SHERLOCK HOLMES: MUST BE THE TRUTH : BBC SHERLOCK HOLMES

BBC FOUR : 'HOW TO BE SHERLOCK HOLMES'

Thanks to Becky Jarrett and John Cooper for this info: BBC Four are going to air a documentary called 'How to Be Sherlock Holmes' at 10.00pm on Sunday the 12th of January. Christopher Lee is a contributor & Peter's tenure as the Great Detective is covered. The following link has more information, some nice little clips, & details of repeats xxx http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03pzsd9

ON THE RECORD: QUOTES THOUGHTS AND NOTES : PETER CUSHING

From a resource of over 40 years of interviews, from his diaries and notes. Peter Cushing in his own words and on the record. Here at petercushing.org and our facebook fan page. Beginning this weekend.

SIR RUN RUN SHAW DIES AT 106.

Legendary media mogul Sir Run Run Shaw has died. He was 106.

Best known in the U.S. for his role as a producer on the Ridley Scott classic Blade Runner, Shaw was instrumental to the development of Chinese cinema, producing dozens of films over the course of decades. He and his brother first started work in cinema in 1926 and became incredibly prolific producers of film and television, particularly of martial arts films. Some of the films that may be recognizable to American audiences include Five Deadly Venoms, The 36th Chamber of Shaolin and The Supreme Swordsman.

In 1974, he jointly produced 'The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires' and 'Call Him Mr Shatter' with Hammer Films, both starring Peter Cushing.  Also that year he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). He received a knighthood in 1977 from Queen Elizabeth II and the Grand Bauhinia Medal (GBM) from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government in 1998. In 2007, coinciding with his 100th birthday, Shaw was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Hong Kong Film Awards, and in 2013, Sir Run Run Shaw received the BAFTA Special Award for his outstanding contribution to cinema.

2899 Runrun Shaw, a small main belt asteroid discovered by Chinese astronomers in 1964, is named after Sir Run Run Shaw. In 2004, he established The Shaw Prize, which he called “The Nobel Prize of the East.” It awards up to $1 million each year in the categories of astronomy, mathematics, life science and medical science.

In 2000, through his company, Shaw Brothers (Hong Kong) Limited, he sold his unique library of 760 classic titles to Celestial Pictures Limited. Celestial is currently restoring the Shaw Brothers’ movies and distributing them to cinemas and the worldwide television and home video markets.

Source Text: HERE  

CAPTAIN CLEGG : PIRATES, SMUGGLING AND MARSH PHANTOMS: SOON ON BLU RAY.

A small English village is beset by a horde of "phantoms" on horseback and it's up to the intrepid Captain Collier (Patrick Allen) to get to the bottom of things...

Author Russell Thorndyke hit paydirt in 1915 with the release of his book Dr. Syn: A Tale of the Romney Marsh.  The book proved to be so successful that he was able to revisit the character for further installments in the mid 1930s.  The story caught the attention of British filmmakers in 1937, when it was first adapted to the cinema as Dr. Syn.  The legendary stage and screen thespian George Arliss played the lead role(s): the mild-mannered parson Dr. Syn who is really just a front for his true, bloodthirsty persona of the smuggler, Captain Clegg.



The film was directed by the gifted Irish-born filmmaker Roy William Neill, who found success in Hollywood directing the superior Boris Karloff vehicle The Black Room (1935) before becoming identified with the Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce series of Sherlock Holmes sequels at Universal.

When Hammer decided to take a stab at the property in the early 1960s, they did so without realizing that filmmaking giant Walt Disney had already optioned the Thorndike property for a film of his own.  Hammer eventually got wind of this, however, and decided to change the name of the central character in  order to avoid any possible legal woes.  And so it came to be that Captain Clegg (as it was known in the UK; the film would be released in America as Night Creatures) went before the cameras, in slightly revised form. The film would beat the Disney version to the punch by one year and for many, it remains the superior film.

 

The Disney production had a top notch cast, headed by the great Patrick McGoohan (just a year from his turn as TV's Secret Agent, and several from his most iconic role as The Prisoner), but felt a bit watered down and too mild for its own good.  The Hammer version may have lacked the studio's traditional emphasis on bodice-ripping and Kensington gore, but it made up for it with oodles of atmosphere.

The film is inevitably dominated by the presence of Hammer's top star of the time, Peter Cushing.  Cushing approached the role of Dr. Blyss (as he had been renamed) with tremendous enthusiasm. Indeed, he was so pleased with his work on the film that he yearned to make a sequel of his own.  He even took it upon himself to pen a script outline, but it never went beyond that.  Captain Clegg thus presented him with his only opportunity to play the challenging dual role and he certainly made the most of every opportunity.  Cushing's studious and kindly persona is well suited to the outwardly meek character of Blyss but, true to form, he is able to switch off the charm at a moment's notice and play it properly ruthless when he lets his mask down and reveals his true nature as Captain Clegg.  Cushing's dedication extended to participating in some potentially dangerous stunt scenes, whether it be grappling with monolithic Milton Reid or indulging in some bouts of Douglas Fairbanks-esque derring-do.

In addition to Cushing, the film is graced with an outstanding supporting cast.  The delightful Patrick Allen is, well, a delight as the rather thick-headed but brave Captain Collier.  Allen's latern-jawed good looks and imposing frame make him an ideal adversary to Cushing's wily anti-hero and the two actors play off each other beautifully.  The scene wherein Collier tries to get the upper hand on Blyss but is too dim witted to be able to follow it through to its logical conclusion is a master class in acting, with Cushing subtly conveying a condescending air of contempt while Allen bluffs and blusters without realizing just how right he really is.

Oliver Reed is cast in the somewhat less rewarding role of Harry, the young juvenile.  Reed's magnetic screen presence helps to bring the character to life, but it's a wet towel of a role and there's only so much he can do with it.  Hammer fans will no doubt get a kick out of seeing him performing some love scenes with the statuesque Yvonne Romain, however, given that the previous year the two had played - get this - mother and son in Curse of the Werewolf!  Romain is adequate in her role, but the real meat is to be found in the character roles played so beautifully by the likes of Jack MacGowran (in his only Hammer horror), Derek Francis, Martin Benson and, most notably, Michael Ripper.

Ripper had played his fair share of grave robbers, village drunks and inn keepers for Hammer - he'd even been uncomfortably cast as a Japanese officer in Camp on Blood Island!  Few of these roles gave Ripper a great deal of screen time, but that changed with his appearance in this film as Mr. Mipps.  Mipps is Clegg's right hand man, a loyal and faithful retainer who is willing to lay down his life to protect his master.  Ripper is heartbreaking in the role, which gives him far more to do than any of his other roles for Hammer, barring his juicy parts in John Gilling's The Reptile and The Mummy's Shroud

The film is very well directed by the late Peter Graham Scott, who made his one and only film for Hammer here - fortunately for the fans, it's a good one.  Scott paces the action very well, ensuring that it seldom gets bogged down in overly padded dialogue scenes, and working in tandem with director of photography Arthur Grant, he creates some stunning images of the so-called phantoms (in reality, disguised smugglers) riding through the swamps at night.

It's a brisk and entertaining film, milder than the norm for Hammer, but still well worth seeing. Cushing and Ripper fans will find it to be essential, in particular.

Review: Troy Howarth
Images & Artwork: Marcus Brooks 

NEWS: NIGHT CREATURES / CAPTAIN CLEGG AND PHANTOM OF THE OPERA GET BLU RAY RELEASES

Final Cut is to release Peter Cushing's 'NIGHT CREATURES / CAPTAIN CLEGG' plus Hammer Films 'PHANTOM OF THE OPERA' on BLU RAY and DVD for March - June 2014. Barbara Shelley's 'SHADOW OF THE CAT' gets a release on dvd too. Unfortunately no hi def avaiable for a blu ray. All come with subs for the hard of hearing...Are we happy? More news on these releases coming up.

 

 

 

 

IF PENGUIN PAPERBACK EVER PUBLISHED DOCTOR WHO . . .

Here is a great concept from Sheffield-based graphic designer and illustrator, Sean Coleman. Sean has designed a series of 12 postcards, using the familiar 'Penguin Book Format' as an imagined Penguin-style book cover. And bless him, he's included Peter Cushing's outing as the Dr, in 'Dr Who and the Daleks' (1965). If you'd like to grab yourself a set, follow the link to where you can bag them! JUST CLICK HERE! 

                                              https://www.facebook.com/petercushingblog

DAILY MIRROR : HAMMER DRACULA CHEEKY VAMPIRE PHOTO SHOOT

It's 1972 and Christopher Lee has come to the end of his rope. In his opinion, stumbling around drafty old churches, clinging to flimsy plots and trapped by type casting, was not what he had in mind, when he signed on the dotted line to play Dracula for Hammer Films, some twenty years previously. But the Horror film loving public and media still want more.

Dracula AD 1972, also starring Peter Cushing making his return as Van Helsing, was in the final stages of production, and a little pre release publicity was called for. Probably as per contract, Lee was called on for a photo shoot for a series of snaps that would be published in the then, nations favourite 'red top tabloid' The Daily Mirror newspaper, featuring female models. Two versions of the snaps would be taken, one with silky top garments, and one without, guaranteeing exposure, as all tabloids at the time gave page space to 'anything' with long legs and ample piept. As you can see from these 'exposures' Lee was a little testy. But the photographer, along with Lee's nerves, just happily kept snapping. It made page three and Hammer Films turned one more page towards their final chapter.....

HAJIME ISHIDA'S 'DRACULA PHOTO BOOK VOL ONE' : RECOMMENDED!

It's been a very good year for 'nice' things landing on the hall mat. But this morning a gentle thud, brought a wonderful surprise! Your host has often wondered, why hasn't anyone ever pulled together all the 'best of' photographs from Hammer 'Dracula' movies and plopped them all together in one book? Good quality printing, not that awful blocky, cheap printed, pixelated mess, just full page publicity stills, colour, black and white, no duplicating or doubling up of images, and don't spare the rare ones either!... a lovely way of bringing them all together. A tall order, you'd think? Well, Hajime Ishida has met the challenge and done just that. It's a 'thing of beauty! All NINE Hammer Dracula films are here in half, quarter and full page photographs. You'll be pleased to hear, Peter Cushing is very well represented too. It's a winner! It's 96 pages of 'what you want'! I've attached a link to Hajime's 'Monsterzine' facebook page. So, do yourself a favour and place an order for what is indeed, this years Christmas Cracker! Thank You, Hajime ! A job very well done indeed!

 

https://www.facebook.com/HajimeIshidaMonsterzine

'THE COUNT'S LAST STAND, AND THE GANGS HERE TOO!' A TALENT TO TERRIFY : STEP OUT!

After the disappointment of seeing his maiden voyage as a production executive run away from him, Lee reluctantly signed on the dotted line for yet another Hammer Dracula film.  Like Dracula AD 1972, The Satanic Rites of Dracula would update the Count’s (mis)adventures to modern day London.  Like every Dracula film he had done since 1968 (with the exception of a jaunt to Spain to make El Conde Dracula for maverick filmmaker Jess Franco), Lee was openly disdainful of the material and swore up and down that he would never do it again.  This time he meant it – this would prove to be his last “real” Dracula film, though the delightful French-made parody Dracula and Son (1978) would allow him to revisit the character (or a variation on it; Lee has insisted that he’s not playing the Count in the film and indeed, his makeup and costuming is quite different) in a script which actually allowed him plenty of screen time and dialogue.

The Satanic Rites of Dracula reunited Lee and Cushing with director Alan Gibson and screenwriter Don Houghton in a tale of a suicidal Dracula, doing his damnedest to spread the bubonic plague as a means of taking down the rest of civilization with him.  It was a darker and altogether more serious entry than AD 1972, but it’s also not quite as much fun.  Even so, Gibson and company give the film production gloss and it’s fun to see (or rather hear) Lee disguising his identity by speaking in one scene with a pronounced Bela Lugosi accent!

Cushing is relegated to the sidelines for much of the film, allowing Michael Coles’ Inspector Murray (another holdover from AD 1972, here sporting a much less Scotland Yard-appropriate hair cut) and William Franklyn’s sardonic MI5 agent to do much of the heavy lifting.  Fan reaction would be less than enthused, but seen today it’s possible to appreciate The Satanic Rites of Dracula as an interesting, offbeat finale to the series that made Hammer the bulk of its profits.

 

After this final foray into Stoker territory, Lee continued to do his best to establish himself in more “mainstream” assignments, netting a plum role in the James Bond thriller The Man With the Golden Gun (1974) and enlivening the starry casts of such films as The Three Musketeers (1973) and Airplane ’77 (1977).  He would be lured back to Amicus one last time for Arabian Adventure (1979), largely because his role as the evil wizard would enable him to pay homage to one of his acting idol Conrad Veidt’s most iconic roles, as the villain of The Thief of Bagdad (1940).  This slice of hokum from director Kevin Connor was aimed square at juvenile audiences, and Lee’s villain was very much of the obvious, pantomime school – at least in theory; in terms of performance, he does not play down to the audience, making the character a credible menace.  The film also included a cameo appearance for Cushing as a deposed noble man who aids the hero (Oliver Tobias) in his quest.

While Lee’s career was thriving at this time, Cushing’s was not.  The actor had won some good notices for his role in George Lucas’ blockbuster hit Star Wars (1977), but this did not translate to many stellar acting assignments; he would spend the latter half of the 70s lending class and name value to one indifferent film after another, even spreading his wings a bit by going to Greece to film The Devil’s Men (1976) and to Florida for Shock Waves (1977).

PCASUK review and gallery: The Devil's Men

Also around this time, both Lee and Cushing were approached by young writer/director John Carpenter, who was anxious to cast one of them for the role of Dr. Loomis in his film Halloween (1978).  Cushing’s agent would snootily reject the script without even showing it to the actor, while Lee would later regret passing on it, correctly noting that it gave Donald Pleasence (who finally took the part after some initial trepidation) a whole new career.  Even so, becoming identified with a new horror franchise was surely the last thing on Lee’s mind, and both actors would go on record as being disdainful of the trend towards more and more graphic depictions of sex and violence in genre fare (though it must be noted that Carpenter’s classy shocker was not guilty of this, even if the films it helped to spawn most definitely were).

While Lee continued to explore the potential of Hollywood into the 1980s, Cushing’s career began to slow down.  Advancing age and increasing health woes would begin to limit his opportunities.  The spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak, as it were.  Fortunately for fans, his health remained intact long enough for Canon Films to assemble a dream cast for a tongue-in-cheek horror comedy.  The House of the Long Shadows (1983) would unite Lee, Cushing, Vincent Price and John Carradine for the first and only time.  Though directed by veteran shock specialist Pete Walker, the film was an old-fashioned pastiche, a tribute to the old-school “old dark house” thrillers of the 1920s and 30s.  The veteran actors approached their roles with style and conviction, with Lee and Cushing probably coming off the best: Lee puts his aloof persona to good use, while Cushing impresses with his portrayal of the cowardly brother with a pronounced speech impediment, a la Elmer Fudd.  Their efforts are hampered by the charisma free young actors who dominate the proceedings, namely Desi Arnaz Jr. (miscast as the smart ass best-selling novelist who believes he can write a Gothic melodrama in one night, provided the setting is right) and Julie Peasgood.  The two actors have zero chemistry with each other and fail to make much of an impression on the viewer, but once the genre icons begin to take center stage the film has more than its fair share of pleasures, not the least of which is hearing a typically theatrical Vincent Price calling Christopher Lee a “bitch.”

Sadly, the combined power of the veteran actors did little to help the film’s chances at the box office, and the film would for all intents and purposes be dumped to VHS and cable not long after a perfunctory theatrical release.  Price would call the film a missed opportunity, whereas Lee later singled it out as a favorite precisely because it allowed the four actors an opportunity to have fun.  Cushing would contract bronchitis while filming at the drafty manor house, however, and his health would continue to deteriorate.

In 1986, many news outlets reported that Cushing had died. The fact of the matter is, he was still very much alive and would remain so for another 8 years but he was diagnosed with prostate cancer around this time, and the prognosis was not good. Cushing would find it impossible to continue acting, not because he didn’t want to, but because the insurance companies regarded him as a liability.  Lee would undergo open heart surgery to correct a recurring issue and would bounce back, continuing to work without taking much time off, even if most of the films he was doing failed to ignite much interest at the box office.  Towards the end of the decade, however, Lee would find himself being cast by long-time fans turned successful directors, including Joe Dante and John Landis.





In 1994, filmmaker Ted Newsome hit upon the idea of hiring Lee and Cushing to narrate his documentary on Hammer Films, titled Flesh and Blood.  It would prove a tricky deal to negotiate, especially with Cushing’s frail health going downhill rapidly and scheduling conflicts to overcome.  The film would provide Lee and Cushing one last chance to spend an afternoon in each other’s company, however, and Lee did his best to keep his old friend in stitches throughout the recording of the narration.  When Cushing was chauffeured away at the end of the day, Lee knew he would never see him again; sadly, it would to be true.

Cushing would pass away on August 11th 1994; he was 81 years old.  For Cushing, it was an end devoutly to be wished.  In his mind and heart he believed he would be reunited with his beloved Helen.  For his many fans, it was a loss which was felt very deeply indeed.
 

At the time of writing, Lee is now 91 years old.  He has begun looking more and more frail over the past few years, though he certainly aged very gracefully well into his 80s.  An accident on the set of Hammer’s The Resident (2011) resulted in a broken vertebrae – a serious injury at any stage of life, let alone for a man in his late 80s.  Lee didn’t let the accident stop him from working, however.  He remains in demand, doing cameos for directors who have long admired his talents.  A collaboration with Martin Scorsese on Hugo (2010) was regarded as a major career highlight by the actor, who has since said that he has now worked with just about every major name actor and director he has aspired to work with… except for Clint Eastwood.  The odds of that particular collaboration coming to pass seems slim in light of Lee’s inability to undertake large roles and difficulty with traveling (he was well enough to fly to New Zealand to do the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but director Peter Jackson had to accommodate him by shooting his scenes for the new Hobbit trilogy in England), but even so… his presence in films is a reassuring reminder of the class of actor we used to take for granted.  And to go back and revisit his many films with his beloved friend and costar, Peter Cushing, is to be transported to a time when it really was possible to see top class acting in even the lowest budgeted and most preposterous of genre films.

'A Talent To Terrify:
The Twenty Two Films Of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee',
was written by Troy Howarth with images and artwork
by Marcus Brooks.

 

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