#MonsterMonday: Christopher Lee as The CREATURE in the first Hammer film
to both star him and Peter Cushing, The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)
Well...we posed the question, as we do every Monday...was he a monster or a victim?
Lots of interest over at our FACEBOOK FAN PAGE. BELOW ARE SOME OF YOUR COMMENTS AND REACTIONS:
S.GREEN: 'The creature is a victim of things that man should best leave alone.'
J.PLAYER: '100% victim - in a way he was like Hazel Court, caught between the conflict with Peter Cushing and Robert Urguhart'.
L.CONROY? 'The
look on his face when Frankenstein commands him to stand up, walk over,
sit down, etc...he's like a beaten child. Total victim, I agree.'
#GRABTHECUSHIONITSCUSHING...
Here is the second of our SUNDAY posts under our new theme looking at
some of the most frightening scenes from Peter Cushing films.... This
week it's a clip from Amicus's Asylum (1972) SPOILERS...… In which Dr.
Martin (Robert Powell) learns the truth about 'Max' (Geoffrey Bayldon)….
Always found that laugh particularly chilling…. How DOES THIS scene
rate in your FAV CUSHING terror scenes???
THE CLIP ABOVE has stirred up some child-hood memories and revisited nightmares over at our PCASUK FACEBOOK FAN PAGE! Here are a small selections of comments from visitors:
W.SLEET:'The
climax of 'Blind Alleys' from TALES FROM THE CRYPT was one of my most
vivid childhood scares. Many of the Amicus films scared me more so than
any of the Hammer films ever did - the combination of the contemporary
setting (as opposed to costumed dramatics), plumby acTORs and gleeful
gallows humour can be very unsettling - but, even now, this chilly
little tale still makes me shudder!'
J.THORLEY: 'This
was especially shocking when I was little, I expected a traditional
happy ending. See also the hammer house of horror episode The Silent
Scream! Really disturbing'.
J.MORROW: 'That last scene with that creepy laugh chilled me to the bone. Geoffrey Bayldon gave an unforgettable performance'
P.DUFFUS: 'A classic..great music too...Mussorgsky..the PC story my favourite on this one with the suit..'
D.FULCE: 'Spent
a day with Geoffrey a few years back and told him I thought his laugh
was on par with Dwight Frys in ' Dracula ' as most chilling ever !!'
B.MAIDMENT: 'I love this film and can watch it again and again. I cant decide which story I like the best . Herbert Lom with his scary dolls or could it be Brit Eckland as Lucy. Peter Cushing with the suit but I
know Geoffrey Bayldon out shines them all in this film Great acting.
C.CARLEY: Love Geoffrey Bayldon, he was magic as Catweazle and I loved that small role he had in Dracula
MORE CLIPS TO GET YOUR PULSES PUMPING AND FINGERS CUSHION CLUTCHING NEXT SUNDAY! RIGHT HERE!
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VERY SAD TO HEAR of the passing of Margaret Robinson yesterday. . . . a
very important member of the Hammer films in house company, and the
wife of Bernard Robinson . . more than that, she was an artist in her
own right, and the creator of beautiful paintings, marionettes and
masks. I first met Margaret in 1979, as she strolled around a convention
room, without a name badge. While queuing for a coffee, I struck up
conversation with Margaret, but not knowing her asked, if there
was anyone in particular she had come along to meet and chat with from
the Hammer films guests. She laughed and said, 'Well, I was rather
hoping someone would want to talk to me!' Puzzled and apologizing for
sounding rude, I asked, 'You are a guest?' 'Yes!' she laughed, '...my
husband was Bernard Robinson, the set designer for Hammer films, I am
Margaret, I made the masks for THE Hound of the Baskervilles!'
EMBARRASSED, and surprised, I introduced myself and while quickly
grabbing her a coffee, asked her if she would mind being interviewed? In
a hotel room upstairs, interviewed everyone at the event, I was
preparing the first PCAS audio magazine, and had started presenting my
first radio programme at a regional BBC radio station. Margaret was the
very first person I ever interviewed with a connection to Peter and
Hammer films.
During our two hours together, she had a sketch pad on her
lap, I thought she was jotting down my questions and doodling. It was
only after the interview, she presented my with a beautiful and detailed
sketch...of me asking her questions! Signed and framed, it's one of my
special things. We kept in touch until five years ago. Always light,
unpretentious and extremely kind, she had a no nonsense approach, and
much empathy for young people and the arts. Her husband, Bernard who
passed at the young age of 57 is quoted as once saying as saying, It's
not the LENGTH of a life that counts, but, the quality'. In Margaret's
case, she certainly had both...
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#ONSETSATURDAY
Peter Cushing with Calvin Lockhart shooting THE BEAST MUST DIE (1974)
for Amicus films. This film was the last horror film produced by Amicus
which had the involvement of co-founder Milton Subotsky. Despite
director Paul Annett's objections, producer Milton Subotsky (who hated
the film) insisted on the werewolf break gimmick where the viewer is
invited to guess who the werewolf is. Due to the film's small budget,
the werewolf was played by a German Shepherd. . . . see on the thread
below...!
It's a DOG! It's An GERMAN SHEPHERD! It's...a werewolf?????
#ONSETSATURDAY: Bernard Cribbins and Jill Curzon during the making of the SECOND Cushing Dr Who Dalek movie, Daleks Invasion Earth 2150AD. Produced for a estimated budget of £286,000, the 'end of the world locations' for this film were, the Thames River side jetty at Battersea church Road London, and the derelict Bendy Toy factory, Ashford, Kent, England, UK ! TRIVIA: When Tom (Cribbins) and the Doctor (Cushing) are searching the warehouse in the film, for a crowbar, Tom is ACTUALLY carrying one in his hand!
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A statue of legendary comedy duo Morecambe and Wise has been unveiled at a ceremony in Blackpool. Eric and Ernie performed in the resort more than 1,000 times in what has been described as their "spiritual home". Eric Morecambe's widow Joan and son Gary unveiled the £75,000 bronze statue, which is 8ft (2.4m) tall.
In 1969, Peter Cushing made his first appearance on the BBC Morecambe and Wise Show on BBC2. He took part in the traditional 'In Front Of Curtains' spot and later in the show, as King Arthur, in one of Ernie's 'PLAYS THAT I WROTE' Throughout the BBC era of the show, he would regularly join Eric and Erine doing the 'Front of Curtain' spot and guest appearances, constantly seeking payment for his first appearance, wearily asking "Have you got my five pounds yet?"
THIS RUNNING JOKE continued when the duo left the BBC and moved to Thames Television in 1978. Cushing appeared in their first special for Thames Television on 18 October, still asking to be paid, with the hosts repeatedly trying to get rid of him; at the end of the show, Morecambe placed some money in a wallet wired up to a bomb, in an attempt to blow Cushing up in exaggerated comedic style. In the duo's Christmas special, Cushing pretended to be the Prime Minister while Morecambe and Wise caroled outside 10 Downing Street; he made the comedians give him money and finally came out to declare "Paid, at last!"
ERNIE WISEwas a guest for Cushing's appearance on This Is Your Life
in 1990. He promptly presented Cushing with a twenty-pound note, only
to extort it back from him, for the price of a taxi getting there and
the rental of a suit for that particular night.
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EVERY DAY : COMPETITIONS : RARE IMAGES : FEATURES AND THEMES!
#THROWBACKTHURSDAY:
1974: The very first whispers I heard about a films called 'Confessions
of a Blood Drinker aka The Big Shock aka La Grande Trouille . . .was in
1975, the word was, chaos. Rumbling, Shambolic, Rubbish. Then I
received a set of beautiful colour mat finish press photographs..you can
see them in out feature at the website...then House of Hammer magazine
ran a black and white feature, made no sense. It wasn't until 1985 that I
finally saw a print, with subtitles. It made no difference. It was
still everything they said it was...and more. A delux car crash in movie
making. Everything that you THOUGHT Cushing stood for in his art, this
one flies in the face of! It wasn't the only time Cushing made a dead
duck, where the best thing to come out of the venture, were the press
photographs! And here is one now . . .
#THROWBACKTHURSDAY:1974 Director Paul Annett talks about directing the 1974 Amicus films, 'THE
BEAST MUST DIE' starring Peter Cushing, Charles Gray, Anton Diffring,
Calvin Lockhart, Marlene Clark and Michael Gambon. Behind the scenes
stills and clips . .The story is, in essence, an intersting mix
of Agatha Christie’s 'And Then There Were None' (aka, Ten Little
Indians) and Richard Connell’s The Most Dangerous Game, with elements of
the werewolf mythos stirred in for good measure with .... The Werewolf
Break, being the cherry on the top!
#THROWBACKTHURSDAY: 1974 As usual some of posts here are also posted, a little earlier at our Peter Cushing Appreciation Society Facebook Fan Page , and after posting the one at the top of this thread first on facebook, about Peter Cushing's film, 'Tendre Dracula' . . I received a message from Andre Toutlinee, who suggests that, 'I can't believe that Tendre Dracula could be THAT bad a film! I mean how bad was it it for you to say that it was a car crash of a movie??' Well, Andre... How bad was it?? It was THIS bad, (see pics above) Peter looks interesting as a vampire...but the film's cinema poster??? What...were..they...thinking??? OR smoking???
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#DAVEPROWSE It's so sad that Dave is having to make his convention and event appearances to just the UK now. There are I am sure many who still haven't had the chance to meet him. He is such a kind and friendly guy. We all wish him well and to rest up some!
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