THE EVANSON TOUCH WITH CUSHING PRICE AND LEE ARTWORK : CUSHING COLLECTING WEDNESDAY

#COLLECTINGCUSHING Wednesday! Andrew Evanson has been busy! Here's his latest set of three individual pieces of artwork, each featuring the face of one of the fearsome three! See if you too can work out the influence of the text or design in the back ground of each portrait? Nice touch! Each would make a fine addition to anyone's Cushing Collection! Andrew has told me... ' I did them on my ipad Pro 12.9' with an apple pencil using Auto Desk Sketchbook Pro. They have been done to match my colour scheme as the intention is to frame them. Obviously, as they are digital, I can easily print them off onto A4 using archival quality paper and inks if people are interested but any larger prints would have to be done through a print firm' ....Thank you Andrew for sending this in today😉

Remembering Today.. the birthday of director Roy Ward Baker, whose work with Peter Cushing includes 'Asylum', 'And Now, The Screaming Starts!'. 'The Vampire Lovers' with Amicus films. 'The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires for Hammer films and 'The Masks of Death' with Peter Cushing for Tyburn films. Starting as a tea boy at the Gainsborough Studios in London in 1934, raising to the role of assistant director with Alfred Hitchcock on 'The Lady Vanishes' by 1939, then onto a career as director in Hollywood, working with Marilyn Monroe...Ward Baker had a very full career that covered just about every genre! Today we remember his birthday and the contribution to not only Peter Cushing's career, but the the world of cinema...

ABOVE AND THE LINK HERE! is for a great feature I put together a few years ago, in which WARD BAKER talks about Peter and the several different films he made with him! 

FIDELIS ET MORTEM? TUESDAY TOUGHY ANSWER AND RARE SIGNED DRACULA 1958 LINK!

ABOVE IS THE QUESTION  and ANSWER to last week's Cushing Tuesday Toughy! It seems as though either script writer Jimmy Sangster's or set designer, Bernard Robinson's LATIN was a bit lacking! We asked you where were the Latin words we posed, seen in a Peter Cushing film, AND what did they mean? Well, the latin is seen on the family crest, above the fireplace in Hammer films 1958 'DRACULA' and it looks as though didn't quite translate, in the way they probably wanted or intended. FIDELIS ET MORTEM translates as 'FAITH AND DEATH', where what they thought they were displaying was, 'FAITHFUL AND DEAD'. Oh dear! Utinam Non!

ABOVE is a RARE and INTEREST LINK to REMIND you, that TODAY is  the LAST DAY in which to send us YOUR answer to WARNER BROTHERS REMASTERED BLU RAY OF HAMMER FILMS 1958 DRACULA! IF YOU TOO would LOVE to WIN yourself a copy of this EXCELLENT remaster of the BFI print, there is just HOURS TO GO before the competition entries time, pulls up the draw bridge! SO CLICK HERE!  

REVIEW : TWILIGHT TIMES THE SWORD OF SHERWOOD FOREST BLU RAY

THE CHARACTER of ROBIN HOOD as far as film production is concerned, seems to have revived and arrived as frequently as the BLOKE in the Cloak, Count Dracula. Since 1938, when actor Errol Flynn donned the tights and bow in 'The Adventures of Robin Hood', which hit loads of lolly for the rich and entertainment for the thrill hungry public, Robin and his Merry Men have nearly always been a winner. There have been many remakes and story direction retakes  that not only revived the tale, but such was the power of the story of Mr Hood, you can spot it like a well aimed arrow, providing themes, influences in everything from extended ideas for spin offs, Mel Brooks epics and even down to a Tom and Jerry or Bugs Bunny cartoon! The world of Robin Hood is one of Olde Worlde very rich, but usless kings, lords and ladies, fat monks and pious priest, where every town has men with swords and maidens who are lit and presented in soft focus, having been crafted by a Westmore brother, who  struggle with the caddish-fiend advances of tash tweaking, baddie barons. But I LOVE it!  

HAMMER FILMS 'SWORD OF SHERWOOD FOREST'  couldn't be and isn't the DISNEY or Errol version. This Hammer film budget, but BUT it is enormously entertaining. Hammer set design guru, Bernard Robinson was and had been tied up with The Mummy, The Brides of Dracula and the Two Faces of Doctor Jekyll, so John Stoll, did the duties. The reason WHY SWORD does so well is because of its excellent cas. which headlines with Peter Cushing as the Sheriff of Nottingham.. in THREE splendid costume changes. Knowing PC he probably pooted along to Berman's and chose them, as he would say 'Mu-self!'...  and Richard Greene as the lead, and for many THE Robin! Others include Hammer's Richard Pascoe, almost 'out stepping' Cushing as a beauty of a bounder and baddie! Oliver Reed gets the better of Cushing's Sheriff, Niall McGinnis makes a very good Friar Tuck and Richard Greene IS Little John! For a tale, almost exclusively set in woodlands and forest, that also has the FOREST word in its title, one wonders if actress Sarah BRANCH was cast and chosen, only for the potentially endless publicity and press office premier inches that could be pushed and published using her surname as an endless pun? BRANCH is very good in the feature, but held a held a carear that only lasted just over four years!? Did Hammer and Chairman Sir James only spot the BRANCH potential as the main and valid reason to another money spinner and quickly slapped together another fim poster to collect the backers cash? Nope. Truth is, the business  and Hollywood has been churning out  Robin Hood films for actually MORE than a century. And Sword of Sherwood Forest, is certainly one of my personal favorites!

SWORD OF SHERWOOD FOREST is a film from an era, where movies where 'crafted' for the family. No gallons of gore or huge and cavernous miles deep cleavage, to fall into here! You would think, the attraction of such a film of such qualities, would be well passed. BUT just two weeks ago, PCAS offered up SEVEN copies of the Twilight Time remastered blu ray as sponsored prizes in a VERY well supported competition. This gives a fair indication, that Robin and his Merry Men are still very popular. And in THIS EXCELLENT transfer of the feature film, which is typical of the standard of quality we have come to expect from Twilight Time and Sony, the release looks very good indeed! 

SWORD OF SHERWOOD FOREST was directed by Hammer film icon Terence Fisher, who was well prepared and knew exactly how best to present all the 'key Hood' moments, having also directed many of the television series episode, that also starred Richrad Greene as Robin. It looks delicious, having been shot in Technicolor and makes the most of the luscious green forests, fern, flora and fauna of the Irish location, having been shot in beautiful Enniskery, County Wicklow. 

VISION

FOR ALL THOSE who mull of the technical pickings of screen size and frames, this 2.35:1 Megascope production is bang on, properly framed. The visuals in that frame, well meet the standards we have come to expect from Twilight Time, who in the past have brought us other Peter Cushing classics like Hammer films 'The Hound Of The Baskervilles' (1959)  and Amicus films 'THE SKULL' (1965) this transfer is immaculate! The colours are VIBRANT and do justice to the magnificent scenery, that both Fisher and cinematographer Ken Hodges were working to capture on the big screen. Hodges also worked with Fisher on the TV series. 

ABOVE: SEVEN LUCKY WINNERS of our TWILIGHT TIME PCAS competition last month!

SOUND

THE SOUNDTRACK on the disc comes as a  DTS HD-MA mono track, which presents dialogue clearly, with no drop out, hiss or bassey muffle. Even though in mono, the music composed by Alun Hoddinott, as in ALL Hood films and particulary the UK tv series, sounds terific. is as good as it could be, with clear dialogue throughout, supporting the clanking and thrashing of duels and sword fights very well. All of this drama, sometimes takes a break and presents Alan-a-Dale played by Denis Lotis singing and yodeling, medieval melodies with harp, flute and his mandolin! Charming! English SDH subtitles are available. 

EXTRAS

IN THE PAST, Twilight Time extras have included, documentaries, galleries, trailers and posters. This release offers a very nice isolated music and effects track. Which personally, would always get my vote, over endless talking heads of types who weren't even breathing when the film was released, let alone a twinkle in some daddy's eye! Also included is the theatrical for the film and the very nice thought of a short but appreciative glossy brochure / booklet on the film.

FOLLOWERS who are interested in purchasing it can skip along to the Twilight Time website or the Screen Archives website to order their copy. A GREAT watch for the family at Christmas.

 

REVIEW: DRACULA IS ALIVE RESSURECTED AND NEVER LOOKED BETTER ON WARNER BROTHERS REMASTERED BLU RAY!

PETER CUSHING AND CHRISTOPHER LEE FANS, PCAS followers and all in the US Hammer film fans, have waited a LONG time for the PRINCE of DARKNESS and his number one enemy, to finally cross the Atlantic and set foot, on their home cinema screens! On the 18th of December 2018, Hammer films numero uno Dracula classic, will finally hit the streets . . just like when the vampire king landed on the shores of Whitby, England back in the late 19th century, and frightened EVERYONE to death!

THERE IS EVERY POSSIBILITY, with Warner Brother's REMASTERED BLU RAY release of the BFI restored print, that with Christopher Lee amazing performance and stunning quality of this print, he WILL do it, yet again, for there is  MUCH to be quite shocked and surprised by in this fabulous Warner Brothers Archive release. In the past, just like the Stoker novel of 1897, there have been several nightmares and tense moments concerning the release of the film on blu ray. In 2012, the first blu ray release of the film in the UK, devided fans and techie types, with a print that was remastered, but for some looked like it had been shot with director Terence Fisher holding a BLUE GEL lighting filter in front of expert camera operator's Jack Asher's lens! For a studio that celebrated the rich and throbbing reds and colours of it's gothic sets, furnishings, fangs and well, blood lusting the chilly blue tone resulted in a very cool reception on its release.

IT CAN'T BE DENIED that Warner Brothers Archive releases, have hit many major BULLS EYE not just in the last two months, where they have utterly spoiled us with the fantastic remasters of two later Hammer Cushing and Lee films on blu ray,  DRACULA AD 1972 and THE SATANIC RITES OF DRACULAbut also their HAMMER HORROR CLASSICS VOLUME ONE, presented us with new remastered versions of 'Dracula Has Risen From The Grave', 'Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed'  AND 'Taste The Blood Of Dracula'! No other version of previous releases of these titles can compete with the visual and sound quality of the Warners blu ray releases!

AS TIME DREW CLOSER, after the announcement from Warner of the planned 1958 DRACULA release, just like the tension of the final ten minutes of the film, we ALL waited to find out if THIS release was going to be yet another Warner triumph with gold stars, or if it was going to shock for ALL the wrong reasons, with the horrible news that the blue tint, had risen yet again and returned to haunt the passionate lovers of this film. It was great relief, on pressing the play button on my blu ray player, that I saw an old friend, but looking MORE than healthy! For those of us, who have watched and wore out our VHS and DVD recordings of the film over the years, we KNOW and are very familiar with its tone, contrast, rich, rich colours and that powerful score and accompanying owl screeching and vampire hisses. Here at last, all those things are back, but now cystral clear, remastered and never looked better.

TERENCE FISHER'S 1958 Dracula / Horror of Dracula US Blu-ray arrival on the red carpet is a stunning  “brand-new presentation, sourced from the British Film Institute/Hammer Film restoration master”. Dracula's  'Blur Period' is over.  Through out,  images are strong with good detail and defined and correct  colouring. Everthing, as you would expect looks balanced and bold when they should do! Like many of you, this film is like an old friend to me. I know it well and what I was seeing and hearing was quite an experince. Familiar, but now better and a HUGE departure from previous releases. THIS is how it was meant to be! Because of the clarity, the depth of the sets like Dracula's first arrival on meeting Harker and the fisty-cuff with Lee and Valerie Gaunt, you get the shadows and creepy light and SIZE of Dracula's den. At last, Bernard Robinson's dedicated set design can be seen in all it's beauty. Flagstone floors, drapes, banners, curtains and even the subtle gold detail on the floor space area, when the Count meets his end, is luscious, clear and quite regal. 

IT IS ONE OF THE MANY things you notice from the first scene where Harker stands outside Castle Dracula and certainly when he steps inside, there are SO MANY colours and some are, for me, seen for the first time! I am please to say, that it also sounds as good as it looks. Dialogue isn't lost in what is sometimes a quite dramatic score, every word can be heard and is crisp. Sound effects to seem to have a new life. The horses during the chase, have a lovely thundering base, Cushing's feet on the wooden and hollow tablle top... and hey, those curtains, come down with quite a crash and Dracula's body THUDS when he hits the floor. You'll be please to hear, that for once... The Count's footsteps are wonderfully absent! As, they should be!   

THERE IS MUCH to be VERY happy about concerning this NEW remastering. I think for once too, fans and admirers of this much loved Cushing and Lee classic Hammer film, will appreciate that the task of remastering has been carried out properly, with an eye for detail with a quality that respects the standards, skills, dedication and artistry, of a cinematic production crew and studio, once long gone, but now . . celebrated and still with us! Consider that past ressurections of the DRACULA are now staked, dead and dust. THIS Dracula, has RISEN and has never looked better. He TRULY IS a terrifying lover who DIED and and yet LIVES!

ON TUESDAY WE POSTED what is our LAST competition for this year, has at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE AND what a PRIZE there is to WIN! 😲 With many thanks to our sponsors at Warner Brothers..we have a PAIR of their latest Peter Cushing Hammer film release... their REMASTERED blu ray of the restored BFI print of Hammer films 1958 DRACULA! All you have to do is guess the answer to our VISUAL competition.
 

AS USUAL I have to ask that you DO NOT POST YOUR ANSWER ON THE PAGE... send it to us using the SEND MESSAGE button UNDER THE COMPETITION BANNER 😉 Any answers or entries posted on the COMMENTS thread will be deleted and not counted as an entry. The competition CLOSES on Wednesday 19th December 2018. So get your ENTRY in now...and maybe you would like to give us a LIKE too? I'd be most grateful 😉Have fun and GOOD LUCK! - Marcu

JUST CLICK ON THIS LINK to the WARNER BROTHERS SHOP site, where you can also purchase your copy of this release!  

A WAR GAME RARE GIFT FOR A HAMMER FILM SCRIPT WRITER PLUS THE AMICUS COLLECTION

ITEMS LIKE THIS, dont come along that often, these days. When they do, it's one or two items in an auction, like Peter Cushing smoking jacket, that he wore in Amicus Films, 'The House That Dripped Blood' or a one off item of clothing from his persoanl wardrobe, purchased originally, in the THREE Cushing auctions that happened a year or so after his passing. You would think, that an item like the one we feature today maybe, was part of the whole mountain of lots, in one of those said auctions, arranged by Peter Cushing personal assistant and close friends, Joyce or Bernard Broughton. But nope. According to the description that accompanies this item on EBAY, it is  . .. 'A collection of military flags for war gaming / display / diorama use, hand painted / finished by the actor and Hammer Horror star Peter Cushing as a gift for his friend Don Houghton, the British television screenwriter...'

CURRENTLY WHILE WRITING THIS, 'Rare One-Off Collection covering mainly Waterloo era' has 22 bidders arm wrestling and uping the lolly, to a handsome £435.00 UK pounds already! AND there is another whole day to go, before the bidding wraps! Peter would have been gobsmacked! It's no secret now, but probably after an initial scrum of Women's Magazines reporters and Tidbits (!) tabloid newspapers photographers turned up at Peter and Helen Cushing's home in the 1950's and 60's to take snaps and interview the couple about Peter's 'Hobbies', everyone forgot, about the painter artist and crafts man, who studio attic BULGED with hundreds of items of his work. His love of painting and creating everything from working model theatres, aircraft, thousands of model soldiers and figures, all sadly came to an end, when his wife Helen died in 1971. Peter made personal hand painted and crafted birthday cards for his wife, and their many friends. It appears that his made gifts for them too!

AS HE WAS on the studio floor, in his many performances, so he was in his off screen life and his creative hobies. Nothing was not studied, all prepared and created with style and acurate! Not being a player of WAR GAMES, I have no idea how this game that Peter created works! But he had many friends who DID. One being scriptwriter and good friend Don Houghton. Houghton had worked on several of the Hammer films, that Peter starred in too. Houghton had a career that first took him into the worlds of BBC's DOCTOR WHO in 1970, he wrote the screenplay for TV's 'The Flaxton Boys' in the late 60's, and cut his teeth on 38 episodes of 'Emergency Ward 10' soap for ITV. Houghton was also producer on a few of his Hammer film scripts. He penned for Peter Cushing's last three Dracula Hammer movies, 'Dracula AD 1972', Christopher Lee's final fanged fling in 'The Satanic Rites of Dracula' and Cushing's two bow outs from the Hammer world on the big screen, with 'The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires' and 'Shatter' both made in Hong Kong. 

ONE CAN ONLY TAKE a guess, at why Peter made this particular themed gift for Houghton, but it seems likey that his friend was a fan of playing the 'LITTLE WAR GAMES' too! The seller's description gives us somew clues: 'This collection has obviously been a labour of love for Peter for his good friend Don Houghton, the delicate handpainted flags/standards are so colourful and detailed. The boxes that house all the military flags also look to be handmade and each item is compartmented and carefully wrapped in tissue paper. Peter's love of art, military games and attention to detail are all apparent here. This is really a one-off museum piece. ......The only slight downside is that somewhere along the line a few of the flags/standards are not in the box anymore possibly from being played with by Mr Houghton or his family! 64 out of the original 75 made by Peter are still present and wrapped in their original tissue paper. 

ONE OF THE MANY ATTRACTIVE THINGS  about this very attractive item is that EVERYTHING that needed text, lettering, headings... with exception of a few words on the cover of the game instruction booklet, which look to be maybe transfer Letrasets... are ALL in Peter's beautiful handwriting. This is an amazing piece! Whoever wins the auction, will own a fantastic example of Peter's very skillful and artistic ability.. and of a man who genuinely cared and loved his close friends. Good luck to all the bidders! 

Many thanks to  Chris Hill and J Edward Scott who brought this to my attention! Thank you guys!

AND NOW, ONTO THE COLLECTING of the thing, that seems to be within the reach of most of our budgets! A blu ray box set of PETER CUSHING films. SEVERIN released what was hoped to be, a very popular set of THREE films and a quite extensive documentary in an interesting CUSHING and AMICUS box set last year. THE AMICUS COLLECTION, including The Vault of Amicus documentray. This documentary must be the third or fifth release, be it on blu ray, dvd's or a book, that has juggled and tried to get another DEFINITIVE Amicus title, using the word VAULT, in connection with the 1973 Amicus film, Vault Of Horror . ..  which by the way, isn't included in the THREE films that make this set.

ABOVE: COLLECTOR CAMERON JONES PERSONAL BOX SET OF THE AMICUS COLLECTION

ANY BROWSE THROUGH the net for reviews of this box set, will sadly bring up a real mixed bag. Seems many reviewers had set their hopes for something EXTRA special. When they felt they didn't get that, they gave the release an EXTRA special booting and mauling! IF you are a fan of Amicus, and want the most recent release, on a blu ray, with LOTS of ok to very good extras, THIS is YOUR BAG! IF you are a collector of Cushing, Amicus feature films, and you like to some improvement, if not THE definitive cleaned, remastered version, you maybe a little disappointed. These titles would probably not be seen by most Cushing fans, as THE cream of the Amicus / Cushing bunch, and some might even say, that if asked, they would have opted for 'Tales from the Crypt', 'Dr Terror's House of Horrors' and the still missing from the action, of being in ANY Amicus Blu Ray collection, 'From Beyond The Grave', to be the selection! 

ABOVE: CAMERON'S COPIES  of the BLU RAY TITLES in SEVERIN'S Amicus Collection Box Set! 

WELL IN A PERFECT WORLD and not the one where 'fan boy hopeful types' post endless lists to nag distributors on their facebook page, about THEIR shopping list and demands and titles, the REAL world of small time distribution is not for the faint-hearted.  The putting together of even the smallest of deals for a 500 units package, without remastering, cleaning and the expensive packaging, can be frought with frustration, crushing compremise and LOTS of spending! 

WHAT WE MAY HAVE HERE, in the SEVERIN package, is not really something for die hard fans, but maybe a great selection of bits and pieces, that many would never have seen or heard before, in the extras and a bit of a hit and miss on the discs holding the three feature films. One can't help wondering, if that at the beginning, the distributors had the idea of making an outstanding documentary about Amicus, where they dredge EVERYWHERE for long forgotten BBC clips from their film programes, find all those filmed interviews and trailers, in excellent quality, get masses of lesser seen rare photographs from BIG fans... and THEN... the feature films, will of course take care of themeselves! Except sadly, THAT didn't happen.

AS MENTIONED, the reviews are plenty and most, not too kind. I am not going to plough my ten-peneth worth into that, for me the documentary element and extras are the BEST of this package. As for the feature films? I am not a quality of picture expert nor do have the ears that would tell a superior sound track from one recorded down a drian-pipe on the hard shoulder of the M4, just outside Hammersmith! BUT some cleaning and basic dusting with a dust pan and brush, wouldn't have gone a miss. We didn't do a PCAS Competition with this box set, when it was released, as I honestly wasn't prepared to fight off comments from the winners who were offering a 'FREE FACE MASSAGE with a size FIVE FIST'. BUT there are those who DO like the package, and are very happy, with it! 

ONE HAPPY CHAP, is CAMERON JONES, who you will probably remember is a collector who shared images of his films and LOVELY Cushing items displayed in a spot light, GLASS CASE! Cameron, wrote this week to tell me he had purchased the SEVERIN Amicus release and was VERY happy with it! He enjoyed all THREE films, and mentions nothing of lack of  audio or visual quality. Asylum has been targeted as the print that most are not happy about, BUT Cameron was watching his Severin disc of the film, in what his FIRST viewing of the film, ever! No problems. If he had to pick favorite, 'And Now, The Screaming Starts' gets his vote! So, it seems even though, for some, Severin's Amicus box set, doesn't meet their expectations, there are those who are quite happy with their purchase. A statement that could be said of many Cushing blu ray and DVD releases today. 

PURCHASING THE AMICUS COLLECTION isn't cheap, but much of the quality of the films sadly, doesn't reflect the shelling out of the customer investment. The EXTRAS, would have made an excellent and cost effective release, without the feature films bolted on, films which MANY already have on good quality DVD's. If you are wondering if there is a market for an Amicus Documentary, one only need take a look at Donald Fearney's Amicus EPIC! Over TWO hours of the complete history... and with visual clips of producer Milton Subotsky to boot! However,  it's YOUR personal choice AND tastes which makes any collection, box set or film entertaining, fun and worth the purchase. And we are ALWAYS keen to hear about ANY you have discovered or own! Keep them coming in!

PART FIVE OF OUR The AMICUS FILMS OF PETER CUSHING series, which features Cameron Jones favorite of the BUNCH, AND NOW, THE SCREAMING STARTS'  CLICK HERE FOR A DIRECT LINK TO THE FEATURE!