HAPPY FATHER'S DAY : TO ALL FATHERS DADS AND POPS

TODAY IS FATHER'S DAY.. a time when we recognise and remember all Fathers, Dads and Pops . . . here are two that are very much missed, I am sure....

 

FRIENDS TO THE END : CUSHING AND LEE CANDID CLIPS

FOLLOWING UP from the great Christopher Lee interview we posted yesterday... here is a great colour transparency of the two chaps in their prime... and their final meeting in 1994....Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee.

YOU CAN FIND OUT MORE about the films of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee from our extensive series entitled, 'A TALENT TO TERRIFY' THE 22 FILMS OF PETER CUSHING AND CHRISTOPHER LEE. a SEVEN PART feature stuffed with stills and rare pics! The feature takes you through all twenty two films starring Cushing and Lee, right up until their final meeting and Cushing passing in 1994. All parts contain a LINK to the next part of the series....

ABOVE PETER CUSHING AND CHRISTOPHER LEE chat during their last opportunity to work and meet together in 1994. This is just one of a series of candid clips from this hour long conversation. You'll find MORE clips at our PCAS YOUTUBE CHANNEL 

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WE WERE DEVOTEES OF SYLVESTER TWEETY PIE AND BUGS BUNNY : CHRISTOPHER LEE ON PETER CUSHING INTERVIEW

HERE IS A SPECIAL TREAT  we posted yesterday on the NEW PCAS YOU TUBE CHANNEL AND OUR A Great interview with Christopher Lee, talking about his special friend, Peter Cushing!

AND as today is our #onsetsaturday theme . . .

A RARE SET OF IMAGES of both Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee rehearsing at Elstree studios, during the shooting of the final scenes of Hammer films, 'The Satanic Rites of Dracula' ...final also in that this would be Lee's LAST appearance as Dracula for Hammer....

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CUSHING CLIP: MYSTERY ON MONSTER ISLAND

OUR NEW YOUTUBE CHANNEL is now open, and here is a recent upload and a clip that was shared on our Peter Cushing Appreciation Society Facebook Fan Page yesterday, for our #throwbackthursday post.

IT'S PETER CUSHING in the rarely seen film, Mystery on Monster Island (1980) loosely based on a Jules Verne novel and co-starring Terence Stamp....... It wasn't so  well received at the time, and certainly makes you think about who the producers were aiming this film at? For the kids, this was a miss. The special effects are quite dated, when you think families had been treated to the wonders of Indiana Jones and Star Wars sequels around this time. As you can see from the screen cap below, we are back in the land of At The Earth's Core-men-in-suits-monsters, and the whole film seems likely inspired by the Kevin Conner/John Dark monster-fantasy productions that began with THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT (1975) and ended with WARLORDS OF ATLANTIS (1978). BUT we do have Cushing, it's brief, but as usual even this late in his career...classy and he LOOK good too, take a look at  his script below, and again we see his knowledgeable hand in the choices of costume and  his props.

MYSTERY ON MONSTER ISLAND CAST:
Ian Sera (Jeff Morgan), Terence Stamp (Taskinar/Skinner), Peter Cushing (William T. Kolderup), David Hatton (Thomas Artelect), Gasphar Ipua (Carefinatu), Blanca Estrada (Dominique Blanchard), Ana Obregon (Meg), Frank Brana (Birling), Paul Naschy (Flynt), Gerard Tichy (Captain Turkott)
Directed by Juan Piquer Simon.

MORE CLIPS MORE POSTS NEW YOU TUBE CHANNEL FOR PCAS!

PCAS NEW YOUTUBE CHANNEL: Our NEW and UPDATED You Tube Channel is now LIVE! A few days ago we started the process of transferring our archive of clips, interviews and vintage material to the new home at You Tube, during this time, will be no longer post material at our original channel, all new posts and archive can now be found HERE

We trust you come and seek us out, join us or resubscribe, for longer clips than we can post here on facebook, the best archive of Peter Cushing media and much more! Our original channel will remain live / open for the next few weeks, until the transfer is complete! Thank You - Marcus

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY : STAN LAUREL REMEMBERED

#throwbackthursday 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..SEE the actual contract below!

STAN LAUREL was born Arthur Stanley Jefferson on the 16th June 1890, at 3, Argyle Street, Ulverston, Cumbria, England. He travelled 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 Olyy get my vote every time.

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. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Stan, you still remain head and shoulders above the rest!

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REMEMBERING SANDOR ELES : BORN TODAY

TODAY WE REMEMBER Hungarian born actor SANDOR ELES…. Known for a lot of work on TV he guest starred in shows such as The Saint, One Step Beyond, The Avengers, Danger Man and a regular role in the UK Soap 'Crossroads'.

HIS FILM WORK includes roles in Hammer's Countess Dracula (1971) with Ingrid Pitt and The Evil Of Frankenstein (1964) with Peter Cushing where he played Baron Frankenstein's loyal assistant Hans. One of his most memorable film roles was as the mysterious Paul in the Brian Clemens thriller And Soon the Darkness (1970)

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TREADING THE BOARDS OF BOREHAMWOOD AND ELSTREE

HERE IN THE UK, we don't have a 'Hollywood Walk of Fame'... and until quite recently we only had the Blue Plaques acknowledging, buildings or places of connections to the entertainment industry, though not exclusively. But in the Elstree / Borehamwood area, these great interpretation boards have sprung up, commemorating people and places connected with Elstree studios! Here are THREE which might interest you, Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and Hammer films... I think they are quite special and help remind us of people and places now gone...in the places 'they once were'!

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YET MORE GREAT GIFS AND COOL STUFF FOR A TUESDAY!

It's #TOOCOOLTUESDAY and as always, here is a collection of random yet, connected items, brought to you because of their association with the ever so cool, Mr Peter Cushing...!

WE SHARED this RARE archive photograph on the PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE TODAY, and asked our friends and followers, who was it posing with 'the wigs', beard and ....missing tooth?

THE ANSWER can be revealed in the photograph above and the banner at the top of this post... they are none other than, stars of 'AT THE EARTH'S CORE' Caroline Munro and Doug McClure, wearing the wigs and beards that would be worn by the actors who would play the 'primitive cave people' in the film. Though the 'missing front tooth' of Mr McClure, is quite genuine!

TRIVIA: Peter Cushing for much of his professional life, from 1948 onwards, wore a front denture. It's mentioned in his autobiography that he lost the original tooth, playing rugby! A bit of publicity spin there, I am afraid. Cushing suffered a tooth infection, just before his shooting of Osric in Olivier's film, 'Hamlet'. In fact, loosing the tooth came in handy during the making of the BBC production of George Orwell's '1984' in 1954. Never one to miss an opportunity to use props, some business, or indeed anything that would add authenticity to his performance, Cushing REMOVED his 'one tooth plate'  for the horrifying 'Room 101' scenes in the climax of the television drama. It really enhances his emaciated and broken appearance. Vanity never got in the way, of Cushing's quest in perfecting a role...and how cool, is THAT?

Here's another selection of GIF'S that have appeared on the Peter Cushing Appreciation Society Facebook Fan Page over the past few days, giving us our EIGHTH PCAS GIF GALLERY!

..AND HERE, is some MORE Caroline Munro! This time as the poor Laura Beddows in Hammer films, DRACULA AD 1972  with Christopher Lee. It doesn't end well, I am afraid....

FROM THE SAME Hammer film, Peter Cushing as Van Helsing, not for the first time, is locked in a struggle to once again destroy the Count, and in this shot..not doing too well...

When not slapping around vampire hunters, biting faire maidens, Christopher Lee was the meekest of men. And here, we see him at home in 1974 with his wife, Birgit and daughter, Christina, in the cutest of family scenes. This shot was featured in the documentary, 'In Search of Dracula' (1974) in which Lee himself goes in search of the origins of the bloody Count!

Peter Cushing once again in the role of a vampire hunter, with a twist. This, one Gustav Weil, belongs to a merry band of called the 'Brotherhood' who see it as their job to rid the town of surge of vampires and  one in particular called, Count Karnstein, there's that name again, played by Damian Thomas, in his one and only role for Hammer films in 'TWINS OF EVIL'. By this time, Hammer were finding it hard to keep the ol 'vampire fire a-burning' so new and ever more inventive plots and schemes had to be invented, when Christopher Lee, dig in his heels and said a very firm, NO! What they came up with in this case, is one of the very best deviations. TWINS, beautiful one's at that, played by the quite credible Collinson sisters, Mary and Madeline. Yet again, all certainly doesn't end well in this saga either, with the final reel playing out like a Greek tragedy. With death, destruction and the offing of even poor ol Peter, it's enough to make anyone, loose their head!  

HAMMER FILMS had been toying with the idea of following the Universal Frankenstein films track, as far back as 1959, when the REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN , switched themes from 'creating a woman' to unleashing a killer with a  taste for human flesh, a cannibal  creation, instead. It took a few years for the subject to re-emerge, as 'FRANKENSTEIN CREATED WOMAN'  in 1967. The woman was the lovely, Susan Denberg, who keep the body count going while keep the dirty mac brigade happy at the same time...and still does! 

 

AND FINALLY, a shot from a film that sadly, when released joined the party, when the music had stopped, the last of the booze had gone and everyone was collecting their platform shoes and bomber jackets from the cloakroom! Tigon films, tale of terror, sadly came on the tail end of the horror film craze in the UK, and never received the attention it so deserved! 'THE CREEPING FLESH', despite it's hacky title, is a great little film, with knock out performances from Lee and Cushing...and the BIGGEST skeleton you've ever seen..if you don't count, Victoria Beckham! 

Amicus had already made 'THE SKULL' in 1965, a SKULL WITH NO BODY, floating around for revenge, now Tigon tapped into the, SKULL WITH A BODY, also lightly floating around and seeking revenge. Revenge, for quite a silly reason really, as was scriptwriters wants back in the day, if the plot had to be about revenge, it was driven sometimes by the flimsiest of reasons. And this film, falls into that ditch. BUT, it is still is head and shoulders, above most fantasy films of this time... definitely worth catching, and is WELL over due it's release on blu ray...are you listening Twilight Time???

MORE COOL STUFFS, NEXT TUESDAY....how cool is that? 

Written by Marcus Brooks.

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MONSTERMONDAY : TALES FROM THE CRYPT : MONSTER NEIGHBOUR JAMES ELLIOTT

#‎monstermonday‬ This weeks candidate for monster Monday is James Elliot from Tales From The Crypt (1972) played by Robin Phillips proving that not all 'monsters' have to be of the supernatural kind.

ELLIOT BEGINS a campaign of hate to try and force Arthur Grimsdyke (Peter Cushing) to sell his house and move away, as he believes Grimsdyke is a blight on the neighbourhood, he pushes him to far and Grimsdyke commits suicide, however we all know that he finally gets his revenge on Elliot on Valentine's Day!

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