NOT ALL THE PC VAMPIRE SUPPORT WAS NICE! CALLUM MCKELVIE LOOKS BEYOND ROLES THAT WERE VAN HELSING NICE TIMES!

WHEN ONE THINKS of Cushing and Vampires, inevitably are minds are drawn to his excellent portrayal of Van Helsing in several of Hammers Dracula films. For many fans it’s one of his best roles and (if we count the two generations as one) a part he would return to four times. However, as defining as his portrayal as Van Helsing is, it somewhat over shadows that fact that he was in roughly four other vampire films (excluding Dr Terrors House of Horrors and The House that Dripped Blood simply as he does not appear in the segments featuring bloodsuckers). 

THIS WEEK AND THE NEXT I’ll be examining these ‘Other Vampire films’, starting with his two entries into the Karstein trilogy 'The Vampire Lovers' and 'Twins of Evil'. I’ve joined these two together, not only because they book ending entries in a trilogy, but also because they both feature Cushing as a sort of Pseudo-Vampire Hunter. Both roles are worlds away from a Van Helsing stereotype and at least one is remembered amongst his finest work.

THE 'KARNSTEIN TRILIOGY'  stands as one of Hammers finest achievements simply for the fact that it marks one of the few occasions, as the studio moved into the 1970’s that one it’s attempts to try something bold and new with its formula worked. Now in terms of some of the attempts that would be made later (Kung-Fu vampires anyone?) the changes here are not that extreme and merely reflect the studios reaction to an allowance of more extreme content.

MOST OBVIOUSLY it is the films explicit portrayal of Lesbianism that gained it a certain level of attention. The film is stolen by Ingrid Pitt’s first performance for the studio and first major role in a horror movie (though she was in 1966’s Sound of Horror). Whilst not her greatest work for Hammer (that would come later in Countess Dracula) it’s a strong start and one can easily see why she became a horror icon and early scream queen.

ABOVE: PETER CUSHING and INGRID PITT together in HAMMER FILMS 'THE VAMPIRE LOVERS'. BOTH look comfortable in the roles. BOTH had also become great friends, along with Peter Cushing's wife, HELEN . . . 

PETER CUSHING'S ROLE in the film on the other hand is somewhat small, though integral and although he looks superb in his military uniform, it’s not usually counted amongst his best roles. None the less it’s an interesting take on the role of the Vampire hunter within a hammer film and the quest is made deeply personal to the General, whose niece is a victim of Carmilla. 

THUS THE GENERAL is the character who puts an end to Camilla’s bloodsucking ways and in perhaps the most famous scene in the film, decapitates her. It’s a great moment and Cushing imbues it with a sort of grim satisfaction, we may have seen the gentle side of the General to begin with but we now understand why he’s a war hero.

BELOW: JUST weeks after the tragic death of his wife, HELEN, PETER CUSHING plays a NEW HAMMER VAMPIRE FILM role. GUSTAV WEIL, the savior and helper? OR is he just as EVIL as the VAMPIRE COUNT? 

THE FINAL FILM in the Karstein series, 'Twins of Evil', sees Cushing in a role far removed from that in 'The Vampire Lovers'. Here he plays Gustav Weil, a vicious religious fanatic who prowls the local countryside in search of witches to burn. Clearly inspired by 1968’s Witchfinder General and many films that followed in its wake including 'Mark of the Devil' and 'Blood on Satan’s Claw', it’s a rare chance to see Cushing being genuinely terrifying.

EVEN IN FILMS where Cushing plays a villain, there’s usually an element of charm in his performance (his earliest portrayals of Baron Frankenstein) that have his character play out more as an anti-hero. Indeed only Hammer films, Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed in 1969, shows him in a position where he plays a character so utterly ruthless as to be genuinely frightening.

OF COURSE as his two young nieces find themselves under the sway of the evil Count Karstein, like the General Weil finds himself turning to the Vampire Hunting trade. In this film’s final moments, Cushing finds himself once again decapitating a vampire and it’s equally spectacular.

PETER CUSHING'S TWO non-Dracula vampire films for Hammer stand among some of the studios most interesting work. Cushing gives great performances in both and though one is clearly superior to the other, are interesting portrayals of Vampire hunters not in the Van Helsing mode.

WRITTEN by CALLUM MCKELVIE
TECH DEVELOPMENT: JAMIE SUMERVILLE
EDITED: MARCUS BROOKS
THE VAMPIRE LOVERS TRAILER: UvaSEP  HERE!

REMINDER OF TUESDAYS TOUGHIE : ANSWER TUESDAY 6TH MARCH!

 

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

PCAS LEAVES FACEBOOK AFTER ALMOST TEN SUCCESSFUL YEARS WITH OVER 33 THOUSAND FAN FOLLOWERS

ABOVE: THE FACEBOOK BANNER

MY APOLOGIES about this website not having an updated post here for the past three days. LOTS of problems have risen at FACEBOOK and OUR FACEBOOK PAGE FAN PAGE. You may or may not know, that FACEBOOK in the last few days has changed things and have made huge implications on any FAN page or GROUP that is popular on FACEBOOK...and has a HUGE following. Like us! Recently, ALL pages are only allowed ONE POST or less to be seen on a news feed per day. EVEN if you are a FOLLOWER or MEMBER of that page. NOW, you have to RESET your news feed and what would be seen there. MOST people have no idea how that is actually physically done OR why they would WANT to do it. So, those issues have in fact, KILLED and ISOLATED ALL our posts on facebook. The solution also is to PAY FACEBOOK anyway from TWENTY POUNDS to THIRTY POUNDS or more, so THEY will promote your posts, for followers to see your posts. We have NEVER had to do that and have ALWAYS had an excellent following, extremely friendly visitors and Cushing fans DAILY, seeing and commenting on our three daily posts. NOT NOW. If we want that, we will HAVE TO PAY or MAKE people change their feeds....not going to happen. We have almost 35 THOUSAND followers there, but over the last two years. facebook has hidden them, their likes, and OUR posts from them. SO... enough is enough. 

ABOVE: THE WEBSITE BANNER

PCAS will exist now, in the way it has been most popular HERE at this website, for the last SIX YEARS. Just THIS WEBSITE, TWITTER and our very much liked PCAS YOUTUBE CHANNEL! Now without facebook to update, this website will be daily updated, with video feed clips, competitions, prizes, rare photographs and interviews..it will all this website will be THE PCAS base! The Facebook PCAS Fan Page, isn't closing just yet, lots to do, and a whole week at some point to thank everyone for their friendships, supports, making our Facebook PCAS Page, one of the most popular and friendly facebook pages for people who LOVE Hammer films, Peter Cushing and have helped very generously to help make the PAGE a HUGE success over the last EIGHT YEARS!

ANY QUESTIONS, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO EMAIL US!  you can contact me at our PCAS email: petercushingpcas@gmail.com

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

DON'T FORGET OUR COMPETITION AND WHY OUR FACEBOOK FAN PAGE MAYBE CLOSING VERY SOON . .

HERE IS A REMINDER  of what could be the very LAST competition we ever post here on  Peter Cushing Appreciation society Facebook Fan Page. Posting there today, I requested that I would  VERY much appreciate it, if our over 33 Thousand followers, would could click LIKE on this post, as soon as they saw it, so I can see how many are actually seeing the posts posted there. Facebook has proven to be extremely trying and  brought in some very odd habits over the last year, for ANYONE trying to build communication and fun, with people who have joined the page. It has become so frustrating, that despite we only seeing between 20 and 100 of our OVER 33,000 followers clicking like, it feels like the time has come, to actually close this FACEBOOK FAN PAGE. 

ABOVE: THE DAMAGING AND manipulative action FACEBOOK has brought into hiding our posts from people who WANT to see our daily posts . . . by not paying for Facebooks so called boosting, gives Facebook the right to hide anyone's posts . . . 

ABOVE:The results of MAKE or BREAK future depends on followers taking this action. It simplies lets you see our posts, or facebook will hide them... as yet few have made this choice, so we can only guess, people don't want our posts on Facebook...there fore, we will now focus ALL posts every day, HERE at the PCAS website . . .less trouble, and all ready and very clean following, PLUS no Facebook playing games . .   

TODAY I DECIDED to encourage our followers who click like, comment and engage regularly at the PCAS,  to see if we could get an accurate total as how many ARE seeing our likes, following FACEBOOKS recent restructuring, to see of it was still worth while to post several times and day, base our PCAS competitions there..OR to just re-base everything HERE at this website, which DOES have a very healthy following and LOTS of engagement. So, followers at the facebook account were asked to REFIX the recent manipulation of Facebook to MISS our posts, and to set their personal accounts to SEE out posts by picking the button SEE FIRST and click like to this competition post. At the moment just over 150 followers, have engaged for our supposing supposed 33,000 followers.... there is now just 24 hours for this total to improve, before I CLOSE the PCAS facebook page, and instead, focus our energies, competitions and post HERE at this website.We will know the outcome in just over 24 hours. Either way, THIS website, will remain daily and production!

ABOVE: An example of some of the lowers totals gained by THIS website, over the past few days. We did used to get these totals on our Facebook Fan Page too...BEFORE Facebook started their games . . 

IT IS very sad, that after being a leading site at facebook for over eight years now, that we have to opt out and close the fan page. We have had some great time, competitions, had some excellent inaction with true fans over these years. But, Facebook isn't happy unless you are somehow paying or making production towards their advertising productive . . . it didn't start that way, and their recent move to 'de clutter' everyone's accounts, is really their opportunity to push more of their ads and get groups to pay, to be seen. Asking people to CHOOSE which accounts they want to see, over any others, by pressing the SEE ALL POSTS of our page, is a task, most followers, don't understand or want to do.  I have watched them manipulate pages and posts over the last few months, with a constant push by them, to get is to play to be so called 'boosted'. Here was the recent: ' Play just TEN POUNDS and reach 200 followers now!' . ..  why would we want to do that, when we were are all ready reaching 500, WITHOUT paying them to boost us?? It's a con. It's time to leave. Our WEBSITE hits all the followers world-wide, and get very good responses.  Our posts are gathered and shown by google images and posts . .for free! It's time to close the Facebook mess, once and for all. We'll find out shortly . . 

REMEMBERING TERENCE FISHER AND STAN LAUREL

A MAN WHO CERTAINLY  needs no introduction to anyone who regularly visits this page. Today we mark the birthday of the late Terence Fisher, a director whose trade mark blend of fairy-tale, myth and sexuality, gave us some of Cushing's and Hammer films greatest hits. The Curse of Frankenstein, Dracula, The Mummy, The Gorgon, Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed..... and many, many others. All absolute gems. Happy Birthday Terence Fisher!

CUSHING, Thorley Walters and director, Terence Fisher take a break, at Bray studios, during the making of, 'Frankenstein Created Woman' (1967).  .

DURING POST PRODUCTION  work on The Devil Rides Out he was hit by a motor bike while crossing a road and suffered a fractured leg. This resulted in him being replaced by Freddie Francis as director on Dracula Has Risen From the Grave. Just few years later, the incident happened again, resulting in Fisher taking an early retirement . .

TODAY BACK IN 1965, we said goodbye to Arthur Stanley Jefferson... Stan Laurel. Laurel traveled to the US with the Karno trope, and after a long period eventually Laurel signed with the Hal Roach studio, so did Oliver Hardy, who was a member of the Hal Roach Studios Comedy All Star players...and the rest is history! If I were to pick anyone from this era of cinema history, Stan and Olly get my vote every time. 

A CHUMP AT OXFORD (1940) was the penultimate Laurel and Hardy film made at the Hal Roach studios. Stan Laurel played Stan / Lord Paddington, Oliver Hardy is Ollie! The film is of particular note to us, because Peter Cushing also featured in the cast. If YOU HAVE NOT seen A Chump At Oxford, I highly recommend it, not just for an opportunity to see a young Peter Cushing at work, but also the joy of watching the skill and talent of the two 'boys'. It never got better.

PETER CUSHING'S CONTRACT (bearing his signature) with Hal Roach Studios for A CHUMP AT OXFORD (1940) with Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Cushing recalled it was in the evening when they filmed his final scene getting tossed into the pond. Laurel and Hardy personally made sure that every actor who got wet received towels and hot drinks. Cushing was star struck by Laurel and Hardy and would remember them fondly for the rest of his life.

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

JOHN CARPENTER ON HAMMER CURSE AND REMEMBERING SIR JOHN MILLS AS DR JOHN WATSON

#TBT #THROWBACKTHURSDAY! Here's a clip we edited for Callum McKelvie's first Weekend Double feature, on Hammer films, The Curse of Frankenstein and Revenge of Frankenstein, with 'Halloween' director, John Carpenter sharing his thoughts on one of his all time favorite Hammer films... 🙂 It's great when established directors give credit to work that influenced them . . .Tim Burton and Martin Scorsese have all stepped up and doffed their caps...

TODAY WE MARK THE BIRTH of one, Lewis Ernest Watts Mills... or as we knew and loved him... Sir John Mills. He was without doubt, one of our most popular and beloved English actors and born today February 22nd 1908. In a career that stretched over eight decades, Mills appeared in over 120 films, debuting in 1932 in 'Midshipmaid Gob' right up until 2009 in 'The Snow Prince'. Many of his roles like Pip in 'Great Expectations' in 1946, Shorty Blake 'In Which We Serve' in 42, Captain Scott in 'Scott of the Antarctic' in 48 and the alcohol troubled Captain Anson in 'Ice Cold in Alex' in 58 would make him an internationally renowned star.

MILL APPEARED IN TWO FILMS with Peter Cushing, the first in 1976 entitled 'Trial by Combat' aka 'A Dirty Knight's Work' as Sir Edward Gifford. It was no more than a guest appearance, slotted in when another project on Cushing's slate fell through. The second though, was a much grander enterprise with Tyburn films and marked Cushing's return to the character of Sherlock Holmes...and Mills as Watson! They made a terrific team as a much older duo, so impressive was the chemistry that another Cushing /Mills / Sherlock film from Tyburn was planned entitled 'The Abbot's Cry', but was scuppered owing to Cushing's fragile health.

LIKE CUSHING, Mills was in his private life a sensitive romantic, in January 2001 at the age of 92, he and wife Mary, age 89, renewed their marriage vows at St. Mary's Church, next to their home, Hills House, in Denham, England. When they had wed 60 years earlier, he was denied a church service because he was serving in the Army during World War II. Happy Birthday, Sir John!

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