Don't miss our update, news, features and rare pics! All at The UK Peter Cushing Appreciation Society Facebook Fan Page.
Friday 17 May 2013
ANYTHING BUT ELEMENTARY: PETER CUSHING AS SHERLOCK HOLMES
Labels:
arthur conan doyle,
bbc,
dr watson,
hound of the baskervilles,
pcasuk.,
sherlock holmes,
the dancing men
Thursday 16 May 2013
WIN EXCLUSIVE ANDREW SWAINSON HAMMER DRACULA PRINT: THIS SATURDAY AT UK PETER CUSHING APPRECIATION SOCIETY FB FAN PAGE
PCASUK Peter Cushing Centenary EXCLUSIVE
DRACULA PRINT Competition:
This Saturday 4pm gmt / 10am cst. Winner gets
to chose which design title they would prefer: Horror of Dracula /
Dracula. This sepia version of Andrew Swainson's print is exclusive to
our competition making it just like Christopher Lee's Dracula..the one
and only..!
Labels:
andrew swainson,
competition,
dracula,
exclusive print,
hammer films,
horror of dracula,
michael gough,
pcasuk,
peter cushing
Wednesday 15 May 2013
CUSHING AND PRICE AMICUS MOVIES GET NEW RELEASE ON DVD: MAD HOUSE AND SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN.
Set for a release date of MAY 27th these two beauties from the AMICUS STUDIOS unfortunately are in REGION TWO ONLY. Now might be a good time to get that region free dvd player!
Labels:
amicus films,
chsritopher lee,
linda hayden,
madhouse,
peter cushing,
scream and scream again.,
vincent price
HAMMER FILMS: TWINS OF EVIL LIMITED RUN VINYL SOUNDTRACK ALBUMS
NEWS: RELEASE DATE JUNE 20TH Death Waltz are extremely proud to announce their first collaboration with the legendary Hammer Films.
TWINS OF EVIL MUSIC COMPOSED BY HARRY ROBINSON
CONDUCTED BY PHILIP MARTELL
Original Album Compiled and Produced by Gary Wilson. Audio restoration and Digital Mastering by Peter J. Reynolds
Restoration and Mastering Assistant: Steven Cook. Re-mastered for vinyl by Optimum mastering Bristol.
Published by Universal / Dick James Music
CONDUCTED BY PHILIP MARTELL
Original Album Compiled and Produced by Gary Wilson. Audio restoration and Digital Mastering by Peter J. Reynolds
Restoration and Mastering Assistant: Steven Cook. Re-mastered for vinyl by Optimum mastering Bristol.
Published by Universal / Dick James Music
Split transparent red and solid white vinyl strictly limited to 400 copies worldwide.
Exclusively remastered for vinyl by Optimum Mastering Bristol.
Exclusive cover art by Eelus.
Exclusive sleevenotes by Marcus Hearn & Eelus.
Packaged with a 12 x 12 lithograph print and giant 22 x 22 poster of the cover art. http://www.deathwaltzrecordingcompany.com/shop/twins-of-evil/
Labels:
mary collinson. madeline collinson,
peter cushing,
rare edition.,
sountrack,
twins of evil,
vinyl
Monday 13 May 2013
PETER CUSHING CENTENARY T SHIRTS NOW READY FOR ORDER!
At the UK Peter Cushing Appreciation Society Facebook Fan Page, we listened to your requests for a PCASUK
Peter Cushing T-Shirt. And here's what we've come up with. Click on the link below, then click on the shirts to place your order. These are
fabulous. We hope you like them too. More PCASUK t-shirts to come.
"Great British Horror is proud to announce
a new partnership with The UK Peter Cushing Appreciation Society.
PCASUK, formed in 1956, is the first and longest-running Peter Cushing
club, and can be found online at petercushing.org.uk.
To celebrate
this partnership, we are pleased to offer two new official PCASUK
shirts, designed to commemorate Peter Cushing's centenary in 2013. To
order, please visit http://greatbritishhorror.com/shirts/PCASUK/
Labels:
centenary,
frankenstein created woman,
gothic horror,
hammer films,
pcasuk,
peter cushing,
peter cushing at 100.,
t shirts
PETER CUSHING AND DAWN ADDAMS: ON SET HAMMER 'VAMPIRE LOVERS'
CAST:
Ingrid Pitt (Carmilla Karnstein/Marcilla),
Madeleine Smith (Emma Morton), Harvey Hall (Renton), Kate O’Mara
(Mademoiselle Perrodot), Peter Cushing (General Spielsdorf), Pippa
Steele (Laura Spielsdorf), George Cole (Roger Morton), Jon Finch (Carl
Ebhardt), Douglas Wilmer (Baron Joachim von Hartog), Ferdy Mayne
(Doctor)
PRODUCTION:
Director – Roy Ward Baker, Screenplay – Harry Fox, Tudor Gates & Michael Style, Based on the Short Story Carmilla
by J. Sheridan Le Fanu, Producers – Harry Fine & Michael Style,
Photography – Moray Grant, Music – Harry Robinson, Music Supervisor –
Philip Martell, Makeup – Tom Smith, Art Direction – Scott MacGregor.
Production Company – Hammer/AIP.
QUICK SYNOPSIS:
A countess and her daughter Marcilla
attend a ball held by General Spielsdorf. When the countess is called
away by the death of a friend, the General chivalrously agrees to allow
Marcilla to stay. Soon after, the General’s daughter Laura starts waking
at night, claiming a big cat is in her room. She grows weak and dies in
a matter of days from vampire bites at her neck. Marcilla vanishes and
is next encountered by wealthy Britisher Roger Morton with a crashed
carriage in the woods, now calling herself Carmilla. Carmilla quickly
moves in on and seduces Morton’s innocent teenage daughter Emma and her
language tutor.
Labels:
gothic cinema.,
hammer films,
ingrid pitt,
jon finch,
lesbian vamps,
madeline smith,
peter cushing,
vampire lovers
Sunday 12 May 2013
A HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL OUR FRIENDS AND THEIR MOM'S IN THE US: PETER CUSHING'S MOTHER PHOTOGRAPH
HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all our Friends and
Mom's in the US. Here's a vintage snap of Peter Cushing's Mother, Nellie
Maria (King) Cushing on her wedding day July 3rd 1907.
Labels:
cushing centenary.,
dr who,
frankenstein,
mothers day,
nellie cushing,
peter cushing,
van helsing,
wedding day
PETER CUSHING CENTENARY CELEBRATION MAY 26TH 2013 : PETER CUSHING@100
Lost to look foward to in our Peter Cushing Centenary Celebration starting May 26th 2013 here and at our UK Peter Cushing Appreciation Society Facebook Fan page too. Please feel free to repost these images to your blog or pages.
Labels:
cushing birthday,
dr who,
dracula,
frankenstein.,
grimsdyke,
may 26th,
peter cushing centenary,
sherlock holmes,
van helsing
Saturday 11 May 2013
STAR WARS: PETER CUSHING SMOKING TARKIN : THE DISAPEARING CIGARETTE REAPPEARS!
Do
you remember the Star Wars behind scenes photograph that we posted for
the first time a few months ago, featuring Peter, Mark Hamill and Dave
Prowse? The one that looked as if '..someone, somewhere in the cut and
paste shop had deliberately painted out the cigarette that Peter was
holding in his gloved left hand? Well, we managed to find an original of
the photograph...and guess what?
Labels:
behind the scenes,
dave prowse,
grand moff tarking,
mark hamill,
on set candid,
peter cushing,
retro cinema.,
retro star wars,
star wars
DEBORAH KERR AND PETER CUSHING: THE END OF THE AFFAIR PUBLICITY PHOTOGRAPH.
Peter
Cushing as Henry Miles and Deborah Kerr as Sarah Miles in Edward
Dmytryk's 'The End of the Affair' (1954) Peter played Henry as a man '
...with a mind as neatly creased as his trousers!' Had it not been for
Peter's performance in the BBC's '1984' he may have remained playing
'repressed individuals' like Miles for a very long time...
Labels:
1984,
deborah kerr,
peter cushing centenary.,
peter cushing photograph,
retro cinema,
the end of the affair
NOTES TO FRANKENSTEIN: PETER CUSHING 'MONSTER FROM HELL' SCREENPLAY SCREENPLAY
Cover
of Peter Cushing's revised screenplay / script: 'Frankenstein and the
Monster from Hell' (Hammer Films. Terence Fisher. 1971) Peter's notes:
'Always throw coat tails up when sit... Careful not to do mannerisms
with mouth... Keep shoulders back... Always puff shirt cuffs below coat
sleeves, except with OP coat, keep them tucked in for this...Don't ever
look on ground.. Don't sniff... Cliff: Please
make my ears less red... Always be busy, doing something... Cliff: No
make up under chin because of collar getting marked... Along with train
times, there are also the telephone numbers of Peter's agent John
Redway, Brown's Hotel where Peter stayed whilst working near London,
Elstree studios and Paddy Smith who was Peter's regular stand-in. Paddy
also worked as Peter's driver, often meeting him at Victoria train
station London, when he came in from Whitstable by train and drove him
to Elstree, Shepperton or Pinewood studios.
Labels:
actors notes,
dave prowse.,
frankenstein and the monster from hell,
hammer films,
medeline smith,
peter cushing,
shane briant,
terence fisher notes
ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE: PETER CUSHING AND HIS MODEL THEATRES
Peter with one of the many working model
theatre's he made during the 50's and 60's. Examples of Peter's model
work can been seen at Peter Cushing at 100 exhibition at Whitstable
Museum and Gallery. The exhibition is open 10 am - 4pm every day until
June 23rd. Admission £3 for adults.
Monday 6 May 2013
INGRID PITT AND PETER CUSHING: CONVENTION CANDID SNAPS
Sunday 5 May 2013
A VERY NASTY BUSINESS : PETER CUSHING SUE LLOYD KATE OMARA 'CORRUPTION' AKA 'CARNAGE' TROY HOWARTH REVIEW AND GALLERY
In 1959, Georges Franju’s Eyes Without a Face made a tremendous impact on audiences. The film offered an odd mixture of the up market and the down market, with a poetic sensibility mixed with instances of graphic gore. Indeed, the film pushed the envelope further than anything Hammer Films had done at that time, yet Franju’s credentials with the art house crowd ensured that it was taken in a more serious manner. It also set the template for a series of “surgical” horror films, many of which borrowed the basic concept of a surgeon driven to madness by love. Spanish filmmaker hit pay dirt with his own variation on the formula, The Awful Dr. Orlof (1961), establishing himself – and Swiss-American character actor Howard Vernon – as a fixture in the horror genre. The British came to the party a bit late, but when they did so, via Corruption (1967), they managed to outdo the competition in terms of sheer sleaze and gratuitous violence.
The film came at an awkward period in Peter
Cushing’s career. Cushing had established himself as a household name in
the UK due to top lining a number of celebrated live TV productions,
and he parlayed this into big screen infamy by aligning himself with
Hammer Film Productions. The double-punch of The Curse of Frankenstein
(1957) and Dracula (1958) showed him to be an actor of tremendous
versatility, equally at home in roles that were villainous and heroic,
and he was soon inextricably linked with the horror genre. It was a role
Cushing accepted with some reluctance, knowing full well that it would
deprive him of more mainstream recognition – but it provided a steady
income, and this was something that he and his beloved wife Helen were
desperately in need of. Helen’s health had always been problematic, and
by the time the mid-60s rolled around, her emphysema had deteriorated to
a noticeable degree. Cushing was panic-stricken by the
notion of possibly losing her, and the costly treatments she required
insured that he was able to bank very little of the money he was making
in his film work. Thus, he accepted virtually every role he could cram
into his schedule – and though he took the work very seriously, he was
only too aware that he was sometimes accepting projects with a
less-than-distinguished pedigree. The actor had appeared in quite a few
indifferent pictures through the years, but never in his career would he
be faced with a project quite so sleazy and down market at Corruption.
The story deals with a distinguished surgeon, Sir
John Rowan (Cushing), who succumbs to madness when he accidentally
causes his lover, Lynn (Sue Lloyd), to become hideously disfigured in a
freak accident. In an effort to restore her lost beauty, via a series of
unsuccessful skin grafting operations, he turns to murder…
Say what you will about the film itself, it still
offers one of Cushing’s most intense and deeply felt performances. The
actor was deeply uncomfortable appearing in some of the scenes that were
required of him, but this does not manifest itself in a negative manner
on screen. True, the scene of Cushing lost amid a sea of hippies at a
very 60s “flower power” party is jarring – but it is sensibly played for
laughs, with Cushing conveying a sense of being a fish out of water,
desperately trying to appease his younger love interest. After the
accident which destroys Lynn ’s face, Cushing becomes determined to
correct his inadvertent actions, and in the process he loses control and
succumbs to his worst impulses. There’s a particularly strong scene
wherein Rowan, trying to keep his mounting frustration and rage under
control, finally snaps at his young assistant (Kate O’Mara). Cushing
plays the sequence for all the punch and pathos it
is worth – it doesn’t even feel so much like acting as a moment of
cathartic release, as if his own personal demons and anxieties were
spilling over into the character.
Cushing would later decry the film for its excesses, but he recognized that it had the germ of a worthy dramatic concept. It’s possible that he entered into the film hoping that it would explore the dynamics of the relationship between Rowan and Lyn, but any such idealism surely faded soon into the production. When the time came to film a sequence wherein Rowan murders a prostitute, it surely must have felt like a very bleak day. The scene was filmed twice, once in a more conventional manner befitting the censorship mores of the UK and the US marketplace, and then in a more risqué manner, which depicts the “gentleman of horror” forcing a topless actress (played by Marianne Morris; she is substituted by a clothed Jan Waters in the more commonly available edit of the film) to the ground, slashing her with a knife, smearing blood over her naked breasts, and then beheading her. It’s a very intense set piece, though director Robert Hartford-Davis’ concept of how to best capture the insanity of the moment was to go wild with the fish-eye lens effects. Clubfooted direction to one side, it’s Cushing who gives the scene its impact - partially because it seems so very out of character, and partially because he conveys a sense of going over the edge that is almost unique in his body of work.
Cushing would later decry the film for its excesses, but he recognized that it had the germ of a worthy dramatic concept. It’s possible that he entered into the film hoping that it would explore the dynamics of the relationship between Rowan and Lyn, but any such idealism surely faded soon into the production. When the time came to film a sequence wherein Rowan murders a prostitute, it surely must have felt like a very bleak day. The scene was filmed twice, once in a more conventional manner befitting the censorship mores of the UK and the US marketplace, and then in a more risqué manner, which depicts the “gentleman of horror” forcing a topless actress (played by Marianne Morris; she is substituted by a clothed Jan Waters in the more commonly available edit of the film) to the ground, slashing her with a knife, smearing blood over her naked breasts, and then beheading her. It’s a very intense set piece, though director Robert Hartford-Davis’ concept of how to best capture the insanity of the moment was to go wild with the fish-eye lens effects. Clubfooted direction to one side, it’s Cushing who gives the scene its impact - partially because it seems so very out of character, and partially because he conveys a sense of going over the edge that is almost unique in his body of work.
Sadly, the film isn’t worthy of Cushing’s efforts.
As noted above, Hartford-Davis’ direction is flat and functional at
best. He would go on to direct Cushing in an even more unfortunate
project - Incense for the Damned, aka Bloodsuckers (1970), an incomplete
hodgepodge of vampirism and flower power mysticism that was largely
filmed on location in Greece - but his most interesting and accomplished
picture remains The Fiend (1971), a demented slice of religious mania
featuring typically intense performances from Tony Beckley (When a
Stranger Calls) and Patrick Magee (A Clockwork Orange). His emphasis is
squarely on the sensational in this context, however, which creates a
dramatic vacuum where a far greater sense of emotional investment would
have been appreciated. Nowhere is this more evident than in the
depiction of the character of Lynn, played by Sue Lloyd. Lloyd is a
capable and photogenic actress, but her portrayal is
unsympathetic - and this is very much as she appears to have been
written. Lloyd doesn’t manage to invest any real pathos into the
character, regardless, thus making Cushing’s obsession with her seem
bizarre and misplaced. It’s truly as if the two actors were making two
different films - Lloyd picking up a paycheck for playing a bitchy femme
fatale, and Cushing trying to capture a far greater sense of heartfelt
sorrow and heartache. The remainder of the cast is similarly
uninspired, with even the normally reliable character actor David Lodge
(something of an unofficial member of the Peter Sellers “rep company,”
having appeared in many of the great comic’s films, including A Shot in
the Dark and I’m All Right Jack) coming off quite poorly as a goon who
roughs up Cushing’s character at one point; the actor was miscast and
likely knew it, and he resorts to broad overacting to compensate. Add
in one of the most truly horrific music
scores to be found in British horror (“courtesy” of Bill McGuffie, who
really oughtn’t have bothered) and the end result is as offputting as it
is poorly made.
Even so, Cushing fans are still encouraged to give
it a try - the “full strength” edition isn’t so easy to find, but
certainly the tamer US/UK edit is easy enough to come by. If ever there
was proof of Cushing’s utter commitment and professionalism in even the
most unsavory of projects, Corruption most certainly fulfills that
function.
Labels:
carnage,
corruption,
exploitation,
kate omara,
laser ray,
peter cushing,
robert hartford davis,
sue lloyd
Saturday 27 April 2013
GRAND MOFF TARKIN : DESTROYING PLANETS IN COMFORT : PETER CUSHING CARPET SLIPPERS
Another shot of those famous carpet slippers that Peter wore in STAR WARS as Grand Moff Tarkin. 'Moff Tarkin destroying planets in comfort'
These slippers and many other items from Peter Cushing's life and career can be seen at the 'Peter Cushing At 100' exhibition at Whitstabe Museum and Gallery.
Labels:
carpet slippers,
gran moff tarkin,
peter cushing at 100,
star wars,
whitstable museum exhibition.
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