Peter Cushing, Ursula Andress and Christopher Lee ham it up for the press during the opening of Hammer Films 'SHE' (1965)
Thursday 31 January 2013
CHRISTOPHER LEE: FRANKENSTEIN'S CREATION RELAXING IN THE BATH PHOTOGRAPH
Monday 28 January 2013
Tuesday 22 January 2013
KB ZORKA ON THE LIFE AND CAREER OF PRUDENCE HYMAN: DEAR PRUDENCE :THE GORGON: HAMMER FILMS 1964
"No living thing survived and the spectre of death hovered in waiting for her next victim."
-'The Gorgon,' (1964)
It's
only natural that when we think of
the ladies of the classic Hammer Horror films, we think of the
countless, beautiful women that will forever be as associated with the
studio's name as that of Christopher Lee or Peter Cushing. We think of
names such as Ingrid Pitt or, First Lady of Hammer: Hazel Court.
However, the first woman to become anything but beautiful for the
studio, was the unknown, Prudence Hyman. Subsequently, it was after the
release of The Gorgon, that
Hammer would begin a long legacy of these dangerous females. And all of
it began with an ex-ballerina and ENSA performer named, Prudence Hyman.
Long before she would become Hammer's Gorgon, 'Megaera,' Prudence Hythe was born in London, England
on February 2, 1914. She was a classically trained ballerina who
studied in England and Paris and made her dancing debut at the age of
seventeen in 'Twelfth Night.' Between 1934-1935, she toured with
various ballet companies, and during the second World War, she was a
member of ENSA; a traveling group of artists whose purpose was to
entertain the troops. It was while she was a member of the ENSA group,
that Prudence and her fellow members were once flown to safety during a
harrowing adventure through a horrible storm. The group's hero was a
young, Royal Air Force Lieutenant that, interestingly, she would manage
to meet-up with many years later: None other than Christopher Lee.
In 1960, Prudence played a small, uncredited role alongside the once brave pilot in Hammer's, The Two Faces of Dr Jekyll. She played the part of a tavern woman, while Paul Massie took on the dual role of the mad scientist. However, it would be four years later that Prudence Hyman would make horror history: She would be the first female monster in Hammer's long, Gothic-style film legacy.
The Gorgon was one of the last films to have been produced by Hammer during their six-year distribution deal with Columbia Pictures. Seeing as their last two films had been shelved by the distributor, the studio needed something new and exciting that would bring audiences back to the theater. To do so, they went straight to the public itself. An advertisement was placed in 'The Daily Cinema' magazine, in which the film company was soliciting stories from anyone with a good idea.The last line of the advertisement read as follows: "Because good, compulsive selling ideas with the right titles are what Hammer are looking for right now." Of the many submissions, a story by J. Llewellyn Divine was selected. It was a rather involved and lengthy story. But, after a bit of re-writing and initially naming the script, "Supernatural", the script was rewritten a second time and given the name, The Gorgon.
Shooting began in December of 1963 at Bray Studios,where The Evil of Frankenstein had just wrapped production. Due to budget and time constraints,as well as to give the set the look and feel of 1910, many of the same interior sets from The Evil of Frankenstein were redressed and used for The Gorgon. The film starred Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and Hammer's most famous female star of the time.The "First Leading Lady of British Horror," Barbara Shelley. On board as director was, in my humble opinion, the man who made Hammer Horror what it is: The legendary Terence Fisher (February 23, 1904-June 18, 1980).
In the role of 'Carla Hoffman', Barbara Shelley had wanted to simultaneously play the role of the title character. As the film's possessed, amnesiac heroine, she felt that the dual role would make the storyline more sensible and fluid; that it should be she who "gorgonized" the film's victims. She also had a few ideas for producer Anthony Nelson Keys on how to make Megaera more frightening and realistic as well. Her idea consisted of using real garden snakes, and to find a way to humanely weave them into a special wig. However, due to the film's budget and short production schedule, Nelson rejected her idea, and chose instead to use another actress to play the part: Prudence Hyman. Nelson also felt that with a different actress playing the part, it would help to conceal the Gorgon's alternate, "human" identity. Although, after seeing The Gorgon herself on screen, the producer had regretted his decision about Shelley's wig idea. It's difficult to say if it was Hyman herself, or the costume which disappointed Nelson. Nonetheless, Christopher Lee's opinion of Megaera was also less-than-flattering: "The only thing wrong with The Gorgon, is The Gorgon!" Fortunately, fans today are less forgiving.
To create the look of The Gorgon and her snakes, makeup man Roy Ashton applied the hideous skin and makeup to Hyman, while special effects engineer, Syd Pearson, had a bit more of a challenge by creating the snakes themselves. Pearson had twelve plaster moulds made, and from each mould he cast latex rubber snakes. Cables were then placed through each of the snakes' bodies for movement, and were then woven through the actress' wig. Each snake was then individually attached to cables which ran down Hyman's back. The cables trailed approximately twenty-five feet behind her where they were controlled by a large contraption which contained pegs. As the pegs were turned, the tension gave the effect of each snake moving individually.
The Gorgon finished production in January, 1964, and was double-billed with Curse Of The Mummy's Tomb. Although we only see The Gorgon herself for less than twenty minutes throughout the entire film, each shot of Prudence Hyman's 'Megaera' is a treat, to say the least. The cinematography of Michael Reed is simply superb and, in true Hammer form, the sets are gorgeous. Hyman herself moves with a grace and elegance that one would expect from a former ballerina. Incredibly, she went back to playing uncredited roles for the studio. She was given small parts in Rasputin: The Mad Monk, and The Witches, which were both were released in 1966.
It is truly interesting to know that an unknown actress with no starring roles, or major parts, made horror film history as one of it's first female monsters; and the first for Hammer. Sadly, the name Prudence Hyman remains rather unknown, and The Gorgon has only recently become appreciated as one of Hammer's lesser known and hidden gems. Very little has been written about Prudence Hyman, or her incredible contribution to the horror genre. As is normally the case with so many important people throughout history, it is not in their lifetimes that they are appreciated, or even understand what they have accomplished while they're alive: such was the case with Prudence Hyman. She died at the age of 81 on June 1, 1995 and was put to rest in her birthplace of London, England.
FEATURE: KB ZORKA@http://theoblongbox10.blogspot.co.uk/
IMAGES: MARCUS BROOKS
Saturday 19 January 2013
Friday 18 January 2013
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BOB? DRACULA D 1972 : MYSTERY SOLVED
BOB BURNS IN THE BRIGHT MORNING SUN! BLIMEY!
FEAR IN THE NIGHT: PETER CUSHING AS HEADMASTER MICHAEL CARMICHAEL
PETER CUSHING AS HEADMASTER MICHAEL CARMICHAEL IN HAMMER FILMS 'FEAR IN THE NIGHT'
HELP ME, FRANKENSTEIN: THE REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN: PETER CUSHING, MICHAEL GWYN 1958 REVIEW GALLERY
CAST:
Peter Cushing (Dr Victor
Frankenstein/Stein), Francis Matthews (Hans Kleve), Michael Gwynn
(Karl), Eunice Gayson (Margaret Conrad), Oscar Quitak (Dwarf Karl)
PRODUCTION:
Director – Terence Fisher, Screenplay –
Jimmy Sangster, Additional Dialogue – H. Hurford Janes, Producer –
Anthony Hinds, Photography – Jack Asher, Music – Leonard Salzedo, Makeup
– Phil Leakey, Production Design – Bernard Robinson. Production Company
– Hammer.
UK. 1958.
SYNOPSIS:
With the help of Karl, the crippled
dwarf hangman, whom he promises a new body, Frankenstein escapes the
gallows and they hang the officiating priest instead. Under the name
Stein, Frankenstein sets up practice in the town of Karlsbruck,
alternating between volunteer work at the poor hospital, which is a
goldmine of parts to build up Karl’s new body, and private practice
where his courtly charms draw him the devotion of the upper-classes. He
is recognised by eager young Hans Kleve who forces Frankenstein to take
him on as an assistant. Together they transplant Karl’s brain into the
new patchwork body. The operation is successful but soon the body’s
limbs return to their old crippled positions. Karl escapes and brings
shame down on Frankenstein when he bursts in on a society function,
crying “Frankenstein help me.”
COMMENTARY:
Hammer Films had huge success with their remake of the Frankenstein story, The Curse of Frankenstein (1957). Curse’s revitalization of the Frankenstein
story, its plush sets and colour photography and its no-holds-barred
shock value for the time made the Hammer horror legend, not to mention
the careers of director Terence Fisher, screenwriter Jimmy Sangster and
stars Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. All four collaborated on
Hammer’s Dracula/The Horror of Dracula (1958) the following year, which was an even bigger success that consolidated the Hammer name beyond a doubt.
The Revenge of Frankenstein was quickly made on the tails of Dracula and was the first of six Frankenstein sequels that Hammer would produce. The Revenge of Frankenstein
is one of the rare occasions when a sequel proves equally as inventive
as the original. Indeed, in the generally creatively impoverished world
of the sequels, The Revenge of Frankenstein may well be one sequel that finds the most ingeniously creative way of continuing on from its predecessor. The Curse of Frankenstein closed with Frankenstein about to be taken off to the gallows – the opening of The Revenge of Frankenstein
segues in flawlessly by revealing that Frankenstein and the dwarf
hangman conspired to hang the officiating priest instead. Eventually,
Jimmy Sangster’s script reaches a positively ingenious twist ending, one
that becomes a black joke in the face of the frequent public confusion
of Frankenstein and his creation, with Sangster cleverly allowing the
two to in effect become one and the same.
Hammer eventually made as many Frankenstein
films as Universal did with their Frankenstein series in the 1930s and
40s. Whereas Universal’s series quickly ran to tired formulaic
repetition with the monster being revived by some Frankenstein
descendant and rampaging through the township before being destroyed in a
laboratory explosion, Hammer maintained their Frankenstein series at a
much higher degree of creativity. The most noticeable difference is that
for Universal the lop-topped, bolt-necked monster became the continuing
character, while here it is Peter Cushing’s Baron Frankenstein who is
at the centre of the series with the monster remaining a supporting
character with different faces and played by different actors. The
reasons become clear – for Universal the monster was the continuing
character because the underlying anxiety for their series was the horror
of science defying divine provenance, represented by the socially
cataclysmic effects of the monster unleashed; whereas for Hammer horror
was the placidity of upper-class decency being disrupted by repressive
forces from beneath such as Frankenstein’s ruthlessly amoral quest for
knowledge or Dracula’s ravening animal lust.
Nowhere is the dichotomy that Frankenstein represents for Hammer more evident than here in The Revenge of Frankenstein. Whereas in Curse, Frankenstein represented a cold ruthlessness beneath the mask of upper-class decency and propriety, in The Revenge of Frankenstein
the metaphor is expanded to take in the entirety of the divide between
upper and working classes. Frankenstein is wittily shown as a
Janus-faced figure straddling both sides of the class divide with an
equal measure of hypocrisy – on one hand courting the upper-classes with
barely disguised contempt, while on the other pillaging the working
classes for their limbs while professing the outward manifestations of
charity.
The Hammer production crew are on top form
with luxuriant photography, a rich and lavish score and exquisitely
dressed sets. Terence Fisher is on excellent form too. Especially
memorable is the scene where Karl bursts into the ballroom crying
“Frankenstein, help me”, which Fisher directs and edits, bringing all
the separate elements together with an explosive precision that is quite
masterful.
The other Hammer Frankenstein films are:– The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), The Evil of Frankenstein (1964), Frankenstein Created Woman (1967), Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969), The Horror of Frankenstein (1970) and Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (1973).
Terence Fisher’s other genre films are:– the sf films The Four-Sided Triangle (1953) and Spaceways (1953), The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), Dracula/The Horror of Dracula (1958), The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959), The Man Who Could Cheat Death (1959), The Mummy (1959), The Stranglers of Bombay (1959), The Brides of Dracula (1960), The Two Faces of Dr Jekyll (1960), The Curse of the Werewolf (1961), The Phantom of the Opera (1962), The Gorgon (1964), Dracula – Prince of Darkness (1966), Frankenstein Created Woman (1967), The Devil Rides Out/The Devil’s Bride (1968), Frankenstein Must be Destroyed (1969) and Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (1973), all for Hammer. Outside of Hammer, Fisher has made the Old Dark House comedy The Horror of It All (1964) and the alien invasion films The Earth Dies Screaming (1964), Island of Terror (1966) and Night of the Big Heat (1967).
REVIEW: Richard Scheib
IMAGES: Marcus Brooks
Thursday 17 January 2013
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