COMING UP THIS WEEKEND ON THE PCASUK FACEBOOK FAN PAGE:
Over the weekend we'll be celebrating the blu ray release Hammer Films
THE EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN from Final Cut Entertainment, posting a
selection of large hi res scans of RARE photographs from the
film and launching a competition where you can a bag a free copy of the
blu ray. We'll be giving details of our Grindhouse 'CORRUPTION' blu ray
competition, there's also a chance for you to win copies of Reel
Solutions 'Peter Cushing Centenary Monograph' AND we'll be announcing
the WINNERS NAMES to our HAMMER SOCKS(!!) competition from last weekend.
We look forward to your company
Saturday 17 August 2013
WEEKEND AT PCASUK FACEBOOK FAN PAGE : GRAB THOSE GOODIES!
Labels:
competitions,
evil of frankenstein blu ray,
facebook.,
final cut entertainment,
grindhouse releasing,
peter cushing,
reel solutions
Friday 16 August 2013
PEDRO DE QUEIROZ ASKS 'CORRUPTION' SLEAZE OR QUALITY?
CORRUPTION - SLEAZE OR QUALITY?
Clichéd, sensational, and drab-looking. It’s hard to deny this 1967
Peter Cushing vehicle
directed by exploitation expert Robert Hartford-Davis deserves such
adjectives. It’s equally hard to deny it’s a unique and forceful
experience, even for those who hate its power. Why?
Here’s the plot – Sir John Rowan (Cushing), a brilliant surgeon, has to
recurrently kill people in order to make a serum to restore his
beautiful fiancée’s scarred face – a stock subject matter for a horror
film ( “The Corpse Vanishes”, a 1942 Monogram programmer for Bela
Lugosi comes to mind ) executed with the same graphic surgical emphasis
shortly before seen in George Franju’s respected “The Eyes without a
Face” (1959) and Jesus Franco’s not-so-respected rip-off, “The Awful Dr.
Orloff” (1962). Sir John then goes about carrying a
Jack-the-Ripper-type case of medical tools and murdering women. After an
explosive ending, the movie, apparently for want of somewhere else to
go, tacks on an epilog borrowed from another classic, Ealing Studio’s
“Dead of Night” (1945).
From this derivative platform, the script by Donald and Derek Ford (who
had previously used the Jack the Ripper motif in the fine “A Study in
Terror” where the infamous Victorian killer meets Sherlock Holmes)
departs to focus on its own interests. First, characterisation and
psychological nuance. Sir John is a case study in the pathology of
perfeccionism.
Before the opening credits are over we see him working
tirelessly on the operating table, commenting that “the more successes,
the more one fears failure”, and napping in a dimly lit, crammed library
dominated by a dignified bust – of himself? – with a book still open on
his lap.
Many have said it’s uncongruous for him to be infatuated with vain,
unpleasant Lynn Nolan (Sue Lloyd from “The Baron” teleseries ...). Well,
assuming this uptight, middle-aged bachelor hasn’t got where he is
without a fair amount of renounce the love of a beautiful model much
younger than himself would be enough to make him infatuated –
“obsessed”, as his colleague Dr. Harris (Noel Trevarthen) rightly points
out – with her. Not only is he making up for the lost years, she is
also another trophy, another “success” in his career. When he finds
himself guilty of the accident that horribly burns her face, there are
literally no lengths he wouldn’t go to to rescue her.
He doesn’t need to kill desirable girls. He chooses them. One could
argue they’re easier to handle than a strong male target. But when the
prospective victim is a younger girl whose life isn’t “lost”, he
resists. “I have sworn to preserve life, not to take it”, he says, his
face lit up by a table lamp. The assumption is that a life of contention
has groomed aggressivity toward sexually arousing women.
The movie
isn’t mysoginistic, the protagonist is.
As for Lynn, neither the script nor the actress overplays her femme
fatale function as with, say, Hazel Court in the Roger Corman Poe
adaptations. We believe in her physical and emotional pain (“People
turning away as they see me!...” She’s a model! The dialogue has the
intelligence of using the characters’ biographic and professional
backgrounds to tighten the screw) and she sounds truthful when she says
she’s chosen Sir John for “the man” rather than the money or title. And
Steve Harris is a find. As the nominal hero, he’s clever enough to
figure John’s actions and motives, but his Jiminy Cricket interventions
are tiring and ineffectual, and when he finally acts in the climax, he
does so in such a misjudged and clumsy way he just precipitates
disaster. In one blow the filmmakers make up a credible character,
subvert a pivotal cliché, and slap censorship and moralism in the face.
The film also sheds a new light on the old hat story by firmly setting
it in the kitchen sink places and realities of swinging London, with the
main result of providing a contrast between the old world represented
by Sir John and the emerging landscape of the 60’s. The final act when
the house is invaded by beatniks (a less conspicuous borrowing, this
from John Huston’s “Treasure of Sierra Madre”, but totally filtered and
legitimated) is remarkable in that each party is freaked by the other.
The demented Groper (David Lodge of “Carry On” fame), wearing a black
Sgt Pepper uniform is a sturdier, diabolical mirror image for John
Lennon, pointing out the destructive side of on the road lifestyle. The
film preceded the Mansion murders by a year. Interestingly, Corman’s “A
Bucket of Blood” had also anticipated the phenomenon in a different way.
A film so concerned with the eruption of beastly instincts in diverse
contexts couldn’t have been softly staged. Its aggressive style is an
asset, as are the seedy and commonplace settings.
Hartford-Davis gets as
close as possible to Expressionistic principles within these limits in
the grotesque wide-angle shots distorting the countenance and the
surroundings of the protagonist; the opening credits with masked doctors
and equipment blended into a single mechanism; or the last – and
lasting – close-up of Cushing’s stern eyes accompanied by the soundtrack
of women’s screams. This final sequence serves more to reiterate Sir
John’s potential instability than to surprise us with some unexpected
plot point. Equal care has been taken in considering the symbolic
connotations of places and objects – the laser, the seaside, the noisy
flying gulls, and so on.
Last but not least – “Corruption” is very entertaining – its
intellectual ventures remain almost always in the subtext and never
interfere with its effectiveness as a genre piece – and VERY
professional. Its deliberate drabness should never be confused with
amateurism. It is purposefully achieved through the efforts of an
excellent crew including cinematographer Peter Newbrook (later to
photograph “The Asphyx”, 1970), composer Bill McGuffie (his jazzy score,
ranging from soothing to frenzied, is the film’s voice, no less), and
practically the whole cast. Peter at his creepiest, Lloyd, Lodge, the
iconic and beautiful Kate O’Mara as the heroine, and perhaps especially
worthy of mention , because never acknowledged, Valerie Van Ost as the
victim on the train. The lady would make an even more notable appearance
in another Cushing film - “The Satanic Rites of Dracula” (1973) –
where she displayed enormous versatily and ease as the squeamish
secretary turned wickedly anticipating victim and savagely sensuous
vampiress.
Labels:
booth,
brit horror.,
corruption,
david lodge,
hazel court,
laser killer,
retro cinema,
sue lloyd,
the awful dr orloff,
uncut
PEDRO DE QUEIROZ PERGUNTA: 'A FACE DA CORRUPCAO' BAIXARIA OU QUALIDADE?
“A FACE DA CORRUPÇÃO” – BAIXARIA OU QUALIDADE?
Chavões, sensacionalismo, visual banal. Não dá pra negar que
este veículo para Peter Cushing dirigido pelo especialista em apelação Robert
Hartford-Davis em 1967 tem isso tudo. Também não dá pra negar que o filme é uma
experiência única e poderosa, nem por aqueles que detestam sua força. Por que?
A trama: Sir John Rowan, um cirurgião brilhante, tem que
matar pessoas periodicamente para extrair delas um soro capaz de restaurar o
rosto desfigurado de sua noiva – um clichê de filme de horror (“Raptor de
Noivas”, 1942, um filme B da Monogram com Bela Lugosi, é um exemplo) executado
com a mesma ênfase em cirurgia explícita vista pouco antes no respeitado “Os Olhos sem Rosto”(1959) de Georges Franju,
e já imitado no não-tão-respeitado “O Terrível Dr. Orloff” (1962), de Jesus
Franco. Sir John sai por aí carregando uma maletinha de instrumentos médicos a la
Jack, o Estripador e matando mulheres. Depois de um final explosivo, o filme,
aparentemente por falta de solução melhor, plagia o epílogo de outro clássico, “Na
Solidão da Noite” (1945), da Ealing.
Partindo dessa plataforma surrada, o roteiro de Donald e
Derek Ford – que já tinham abordado Jack, o Estripador no ótimo “Névoas do
Terror” (1965), em que o famigerado assassino vitoriano encontra Sherlock
Holmes – se concentra em seus próprios interesses. Pra começar, caracterização
e nuances psicológicas. Sir John é um caso clínico de perfeccionismo
patológico. Antes dos créditos iniciais terminarem, nós o vemos suando na mesa
de operações, comentando que “quanto mais sucessos, mais se temem as falhas” e
cochilando numa biblioteca abarrotada dominada por um busto imponente – dele? -
à meia-luz, com um livro ainda aberto em
seu colo.
Muitos reclamam que não faz sentido ele se apaixonar pela
vaidosa e desagradável Lynn Nolan (Sue Lloyd, da série de TV “The Baron”). Vem
cá, admitindo que esse solteirão travado de meia-idade não chegou aonde está
sem uma bela dose de renúncia pessoal, o amor de uma linda modelo muito mais
jovem que ele bastaria pra deixá-lo bobo (“obcecado” por ela, diz seu colega
Dr. Harris, com razão). Não só ele está indo atrás do tempo perdido, mas ela é
um troféu, outro “sucesso” em sua carreira. Quando o rosto dela é queimado num
acidente por culpa dele, não há do que não seja capaz para resgatá-la.
Ele não precisa matar mulheres desejáveis. É escolha.
Pode-se argumentar que são mais fáceis de dominar que um homem, mas quando a
vítima em questão é uma garota mais jovem cuja vida ainda não é “perdida”, ele
resiste. “Jurei preservar a vida, não tirá-la”, ele diz, o rosto subitamente
iluminado por um abajur. Presume-se que uma vida inteira de contenção alimentou
uma agressividade contra mulheres sexualmente excitantes. O filme não é
misógino, o protagonista sim.
Quanto a Lynn, nem o roteiro nem a atriz força a mão em seu
papel de mulher fatal como, digamos, Hazel Court nas adaptações de Poe feitas
por Roger Corman. Acreditamos em seu tormento físico e emocional (“Gente
virando o rosto quando me vê...” Ela é modelo! Os diálogos têm a inteligência
de aproveitar a experiência profissional e de vida dos personagens para
intensificar o drama) e ela parece sincera quando diz que escolheu John pelo “homem”,
não o título ou o dinheiro. Steve Harris é um achado. Herói nominal do filme,
ele é bastante esperto para descobrir as ações e entender os motivos de John,
mas sua impertinência de Grilo Falante é ineficaz, e quando ele finalmente age
no clímax, faz de modo tão equivocado e desastrado que precipita a catástrofe.
De uma tacada, os realizadores criam um personagem verossímil, subvertem um
clichê básico e fazem um desaforo aos moralistas e censores.
O filme dá novo sentido à história velha ancorando-a
firmemente na realidade e ambientes prosaicos da “swinging London”, resultando
principalmente num contraste entre o velho mundo representado por Sir John e o
panorama emergente nos anos 60. O último ato, quando a casa é invadida por “beatniks”
(uma apropriação menos evidente, esta de “O Tesouro de Sierra Madre”, de John
Huston, mas totalmente filtrada e legitimada) é notável por mostrar cada grupo
horrorizado com o outro. O loucão Groper (David Lodge, conhecido pela série
cinematográfica “Carry On”) é uma paródia diabólica e corpulenta de John Lennon
usando um uniforme de Sgt. Pepper, só que preto, sugerindo o lado destrutivo da
vida pé na estrada. Curiosamente, Corman tinha feito o mesmo de forma diferente
em “O Segredo Negro” (1959).
Um filme tão focado na erupção de instintos violentos em
contextos diversos não poderia ser encenado de forma suave. Sua agressividade
tem razão de ser, assim como os ambientes derrubados e ordinários.
Hartford-Davis se aproxima tanto quanto possível dos princípios expressionistas
sem fugir desses limites na grotesca distorção do semblante e do entorno do
protagonista pela lente grande-angular; na sequência de abertura com os médicos
mascarados e os equipamentos se fundindo num único mecanismo; e na imagem final
- o perturbador close dos olhos de Peter com os gritos das mulheres como trilha
sonora. A última sequência funciona menos para nos pegar com um final-surpresa
que para realçar o desequilíbrio potencial de John.O mesmo cuidado foi tomado
com as conotações simbólicas dos objetos e locais – o laser, a beira-mar, as
gaivotas voando ruidosamente...
Por fim e não menos importante, “A Face da Corrupção” é
grande entretenimento – e MUITO profissional. Seu prosaísmo intencional não
deve ser jamais confundido com amadorismo. É, sim, um resultado deliberadamente
atingido pelo trabalho de uma equipe de alto nível, que inclui o cinegrafista
Peter Newbrook (“The Asphyx”, 1970), o compositor Bill McGuffie (cuja trilha de
jazz, indo do mais relaxante ao mais frenético é nada menos que a voz do filme)
e praticamente todo o elenco: Peter, Sue, Lodge, a emblemática e bela Kate O’Mara
no papel da heroína e, talvez especialmente, porque nunca reconhecida, Valerie
Van Ost como a vítima no trem. A moça daria uma interpretação ainda mais
notável em outro filme de Peter – “Os Ritos Satânicos de Drácula” (1973) –
passando com enorme versatilidade e facilidade de secretária introvertida a
vítima sacaninha e vampira selvagemente sensual .
Labels:
a face da corrupcao,
arthouse.,
grindhouse releasing,
kate omara,
peter cushing,
robert hartford davis,
sleazy,
sue lloyd
Thursday 15 August 2013
FINAL CUT ENTERTAINMENT RELEASES 'EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN' BLU RAY PCASUK CELEBRATES!
Worth
taking a look in on the UK Peter Cushing Appreciation Society Facebook
Fan Page this weekend. Leading up to the FINAL CUT ENTERTAINMENT blu ray
/ DVD combo release on the 26th of this month of Hammer Films 'THE EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN'
starring Peter Cushing, PCASUK are promising a batch of goodies, rare
stills and competitions including copies of the Final Cut release.
PCASUK are following this with another treat the following weekend,
when FINAL CUT releases the blu ray / DVD combo of Hammer Films, 'THE BRIDES OF DRACULA' also starring Peter Cushing.
Labels:
blu ray,
evil of frankenstein,
final cut entertainment.,
hammer house of horror,
kiwi kingston,
peter cushing,
releasing frankenstein,
the baron
Tuesday 13 August 2013
IT'S ALL GREEK! 'THE DEVIL'S MEN' 'LAND OF THE MINOTAUR' FEATURE AND PHOTO GALLERY
When a number of young people go missing on a sleepy Greek island, Father Roache (Donald Pleasence) fears that the devil is at work…
The horror genre was in a state of flux in the late 1970s. Hollywood
had proved it possible to make quality genre films on a big budget with
the likes of Rosemary’s Baby (1968) and The Exorcist (1973), while
independent filmmakers like George A. Romero (Night of the Living Dead,
1968) and Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chain Saw Massacre) demonstrated that
talent and ingenuity could make up for a lack of resources, and in the
process helped to drag the genre away from the gothic into something
much more immediate and “in your face.” Budget conscious
producers around the globe attempted to keep abreast of the changes in
audience tastes, and many of the actors associated with the more “old
fashioned” thrills of yesteryear found it necessary to branch out in
search of steady employment. With the virtual demise of
Hammer and Amicus looming during this time frame, Peter Cushing – who
had spent the bulk of his career working in his beloved England – was
occasionally obliged to accept work on minor films shot in comparatively
“exotic” locales. The Devil’s Men (aka, Land of the Minotaur) was one such assignment.
The film was produced in Greece under the auspices of producer Frixos Constantine. Constantine
had some hopes of turning Greece into a new “player” in the
international filmmaking scene, but his hopes would, for all intents and
purposes, go unfulfilled. Looking at The Devil’s Men, it’s easy to see why. Constantine
was on the right track when it came to importing Donald Pleasence and
Peter Cushing to give the film some name value, but his selection of the
screenplay and the director proved far less inspired. The
end result was met with resounding indifference in most quarters, and
Constantine’s career as an independent producer came to an ignominious
end. He
would later have a hand in Michael Powell’s swansong, Return to the
Edge of the World (1978), but his credits since then have been limited
to short subjects of an educational bent.
The story is as hackneyed as it is predictable. A bunch of obnoxious horny teens go missing. A
concerned priest calls in a pal-turned-New York-flatfoot to help
investigate, since the local authorities are incompetent and
unconcerned. The pal is concerned, but not terribly
competent – he spends a good deal of time wanting to get information out
of a local woman, for reasons that are never made terribly clear, and
basically exercises bad judgment at every turn. Ultimately,
it is revealed that an exiled nobleman (Peter Cushing at his most
chilly) appears to be the mastermind behind the plot.
In many respects, The Devil’s Men is an amateurish mess. And yet, for some reason, it has a certain wonky charm. Despite
the best attempts of director Costa Carayiannis, whose basic MO appears
to be to lock down the camera and zoom in and out a great deal, there’s
some atmospheric sequences. The Greek locales are photogenic. Brian Eno contributes an eerie score. And the climax gives the ending of Robert Fuest’s The Devil’s Rain (1975) a run in terms of sheer lunacy.
There’s also the performances of Pleasence and Cushing to consider. Neither
actor really gives one of their more memorable performances here, but
they look very good indeed compared to the likes of Costa Skouras, whose
New York cop emerges as one of the most obnoxious clowns ever to
“grace” a horror film. Pleasence looks properly bemused, while Cushing turns off his usual grandfatherly charm to play a downright nasty villain. The
script doesn’t give him a great deal to do, but Cushing seizes the few
opportunities that come his way, and the film certainly springs to life
during his too-few appearances.
It will never be mistaken for great (or even
good) art, but The Devil’s Men is still worth a look for its various
positive attributes; fans of Cushing will also be interested to see him
playing a completely unsympathetic role for once, while Pleasence gets
to rehearse his later appearance in John Carpenter’s vastly superior
Prince of Darkness (1987).
fEATURE: TROY HOWARTH
IMAGES: MARCUS BROOKS
fEATURE: TROY HOWARTH
IMAGES: MARCUS BROOKS
JOIN US AT OUR FACEBOOK FAN PAGE: UPDATED DAILY: HERE
Labels:
costa carayiannis,
donald pleasence,
exorcist,
frixos constantine,
greece,
land of the minotaur,
peter cushing,
the devils men,
the devils people,
the devils rain,
tobe hooper.
TEMPTATIONS LTD PETER CUSHING: FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE (1974)
CAST:
Linking Story: Peter Cushing (Antique Store Proprietor). 1: David Warner (Edward Jeffries). 2: Ian Bannen (Christopher Lowe), Donald Pleasence (Jim), Angela Pleasence (Emily), Diana Dors (Mabel Lowe). 3: Ian Carmichael (Richard), Margaret Leighton (Madame Orlov), Nyree Dawn Porter (Suzanne). 4: Ian Ogilvy (Williams), Lesley Anne Down (Rosemary Williams)
PRODUCTION:
Director
– Kevin Connor, Screenplay – Raymond Christodolou & Robin Clarke,
Based on Short Stories by Ronald Chetwynd-Hayes, Producers – Max J.
Rosenberg & Milton Subotsky, Photography – Alan Hume, Music –
Douglas Gamley, Special Effects – Alan Bryce, Production Design –
Maurice Carter. Production Company – Amicus.
SYNOPSIS:
An antique store proprietor promises a little ‘something extra’ with everything he sells. 1:-
Edward Jeffries buys a mirror for his apartment. One evening, he has
the urge to hold a seance. There he is possessed by a man in the mirror
who uses Jeffries to lure girls to the apartment and sacrifice them so
that he might gain physical form again. 2:- Hen-pecked husband
Christopher Lowe befriends a street peddler and begin an affair with the
man’s strange daughter. The daughter shows him how he can use a voodoo
doll to get rid of his nagging wife. 3:- A man encounters the
batty old Madame Orlov on a train who tells him he has an elemental
spirit on his shoulder. When he finds himself strangling his wife, he is
forced to call upon Madame Orlov’s services to exorcise the spirit. 4 A man buys an antique door and finds that it opens back into the era of Charles I.
COMMENTARY:
From Beyond the Grave was one of the best horror anthologies to come from Amicus. (See below for Amicus’s other anthologies). From Beyond the Grave
was the directorial debut of Kevin Connor who would go onto become a
modest name in genre cinema. This is in fact one of Kevin Connor’s best
films and he demonstrates exceptional directorial style. Particularly
good are the seance scenes in the first episode where Connor conducts
some inventive 360o pans with a candle
that explodes between a flickering flame and a jet in the foreground.
The murders in this segment are vividly staged with Connor creating some
marvellously sinister images of David Warner standing about in
bloodstained clothes and a wrecked apartment.
The
second and third stories go for a much more tongue-in-cheek tone. The
second is a veritable EC Comics tale – in fact, is a more successful
EC-type story than Amicus’s two actual EC adaptations, Tales from the Crypt (1972) and The Vault of Horror
(1973), were. The second episode has a particularly strong cast in
weak-willed Ian Bannen; Diana Dors, who is having the time of her life
playing it up as the wife; and a decidedly offbeat Donald Pleasence and
his very, very weird real-life daughter Angela.
The
third episode is played entirely for laughs. The exorcism scenes are a
wonderfully over-the-top pyrotechnic show after which it surely seems
impossible to watch The Exorcist (1973) with a straight face again. Margaret Leighton’s performance as the batty old exorcist is side-splitting.
Where
in most anthologies there usually tends to be some stories that are
weaker or stronger than others, this is one occasion where all four
stories are equally strong. The only failing is the weak linking story,
which has to contrive to introduce antique objects that have no other
purpose in the episode other than to wind in the second and third
stories. The linking story also contains an awkward performance from the
usually great Peter Cushing.
Amicus’s other horror anthologies are:– Dr Terror’s House of Horrors (1964), Torture Garden (1967), The House That Dripped Blood (1970), Asylum (1972), Tales from the Crypt (1972) and The Vault of Horror
(1973). Amicus producer Milton Subotsky later adapted more short
stories from British writer Ronald Chetwynd-Hayes in his horror
anthology The Monster Club (1980).
From Beyond the Grave was the
directorial debut of Kevin Connor who later became a genre regular.
Connor next directed Amicus’s trilogy of lost world Edgar Rice Burroughs
adaptations, The Land That Time Forgot (1974), At the Earth’s Core (1976) and The People That Time Forgot (1977), and one original lost world film Warlords of Atlantis (1978), all starring Doug McClure; the Arabian Nights fantasy Arabian Adventure (1979); the cannibalism black comedy Motel Hell (1980); and the Japanese ghost story The House Where Evil Dwells (1982). These days Connor directs for tv, making such unexceptional true life soap opera fare as Diana: Her True Story (1993), Liz: The Elizabeth Taylor Story (1995), Mother Teresa: In the Name of God’s Poor (1997) and Mary, Mother of Jesus (1999). Among Connor’s genre tv fare is:- Goliath Awaits (1981), an interesting tv mini-series about a society that has survived in a sunken ship; The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1986), which brought the famous sleuth into the present-day; the Indian adventure The Mysteries of the Dark Jungle (1991); the stalker thriller Shadow of Obsession (1994); the Egyptian archaeology adventure The Seventh Scroll (1999); the Christmas fantasies Santa, Jr. (2002), A Boyfriend for Christmas (2004)and Annie Claus is Coming to Town (2011); the Hallmark adaptation of Frankenstein (2004); and Chasing Leprechauns (2012).
Images: Marcus Brooks
Labels:
amicus films,
angela pleasence,
david warner.,
diana dors,
donald pleasence,
ian ogilvy,
peter cushing,
shop keeper,
temptations limited
Saturday 10 August 2013
SOCK IT TO ME SUNDAY! WIN A SET OF HAMMER FILM SOCKS!
Here's a bit of fun for tomorrow @ the UK Peter Cushing Appreciation Society Facebook Fan Page Hammer Socks! Now selling on ebay for silly money, you can bag a set for free! Sock It To Me Sunday! Ten sets to win. Three pairs of socks in a set depicting Christopher Lee
as the creature in 'The Curse Of Frankenstein' and Count Dracula in
'Dracula' (1958) and 'Taste The Blood Of Dracula' (1970)
Labels:
christopher lee.,
curse of frankenstein,
footwear,
hammer film socks,
monster feet,
novelty socks,
peter cushing,
stockings
Thursday 8 August 2013
BEWARE THE MOORS AT NIGHT! TROY HOWARTH REVIEWS PETER CUSHING'S BBC 'HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES'
According to legend, the heirs of the
Baskerville family are all doomed to meet untimely demises at the claws of the
Hound of the Baskervilles; Sherlock Holmes is called in to uncover the truth…
Sir Arthur
Conan Doyle’s career as a writer is inextricably linked to his most famous
creation, Sherlock Holmes. This was not what the author himself had in
mind, however, and indeed he eventually tired of the popularity of the
character and grew to resent having to serialize his adventures. He decided
to kill the master detective off in 1893, with The Final Problem, wherein
Holmes takes a tumble off Reichenbach Falls while struggling with his nemesis,
the criminal mastermind Professor Moriarty. Public outcry was so strong
that Doyle eventually felt compelled to revive the character. Published
in 1901 and 1902, The Hound of the Baskervilles – its action set before the
incidents dramatized in The Final Problem – was the first of the “new” Holmes
adventures; it has since become the most popular of the various Holmes
adventures. It also remains far and away the most heavily adapted for
film and television. A complete rundown of the various versions would
call for an article in itself; suffice to say, it was serialized in Germany on
at least two occasions during the silent era, in addition to several other
British and German versions, many of which are now believed to be lost.
The 1939 version from 20th Century Fox version is remembered less
for its (sometimes spotty) merits as a film than for being the first to
introduce the now-legendary pairing of Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce as Holmes
and Watson. Rathbone remains the screen’s definitive Holmes, while
Bruce’s less-than-canonical account of Watson remains a sore point with many purists.
The Fox version has some nice set pieces but lumbers under the pedestrian
direction of Sidney Lanfield.
An obscure German version from the 1950s
would follow, but it would be up to Hammer Films to offer up the next
significant adaptation. Peter Cushing made his debut as Holmes, with
Andre Morell as a much-truer-to-Doyle incarnation of Watson. Capitalizing
on the success of their Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and Dracula (1958), Hammer
also saw fit to cast Christopher Lee in the role of Sir Henry Baskerville, thus
giving the actor his first chance to play a romantic lead. This version
has many fine points to recommend notably Morell’s Watson and a tour de force
bit of directing from Terence Fisher during the film’s extended opening
flashback sequence – but it suffers from taking too many liberties with the
text and has a generally cramped and claustrophobic quality, despite some
superb cinematography by the great Jack Asher. Cushing’s neurotic take on
the detective, however, did not really connect with audiences – and the film
failed to repeat the box office takings of Hammer’s straight horror films, thus
quashing the potential for a series of Holmes adventures.
The next
version is the one under discussion, produced by the BBC , with Cushing reprising
his turn as Holmes and Nigel Stock stepping in to play Watson, as he had done
for the entire run of the BBC series. Later versions would range from the
serious to the comical – Paul Morrissey’s slapstick-infused version from 1978,
starring Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, is often reviled, but taken on its own
lighthearted terms, it offers some genuine chuckles – with wildly uneven
results. A 1972 TV version starring Stewart Granger and Bernard Fox was
one of the worst, while Granada ’s miniseries version with Jeremy Brett and
Edward Hardwicke was something of a disappointment. Ultimately, for a
story adapted for the screen on so many occasions, the definitive version has
proved elusive; in many respects, this two-part BBC version is as good an
option as any, for at least it remains true to the basic particulars of the
story, and offers up a fine Cushing performance at its center. But like every other extant version to date,
it most definitely falls way short of the potential offered by the subject matter.
Like other entries in the BBC series, the film
suffers, aesthetically, from the mixture of being shot on film and video – the location
photography is much appreciated, however, and helps to add a sense of menace to
the proceedings. The script is dialogue
heavy, but this is hardly an issue when Cushing is on hand to help sell the
material. He again displays great
chemistry with Stock, and the two actors are quite skilled at bringing their
characters to life. Director Graham
Evans shows himself to be more competent than inspired, and the pacing tends to
slacken when Holmes is off screen – which, this being relatively faithful to
the text, poses a problem in the mid-section of the narrative.
The supporting cast includes Gary Raymond,
then part of the ensemble of the popular Rat Patrol TV series and later to
headline on the better episodes of The Hammer House of Horror, Two Faces of
Evil. Raymond does a capable job as Sir
Henry, though he inevitably lacks the sheer presence of Lee in the earlier
adaptation. Ballard Berkeley, later to
find small screen immortality as the delightfully dotty Major in Fawlty Towers,
puts in an appearance as Sir Charles Baskerville; he had earlier costarred with
Cushing in Cone of Silence (1960). David
Leland makes for a less blustery and overtly suspicious-looking Dr. Mortimer
than Lionel Atwill and Francis DeWolff, in the Fox and Hammer versions,
respectively; he would later pop up in comedic relief capacity in Roy Ward
Baker’s Scars of Dracula (1970).
This version of Hound may not offer up the blood and
thunder approach of the Hammer version, but it remains a very competent
adaptation in its own right.
It’s truer
in spirit and particulars to Doyle’s original tale, and it makes for a cozy way
of whiling away a couple of hours on a rainy afternoon; mystery lovers with a
love of old fashioned whodunnits will be properly entertained.
Review: Troy Howarth
Images: Marcus Brooks
Review: Troy Howarth
Images: Marcus Brooks
Please Join Us At The Official FACEBOOK FAN PAGE of The PCAS : HERE
Labels:
bbc,
dartmoor,
gary bond,
hammer horrors,
hound of the baskervilles,
nigel stock,
peter cushing.,
sir arthur conan doyle
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)