A THURSDAY PACKED WITH THE PAST : THROWBACK THURSDAY: THE NEW AVENGERS EXPLOSIVE TARDIS AND A SPECIAL MEMORY

#THROWBACKTHURSDAY! It's a nice touch, that when the new and rebooted AVENGERS came back to TV, in the very first episode broadcast on the 17th October 1976, they brought Peter Cushing along to help launch the new series. Cushing, had of course appeared in the 1960's hey day series, in an episode entitled 'The Return of the Cybernauts' in 1967. Then, playing Paul Beresford, a baddie through and through first time round, Cushing returns playing , Professor Maybach Von Claus, nice chap in an evil situation . .. In The EAGLE'S NEST, Steed investigates the death of a colleague while Gambit witnesses the kidnapping of Professor Von Claus. Purdey scuba dives to the remote island of St. Dorca, where a monastery hides a secret and Germany's greatest treasure.

TODAY IN THE TRUE SPIRIT of #TBT we take you back to FEBRUARY 17TH 1976, and the return of a gem from telly past, The Avengers, brushed down and polished, karate kicking and tea cup cup tilting, and ready for adeventures new with gentleman STEED, with two new companions. The inclusion of Joanna Lumley and Garethe Hunt, taking a little of an older, but just as iconic Steed, was a great idea, bring Peter Cushing along from the original AVENGERS series, was a master stroke!

#THROWBACKTHURSDAY! Those of you who are big fans of the UK tv show, 'The Avengers' and 'The New Avengers' from the 60's and 70's, will probably know right away, what this clip is about. For the rest of us well... In an episode of 'THE NEW AVENGERS' called , "TARGET', our heroes Steed (Patrick Macnee) Purdey (Joanna Lumley) and Gambit (Gareth Hunt) are being tested on an ambush / gun assault -course- range (???) thing...! Presumably, to check if their wits are sharp and they are still fit for the job?? 

THE ASSAULT RANGE is disguised as a small village, with a collection of buildings and streets, with fake graffiti and road-signs and . . robot assassins! There is also a 'police telephone box' which they blow up...! Now, the writer of this episode is Dennis Spooner. Some believe the inclusion of the box / tardis gave Spooner the opportunity for an in-joke about a 'previous job', hint hint...as the police box is spectacularly detonated at one point ! Rumour suggests this is the actual TARDIS exterior from the Amicus Dalek movies. . . .what do you think??

ABOVE YESTERDAY'S BANNER, an experiment to see if we could take an interactive post vote on facebook to see which Cushing Collectable Hi Res photographs. we most wanted to share. Sadly, facebook's practice of squashing any of our posts that contain links to platforms outside of the facebook domain, sabotaged what could have been a useful tool . However, the few that DID get to see the post, voted, and these are the two hi res stills, that were most popular with you! Top: A contact sheet of images from Hammer films, 'DRACULA ad 1972' and a striking colour portrait of Peter Cushing as General von Spielsdorf, from THE VAMPIRE LOVERS (1970). Despite the setback this week,. we will continue with Cushing Collectors Wednesdays, and next week, there will be MORE rare images shared . . .!

TODAY MARKS WHAT would have been a very significant birthday in the life of Peter Cushing...the birthdate of his wife, Helen. Peter never forgot to mark anniversaries or special days with Helen, often making her beautiful greetings cards, notes and..of course the silk scarves. He never forgot her birthday, and neither shall we... so, in remembrance, Happy Birthday Helen.

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  

CUSHING COLLECTOR WEDNESDAY! DRACULA POSTER SELLS FOR OVER DOUBLE AND MORE FREE HAMMER FILM CONTACT SHEETS

#CUSHINGCOLLECTORS WEDNESDAY! Last week, we shared a RARE COLOUR CONTACT SHEET from Hammer Films, 'Dracula Has Risen From The Grave'. It was a VERY popular post, and I'd like to say thank you to the few of you, who downloaded the contact sheet of you  who not only emailed and messaged me to say thank you, but also to send us pics of the hi res contact sheet you downloaded, and printed off to make individual photographs which you FRAMED!  Pretty cool! Well, here are THIS WEEK'S digital images, or rather here are EIGHT digital images to choose from. This week, over at the PCASUK FACEBOOK FAN PAGE we are asking YOU to vote on which TWO we will be posting and sharing here on the website this week. 

ALL OF THE DETAILS on how to vote are over at the page. The choices include contact sheets from Hammer films, 'VAMPIRE CIRCUS', 'CAPTAIN KRONOS VAMPIRE HUNTER', 'LUST FOR A VAMPIRE' a FULL COLOUR CONTACT SHEET from the photo session that produced the iconic publicity shots of Christopher Lee and Veronica Carlson for Hammer films, 'Dracula has Risen From The Grave' There are also hi res full colour shots of Peter Cushing, Patrick Troughton and Christopher Lee. The voting closes 6am GMT. So even the US and OZ can join in! The two most popular pics will be uploaded here in HI RES watermark free TOMORROW! 

VOTE NOW! We'll give the voting a good six to seven hours. It's for fun! The most popular photographs will be posted later today.

#CUSHINGCOLLECTORSWEDNESDAY! You may remember our post about a Hammer 'Dracula' (1958) cinema poster about to go, under the 'Hammer' a few weeks ago? Well, if you do, you may recall, the estimate for this rare and valuable collectors item was between 6,000 and 8,000 UK pounds?? Well, at auction last night at Whyte’s auction house in Dublin, the final and winning bid was... SIXTEEN THOUSAND POUNDS! (22k US Dollars) Someone is a few quid lighter this morning, but probably very happy with this hanging on their wall.

THROWBACK Last week's PCAS post about the auction and estimated price !

THE LOCAL PRESS covered the story today: "A Dracula poster was sold for €16,000 – more than double its estimate at auction. Film lovers vied to get their hands on a fully-restored and linen-backed version of the 1958 print showing Christopher Lee’s iconic vampire. In it, the count is about to feast on Mina Holmwood, played by actress Melissa Stribling. After several minutes of furious bidding, lot 484, which had an estimate of between €6,000 and €8,000, took much more than what was expected. It was just one of 544 unusual lots up for grabs at Whyte’s auction house in Dublin last night. Autographs of all four members of rock band Led Zeppelin, which had an estimate of €1,500, sold for €3,400. Three volumes of JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings sold for €6,400, while hair from French general Napolean Bonaparte went for €130......!

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   

ICONIC, BOWLERD AND REMEMBERED : PATRICK MACNEE BORN TODAY

#TOOCOOLTUESDAY! I would guess maybe 98% of you here would be able to name the face under that all the make up, sitting in the make up chair. For those who can't there is one big give away, for all of us who have been been part of a running joke here for months...can you spot it??

TODAY WE REMEMBER the wonderful actor Patrick Macnee who was born on this day in 1922. He was best known for his role as the secret agent John Steed in the British television series The Avengers and The New Avengers.

PATRICK MACNEE and Peter Cushing had the opportunity to work together several times. In 1968 Patrick was very much established in a superb tv programme made in the UK called The Avengers...Peter worked with both Patrick and Diana Rigg on this programme. Later in 1970, they worked together again, Macnee and Cushing both 'landed' in a film called 'Incense For The Damned' aka 'Bloodsuckers'.

IT RECEIVED a limited release at the time, but seems to have found something of a 'cult-status' in the land of '100 Horror Poor and Weird Films' dvd compilations!! In 1978, the Avengers tv series was rebooted and relaunched and it's first episode, not only brought us Macnee and Cushing ....but also two new side -kicks for Macnee...Gareth Hunt as 'Tough man' Gambit and Joanna Lumley as Purdey.....who not only supplied buckets of sex appeal to the tea time Sunday evening program, but high kicks and a hair style that anyone who considered themselves a bit of a catch, were proudly modeling within days of the first program being broadcast! Lumley had played Cushing grand-daughter Jessica Van Helsing in Hammer films 'The Satanic Rites of Dracula' (1973)

Our THROWBACK THURSDAY FEATURE HERE! 

MACNEE also shared a close friendship with Christopher Lee, since the pair attended school together (at Summerfields Preparatory School in Oxford) and also performed together several times, including playing Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson in two TV movies in the early 1990s, Incident at Victoria Falls and Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady. Patrick Macnee died peacefully at his home, in Rancho Mirage, California on 25th June 2015. He was 93.

The NAME of the COMPANY. WHY was he asked to make it?  It was a MODEL of WHAT? ANSWER THURSDAY!

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

NEWS: AMICUS FILMS GEM COMES TO BLU RAY! MOMENTS OF TERROR CLIP TOO!

NEWS! SCREAM FACTORY have just announced the release of the arrival of THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD of BLU RAY. It's a FIRST. DUE IN MAY 2018. Here are are the details from SCREAM FACTORY: Region A Release date May 8th 2018. Newly Remastered Extras are in progress and will be announced at a later date.

#MOMENTOFTERRORMONDAY! This weeks clip, is a REAL TREAT! From 'The House Of The Long Shadows' which for the FIRST TIME featured all FOUR of our favorite actors in ONE MOVIE! Personally, I LOVE this scene. ATTICS in horror films are always a NO GO area, and in this case...it's no exception. Cushing is great in this scene. ENJOY

DON'T MISS THE HUGE feature we posted on PRUDENCE HYMAN who played THE GORGON for Hammer films back in the 60's. Most Hammer fans may think, that was all she did in her career. BUT there was more to this lady, than we ever knew! RARE CLIPS, IMAGES and MORE. YOU can find it : RIGHT HERE!

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  

THE SUNDAY DOUBLE BILL: CALLUM MCKELVIE TAKES TWO!

THE 'DOUBLE BILL' is something of a tradition within the film industry. Simply put it meant- ‘two for the price of one’. Originally used pre-cinema in Opera houses, it came into prominence in the 1930’s after the Great Depression. With the film industry suffering heavy losses, a number of cinemas chose to offer the two-for-one scheme, as a hope of luring punters back into the seats. 

SUFFICE TO SAY it worked and since then double bills were something of staple. However by the end of the 20th century, as the number of low-budget films being given theatrical releases lessened they began to go out of fashion and are now exceedingly rare. None the less the appeal to ciniphiles is still there and they can often be found at festivals, usually featuring two themed or related films.

THE 'THEMED DOUBLE BILL' is the subject of today’s piece (and of two following pieces), namely what is the perfect Cushing double bill? I’ll be discussing three trios of films that in my mind complement each other. They can be directly related, as are today’s or can simply be of thematic interest. However, they must of course both star Peter Cushing in some capacity. 

STATING WITH a somewhat obvious one, today I’ll be discussing 1957’s The Curse of Frankenstein and 1958’s The Revenge of Frankenstein, but more specifically, how they complement each other. Curse and Revenge are the first two instalments in Hammer’s Frankenstein series, one of course being the granddaddy of Hammer’s gothic output. Whilst the first is a truncated retelling of the Frankenstein story, putting emphasis on the Baron as more of a villain, the sequel brings events full circle. Together, they show the rise and fall of Baron Frankenstein with his eventual fate as his own creation.

TO BEGIN WITH, this probably makes the most obvious pairing simply as Revenge picks up exactly where Curse left off, meaning that watched back to back it feels like one consistent epic.  Furthermore, unlike some of the later incarnations of the character (for example the more softer version seen in The Evil of Frankenstein or vicious incarnation that features in Frankenstein Must be Destroyed) these are clearly supposed to be the same man.

MUCH OF THE SETS are recycled and  virtually identical and Hammer even got the same actor (Alex Gallier) who played the priest in Curse to reprise his role at the start of this film. This means that unlike other Hammer sequels, Revenge often feels like a natural progression of Curse. Terrance Fisher returns and the only notable admission is James Bernard, who is replaced by Leonard Salzedo. I for one adore Salzedo’s score and it’s certainly up there with my favourite Hammer soundtrack, fitting the atmosphere of Revenge perfectly. The final end credits fanfare is chillingly powerful.

WHAT REALLY MAKES these two films complement each other however, is the rich thematic nature in which one story reflects the other. I discussed briefly some of the varying levels in Revenge’s script during my tribute to Jimmy Sangster. However when watched back to back these two films have elements which show a great intelligence in Sangster’s work. The progression to brain transplants comes across as incredibly natural and the bravery in having the revenge as not a physical one (a slice and dice would have been so easy) but more of a philosophical one (he has to prove himself right), shows an incredible understanding of the character. With the Baron somewhat younger in the first film, he is the pupil to Paul Krempe (Robert Urquhart) who through the course of the film becomes the more dominant figure. 


IN REVENGE that Baron seems to have aged tremendously due to his near death experience and this time it is he who has the pupil, in Francis Matthews’s Hanz. Throughout the course of this film we see Hanz grow and learn, until at the finale it is he who must perform the brain transplant upon the Baron. 

THE FACT THAT this then results in the only successful operation, the final shot being Hanz looking on proudly at the new Baron, presents a wonderful circularity to these films. We see the Baron first develop his concept of creating life and then further this into brain transplants. We see his two failed experiments but we also see him grow and develop as a character, from pupil to teacher.

OF COURSE MUCH of this is down to Cushing, who in the space of a year manages two performances of the same character but in entirely different mind-sets. Thanks to him, we believe that this is the same man and that he really has been through a horrific experience, which has just made him more determined to continue. Indeed the most horrifying thing in Revenge is Cushing’s uttering of the line ‘they will never be rid of me’. The determination is so powerful as to be utterly chilling.

WELL THAT'S IT for this weeks double bill, but join me again next Sunday as I’ll be discussing another perfect pair…
 

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