Wednesday 31 December 2014

A KNIGHTHOOD FOR JOHN HURT


Many CONGRATULATIONS to actor JOHN HURT on the news of his being award a Knighthood today in the Queen's New Year Honours List. The 74-year-old was appointed for his services to drama after a career lasting more than five decades. Among some of finest film work like The Elephant Man, Alien, The Naked Civil Servant, Hellboy, V for Vendetta and Doctor Who...there is 'The Ghoul' with Peter Cushing in 1975 as the disturbing and creepy, Tom Rawlings. Congratulations Sir John Hurt!

Monday 29 December 2014

'COME MY PRECIOUS! THE MASTER IS WAITING!' FREDA JACKSON REMEMBERED


REMEMBERING: Freda Jackson, Born Today 29th December 1907. Was there ever a more frightening actresses in a Peter Cushing Hammer film? Here we see her as the 'hair-raising' Greta in 'The Brides of Dracula' (1960) starring Peter Cushing, Yvonne Monlaur and David Peel. Happy Birthday, Freda!

Saturday 27 December 2014

WELCOME TO THE ASYLUM : ROY WARD BAKER ON THE AMICUS FILMS CHILLER


Producer, Milton Subotsky in his quiet and unobtrusive way, had made about 30 pictures since he came to England from New York. A dedicated Anglophile, he took British citizenship. He made a number of films of the magazine type, taking four or five short stories and stringing them together, usually enclosed in a suitable envelope. He persuaded strings of star names to appear in them and they were successful. ASYLUM was another one in that style. He had selected five short stories written by Robert Bloch. He sent his plan to bloch, together with a suggested envelope. Not surprisngly, Bloch wrote a cracking good script.


All the characters in these stories were lunatics except one and it was vital that their obsessions and fantasies should be absolutely genuine, NOT people putting on an act. Milton assembled a marvelous cast which was simply a list of first class actors who all responded beautifully. I was in my element and thankful to have such a group around me.


Before we began shooting the was one sad incident. I had asked Arthur Grant to photograph the film. He had read the script and was as enthusiatic as i was, but only ten days before the start he came to me, full of apologies. He was ill, and he felt it would be irresponsible to continue. He saud he knew that he couldn't do the job. I didn't ask any questions. I never knew was he was suffering, but only a few momnths later, he died. A sad loss to us all. He was  so good natured, unpretentious and good at his job. He was an ace at photographing dramatic night sequences: his motto was 'Never mind how dark it's supposed to be - the audience has still got to see what's going on!' And yet it still looked like night.


Dennis Coop was dubious about taking over at short notice but I managed to persuade him. He was a real top rater. He had high standards and you wouldn't find him photographing any old rubbish. We worked well together and I was glad to have him on my next two pictures. After that he became one of the principal members of the team that made Superman fly and you couldn't see the wires because there weren't any!



ASYLUM is one of my favorite films. The shoot was a smooth as silk. Tony Waye being the first assistant: he later spent a lot of time as a line producer on the James Bond films. There ios no pint in describing the stories or in picking out individual performances, they were all excellent, although I must just mention Herbert Lom's piece, which was utterly convincing. It was all shot in one day too, not that that's important. And the joint efforts of Charlotte Rampling and Britt Ekland were really smart. I like the picture because it all fits together so neatly, with terrific pace, too.


Milton Subosky was one of the nicest people i ever worked with. Shy, honest, modest - not the popular image of a film producer. I should have underlined the word 'popular'. Of course all producers are shy, honest, etc! Milton was no good at the publicising himself, never put himself about. He was an innovator. He filmed Harold Pinter's 'The birthday Party' directed by William Friedkin. He was the first to revive the Sword and Sorcery style - and first into insects, with a plague of bees! After Dead of Night, which had no follow ups because it was so good, he revived the magazine format with macabre stories. His productions were in the same field as Hammer but were always somehow different. An admirable man. He loved the stories and he loved film, to him, it wasn't just a business....


Roy Ward Baker: The Directors Cut.
published 2000
Images and Layout
Marcus Brooks


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Monday 22 December 2014

ACTRESS BILLIE WHITELAW DIES


Very sad to hear that actress Billie Whitelaw has died tonight.

Photograph: Billie Whitelaw as Mary Patterson in 'Flesh and the Fiends' starring Peter Cushing in 1960. Whitelaw also appeared with Peter Cushing in 'A Tale of Two Cities' as Madame Therese Defarge in 1980.


Saturday 20 December 2014

DIRECTOR: ROY WARD BAKER BIRTHDAY: REMEMBERED


Remembering Today.. the birthday of director Roy Ward Baker, whose work with Peter Cushing includes 'Asylum', 'And Now, The Screaming Starts!'. 'The Vampire Lovers' with Amicus films. 'The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires for Hammer films and 'The Masks of Death' with Peter Cushing for Tyburn films. Starting as a tea boy at the Gainsborough Studios in London in 1934, raising to the role of assistant director with Alfred Hitchcock on 'The Lady Vanishes' by 1939, then onto a career as director in Hollywood, working with Marilyn Munroe...Ward Baker had a very full career that covered just about every genre! Today we remember his birthday and the contribution to not only Peter Cushing's career, but the the world of cinema... Part Two of our Roy Ward Baker and Peter Cushing series will appear on the website THIS weekend.

Tuesday 9 December 2014

JENNIE LINDEN : A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!


A Happy Birthday to JENNIE LINDEN who celebrates her birthday today December 8th.... and who fought the good fight against the Daleks with Peter Cushing as Dr Who in 'Dr Who and the Daleks' in 1965

Saturday 6 December 2014

LIMITED EDITION PETER CUSHING DR WHO BLU RAY STEELBOOK


NEWS: Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150AD Limited Edition Steelbook.

One for your Christmas Stocking maybe?
A very cool edition for anyone's Dr Who / Dalek / Peter Cushing library!


Zavvi have announced an exclusive steelbook for the Peter Cushing movie Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. on Blu-Ray. The steelbook will be a limited edition of 2000 and will be released on 15th May 2015. It is available to pre-order from today from Zavvi.

Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.
Limited Edition Steelbook
Release date: 15 May 2014

Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. directed by Gordon Flemyng, now fully restored and starring Peter Cushing in his return to the big screen as British TV's most iconic sci-fi hero, Doctor Who.

The earth of 2150 AD is a desolate and hostile ruin of a planet, crumbling at the edge of civilisation, slowly disappearing into the darkness of space. For the future of planet earth now belongs The Daleks, a destructive army of alien invaders who have turned the human race into cowering slaves.

Meanwhile deep within the London Underground a group of resistance freedom fighters are planning an attack. But there's only one man who could possibly help them succeed in destroying their extra-terrestrial enemies and take back control of planet earth. A man of mystery, a man of time and space, a man known only as... The Doctor.

Special Features:

Restoring Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.
Interview with actor Bernard Cribbins
Interview with author Gareth Owen
Stills Gallery
Trailer
 

THE FINAL BOW: ROY WARD BAKER ON 'THE MASKS OF DEATH' CUSHING'S LAST SHERLOCK


Wonderful! Sherlock Holmes was to manifest himself once more. The producer, Kevin Francis, had conjured him up and this was to be a film by Holmes buffs, for Holmes buffs. Based on a story by John Elder (the pen name of Hammer films Anthony Hinds), the script by NJ Crips was packed with in-jokes. It also had a number of twists on the traditional style: Holmes is no longer infallible and makes several mistakes, which he admits; Irene Adler reappears, in the person of Anne Baxter, but this time she is a goodie.


Over recent years there have been several versions of the Sherlock saga, plus pitches, new stories, etcetera, etcetera, some very faniciful indeed. Peter Cushing, Sir John Mills and I met for a discussion of the relationship between Holmes and watson. Not surprisngly, we were all of one mind: we had re-read the books and out opinions were based on what we had read.


They were both bachelors of a certain social status. They were both looking for a modest and comforatble set of rooms in a respectable area not too far from the centre of london. They each had a small income which wouldn't run to a suitable place, but if they shared the expenses they would be able to rent such a set, together with a housekeeper, They scrupulously respected each other's territory, using the sitting room as a common ground. It was an exclusively male existance and they became fast friends. In the course of adventures they came to depend on each other. Contrary to the speculations of some latter-day commentators, they were never envinced the slightest in homosexuality. The period of 'The Adventures...' runs from 1881 to 1903, the present story 'The Masks of Death' is set in 1913, with Holmes being dragged out of retirement.


Peter Cushing was one of the best of many actors who played Sherlock Holmes. This was his seventeeth and final bow in the part; he knew the man and understood him perfectly. Johnnie Mills had never played Watson and to my mind, his was the best version ever. It is the devil of a character to convey as a real person. He is usually presented to us a thick-headed stooge to the great man, which of course makes one wonder how Holmes puts up with him - that can't be right. Holmes is the eccentric, imaginative figure, while Watson is down to earth, methodical, practical: after all, he is a doctor of medicine. The two men are complete oppersites but in thier different ways they are equals, or at any rate of equal value to each other. They respect each other. I guarentee that this picture is worth a look just to see this performance. I don't mean to belittle any of the othetr actors, who are all fine: Anne Baxter, Anton Diffing, Gordon Jackson and Ray Milland, all on great form.


The crew was largely a collection of old friends. Anthony Mendleson, the brilliant costume designer and three stalwarts from Hammer films: Make up artist Roy Ashton, editor Chris Barnes and guess who as sound editor - the 'other Roy Baker! Ray Sturgess was the camera operator. We had worked together several times before but this time he was presented with some special problems.


The ruling was that we must use camera equipment from the Pinewood camera dept[artment, which hadn't been used for years! Pinewood had been a wall-to-wall studios for ages. Therefore all visiting crews brought their own gear with them. Anyway the Pinewood stuff was cleaned up and tested but it was old fashioned, which didn't make life easy for Ray. It was due to his efforts that everything worked out well. Brendan Stafford was the lighting cameraman who, like Holmes, had to be  dragged protesting out of retirement to do the film. He enjoyed it , I am sure....


Taken from The Director's Cut
By Roy Ward Baker
Reynolds and Hearn 2000

Images and Design: Marcus Brooks

Wednesday 3 December 2014

EXCLUSIVE 'ONE OFF' CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN POSTER ARTWORK TO BE WON


One VERY EXCLUSIVE prize, for ONE lucky PCAS winner! Here's your chance to win this superb 'Curse of Frankenstein' poster artwork by Andrew Swainson. Just follow the details on the banner. Entries by EMAIL PLEASE. GOOD LUCK!
 
PRINT DETAILS:
Giclee print produced with archival Ultrachrome inks on superb quality, heavyweight (310gsm) Hahnemuehle German Etching textured fine art paper. Size: Approx 30" x 12" (762mm x 304mm) - making a perfect match to the Dracula print!

Check out the original poster here: http://www.andrewswainson.com/store/the-curse-of-frankenstein
Many thanks to Andrew who has sponsored this pcasuk competition:)


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Sunday 30 November 2014

THE HEIRESS PETER CUSHING : ''HAPPIEST DAYS'


Peter Cushing as Dr Austin Sloper in the stage play, 'The Heiress' and some pages from his personal script. As always written annotations, pointers and notes here about personal props, costume..some of the items were belonged Peter Cushing himself.


During it's run at the Horseshoe Theatre, Basingstoke from 21st October until November 1st 1975, The Heiress played to full houses. Cushing stated at the time that the few weeks he had spent with the production were the happiest he had experience since Helen's passing in 1971.


Helen Ryan who also starred in the production remembers, 'Peter was wonderful, super in the play, but he was so terribly nervous. The play opened at 7.30pm and Peter would be at the theatre three hours beforehand to check his props and costume!' Before this engagement, Cushing had often stated that his 'legitimate theatre' days, were well behind him...

MAID IN ENGLAND: MADELINE SMITH GALLERY


Hammer films 'Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell' is celebrating it's 40th anniversary this year since it's release in the US and we'll be marking that in style next month. The last of the Hammer / Cushing / Frankenstein series starring Peter Cushing, Shane Briant and.... Madeline Smith.



Madeline Smith was born on 2nd August 1949. She worked as a model in the 1960s, and appeared in many television series, Hammer horror and comedy films from the late 1960s to the early 1980s. Smith was born in Hartfield, Sussex. Her father owned an antiques shop near Kew Gardens, while she had a temporary job working at Biba's boutique, a fashion house in Kensington High Street, London. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Smith was frequently the subject of cartoons by J Edward Oliver, which made constant admiring reference to her disproportionately large bust. Smith first worked for Hammer films in Taste the Blood of Dracula (1969) as an East End prostitute, a non-speaking role. In 1973 she played the Bond girl Miss Caruso in the post-titles sequence of Live and Let Die, the first James Bond film starring Roger Moore, and The Angel Sarah, in Hammer Films  'Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell  with Peter Cushing and Shane Briant in 1973.


Her television credits include Doctor at Large (1971), The Two Ronnies (appearance in the serial "Hampton Wick" 1971), Clochemerle (1972), His and Hers (1970) with Tim Brooke-Taylor, Casanova '73 (1973) with Leslie Phillips, and The Steam Video Company (1984). She was a member of the regular cast for the BBC2 series The End of the Pier Show (1974) and In The Looking Glass (1978), along with John Wells, John Fortune and Carl Davis. Smith made her last film, Eric Morecambe's final work, The Passionate Pilgrim with Tom Baker, in 1984.


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