Showing posts with label hammer horrors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hammer horrors. Show all posts

Friday 28 June 2019

#THROWBACKTHURSDAY! PHANTOM BRINGS THE BARON OUT IN THE WEST END!


#THROWBACKTHURSDAY! Peter Cushing OUT ON THE TOWN in 1987, along with his personal secretary and friend, Joyce Broughton and Husband, Bernard. It's an opening night of Andrew Lloyd Webber's 'Phantom of the Opera' in August 1987. Just a few years before, this would have been quite impossible for Cushing, still in the grips, of what Joyce would later call his 'Blue Period'. The loss of his wife, Helen Cushing never truly left Cushing's mind, but during the last eight years of his life and after his retirement , he did live life to fullest! Theatre, writing, charity marathon walking, appearing on chat shows and even enjoying 'dips' in the sea, just outside his front door in Whitstable once again!


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Wednesday 9 December 2015

FESTIVE FRIGHTS OVER CHRISTMAS : BRIDES OF DRACULA AT HORROR CHANNEL


A heads up on how you can catch Peter Cushing's Hammer films classic THE BRIDES OF DRACULA on the HORROR CHANNEL over the festive season. PETER CUSHING plays VAN HELSING in his second outing as the 'vampire hunter' since Hammer's 1958 DRACULA /HORROR OF DRACULA with CHRISTOPHER LEE. This time, despite the hint in the title, is is NO Dracula, but an evil Baron Meinster, played by DAVID PEEL in his only Hammer film appearance. Van Helsing was one of the many fantasy characters that Cushing played for Hammer films, along with BARON FRANKENSTEIN  and SHERLOCK HOLMES  he played Van Helsing in no less than FIVE Hammer films, DRACULA / HORROR OF DRACULA IN 1958, THE BRIDES OF DRACULA in 1960, DRACULA AD 1972 in 1972, THE SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA 1973 and finally in LEGEND OF THE SEVEN GOLDEN VAMPIRES in 1974.


THE BRIDES OF DRACULA is seen by many as one of Hammer's main 'marquee' titles, from their golden age when the company were based at Bray Studios, producing some of their best know PETER CUSHING AND CHRISTOPHER LEE TITLES such as THE MUMMY in 1959, THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN in 1958, THE GORGON in 1965 and Cushing vechicles like  FRANKENSTEIN CREATED WOMAN  and THE REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN in 1958.


THE BRIDES OF DRACULA, even without Christopher Lee is a fine example of the Hammer films style, with a very strong cast supported by Martita Hunt, Freda Jackson, Michael Ripper and the beautiful Yvonne Monlaur.

RECCOMENDED *****

ALL OF THE LINKED FILM TITLES INCLUDED THIS POST ABOVE, ON CLICKING WILL TAKE YOU TO REVIEWS AND FEATURES SUPPORTED BY EXTENSIVE GALLERIES OF RARE AND VINTAGE PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THAT FILM. BELOW ARE A SMALL SELECTION.








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Thursday 3 December 2015

PETER CUSHING'S ENCOUNTERS WITH THE HELL HOUNDS


Peter Cushing's Hounds From Hell:
 
A: Colonel the Great Dane from Hammer's The Hound Of The Baskervilles (1959)
 
B: Colonel in action wearing his rubber mask
 
C: The Uncredited German Shepherd in The Beast Must Die
 
D: The German Shepherd getting dressed in his werewolf fur coat


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TWO CUSHING LEE HAMMER TREATS TONIGHT!


Wednesday 21 October 2015

THE RETURN OF THE LATE NIGHT DOUBLE BILLS : HAMMER CUSHING FEST WITH THE HORROR CHANNEL


This November, The Horror Channel is reviving its Hammer Horror double-bills with a series of eight unmissable classic films that will be screened on Saturday nights throughout the month.FIVE of the titles are Peter Cushing Hammer Film Classics!!! Look down the thread below for times and dates of screenings and our reviews for each of the films coming up!


Sat 7 Nov @ 9pm – THE CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF (1961) *Network Premiere In Oliver Reed’s first film role, he excels as Leon Corledo, a young man raised in the home of Don Alfredo Corledo (Clifford Evans), his kind and loving adopted father. When he leaves to find work, Leon discovers that he has increasingly violent urges each full moon. Although these tendencies are calmed by Leon’s love for the beautiful Christina (Catherine Feller), he ultimately cannot contain his curse, given to his raped mother, and transforms into a werewolf, terrorising the Spanish countryside. Directed by Hammer stalwart Terence Fisher. OUR REVIEW and GALLERY:HERE 


Sat 7 Nov @ 10.50pm – THE GORGON (1964) *Network Premiere A mysterious monster is turning people to stone in a German village in 1910. When his girlfriend is killed, Bruno (Jeremy Longhurst) becomes the prime suspect. His ensuing suicide seems to confirm his guilt, but professor Carl Maister (Christopher Lee) isn’t so sure. He thinks one of the villagers is possessed by the spirit of Megaera, sister to Medusa. Among the possible culprits are Dr. Namaroff (Peter Cushing), gorgeous nurse Carla (Barbara Shelley) and a mental patient. Our review and Gallery: HERE  


Sat 14 Nov @ 9pm – THE REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1958) *Network Premiere The second in the Hammer Frankenstein series and considered Terence Fisher’s best, General practitioner (Peter Cushing), now residing in the village of Carlsbruck is none other than our old friend, Victor Frankenstein. No one seems unduly concerned when the patients in a charity clinic begin losing their arms and legs during Dr. Stein’s emergency operations — no one except his young rival, Dr. Kleve (Kerwin Mathews). Full of clever (if gory) touches, Revenge of Frankenstein is among the best of Hammer Studio’s late-1950s films. Our review and Gallery : HERE 


Sat 14 Nov @ 10.50pm – THE TWO FACES OF DOCTOR JEKYLL (1960) *Network Premiere Originally released in the UK as ‘House of Fright’, this is the film version of Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in which Hyde is the handsome, clean-shaven one. Playboy Paul Massie plays Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. wants to exact revenge on Paul Allen (Christopher Lee), who has been siphoning off Jekyll’s savings to finance his own gambling and womanising. In contrast to Stevenson’s story, director Terence Fisher ensures that Jekyll/Hyde does not die–though the strain of being Hyde permanently scarred Jekyll’s psyche. Our Review and Gallery : HERE 


Sat 21 Nov @ 9pm – THE EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN (1964) *Network Premiere Directed by Freddy Francis, this is the third in the Hammer Frankenstein series, which sees Dr. Frankenstein (Peter Cushing) return destitute to his home village to recommence his experimental research into the reanimation of dead tissue. He stumbles upon his old monster suspended in ice and although he revives the creature, Frankenstein must seek the help of hypnotist Zoltan (Peter Woodthorpe) to repair its mind. Zoltan then assumes control of the monster, using him to wreak havoc. Our review and Gallery HERE 

 
Sat 21 Nov @ 10.45pm – THE BRIDES OF DRACULA (1960) *Network Premiere Director Terence Fisher followed the excellent Horror of Dracula with this richly-coloured sequel. Though imprisoned in the family estate by his mother, Baron Meinster (David Peel) is released from his silver chains by an unsuspecting French teacher (Yvonne Monlaur), through which he gains access to a number of young women at a girls’ school. Fortunately, master vampire killer Dr. Van Helsing (Peter Cushing) is on the case. This is one of the first Hammer films to delve into the more sexual aspects of vampirism, with implicit suggestions of sadomasochism and homosexuality. Our Review and Gallery : HERE 


Sat 28 Nov @ 9pm – NIGHT CREATURES / CAPATIN CLEGG (1962) *Network Premiere Set in the 18th-century, this engaging costume melodrama of skulduggery stars Captain Collier (Patrick Allen), who is sent, with his crew, to investigate some coastal smuggling. However, when mysterious swamp phantoms appear, Captain Collier suspects that the odd village vicar (Peter Cushing) might be hiding something, and what better way to do that than by creating fortuitous ghosts to scare them away… Our Review and Gallery HERE


Sat 28 Nov @ 10.55pm – BLOOD FROM THE MUMMY’S TOMB (1971) This was the swan song for director Seth Holt who died shortly before filming was completed. An expedition led by Professor Fuchs (Andrew Keir) finds the cursed tomb of an evil Egyptian princess and discovers her perfectly preserved, severed hand, which sports a dazzling ruby ring. Several years later, Fuchs gives the ring to his young daughter (Valerie Leon), whereupon she slowly begins to take on the malevolent traits of its original wearer. Our Review and Gallery : HERE


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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


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