NEWS:
KINO has released artwork design for their much awaited first time blu
ray release of a great Peter Cushing1960 film, 'Flesh and the Fiends'!
What do you think? This film comes with some extras, but for me, just
the chance to see this often forgotten little gem, on blu ray is a plus
enough! Produced in what promises to be quite an experience in black and
white, it carries a fabulous cast of
actors, Cushing, Donald Pleasence, Billy Whitelaw and George Rose all at
the top of their game and all giving their best supported by brilliant
John Gilling's screenplay and direction. It's OUT on July 7th 2020 and
like most KINO CLASSICS releases will be a 'Region A' blu ray. Taking pre-orders
now, this one will sell like hot-cakes!
THIS UNDER-VALUEDcorker, has been
struggling around in a very depressing state of ratty, scratched and
dusty prints for far too long, so the news of this well timed blu ray
release is quite wonderful. . . and here gem of a clip to show you why!
Cushing was a master at such scenes as this one. If you like his turn
in the 'Tongue slapping of the crusty and opinionated aged residents' in
Hammer films, 1969 'Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed'... you'll LIKE this clip which can be found at the =FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE TODAY!
. . ! 😊Stay Well AND Dandy Everyone 😉 - Marcus
ABOVE : THE PCASUK FULL FEATURE AND STILLS GALLERY RIGHTHERE!
FOLLOWING OUR POST of #VincentPrice singing of 'When Day Is Done' last
week, this prompted quite a few messages at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE requesting this little ditty!
Vincent sings, ladies dance and with some neat editing it works!
Released back in 1977, this almost laid the path for a certain hit to
come maybe? Vincent was far from the only one to record his own version
of this 1962, Bobby 'Boris' Pickett hit. #TheBeachBoys, The Bonzo Dog
Doo-Dah Band, Zacherle the Cool Ghoul and #TheMisfits also had a go.
Even with the amazing Leon Russell providing the piano breaks on
Pickett's recording, the BBC failed to see the funny side and banned the
song for being ‘too morbid.’ in 62! You can catch VP and his 'Monster Mash' at the PCASUk Fan Page : HERE!
HERE'S WHAT I WILL be spending my pocket money on tomorrow 😲 . . and if you love the work of #VincentPrice and are also interested in finding out about what made him tick and his time in the UK . . . . . you will too! I NEED a GOOD read and this one I know will be that and more! LOVE the cover art, Mark 😉
#VincentLeonardPrice JUNIOR DIED ON on 25 October 1993 from lung cancer, and complications of
emphysema and Parkinson’s disease. His death left family, friends and fans
with a great sense of loss, especially in Britain where The Times'
obituary described him as ‘the king of modern horror movies.’ Price was significantly influential in Britain. When American
International Pictures, who Price was under contract with, established a
base in London in the sixties, most of his subsequent movies were made
in the UK. His British output consolidated his popularity among fans,
and provided him with many career defining performances.
THIS BOOK EXPLORES the British films of Vincent Price. From 'Masque of
the Red Death' and 'The Tomb of Ligeia', through 'The Abominable Doctor
Phibes' and 'Theatre of Blood', to 'The Monster Club' and 'Edward
Scissorhands', author Mark Iveson leaves no stone unturned in his love
and appreciation of Price’s work. A fascinating tribute to a man who can
never be equalled or replaced.
YOU CAN ONLY ORDER YOUR COPY OF VINCENT PRICE : THE BRITISH CONNECTION: HERE!
PRAISE FOR MARK IVESON'S PREVIOUS BOOK
'CURSED HORROR STARS'
‘Fascinating and authoritative.’
The Consulting Detective
'A literate and pacey read. Informative and well researched.’
Amazon Reviewer
'Film stars and icons we all thought we knew! Who knew
they were so much more besides? Mark Iveson did!'
Marcus Brooks UK Peter Cushing Appreciation Society
OUR #WATCHWITHCUSHING! TODAY is PART TWO of 'The Hound of the Baskerville's' starring #PeterCushing and Nigel Stock as #SherlockHolmes and #DrWatson . .RIGHT NOW in our WATCH PARTY at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE. IF you have any requests of things you would like to see posted here during our 'lock-down' #WatchingWithCushing, please let me know!, and I will try my best to share it at the Facebook PCASUK Fan Page. . . . Please keep safe and look after one another 😉Marcus
#WATCHWITHCUSHING!
. . 'Can you hear GROWLING' ? For your weekend, and continuing our Peter Cushing Sherlock Holmes posts, over at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE is Part One of a classic.
Said by many to be the best of the BBC Cushing series. You think? We
all know the ending, but it's a LOT of fun getting there 😃I'll be posting and sharing Part Two tomorrow!
HERE'S AN INTERVIEW shot back in 1973, when both #PeterCushing and #VincentPrice were busy making the AIP Amicus films, 'Madhouse'. This section of the interview, was shot by the #BBC
tv show 'Film Night 74' also contained a longer section with both #PeterCushing
and Price. This is a separate piece with just Vincent. Always good value
for the lolly, VP starts with self-depreciation, slips in about six
jokes and even ends with gallows humour! 😆 I have never seen a dull
interview with Vincent Price..and you can catch this one today, at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE take care and stay safe, 😉- Marcus
CLICK HERE TO FIND TWO GREAT RARE PHOTO GALLERIES of behind the sceneson the VINCENT PRICE and PETER CUSHING AIP Amicus films 'MADHOUSE'. Below TWO PCASUK promo banners during the launch of the galleries on our socila media platforms . .
REMEMBERING
Master Make Up Artist, Roy Ashton, who was born today 17th April 1909!
There is so much you could say about Roy, but his work kind of says it
all! So many amazing creations in what was the golden era of Hammer
films, Amicus and Tyburn too! I was very humbled to spend time with him
at his home and while he was working, and during these times saw at
first hand what a true gentleman he was
and quite the perfectionist, with a lovely dry wit and friendly
character. Roy sadly left us in 1995, but left behind for us, a
wonderful and original body of work, that still entertains and frightens
us today! Personally, his letters I still treasure, his work I still
very much am in awe of, for sure
OVER AT THEFACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE I have asked everyone to tell
us and share their favourite 'Ashton Creation' in the comments below. BELOW is an impressive filmography of Roy's work. A #HappyBirthday,
Roy Ashton a true magician and creator of things of nightmares and
dreams too
The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) The Horror Dracula (1958) The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958) The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959) The Man Who Could Cheat Death (1959) The Mummy (1959) The Stranglers of Bombay (1959) The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll (1960) The Curse of the Werewolf (1960) The Terror of the Tongs (1961) These Are the Damned (1962) The Phantom of the Opera (1962) Night Creatures (1962) Captain Clegg The Pirates of Blood River (1962)
ABOVE: A WHILE AGOin one of our weekly PCASUK TUESDAY TOUGHY questions, we celebrated ROY ASHTON'S work with PETER CUSHING in 'Tales from the Crypt' (1972)
Paranoiac (1963) The Old Dark House (1963) The Crimson Blade (1963) Nightmare (1964) The Evil of Frankenstein (1964) The Kiss of the Vampire (1964) The Gorgon (1964)
Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors (1964) The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb (1964) The Devil-Ship Pirates (1964) The Skull (1965) She (1965) The Plague of the Zombies (1966) The Reptile (1966) The Devil Rides Out (1968) The House That Dripped Blood (1970) Hands of the Ripper (1971) The Devils (1971) Tales from the Crypt (1972) The Creeping Flesh (1972) Asylum (1972) The Vault of Horror (1973) The Ghoul (1975)
SEE OUR POSTS every day at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE HERE! and the EXPANDED version here!! EXTRA IMAGES and FEATURES every day here at our WEBSITE!
#WATCHWITHCUSHING! IT'S GREAT TO SEE the sharing of #PeterCushing's #SherlockHolmes episodes have been so popular in our PCASUK 'Watch With Cushing Parties' 😊Those you messaging and requesting other episodes from the series, just
need to dip into our post from the last three weeks. You will find them
there😉
Meanwhile, here we have 'The Sign Of Four' my personal favourite from
this Cushing BBC television series, though many see this episode as the
weakest!?
OF THE SIX #surviving
episodes, from the BBC's 'trashing and wiping tapes fiasco' The Sign
of Four' I certainly find it more entertaining and interesting... Peter
complained there was too little time for preparation, and some consider
the direction of William Sterling, to be without map or steering device!
I find these pressures to have enhanced the experience in my viewing.
Cushing has to think, react and perform much more quickly. Recorded
live, I am sure everyone was flying by the seat of their pants.. .
NIGEL STOCK AGAIN proves to be a solid and dependable Watson and
Cushing's Sherlock at times, leaves his tired and tested performance...
all interesting stuff. Supporting actor honours go to John Stratton,
another familiar face in the Cushing universe (he would go on to play
the comically blustering asylum director in #Hammerfilms
/ Cushing's 'Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell', 1972), who gives
a good account of himself as the clueless and supercilious Inspector
Jones. Howard Goorney, a busy character actor whose credits include
'The Evil of Frankenstein' (1964), '#BloodonSatan’sClaw'
(1970) and 'The Offence' (1972), also shows up in a small role. I hope
this entertains, that you and yours are safe. Take care of yourself and
each other, my friends
#WATCHWITHCUSHING!
FOLLOWING SOME REQUESTS I have received for suggestions of posts that
you would like to see shared here.. This one is for Shelia P, Dale J,
Michelle J and Matt K 😃They have requested this interview with Peter Cushing's good friend and twice screen buddy, #VincentPrice, having seen it on the PCASUK YouTube Channel 😉My pleasure. It's a fine and VERY amusing interview, where Vincent certainly entertains 😄
#WATCHWITHCUSHING!
AND SO... our last clip of the day at the Facebook PCASUK Fan Page and a suggestion from Stuart H,
Audrey K, Rob Sadler, Barbara C, Emma Teile, M Aldrich and Tori F . . if
you are ready to sleep, what better way than a sweet lullaby from
Vincent Price from the end credit sequence of the 1974 'Madhouse'
starring Vincent, Peter Cushing, Robert Quarry, Adrienne Corri and Linda
Hayden. Despite the gnashing of teeth it got from the critics and even
some fans who today, see it as a waste of the talents of Price and Cushing, it still stands as one of my personal favs. YOU can hear this clip at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE! HERE! This one is for you
too, #JimMorrow 😉 Sweet dreams, sleep tight, sleep well, stay safe 😉 - Marcus 😴😴 💤💤
#WATCHWITHCUSHING! There are some clips of #PeterCushing,
which I really enjoy and make me smile. Here are two of them. The first
is a raw UK TV studio interview. Here PC is very much 'Johnny On The
Spot' Charming and relaxed. Quite the gent, wit style and having fun.
The second, is a clip of more raw footage, that some of you may have
seen here before. It's Peter Cushing's Surprise 80th Birthday Party!
Here of course he is older, but still able to have a lot of fun and is
quite genuinely surprised and happy to see everyone. This always make me
smile. I hope you smile and enjoy this too! Stay safe everyone and look
after yourselves 😊 You'll find the clip at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE HERE!!
IF YOU WRITE, BE IT FOR a blog, facebook page or even for your own amusement, do you ever feel like all the great ideas have already been taken by the ‘real’ writers out there? Do you ever think that maybe you’re not capable of an original idea? Me? I fight with it daily! Pablo Picasso once said, 'Nothing is truly original; we all build on the work, knowledge, wisdom and accomplishments of others'. In the inspiring book, 'Steal Like an Artist, 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative - by Austin Kleon, he states,'Nobody is born with a style or a voice. We don’t come out of the womb
knowing who we are. In the beginning, we learn by pretending to be our
heroes. We learn by copying' and 'We’re talking about practice here, not plagiarism – plagiarism is trying
to pass someone else’s work off as your own. Copying is about reverse
engineering. It’s like a mechanic taking apart a car to see how it
works!' With these gems of wisdom already in mind, I recently came across a quite startling feature, that has appeared at the tvandmovienews.com site.
ABOVE : Even without the photograph of Peter Cushing provided on the right. I think most film buffs would identify the illustration on the left to have more than a shadow of a resemblance to Cushing's appearance as Grand Moff Tarkin in 'Star Wars' (1977)? When you find that the character is also of ranking and an Ambassador in the 1975 Valérian volume 'Ambassador of the Shadows', it clicks?
ABOVE : In the 1971's Empire of a Thousand Planets, the figure on the left appears
as a member of a strange group known as the 'Enlightened'. When he is unmasked,
he reveals a face that is damaged, scarred and burned, similarly to Darth
Vader's on the right in the 1983 'The Return of the Jedi'
THE FEATURE and writing appears uncredited and explores a story that seems to have been quite common knowledge in the 'Star Wars' community for quite sometime, but for me, not being a reader of comic sci fi fiction, it's all news! It's such a startling theory and reveal, that I had to go look it up further. As it's base is grounded on the idea of plagiarism and theft, I was somewhat taken aback to see WHOLE slabs of this feature, reproduced typo errors and all, on other websites and blogs! Ironic or what? So, in presenting and writing my own take on this story.. I have to tread carefully. 😉😀 All the comic frames, are indeed not mine, I have 'borrowed them' from www.core77.com and http://www.tvandmovienews.com. Here goes . .
ABOVE : The Millennium Falcon maybe one of the most loved and respected space craft in sci fi cinema history. Can we say after all the work, the multiple design stages and planning that the Millennium Falcon went through, that this was also a lift from the 1971's The Empire of a Thousand Planets comic? I am not sure . .
IF YOU WERE one of the fortunates, who is old enough to remember when the FIRST 'Star Wars' movie was released back in May 25th 1977... just one day before Peter Cushing's 64th birthday, two days before Christopher Lee's and Vincent Price's birthdays... then undoubtedly you'll also remember leaving the cinema with total glee and wonder at the whole amazing package, you had just witnessed! For many, myself included I was stunned by the scale of the special effects, the sounds, the music, the 'other universe' creatures, the whole emotional ride and the fact my favourite actor, Peter Cushing who up until this film, had been taking a bit of a back-seat as far as 'amazing movies' were concerned was now also on that big screen and part of this mind blowing, fresh, new and exciting film! As far as movie experiences were concerned, as a teenager I seriously asked myself how could I ever be THIS excited over a new movie ever again!
ABOVE : The two outfits here do bear a striking similarity to each other, although
Industrial Light & Magic costume designer Aggie Rodgers, cited the
work of fantasy artist Frank Frazetta as her main inspiration. The Empire Strikes Back, Leia Organa
is enslaved by a morbidly obese ruler (Jabba the Hutt), and forced to
wear a revealing slave-girl outfit. Believe it or not, almost the exact
same thing happens to Laureline in the 1972 Valérian volume World Without Stars;
although, in this case, the overweight monarch is Emperor Alzafar, who
rules the city of Valsennar and has pioneered a system where women are
basically responsible for everything, including fighting in wars.
ABOVE : In the 1971 'Valérian and Laureline' compilation 'Empire of a Thousand Planets',
Valérian is frozen is a substance that bears an uncanny resemblance to
Carbonite, the substance Han Solo was frozen in nearly a decade later in
1980's 'The Empire Strikes Back'. As pointed out, by The Film Theorists, Valérian's memory loss while frozen matches up a known symptom of Carbonite sickness.
MY NEXT QUESTION WAS, who was responsible for all this? What super gifted writer, put together such a thrilling concept, impressive script and very likeable and fascinating characters? The answer was quickly discovered, by me on the TV news that evening, a quite shy, quietly spoken bearded guy, from the US called George Lucas, who had been nursing the whole concept for years. It was his baby, his creation that he had been touting around the studios for quite some time. Wow! What I would have given to have just a few grains of his imaginative brain cells back then!
ABOVE : The 'Moss Eisley Cantina' is one of the Star Wars universe's key
locations, as well as one of its most popular. While its overall layout
was most likely based on real-life cantinas, there's no denying the fact
that an 'alien bar' with a certain semblance of sameness appears on the
pages of Valérian.
NOW? I AM NOT SOOOO SURE 😲😗😃 This weekend, reaching my fifth week of self isolation, during this very weird and frightening time, as well as weighing up the pros and cons of IF I should start decorating the hall and living room, I have been chewing over, the starling evidence of WHERE did George source those Star Wars characters, concepts and ideas? Taking into account of ol Pablo's point, I am not sure what I think or where Lucas lies in the whole scheme of things. Certainly, illustrator and artist, Jean-Claude Mezieres knows EXACTLY where his thoughts lie. It seems that George, for all three original Star Wars films had 'borrowed' quite liberally from the 'ideas and concepts' pantry of a French comic series called 'Valerian and Laureline' and had done so, without making reference or credit to its creators. This very popular sci fi comic was amazingly illustrated by one Jean- Claude Mezieres and written by Pierre Christin.
AT THE TIME, of the release of 'Star Wars' and the following two other movies, Mezieres was said to be, quite understandably, incensed. Now with both gentlemen in late seventies, they have simmered a little helped by their work finally getting some well deserved credit and influencing the 2017 film, 'Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets', directed by a major fan, Luc Beeson!
IF YOU WOULD LIKE to share your thoughts on this feature, it is also being posted and shared on the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE TODAY! Your comments and input would be most welcome!
#WATCHWITHCUSHING!
'Is it wrong to love THE Rogue One? Well, here's a confession, I am
very fond of this film and have a lot of respect for what Industrial
Light and Magic and Guy Henry achieved in the finished film. We've posted a feature about this today at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE . .. For
those not up to speed with what happened four years ago...here we go! In
the 2016 anthology film '#RogueOne',
archive footage and a digital scan of Cushing's life mask made for the
1984 film Top Secret! were used to create a 3D CGI mask which was
augmented and mapped to actor Guy
Henry's face. Henry had studied Cushing's mannerisms many years
previously for the lead role in British TV show 'Young Sherlock', but
insisted on a screen test as he was not comfortable that his vocal
imitation was accurate, stating he sounded more like "Peter O'Toole than
#PeterCushing".
THE ILM team searched through hours of footage to find suitable
material of Cushing to build from, footage from 'A New Hope' was lit
very differently to the lighting used in 'Rogue One' and had to be
digitally changed. The more they manipulated the lighting to match the
other actors in the scenes the less like Cushing the character model
looked, which meant creating a balancing act between "a digital figure"
and "one who looked precisely like Cushing". The owners of Cushing's
estate were heavily involved with the creation and had input right down
to "small, subtle adjustments".
ABOVE: THE PCASUK STORY ON APRIL FOOL'S DAY!
THE RESULT, which has been called "one
of the most complex and costly CGI re-creations ever", received a mixed
response. Recently, Derpfakes who is quite the dab hand at creating some
quite stunning CGI creations and sharing them for critiques on YouTube.
Here for your analysis, is his tweaking and nudging, of the ILM job on
Tarkin's appearance in 'Rogue One' (2016) ... There are some interesting
chances... for some I am sure, there will be little difference. Later,
if you like me have always thought the ideas and concepts of 'Star Wars'
were very original and new, join us later 😉 - Marcus
