#CUSHING and #LEE are SNOOKERED! During making of #Amicusfilms#THESKULL at #SheppertonStudios
in 1965, the cameras were about to roll on a scene where both Cushing
and Lee's characters were about to chat, about the purchase of a 'dodgy
antique' over brandy and cigars.. and a gentleman's game of snooker!
There was one problem, which almost left director #FreddieJones almost speechless. Cushing and Lee admitted to Francis they knew absolutely nothing about the game and had never
played the game! Francis said at the time, 'The only two actors in
Britain, who can't play snooker!?' But they DID know how to act!
Watching the scene now, you would never know that neither had ever blue
chalked and held a snooker cue.. let alone pot a ball in a pocket! - Marcus
TRIVIA: In 1885, John Roberts, the then British Billiards Champion, visited
India and met with Chamberlain during a dinner with the Maharajah of
Cooch Behar. After enquiring about the rules of snooker, Roberts decided
he would introduce the game back in England. The game has been very
popular in the UK ever since, 'Snooker and Billiards Halls' sprung up
around the country from around 1900's and was very popular during the
first and second WW. Snooker is an extremely competitive game now, with
championships televisied in the UK with winners earning very large sums
of money!
YOU ARE MOST WELCOME TO JOIN USand over 34,000 others Peter Cushing followers at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE! With posts every day, rare images and photographs, features and prize competitions.. all celebrating the LIFE and CAREER of Peter Cushing OBE
have shared some large scans of #ChristopherLee from #Hammerfilms 'SCARS OF DRACULA'! These were requested to the page, so we cleaned and polished a delivered! Not a #PeterCushing Hammer film sadly, and quite a poor movie sadly, impo. This is our first post in several months, as I got a little tired of spending hours on designing and making posts, that for quite sometime, were being hidden by 'our masters' #Google. So, stopped for a while and dealt with the mess that is #facebook and all their losing and hiding posts from followers instead. At least, with 35k followers, you stand a little better chance of being seen one out of three posts! Anyway, onward, back to the mill. More posts to come here! - Marcus
YOU ARE MOST WELCOME TO JOIN USand over 34,000 others Peter Cushing followers at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE! With posts every day, rare images and photographs, features and prize competitions.. all celebrating the LIFE and CAREER of Peter Cushing OBE
MANY THANKS to Studio Canal for sponsoring one of our PCASuk Competitions today! Here is YOUR chance to WIN a copy of this 4K out of this world, SPECIAL COLLECTOR EDITION restoration BLU RAY release #DrWhoandtheDaleks' (1965),
starring Peter Cushing as Dr Who with a supporting cast of Jennie Linden, Roberta Tovey and Roy Castle. This was the first big screen film adaptation of British TV’s
most iconic sci-fi hero, and the first time the #Daleks were ever seen in
colour!
THE PLOT: Having invented the TARDIS, a strange machine capable of travelling into
other dimensions, the Dr. and his three young accomplices set forth on a
quest through time and space. Their journey takes them into the dark,
undiscovered depths of the universe and to the planet of Skaro, a
primitive world devastated by nuclear war and populated by two warring
species, a peaceful tribe known as Thals and a life form heavily mutated
by radiation, encased in protective machines, merciless force of
destruction known as The Daleks!
THE PRIZE:
We have ONE copy 'DR WHO AND THE DALEKS' Special Collectors Edition 4K Blu Ray up for grabs. Dr Who and the Daleks has enjoyed several home releases over the years, Studio Canal has worked it's magic in not only presenting the film restored and remastered, but now for the
first time in ultra high-definition 4K. ‘Dr Who
and the Daleks’, looks brighter, more colourful and sharper than ever
before!
THE STUNNING 1960s vintage-style cover artwork by Johnny Dombrowski
packages ‘Dr Who and the Daleks’ very attractively for fans. A
collector’s edition also includes a booklet. There are several exciting
extra features on the disc. ‘The Dalek Legacy: Destination Skaro’ is
sixteen minutes in length and sees modern-day voice of the Daleks
Nicholas Briggs and other ‘Doctor Who’ luminaries putting the legacy of
the 1960s films into context within the wider world of ‘Doctor Who’.
‘Restoring Dr Who in 4K’ is an eleven-minute instalment about how the
original film elements have been digitally enhanced for this
restoration.
THE DISC ALSO boasts the documentary ‘Dalekmania, filmed in the
mid-1990s, which covers both films and features some of the
then-surviving cast and crew from both films and explores the possible
reasons for the overwhelming popularity of the Daleks. Of particular
interest are the stories of Jill Curzon and Roberta Tovey, guest actors
Barrie Ingham and Yvonne Antrobus; as well as Eddie Powell, a stuntman
whose involvement in the second film left him with a broken ankle.
Pinewood Studios expert and Roger Moore’s former right-hand man Gareth
Owen is also available to impart his knowledge of the film’s origins. An
audio commentary featuring film critic Kim Newman in conversation with
‘Doctor Who’ writers Robert Shearman and Mark Gatiss takes you all the
way through the film with affectionate insights. A separate audio track
reunites companions Jennie Linden (Barbara) and Roberta Tovey (Susan).
ALL YOU HAVE TO DO!
As with all PCASuk Competitions, this competition is OPEN TO EVERYONE! Whoever you are, Wherever you are! All YOU have to do is ANSWER our simple competition QUESTION and send us your answer, ONLY USING the facebook BLUE MESSAGE BUTTON at the TOP of the FAN PAGE, UNDER our PCASuk banner! HERE! Any answers or clues posted in the comments thread, will be deleted, the entry made void... and we'll send some Daleks around to your home!
THE COMPETITION QUESTION:
NOT including PETER CUSHING, only ONE CAST MEMBER appeared in BOTH 'Dr Who and the Daleks' and it's SEQUEL 'Daleks Invasion Earth 2150 AD'. NAME that cast member!
This PCASuk Competition CLOSES on SATURDAY JULY 2nd 2022 at midnight GMT. No entries will be taken after this time and date.
Many thanks to Studio Canal and GOOD LUCK EVERYONE! - Marcus
NEWS: IF you don't own these TWO #Hammerfilms#PeterCushing classics OR are looking for an UPGRADE, now IS the time! #SecondSight are releasing #TheMummy starring Peter Cushing and #ChristopherLeel
be and 'Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell' in limited Edition
packages, with quite fab rigid slipcase new artwork by Graham Humphreys.
OTHER NICIES INCLUDE, soft cover book with new essays by Kat Ellinger, Lindsay
Hallam and Kevin Lyons plus production stills with 5 collectors' art
cards! A very nice deal indeed. Keep your eyes peeled for our PCASuk
Competition, where as ever we'll be offering you our friends and
followers, the chance to bag some competition goodies! All details on BOTH releases below - Marcus
There are few films with characters or actors that can command such power, force, pathos and emotion the way #ChristopherLee successfully does in #Hammerfilms
1959 'The Mummy' .... and he does it with a full face mask and head to
toe bandage! Hands and eyes? You bet! When he ploughs through those
french windows, like a full steam head loco train, making his b-line for
Peter Cushing's lame and unprepared John Banning, on first watch, you
are convinced... Cushing aint going to make it!!! We all know how much
Peter loved a GOOD tussle, a sword fight, a strangle, throttle and swipe
and we also know just how real and convincing these scenes looked in
past 'set-to's'.... the 1958 #Dracula,
The Curse of Frankenstein, I Monster in 1971 and Dracula AD 1972.. what
a prologue indeed! Lee's character Kharis, is on a mission, under a
spell, like pounding wave one moment then tender with grace, the next.
It's a sad climax, a touching love story all in one. Director Terence
Fisher, knew his craft and this is another of his golden Hammer films.
Perfect cast, that chemistry, believable sets and beautiful score, makes
The Mummy one of Hammer's most popular features... a blu ray remaster,
looking like a feature made with several million and a must for any
collection - Marcus
THE MUMMY SPECIAL FEATURES:
* Main feature presented in original UK theatrical aspect ratio 1.66:1 and alternative full frame1.37:1
*New audio commentary by film academic Kelly RobinsonArchive audio commentary by Marcus Hearn and Jonathan Rigby *An Appreciation of The Mummy by David Huckvale 'The Music of The Mummy' *Unwrapping The Mummy *The House of Horror: Memories of Bray *The Hammer Rep Company *Original Promo Reel Still Gallery
LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS: Rigid slipcase with new artwork by Graham HumphreysSoft cover book with new essays by Kat Ellinger, Lindsay Hallam and Kevin Lyons plus production stills 5 collectors' art cards
REGION B
I know many see this as a almost not quite worthy ending to Hammer and Cushing's #Frankenstein
saga... but I DO so love this film and everything about it. The pace,
the pace is almost played like the knowing sadness, of saying goodbye,
to a close family member or old friend. The cast is probably one of the
best that James Liggat put together. Liggat cast quite a few Hammer
features and went on to pull together casts for Kunbrick's 1962 Lolita,
James Bond 'Dr No', Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey' and The shinning
in 1980. What a ensemble of experienced and amazing character actors,
Mischa De La Motte as Twitch, Sydney (Captain Clegg) Bromley as Muller,
Victor Woolf as Letch, Charles Lloyd Pack .. all the way from way back
as Dr Seward in #Cushing and #ChristopherLee's #Dracula.
John Stratton as the Asylum Director and Bernard Lee as the heart
breakingly sensitve, Tarmut. So many lovely players and scenes. Maddy
Smith and Shane Briant play so well, while Peter guides through a role
he knew so well, still with some surprises of crazy dedication. It's
cramped, it's dank and oppressive and quite grim. But so fitting. As
Terence Fisher's last film, it's a tribute and testament to the many
believable fairytale environments and settings he created with those
amazingly talented crews.. just a few still around long enough to cast
this last spell. It's well worth watching as the curtain finally drops,
as the treasured, precious and cherished, take their final bow in the
Hammer land of 'Frankenstein'. .. - Marcus
FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL
SPECIAL FEATURES *Main feature presented in original UK Theatrical aspect ratio 1.66:1 and alternative full frame1.37:1
*New audio commentary by film academic Kat Ellinger
*Archive audio commentary by Shane Briant, Madeline Smith and Marcus Hearn *An Appreciation of Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell by David Huckvale : The Music of Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell *Taking Over the Asylum
*Charming Evil: Terence Fisher at Hammer
*Stills Gallery
LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS: Rigid slipcase with new artwork by Graham Humphreys. Soft cover book with new essays by Kevin Lyons, Kelly Robinson and Emma Westwood plus production stills. 5 collectors' art cards
YOU ARE MOST WELCOME TO JOIN USand over 34,000 others Peter Cushing followers at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE! With posts every day, rare images and photographs, features and prize competitions.. all celebrating the LIFE and CAREER of Peter Cushing OBE
THE BRITISH TV series ‘Doctor Who’ first hit the BBC screens in November 1963. The concept was originally seen as an entertainment and educational programme, based around Doctor Who, played by veteran Brit film actor William Hartnell, who was planned to travelled through space and time, in a police telephone box, named TARDIS, dropping in on various 'historical happenings and characters'. The first FOUR episodes, of 'An Unearthly Child' was a good foundation and intro. But little did the series creator and head of drama Sydney Newman, realise what he had on his hands, after first he launched the first episode, their proposed intention 'fill the Saturday evening time-slot and appeal to both the younger and older audiences of the neighbouring programmes . . .. but the was an unexpected game changer! Within the next seven episodes, they would be managing one of the BBC's biggest direct hits and a name that would be on everyone's lips. . .Daleks!
The GIFS feature here are not 4K footage from the
#StudioCanal release
THE REST AS THEY SAY, is history, television history, life changing eventually for many millions of viewers, children and fans! Midway through the huge success of the Dr Who first series, it was decided that the Daleks , were the main attraction, a new evil metal villains, that potentially not only proved to hold and attract huge audiences, but also beyond their weekly episodic treat in front of their black and white tv sets, and into the paying seats of cinemas through-out the country. Daleks in FULL COLOUR, a WIDESCREEN full 90 MINUTE adventure! The idea not only had casters, it had legs to run and work! And so, the concept of the very first Dr Who feature film was lauched.
EVENTUALLY, two feature films, unique in the annals of
Doctor Who, were made for the big screen as an attempt to cash in on the
“Dalekmania” of the mid-1960s. 'Dr Who and the Daleks' and 'Dalek Invasion Earth 2150 AD' weren’t produced by the BBC, but
were nevertheless loosely based on First Doctor William Hartnell’s
opening Dalek stories, some pretty sizeable differences were made in
order to circumvent copyright laws. Thus, the look of the TARDIS
interior and the redesigned Daleks are not quite what viewers may
expect.
SINCE THEIR RELEASE on VHS, then DVD and even Blu-ray some years ago, the film
prints have been restored and remastered, and are now presented for the
first time in ultra high-definition 4K. The first outing, and the 1965 ‘Dr Who
and the Daleks’, certainly looks brighter, more colourful and sharper than ever
before.
‘DRWHOANDTHEDALEKS’ sees the TARDIS land on the planet Skaro.
Exploring their surroundings, the planet appears to be dead; the soil
nothing but sand and the forest now nothing but the petrified remains of
trees. The travellers suffer radiation sickness from the high levels of
radioactivity – the result of a nuclear war between the Daleks and the
Thals. With the Daleks planning to wipe out all surviving Thals, Dr. Who
and his companions must find a way to convince the inherently
pacifistic Thals to fight back in order to save themselves.
IN ORDER TO REACH a wider and more international audience, an
established big screen English star was found to play the lead role. The
charming Peter Cushing, extremely charming and lovable as “Dr Who” (now depicted
as an eccentric Englishman who invents a time machine in his back
garden, rather than an alien traveller in space and time). His portrayal
is the complete opposite of small screen counterpart Hartnell’s alien
and occasionally sinister Doctor – instead providing a warmer hero for
young children to more easily trust. The Daleks, who fired death rays on
the television, expel fire-extinguisher carbon dioxide gas to
successfully render them less terrifying. They are also
brightly-coloured and some even have multi-coloured sensors, which gives
them a friendly rather than sinister appearance. And rather than
travelling with a difficult, moody teenage granddaughter as William
Hartnell’s Doctor did, Peter Cushing’s Susan is a young child who is
much easier to handle (brilliantly played, it must be said, by young
Roberta Tovey). The comic element is played up by the Doctor’s young
male sidekick. Beloved entertainer Roy Castle offers exquisite comic
timing and pratfalls and manages a bit of heroism along the way too.
‘DR WHO AND THE DALEKS’ is beautifully directed by Gordon Flemyng, and
he succeeds in rendering an epic feel to the adventure. He has a great
eye for detail, making each frame interesting to look at, using
different levels and taking full advantage of extensive studio space.
The rocks sliding apart to reveal brilliant lights beneath the Dalek
city is an especially effective cinematic moment. Undoubtedly, this is a
slicker, faster-paced and altogether bigger budget version of ‘Doctor
Who’. Barry Gray’s distinctive and dramatic cool jazz musical score is
another major plus point, and immediately attention-grabbing when played
over the opening credits. The charm of the film is its nostalgic 1960s
period (now apologised for in the inevitable yawn-inducing trigger
warning at the start of the disc). It succeeds because it stands the
test of time as an exciting adventure.
THE OVERALL EFFECT of the restoration, which brings clarity and
definition to the film, is a double-edged sword. Certainly ‘Dr Who and
the Daleks’ has never looked better. Cushing's white wig and bushy eyebrows complete the transformation of his interpretation of the good Dr, but you will also spot the brush strokes of Cushing's make up, the strings on the Dalek craft, but hey... it's sci-fi, make believe and for the kids!
THE INTERESTING 1960s vintage-style cover artwork by Johnny Dombrowski
packages ‘Dr Who and the Daleks’ in a very different comic strip-like concept. A
collector’s edition also includes a booklet. There are several exciting
extra features on the disc. ‘The Dalek Legacy: Destination Skaro’ is
sixteen minutes in length and sees modern-day voice of the Daleks
Nicholas Briggs and other ‘Doctor Who’ luminaries putting the legacy of
the 1960s films into context within the wider world of ‘Doctor Who’.
‘Restoring Dr Who in 4K’ is an eleven-minute instalment about how the
original film elements have been digitally enhanced for this
restoration.
THIS DISC ALSO boasts the documentary ‘Dalekmania, filmed in the
mid-1990s, which covers both films and features some of the
then-surviving cast and crew from both films and explores the possible
reasons for the overwhelming popularity of the Daleks. Of particular
interest are the stories of Jill Curzon and Roberta Tovey, guest actors
Barrie Ingham and Yvonne Antrobus; as well as Eddie Powell, a stuntman
whose involvement in the second film left him with a broken ankle.
Pinewood Studios expert and Roger Moore’s former right-hand man Gareth
Owen is also available to impart his knowledge of the film’s origins. An
audio commentary featuring film critic Kim Newman in conversation with
‘Doctor Who’ writers Robert Shearman and Mark Gatiss takes you all the
way through the film with affectionate insights. A separate audio track
reunites companions Jennie Linden (Barbara) and Roberta Tovey (Susan).
IF DON'T OWN #StudioCanal's fine 'DR WHO AND THE DALEKS' 4K Blu Ray or are looking for an upgrade, NOW is your chance to own, witness and experexperience the film as it has never been seen before before. Out of this WORLD!
Cast:Peter Cushing, Roy Castle, Jennie Linden, Roberta Tovey, Barrie Ingham, Yvonne Antrobus Director: Gordon Flemying Certificate: U Duration: 83 mins Released by: Studiocanal Release date: 20th June 2022! YOU CAN PURCHASE AND Buy ‘Dr Who and the Daleks’ HERE!
MORE ON Peter Cushing and DR WHO AND THE DALEKS with RARE STILLS GALLERY can be found in another PCSuk FEATURE: HERE!
MORE ON PETER CUSHING and DR WHO AND THE DALEKSwith FULL RARE STILLS GALLERY HERE!
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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
co-ordinator since 1979. PCASuk is based in the UK and USA. Elements of this review and text can also be found Here
