Max J Rosenberg back peddling and banging his drum! All this and a nice theatrical trailer. There’s also a very worth while 40-page booklet and a reversible poster. It makes an impressive and very entertaining package for any Amicus fan!

SO HERE IS THE LIST OF THE EXTRA VALUE OF EXTRAS!

Audio Commentary with Director Roy Ward Baker and Camera Operator Neil Binney
 

Two’s a Company: 1972 On-set BBC report featuring interviews with Producer Milton Subotsky, Director Roy Ward Baker, Actors Charlotte Rampling, James Villiers, Megs Jenkins, Art Director Tony Curtis and Production Manager Teresa Bolland Screenwriter David J. Schow on Writer Robert Bloch Fiona Subotsky Remembers Milton Subotsky
 

Inside The Fear Factory: Featurette with Directors Roy Ward Baker, Freddie Francis and Producer Max J. Rosenberg
 

Theatrical Trailer
Reversible sleeve featuring new artwork by Graham Humphreys and original artwork
Limited Edition Contents

Rigid Slipcase Featuring New Artwork by Graham Humphreys
40 page booklet with new essays by Allan Bryce, Jon Towlson and Kat Ellinger
Reversible poster featuring new and original artwork 

 

 

YOU CAN WIN YOUR COPY of SECOND SIGHTS FILMS REMASTERED BLU RAY of Amicus films 'ASYLUM ' in one of our many CHRISTMAS PCAS COMPETITIONS this CHRISTMAS! Look out for a whole SACK LOAD of PRIZES AND COMPETITIONS over the next TWO WEEKS! You can ALSO place YOUR PRE-ORDER direct with Second Sight Films RIGHT HERE!  

 

 

READ AND SEE MORE on the making of AMICUS FILMS 'ASYLUM' in the above PCASUK feature and gallery with DIRECTOR ROY WARD BAKER : HERE!

 

SOCIAL UNREST GANGS AND GUNS : IVESON REVIEWS THE 1958 BAKER : CUSHING AND MCCALLUM DRAMA 'VIOLENT PLAYGROUND'

EVERY CITY HAS ITS DANGEROUS YOUTH! Stark explosive drama - as the CAMERAS LAY BARE the heart of a big city and probe the secrets of its Violent Playground  . . . 

MARK IVESON REVIEWS 
Starring Stanley Baker, Anne Heywood, Peter Cushing, David McCallum Directed by Basil Deardon
 

IT IS ALWAYS a pleasure to watch a Peter Cushing film for the first time, especially if it’s not horror related, and this gritty, if dated slice of social commentary is an interesting part of the actor’s movie portfolio.  

AFTER HIS TELEVISION success, Cushing’s burgeoning film career quickly gathered momentum with several high profile supporting roles. Had Hammer not intervened to make Cushing a star in The Curse of Frankenstein (1956), he would have still commanded some excellent film work throughout the late fifties, and in a variety of cinema genres.

VIOLENT PLAYGROUND is a British attempt to imitate the style of America’s popular juvenile delinquent films that included The Blackboard Jungle (1955), Rebel Without a Cause (1955) and Crime in the Street (1956). It’s an important movie because it effectively presents the struggles of post war Britain, and is further emphasised by the striking use of locations, in this case the city of Liverpool. Val Guest later made excellent use of Manchester in Hammer’s Hell is a City (1960), and Sidney Hayers did the same for Newcastle in Payroll (1961). Interestingly enough, none of these films feature regional accents! 

THE SOCIAL REALISM in Violent Playground also pre-dates Jack Clayton’s Room at the Top (1959), a pivotal film that created the documentary style ‘kitchen sink’ drama that was influential in British cinema during the early sixties, and was followed by Karel Reisz’s Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1961), John Schlesinger’s A Kind of Loving (1962) and Lindsay Anderson’s This Sporting Life (1963).

THE PLOT:
DETECTIVE SERGEANT Jack Truman (Baker) is investigating the activities of an arsonist known as ‘Firefly.’ He is suddenly dropped form the case to be appointed juvenile liaison officer at a local inner city estate populated by mainly Irish families. Truman does not relish his new job because, being a bachelor, he knows nothing about kids.

A MEETING WITH twins Patrick and Mary Murphy (Fergal and Brona Boland, in their only film together) brings him to the attention of older brother Johnny (McCallum), leader of a street gang whose own activities seem to run parallel with his earlier investigation into arson attacks. The situation is further complicated by Truman’s emotional involvement with the twins’ older sister and guardian Cathie (Heyward). Also on hand is the tough but kindly priest (Cushing), who is aware of Johnny’s traumatic early life. This chain of events soon spiral out of control.

VIOLENT PLAYGROUND is a film of its time. It has dated, and some scenes are melodramatic, but it pulls no punches in showing the gritty realism of a working class area, and the increasing criminal activities of a younger generation left with no direction in life.  

THERE IS NOTHING feel good about the subject matter, and it is all down to producer Michael Relph and director Basil Deardon, who would later tackle the taboo subjects of racism in Sapphire (1959) and homosexuality in Victim (1961). The film has a nostalgic feel; all plain clothes cops wore trench coats and trilbies, the delinquents are a tad too well scrubbed and the ladies wore headscarves, but there are no stereotypes. 

THE CHINESE brother and sister (brilliantly played by real life siblings Michael Chow and Tsai Chin) are not ‘me so solly, no speaky English’ characters; it’s actually quite refreshing to see Tsai Chin not playing a double-agent or sinister daughter of a master criminal! Everyone is clearly defined and this is further enhanced by excellent performances from a well chosen cast.

PERHAPS THE MOST DISTURBING scene is where Johnny (why are all bad boys called Johnny in these movies?), armed with a machine gun, takes a class of school kids hostage. This uncomfortably echoes the recent shootings that have occurred in the States. It still makes for a tense and uncompromising climax. Basil Deardon directs with a sense of unease, and had it not been for the studio insisting on a happy ending, it could have ranked as a classic piece of British cinema. 

AS PREVIOUSLY STATED, the performances are excellent. Stanley Baker is his usual charismatic self, showing typical urban intensity mixed with the quiet authority of his position within the community. There is also a genuine chemistry between Baker and Anne Heywood, who is equally compelling in a somewhat underwritten role. 

SUPPORTING PERFORMANCES are of a typical high standard. Clifford Evans provides a nice touch of humour as the understanding headmaster, with John Slater being well served as Baker’s colleague. The Boland twins are a creepy pair; I wonder if they inspired Stanley Kubrick when he made The Shinning (1979)!
 

THE REAL STAR is David McCallum, who had previously worked with Baker in Hell Drivers (1955). At 24, his is a tad too old for Johnny, but his youthful good looks and fierce intensity makes him a passable teenager. As one of the new angry young men of British cinema McCallum shows real star promise with an aggressively powerful performance. Sadly future films failed to make use of his unique presence, and he subsequently got blander with each role, despite his major success in Hollywood in the mid sixties. 

WE NOW COME TO PETER CUSHING. As versatile as he was in period roles, it is difficult to place the actor in this kind of film as his classical approach could not be further away from the modern method acting style seen in Violent Playground. That said he gives a first rate performance. Moving away from the Miles Malleson ecclesiastical bumblers from previous British films, Cushing’s priest is convincingly street wise, and looks at home in the surrounding area. Although understanding of Johnny’s problems, he becomes a more forceful presence when confronting the boy during the climax. It is a winning turn, and one regrets Cushing not having more screen time. 

LOWER DOWN THE CAST we have Young Frankenstein himself, Melvyn Hayes, and comedian Freddie Starr, under his real name Freddie Fowell, as members of Johnny’s gang. You can’t miss Freddie; he’s the only one with a Scouse accent!
 

RELEASED IN 1958, Violent Playground did well in the UK and Europe, although it failed to do much business in America as the market for juvenile delinquent movies had pretty much been flooded by their home grown efforts. The success of The Beatles, and David McCallum’s TV popularity in The Man From UNCLE a few years later made Liverpool a popular city world wide, and as a result, the film got a belated Stateside release to reasonable box office success.

VIOLENT PLAYGROUND, is by no means a classic British movie, but it holds enough interest and does require repeated viewings. Of course it’s always wonderful to see Peter Cushing doing something against his usual style, and his performance here remains one of his best non horror efforts.

THE AMAZING 25MM VAMPIRE KILLER AND REMEMBERING QUEEN OF THE VAMPIRES TODAY!

#COLLECTINGCUSHING! I once had a weenie-little figure of Peter Cushing as #Tarkin, he really looked wicked and mean.. but he hadn't accounted for the even more wicked and cunning of my tom-cat, Reg! . . chomp..chomp . . I thought you would appreciated this 😉 NOW ready as a pre order and will be available early JANUARY 2020. . . #PeterCushing as #Hammerfilms Vampire Hunter : VAN HELSING, now available as a.. 25MM figure! What do YOU think? If you know a Cushing fan, you are having Christmas Dinner with this year, why not pick up one of these ...and slip it in their table cracker??? a neat Cushing-Christmas surprise 😉😃

WITH HIS HOBBIES in #modelmaking, #theatremodels and the huge collection of #figures and soldiers Peter Cushing made over the years.. I think Cushing would have appreciated and liked this little figure, very much! 😊

THE MAKERS of this figure say only 500 will ever be made and each miniature comes with a numbered gift card! at ONLY £4.00 . You can PRE ORDER from : HERE!

TODAY, NOVEMBER 21st, had she lived.. would have been Ingrid Pitt's 82nd birthday. Any regular visitor here will already know, how highly we valued her friendship to our society, her skill as an actress and as a beautiful person who touched everyone's heart who ever met her. Today, we mark her birthday and make a little space, to share how much we still miss her . . . Happy Birthday, Ingrid 😊

ABOVE: A RARE #INGRIDPITT INTERVIEW, from the PCAS YOUTUBE CHANNEL ARCHIVE!

ABOVE: THE PCASUK INGRID PITT AT HALLOWEEN GALLERY
FROM 2014 : JUST CLICK HERE!

THE CONNECTION OF INGRID PITT, PETER CUSHING AND THE

 THEATRE ROYAL FEATURE: CLICK  RIGHT HERE!

THE PCAS GALLERY: THE ONE AND ONLY INGRID GALLERY: HERE!