WOMEN IN WAR AND CONE OF SILENCE : CUSHING IN UNIFORM

Cushing In Uniform: Peter Cushing in uniform from Women In War (1940) as Captain Evans and Cone Of Silence (1960) as Captain Clive Judd.

'WOMEN IN WAR' was released in June 1940, and stands as one of Peter Cushing's lesser known films. Made in line with four other films in 1940, 'Laddie',  'A Chump At Oxford', 'Vigil in the Night' and the short, 'The Hidden Master'. In these films, Cushing did at least receive a screen credit, in 'Women At War'... he did not. An uncredited role with fleeting screen time, playing the character Captain Hughes, he gets a couple of lines, but also in his limited screen time, flags up what could be the first of his 'Cushinisums' : 'a visual jesture, often repeated in performances through out his career. i.e '...the pointing of his index finger', appears in several films and tv performances from the 1958 DRACULA  to FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL in 1971.

Cushing pauses to wipe his brow and back of his neck with a handy handkerchief! What could be the first appearance of a Cushingnism!

'Women in War' tells the story of a "good-time girl", raised by her somewhat lax divorced father, finds herself involved in an accidental death, and the only way she's able to get out of it is to volunteer--albeit reluctantly--to be a nurse in the war effort. She travels to England and is assigned to a hospital under a very strict matron. What the girl doesn't know is that the matron is the mother she has never seen. The film is at this time unavailable as a home release.

An interesting aside... PATRIC KNOWLES who appeared with Peter Cushing in WOMEN IN WAR in 1940, is also known for playing protagonists in a number of horror films, including The Wolf Man (1941) and Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman (1943).

'CONE OF SILENCE / TROUBLE IN THE SKY' released in 1960 stars Peter Cushing as Captain Clive Judd. The film was inspired by true events surrounding the De Havilland Comet in the early 1950s.

The film tells the story of a seasoned pilot who is condemned for an error which causes a crash. The pilot later dies in a crash with similar circumstances and an examiner looks for scientific reasons for the crashes.

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#MONSTERMONDAY RETURNS WITH REQUESTED VINTAGE IMAGES AND STILLS

First request for our REBOOT of #monstermonday comes from PAUL CHADWICK who has requested images from TWO Peter Cushing films, HORROR EXPRESS (1972) and THE CREEPING FLESH (1973). Hope you like the images, Paul!

A SIGNED promotion photograph from The Creeping Flesh. Spot Hammer film regular, Michael Ripper in the foreground here!

Christopher Lee plays  Peter Cushing's brother, James Hildren in The Creeping Flesh. Here we see him trying to piece how he can...well, that would be giving away the story....!

A terrified Peter Cushing in The Creeping Flesh...and if you had seen what he has seen, you would be terrified too!

A RARE PHOTOBUSTA from The Creeping Flesh (1973)

Christopher Lee takes on a zombie Cossack in HORROR EXPRESS. The excellent zombies in this film gave us our first new convincing undead frighteners, since Hammer films, 'PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES' .

Peter Cushing poses for a promotion photograph  on board the footplate of the train that was used in the film, Horror Express.

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MONSTERMONDAY RETURNS

REQUESTED! We are never short of requests, photographs and features to post, sometimes it gets a little busy with competitions to schedule and features, so we drop a regular feature for a while. But following quite a few enquiries about  '#Monster Monday'... by your request, I am sure you'll be pleased to hear, today, we are bringing it back! So, please send us your requests for images and photographs of your favourite monsters, creations and stuffs from the bowels of hell! It's great if it's is a monster from a Cushing film, but this time around, we are extending it to ANY monster...from ANY film. Let's expand our knowledge of nasties!

Remember, this is your website. I am very grateful for any suggestions for features, requests or photographs...anything you think would make our page extra special. So, your MONSTERS please! We'll pick the best for today and the following Monday's.

 

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TV 21 COMIC COMPETITIONS AND DALEKMANIA FROM 1965

We have a bit of a Dr Who thing going on at the facebook fan page today.. so let's continue with that thread and this lovely old ad from TV 21 comic from 31st July 1965. The hight of Dalekmania! I remember having that Dalek badge...and maybe that push along plastic Dalek too. Did any of you own Dalek toys and novelties during the 1960's???

We have posted some of these pages before, but they are such a great example of retro publicity, I often get requests to repost them here or at the facebook Fan Page. Below, the one thing I wanted more than anything else in the Summer of 1965, an Inflatable Dalek of my own....and the Dalek jigsaw puzzle. All of of this was on offer and dangled like a carrot, hanging on the naming of the one thing we pretended to be, in our playground antics at school... the cooler than cool.. RED DALEK!

The children's plastic Dalek costume looks a bit shabby now, but back in the day, Berwick's Red Dalek outfit was the bees knees! These too were often given away in competitions. I guess the absolute dream ticket was to own the suit AND the jigsaw, and to able to piece the jigsaw together, whilst wearing the suit!

And as for the chances of winning one of the THREE much coveted Sugar Puffs Movie Daleks, one could only dream!

 

It's frightening to think we once sold candy to children in the shape of cigarettes back in the 60's...but we did.. Noddy Sweet Cigarettes, Thunderbirds too...what is also weird is the ingredients on this packet...E- numbers I am sure have been left off, but look at the first ingredient...??? A lump of petrified forest with your candy contraband, sonny??

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JON PERTWEE AND INGRID PITT AT THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD : RARE PHOTOGRAPHS

Here's TWO great promotion photographs just posted as requests over at our Peter Cushing Appreciation Society Facebook Fan Page. The requests from Christopher Stephenson are the first in our REQUEST SUNDAY weekly feature, where we invite our friends and followers to request photographs and memorabilia from their favourite Peter Cushing film, tv show, theatre production. It gives us the opportunity to share some of the lesser seen items from the PCASUK archives and collection. Now in our 60th year as a 'fan club', we have amassed a collection of Peter Cushing material that is often called on by television, radio, dvd and blu ray distributors, for vintage Peter Cushing photographs, media and printed materials. Over the next 12 months, we'll be hosting several events at this website and our other PCASUK internet outlets.

There are more rare photographs in our feature on ''THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD' elsewhere on this website.

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FEATURE AND GALLERY

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ON SET SATURDAY WITH PETER CUSHING : URSULA ANDRESS : BERNARD CRIBBINS AND DAWN ADDAMS

Candid Cushing: Principal photography started on The Vampire Lovers at Elstree Studios on 19th January 1970 The film also used locations in the grounds of Moor Park Mansion, Hertfordshire (This stood in for Styria, Central Europe). The Vampire Lovers was produced on a relatively low budget of £165,227 and was the final Hammer film to be financed with American money. Almost all of the later films were backed by distibutors Rank or EMI. Our onset photograph shows, Peter Cushing and Dawn Addams having a cuddle on the set of Hammer's The Vampire Lovers in 1970.

The principal photography for Hammer films, SHE started in southern Israel's Negev Desert on 24th August 1964, with scenes also shot at MGM's Elstree Studios in London, when Hammer's own home, Bray Studios proved to be too small for the project. SHE was the most expensive film Hammer had made up until this time, mid 1964.

Our REVIEW and GALLERY of SHE can be found:  HERE

TRIVIA: Hammer were pleased with the look of Ursula Andress in the film – she was lit by Harry Waxman, costumed by Carl Toms, with her effects make up provided by master make up artist, Roy Ashton – they found her 'Swiss German' accent off-putting, so had her entire part re-dubbed by actress Monica Van Der Syl. Syl was careful to maintain a slight accent in her dubbing, so as not to throw the film's audience, who may have have been familiar with the way Andress spoke in her recent appearance in the James Bond film, Dr. No.

 Read MORE on Hammer films SHE in our feature with supporting

gallery : HERE

 

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY : TELLY SAVALAS

Who Loves Ya Baby?...Today we remember the birthday of the late Telly Savalas. A much loved and larger than life man, on and off the screen. His Peter Cushing connection is his rip roaring performance as the Cossack, Captain Kazan in the 'run-away-train-with-a-monster-and-zombies-onboard' epic from 1972, 'Horror Express'.

It's a film that never stops going up gears through out it's tense 90 mins. When Savalas appears, almost an hour in, it really is full steam ahead! Along with Cushing and Lee, he makes the film a whole lot of fun. Most of us remember him as the lolly sucking cop in the excellent tv show, 'Kojak' and his quick to catch on catch phrase, 'Who Loves Ya Baby?'…… Who loves ya  Telly? Why we do and always will.....

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