Monday 22 May 2017

#MONSTERMONDAY: JACK PALANCE IS RONALD WYATT


#MONSTERMONDAY: COLLECTORS can be very strange folk! I have come across a quite few in my time, while managing PCAS. Not all weird, but ...some 🙂 The passion for collecting and completing is a strong force. When is it time to say, 'The collection is now, complete'? Where do you draw the line?


WE COVERED PETER CUSHING CHARACTER IN THIS 
STORY A FEW MONTHS AGO


DIRECTOR FREDDIE FRANCIS ON JACK PALANCE:
I loved working with Jack Palance, and I’m happy to say we were able to work together on two movies, although the second was less than memorable. He is a wonderfully educated man about many diverse subjects including, of course his passion, fine art. I always got the impression that acting was only a means to an end by allowing him to buy art. During filming it also became obvious that Jack would have loved to have been an Englishman as he seemed to like everything that was English. At the time I had a Bentley (business was good), and Jack used to love to ride in it either with me or my driver (business was very good). He would sit in the front seat, next to the driver, wearing a bowler hat. This was the most incongruous sight that you could possibly imagine. Picture if you can a Hollywood tough guy wearing an English bowler and sitting in a Bentley. I suspect this sight raised a few eyebrows in Knightsbridge when he drove up to the Royal Garden Hotel where he was staying. I never did find out whether Jack bought the bowler for the Bentley or whether he had possessed one before he was given free rein with the car. He would also wear it when we went to a pub called Harrows near Sheperton Studios because he thought that’s what Englishmen did. I have to tell you he stood out like a sore thumb.”



IN CUSHING'S 'The Man Who Collected Poe' story in Amicus films, 'Torture Garden (1967) the line is well and truly crossed, well before we join the story. Just WHAT is in that room? Jack Palance, as Ronald Wyatt needs to know. In a two-hander story, with Cushing and Palance, Amicus accidentally discovers a great feat of casting. Both Cushing and Palance appear to be really enjoying their roles, and playing off each other, in what is fabulous watch. And then, being a short story...it's over. It would have been great to have seen them again, in another film, maybe? Palance as Wyatt, passionate, driven, blinded, maybe? A Monster? You decide. . . 


TRIVIA: The Man Who Collected Poe, was originally to have had Cushing AND Christopher Lee in the roles of Lancelot Canning and Ronald Wyatt. Lee was edged out by Colombia, who were financing the film for Amicus...and they wanted Palance as Wyatt instead...!


IN 'THE MAN WHO COLLECTED POE',” Palance manages to hold his own with horror icon Peter Cushing as the two actors discuss Poe’s work with great enthusiasm. Palance, much like Cushing, does not treat the genre with disdain and seems to relish his roll while chewing-up and spitting-out the scenery. His character is delightfully devilish and uncommonly urbane while he smokes his pipe and devotes his attention to Gothic literature. In the real world, Palance was a Stanford University graduate with a degree in Journalism and Theatre as well as a passionate art collector who enjoyed painting and writing poetry. You get a genuine sense of the real man that Palance was underneath his tough-guy Hollywood image in Torture Garden, which allowed the actor to flaunt his genuine appreciation for the written word as well as his sincere enthusiasm for collecting. Palance was also a reported Anglophile and must have relished being able to make movies in the United Kingdom with a British cast and crew.


 OUR FEATURE ON THIS FILM CAN BE FOUND WITH GALLERY :HERE!




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A FIGHT TO THE DEATH VINCENT PRICE AND PETER CUSHING!



#GETTHECUSHIONITSCUSHINGSUNDAY! SPOILERS! :Here's a clip that could have made exclusively for our weekly themed Sunday! Action, drama and shock, that gets you reaching for that CUSHION to hide behind! All provided by Peter Cushing, Vincent Price...and Adrienne Corri! Doctor DEATH is BACK! It's Amicus films, 'Madhouse' And, what a great scene!











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Saturday 20 May 2017

VAN HELSING AND ALUCARD GO HEAD TO HEAD!


#HAMMERFILMSATURDAY: The scene that probably rankled Hammer film fans the most? The lifting of the Alucard motif from Universal's Son Of Dracula and death by.....well, you'll see. Personally, I could think of a dozen or more interesting ways to polish off Mr A, but I suppose Mr H had to improvise, with what he had to hand?? What do you think???



 






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WHEN VINCENT PRICE SURPRISED CHRISTOPHER LEE, LEE SURPRISED CUSHING AND CUSHING SURPRISED LEE!


#HAMMERFILMSATURDAY: NOT A POST ON A HAMMER FILM as such, but certainly the emphasis is on shock and surprise! All three actors in this feature, relied on the power of surprise and of the unexpected, those golden rules were also the glue that held a television show like, 'THIS IS YOUR LIFE' together, and made it such a thrill to watch. The big question, after the initial netting of the programmes 'victim', was who was going to walk through the door and appear in the studio next?


THERE CAN'T BE MANY who have never seen the show, which was originally screened in the USA and  hosted by its creator and producer, Ralph Edwards. Christopher Lee was chosen as the shows subject on 3rd April 1974. At 51 years old, Lee still had a very long way to go and several major career defining roles at this point in his long life. The guests included  his wife, Gitte, daughter Christina, his mother, sister, brother, and fellow actors Peter Cushing, Vincent Price, Patrick Macnee, and Sammy Davis Jr. Lee who sometimes could be a little stiff and guarded in personal appearances on tv, looked relaxed and having a good time, thankfully a position that we would eventually see him adopt more often, as he got older.





BECAUSE OF WORK commitments, Christopher Lee was unable to attend Peter Cushing's 'The Is Your Life' tribute show in 1990. But he did record a message for his friend, whic was played to Cushing, during the recording of the show.



THE 'NO-SHOW' at the studio, for Peter's programme, surprised a few people. Often the show had a habit of showing a recording of a guest who could be there, for whatever reason.. and then bringing the same guest on from around the back...they were there all the time! But, sadly not in this case. The show was a great success, with much laughter from Peter, who waqs obviously enjoying himself. Maybe, a Cushing This Is Your Life should have happened sooner? Peter looked frail, many  guests who could have contributed much to the story of Peter's life, had long passed. Having said that, Joyce Broughton, in several interviews, always made the point of, Cushing telling her, 'If that show gets in touch, tell them no. Under no circumstances, no!' It''s worth noting that, Cushing DID know about the  planned recording weeks before, when he became so suspicious of Joyce's behavior, she had to tell him. If that was a good thing or not, you decide... 


RALPH EDWARDS APPROACHES, Price in a bookstore and says, 'It's good to see you are autographing a copy of your own book, 'A Treasury of American Art' ..and at no point does Vincent suspect anything is a-miss. 'Yes, that's right.' says Price, 'It's a wonderful book!' 'Well..' says Edwards, 'I have another book, with your name on it, right on the front cover!'....and at that point, starts to pull out, the BIG book from a plastic carrier bag. 'I REALLY don't believe it!' howls Price. And, another one heads off to '...a studio, just a few blocks away' to meet his family and friends, before the cameras. Price has a wonderful time, and his genuine warmth and love for the guests who appear, is plain to see.


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Friday 19 May 2017

#FRANKENSTEINFRIDAY: FRANKENSTEIN IN THE DOCK : DOUBLE BILL CLIPS AND GIFS


#FRANKENSTEINFRIDAY: One thing I have noticed in these Frankenstein films down the years.. you just can't stop a creepy character from peeping in through window! Just plain nosy I say! Here's Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee doing the peeping . .



#FRANKENSTEINFRIDAY: For those of us who have a top ten of Hammer Cushing scenes, this one would be in there for sure. In fact, any scene where Cushijg's Baron deflates the pompous is always a joy to watch. Here Victor Madden gets the pin treatment, as the Baron defends his friend and assistant, Hans from the guillotine . . Frankenstein's quick come backs and chill and great...but maybe not enough to save his friend...





HERE'S A BIT of a teaser for you... you see this photograph around Hammer film fan sites a lot... can you solve this puzzle. ANSWER later . .



OUR FEATURE WITH GALLERY ON FRANKENSTEIN
 CREATED WOMAN : CLICK HERE


PETER MADDEN co stars in 'Frankenstein Created Woman', and is an actor who rarely gets a mention these days. Back in the late 50's and 60's he was a popular choice of casting, for anything from police officers, teachers, hoteliers and 'the creepy one who lurks in the back, that you are not sure of!' He appeared in several film and tv shows along side or supporting Peter Cushing. The BBC Cushing Sherlock series, Dr Terrors House of Horrors, Brides of Dracula, Kiss of the Vampire, ... So, we are mentioning him here today, because  he is one of many we come across in our features...who deserves, to be remembered.....


Peter Madden featured in one of the lobby cards of Amicus films, Dr  Terror's House of Horrors.



Peter Madden (9 August 1904 – 24 February 1976) was a British actor who was born in Ipoh in the Federated Malay States (now Malaysia). Madden was a character actor who made several appearances in Hammer films and was a familiar face in British film and television during the 1950s and 1960s.

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. . . AND THE 1956 BAFTA AWARD FOR THE BEST TV ACTOR GOES TO . . . .






Peter Cushing as Winston Smith in the BBC adaption of George Orwell's '1984' was one of many powerful live television drama performances that Cushing did for the BBC from the early 1950's.



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YOU MAY FIRE WHEN READY!: TARKIN ROGUE ONE GIFS


#THROWBACKTHURSDAY: OUR SHORTEST TRIP back ever, maybe? December 16th 2016! It's when those immortal lines, were spoken again, and for some, we went back even further too!



'You May Fire, when ready......'







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