NEWS: A TERRIFIC TRIO OF CYBERNAUTS ON BLU RAY IN GREAT NEWORK PACKAGE!

GREAT NEWS for THE AVENGERS and CYBERNAUT FANS! As we all know Peter Cushing starred in one episode of the THREE Cybernaut stories that were in the 'Avengers' and 'The New Avengers' series. 'The RETURN of the CYBERNAUTS' is included in this new, remastered blu ray set form Network.

HERE IS THE PRESS RELEASE DETAILS FROM NETWORK: A TRIO OF CYBERNAUTS! There isn’t much more one can say about 'The Avengers', the global and stylish television trailblazer it is (by any standards), but we do have something new to present with The Cybernauts Trilogy. We’ve selected three high-points from across the run for this special 2019 release: The Cybernauts, their 1965 robotic debut featuring Diana Rigg; the 1967 follow-up Return of the Cybernauts, again with Diana Rigg and Peter Cushing guesting in one of his most sinister roles; and, making its world High Definition debut, 'The New Avengers' 1976 finale 'The Last of the Cybernauts…??' . We’ve pulled the original film elements for all three episodes into the Network studio for brand new, painstaking, High Definition restorations, exclusively for this release. 

There’s much more to this release, though: as well as presenting the episodes in all their uncut, restored glory, we’re also presenting the option to watch each episode in its contemporary transmission context, with actual commercials in situ. Included in the package is a 32-page booklet by celebrated television historian Andrew Pixley detailing the history of the three episodes and there’s limited edition digi-pack packaging whilst stocks last. This really is the last of the Cybernauts. . . .'

OUR PCASUK feature on the chemistry of DIANA RIGG as Mrs Peel and PETER CUSHING in 'REURN OF THE CYBERNAUTS' in 'The Wooing of Mrs Peel!'! You'll find it HERE  along with a great GALLERY of GIFS, STILLS and more . . .

AND YOU'LL FIND MORE PCASUK coverage of this episode RIGHT HERE!

OVER AT THE Facebook PCASUK Fan Page we are asking, is this a really neat package! 😉 What do you think? 😮

#retrotv #petercushing #dianarigg #cybernaut #abadmaninahat!

3D CUSHING PRICE AND LEE? YOU CHOOSE! REMEMBERING CAROL MARSH

OVER AT THE FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE,  we are asking everyone to choose ONE film from the careers of  Peter Cushing Vincent Price  and Christopher Lee that they would choose to be REPROCESSED for a release in 3D! There have been many, interesting answers. DO feel free to join in!

TODAY ALSO MARKS THE birthday of actress CAROL MARSH. who had quite a complicated career, that started with the highly respected movie, 'Brighton Rock' in 1948 with a young Richard Attenburough . . which landed her in her one and only role with #PeterCushing, in 'DRACULA' / 'HORROR OF DRACULA' as LUCY in 1958. Various roles in drama and comedy flicks followed, including the role of ALICE in another much loved version of ALICE IN WONDERLAND in 1949. It's for Hammer's first DRACULA though that she is most remembered...but her career was hardly a quiet one.. HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAROL 

CAROL MARSH is one of many actresses, who worked with Peter Cushing that PCASUK has covered in its 'Cushing Femme Fatales' series of features. 'The Girl Who Fell Down The Rabbit Hole : The LIFE and CAREER of CAROL MARSH'  has rare clips, gallery images and rare photographs. It can be found HERE!

 

DID VERONICA CARLSON WORK WITH COMEDIAN DOM DELUISE? AND LEE AND CARLSON STEP OUT FOR 'RISEN 'FROM THE GRAVE'

A FEW DAYS AGO, pcasuk follower Stuart Cooper sent me a question, the subject of which, I thought no one would remember... 'Marcus, is it true that Hammer actress, Veronica Carlson once worked with US comedian and film star, Dom Deluise? I have looked into it and can't find any reference to it, so I guess it must be not true?' . . .

WELL YOU WOULD THINK the degrees of separation would make that the case, but no! Back in 1971, Veronica DID indeed work with Deluise, not on the big screen but on TV. The show was the UK 'Des O'Connor Show' she appeared in a 'slave-and-cave-girls' jungle hunters sketch, maybe because of her Hammer film success and their 'Slave Girls' 1967 film and 'One Million Years BC' success. Deluise did appear on the show too. The US actor comedian was also just about known to some of the O'Connor audience for his work and appearances in US sit coms, which were being screened in the UK, Shows and comedies like 'The Munsters' anyd his appearance in Mel Brook's 'The Twelve Chairs'. His other work with Burt Reynold's like 'The Cannonball Run' films and several other Brooks films, were yet to come! 

FOR THOSE, over the pond or elsewhere, not familiar with Des O'Connor, he was a successful and popular singer / comedian at this time. Comedian's Morecambe and Wise had quite few long running and funny gags, Ernie's wig and hairy legs, Peter Cushing not being paid and . . . Des O'Connor, "Des - short for Desperate" ... "Sing on our show? He can't even sing on his own show!" "Has Des O'Connor got a sore throat?'... these gags ran for years and Des loved them.

THE CAREER OF VERONICA CARLSON and her work with Peter Cushing is covered in PART FIVE of our WOMEN IN GOTHIC  Series CLICK HERE! 

VERONICA CARLSON worked with Peter Cushing in 'Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed' in 1969 and 'The Ghoul' in 1975. They remained close friends long after Peter retired. Thanks for the question Stuart. It brought back some very happy memories...

OUR RARE PHOTO GALLERY and feature on Peter Cushing and Veronica Carlson in Hammer films, 'FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED' is RIGHT HERE!

PETER CUSHING PLASTER HANDS PRINTS : OLIVER REED AND BARBARA WINDSOR PLUS PIRATES AND UNCOOL SUN!

BACK IN THE 1990'S, cinema and the arts in the UK were looking for all kinds of inventive ways to mark and celebrate British Cinema and it's many stars. One such great idea was the Best Of British Cinema Hand Prints! The release of this photograph to the press on February 24th 1992 and it probably hasn't seen the light of day since then, came with the press notes of . . .

'Stars of British Cinema put the palm prints into plaster slabs to part of a new monument to the stars! The slabs will be placed in the Prince Charles Cinema, in Leicester Square, London.Among the stars who placed the palms are Oliver Reed, Barbara Windsor and Peter Cushing'

ABOVE are two neat behind the scenes photographs taken during Cushing's and Reed's shooting of 'Captain Clegg / Night Creatures' for Hammer films in 1962 . Cushing was such a stickler for getting detail correct, that when the script called for him to perform a wedding service for Reed's and Yvonne Romain's characters, he called in Rev Sidney Doran, the minister for the Bray church where this scene, and a lot of the scenes in the film was shot!

OLIVER REED had worked with Peter in several films, 'The Sword of Sherwood Forest 'in 1960, and a great pirate-smuggling movie, 'Captain Clegg' aka 'Night Creatures' in 1962, both for Hammer Films and the weird, wonderful and terribly UN-PC, 'A Touch of the Sun' in 1979. Barbara Windsor, didn't work with #PeterCushing on the big screen, but on occasions like this, as there were many in the 1980's, they did socially rub shoulders. Peter looks very happy to be there!

ABOVE AND VERY BELOW: Peter Cushing, Bruce Boa and Oliver Reed in the 1979 film 'A Touch of the Sun', a movie that manages to cross  just about every UN-PC line, within the first ten minutes of it's sometimes uncomfortable screen time. Below, on it's release, straight to video, the misprint of Reed's surname, was just about it's last bow of bad timing, before sinking into a very dark sunset  . .

JUST WHO IS BEHIND THAT EAGLE COMIC?

I LOVE this figure of Peter Cushing as Dr Who from his first Dalek movie in 1965, 'Dr Who and the Daleks' 🙂 It's playful and I think captures the intention of Cushing and the film producer Milton Subotsky all those years ago. This is the fabulous work of sculpture Robert Price, who we have featured here before. These photo's don't belong to me, neither does the figure, as much as I wish it did, it's one of Robert's many private commissions.

ROBERT SAYS AT HIS TUMBLR ACCOUNT, 'A great challenge to make and certainly one of the more intricate and fiddly pieces I’ve ever made. Never made a comfy chair before!t was very interesting working with different media- if you count paper as a different media. The Eagle comic came together beautifully. Many frustrations and dark-nights of the soul- fretting it would never be finished or good enough when it was complete. I’m very happy with it now and will be sad to let it go!'

WELL, YOU ARE A VERY TALENTED ARTIST and very well done, Robert! I certainly look forward to see and sharing more of your work in the future here! MORE please 😉😊 - Marcus 

NEWS: CLASSIC DRACULA AND FRANKENSTEIN ENTIRE SCORES PREMIERE ON CD RELEASE THIS SUMMER

NEWS: COMING THIS SUMMER! 'Dracula / Horror of Dracula' and 'The Curse of Frankenstein' World Premiere digital recording of the COMPLETE scores composed by James Bernard, from the classic Hammer horror films, starring #PeterCushing and #ChristopherLee. Performed by the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and conducted by Nic Raine. Scores reconstructed by Leigh Phillips. CD booklet notes by Hammer film score and music aficionado, David Huckvale. Produced by James Fitzpatrick and Leigh Phillips. Release Summer 2019. These releases are not to be confused with any previous Hammer film soundtrack releases on CD. More NEWS and details as we get it 😉 - Marcus

ABOVE A LARGE SCAN taken from our original press kit photograph of Christopher Lee and Melissa Stribling in Hammer films, 'Dracula' / 'Horror of Dracula. It was this photograph that amazing artist Bill Wiggins, used for the UK quad cinema poster. That poster sold in auction last year in Ireland for £14,000 
 

WARNING: TARKIN CUSHING GOES VERY BUFF AND VERY NASTY!

WARNING! For those of you who were miffed, not happy, annoyed and horrified at the CGI Cushing / Tarkin in the movie, 'Rogue One' . . you might want to turn... look away from your monitor, tablet or phone, right now......

I AM NOT A COMIC READER, except for the stray Beano or Dandy that drifts my way😊 So it's a shock, to see that for some time, the Star Wars comics have been busy revealing just how dark, brutal, and vicious Grand Moff Tarkin really could be. Ripped and half naked, the Moff looks quite something 😮😯 Cushing too, until the early 1970's was quite the athlete, muscles and the works from playing rugby, swimming and sports! But here in Cushing's likeness, the comic Tarkin is more than a little 'fit' he's ... vicious! But for all that, I don't think anyone was prepared for...... this! These frames of comic art are just a sneak at what you can expect if you flick the pages of 'Star Wars: Age of Rebellion - Grand Moff Tarkin #1', one of several one-shot comics intended to tell previously untold stories in the lives of some of the most iconic characters from the galaxy far, far away. Behind this is writer Greg Pak, and artist Marc Laming who have been hard at work, crafting this unbelievable chapter of Tarkin's life. Revealing a man whose 'cup of tea', you certainly would NOT want to nudge and spill....! Over at FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE we are asking, 'What do you think?' ..and getting some interesting answers . . 

I AM VERY grateful for the four issue covers images sent by Greg Anderson to us recently. Greg tells me the art work inside, is quite exceptional! Do YOU have any of these issues too?
 

THIS OF COURSE, isn't the first time Peter Cushing has been featured in comic art. There is a whole history... and you can find out more in a feature I put together some time ago . . . JUST CLICK HERE! 😉