Showing posts with label top secret. Show all posts
Showing posts with label top secret. Show all posts

Thursday 28 February 2019

WITHOUT GETTING PLASTERED TARKIN MAY NEVER HAVE RETURNED PLUS A HAMMER GLAMOUR BIRTHDAY!


THINK ABOUT IT! This #THROWBACK THURSDAY post at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE today, has prompted some memories. Make up artist, the late STUART FREEBORN was responsible among many other excellent creations, like the appearnce  #STARWARS YODA, made the prosthetic giant EYE for Cushing Book Store character in the 1984 film, 'Top Secret'. The practice of getting an actor to come into the workshop, and have his ENTIRE face in latex rubber or plaster, was common practice back in the day. Hammer make up artist, Roy Ashton had a whole collection of actors and actresses faces and heads, that he used to produce the latex attachments of some of the studios, best monsters and creatures! 


I GUESS, Freeborn would never have guessed that HIS plaster face of Peter Cushing would go on to be quite central and MAJOR and contentious step in the creation of the CGI Grand Moff Tarkin in the film, 'ROGUE ONE'. FX creators Industrial Light and Magic, found there was little on file, of actual helpful and accurate reference material on Cushing's features and face. A mass of artwork, but only Freeborn's plaster head, could provide the measurements and dimensions that were needed, along with footage of Peter Cushing's performance on the big screen as Tarkin in 'Star Wars: A New Hope, from 1977, to make the CGI possible. The role of the Book Store Owner, was a small guest role and one that Cushing could have easily have passed on. A fact no doubt, that could have effected the potential of making Tarkin's return, along with Guy Henry's assistance . .  a non starter! 



TODAY WE ALSO MARK the birthday of Stephanie Beacham. Beacham has had a very full career on stage, screen and television. Star of tv's 'Tenko', 'The Colbys' 'Dynasty' 'Bad Girls' and 'SeaQuest'... she has also slipped in an episode of 'Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense'. Her Peter Cushing connection links to two films, 'Dracula AD 1972' playing Jessica Van Helsing, granddaughter to Peter Cushing. and 'And Now, The Screaming Starts'... Please join us in wishing her a Happy Birthday!



STEPHANIE BEACHAM: 'My mother Joan had chicken pox when she was pregnant so I was born with no nerve endings in my right ear. I’m totally deaf in that ear and I have just 80% hearing in my left ear. I’ve never heard in stereo and where most people’s hearing is three dimensional, mine is all on the same plane. Background and foreground sounds flatten, out so a car coming down the road is as loud as a person’s voice right next to me. I was taken to a specialist when I was four. They said, ‘She’s perfectly intelligent,’ and my mother said very snappily, ‘I realise that. I know she’s intelligent, she just can’t hear’.
 

'ONE OF THE BIGGEST problems was that deafness and stupidity were often linked together because a speech defect often accompanies the deafness. I’ve never had a speech defect but I still got called ‘Deaf Steph’ at school and because I often didn’t know people were talking to me I’d walk right past them and they assumed I was snooty. In my adult life I’ve always struggled with people sitting to my right at dinner parties as I can’t hear a word and I’ve had to avoid pop concerts or noisy clubs because of my lack of nerve endings. As for my future health, I fully intend to age naturally without cosmetic surgery and there’s nothing that can be done about my saggy neck, apart from a bulldog clip. I’m convinced mental and physical flexibility is the secret to staying young and yoga provides that for me. I’m also aware that you become what you eat so I’ll continue to steer clear of fizzy drinks and too much sugar or salt." - Daily Mirror Newspaper 2107
 

Saturday 26 August 2017

#FRANKENSTEINFRIDAY: SEE WHAT THEY DID THERE?


#FRANKENSTEINFRIDAY: The One that started it all! Baron Frankenstein (Peter Cushing) examining an eyeball with his magnifying glass from Hammer's The Curse Of Frankenstein (1957) The first of many scenes though-out Peter's career that featured him looking though an magnifying glass. This scene was cut for the from the U.S print of the film but thankfully was found for the blu-ray release.


#FRANKENSTEINFRIDAY! It wasn't long before, Subotsky and Rosenberg's Amicus films, got in on seeing the gimmick too, in THE SKULL (1965)



#FRANKENSTEINFRIDAY! In Peter Cushing's last Frankenstein film for #HAMMERFILMS, the were quite a few visual nods to the first in the series, and of course one of the obvious ones, had to be . . . you guessed it, the magnifying glass shot.


#FRANKENSTEINFRIDAY! :  . . . .It even jumped genre's to Cushing's Sherklock tv series for the BBC in 1969.


#FRANKENSTEINFRIDAY! : Finally, with one of the last films that Peter Cushing appeared in, 'TOP SECRET' . . . the shot was given 'the treatment'!





IF YOU LIKE what you see here at our website, you'll  love our daily themed posts at our PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE.  Just click that blue LINK and click LIKE when you get there, and help us . . Keep The Memory Alive!. The Peter Cushing Appreciation Society website, facebook fan page and youtube channel are managed, edited and written by Marcus Brooks, PCAS coordinator since 1979. PCAS is based in the UK and USA  

Sunday 4 June 2017

#GETTHECUSHIONSUNDAY! PRICE AND CUSHING CHAT AND TOP SECRET!


#GETTHECUSHION: A behind the scenes snap of Peter Cushing and the producers of the film, 'TOP SECRET' (1984) ... and the pose subject matter? I have no idea...! It's film you either love or hate, but most seem to remember Cushing's  'Giant Eye' skit, more than the impressive skills he displayed in making the 'reverse action' and dialogue seamless and convincing!


#GETTHECUSHION! A requested repost for Samantha Eyddes, of Peter Cushing and Vincent Price recording, 'Aliens in the Mind', a radio serial recorded and broadcast by the BBC. Samantha brought up the question, as to why Cushing and Price never got to appear in more work together...? It's a tough one to answer, and probably lies somewhere with, 'Not enough opportunities' and 'Some of films of that particular genre, had small budgets, that wouldn't stretch to hiring both!'. along with, 'We could never find a window of time where they were both free!'... 


HMM, I AM NOT SURE. One would have thought with the amount of time Price spent every year during the late 1960's and 70's in the UK, there should have been something where the two could have worked together. I always thought the lost opportunity in casting Cushing as one of Lionheart's critics, was one of many. To slip Cushing in as the 'Ship Captain' in the second Phibes film, was a tease and more than a bit mean. Cushing's fee per day was around £750 to £1,200 a day, at this time. At those prices, I wonder why he wasn't used more in Phibes, and appear in Theatre of Blood, Cry of the Banshee, and The Oblong Box?


TO BE FAIR, Cushing was pretty busy in 1971 through to 72... he appeared in over a dozen feature films. So maybe it was about timing? Then, thank havens they had time for 'Madhouse', 'Price of Fear', 'Aliens of the Mind' and 'House of the Long Shadows'...!




IF YOU LIKE what you see here at our website, you'll  love our daily themed posts at our PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE.  Please Us Help Keep The Memory Alive!

The Peter Cushing Appreciation Society website, facebook fan page and youtube channel are managed, edited and written by Marcus Brooks, PCAS coordinator since 1979. PCAS is based in the UK and USA. 

Tuesday 29 November 2016

CATCH UP WITH POSTS FROM OUR FACEBOOK FAN PAGE



ON LAST FRIDAY'S #FRANKENSTEINFRIDAY we had a 'Monster From Hell' theme and shared this gif of Baron Frankenstien (Peter Cushing) examining a new set of eyes from Hammer's Frankenstein And The Monster From Hell (1974) This shot of Peter looking through a magnifying glass has been used in many of his films and was even spoofed in Top Secret (1984)


WE FOLLOWED ON with another gif featuring the Baron going to any lengths for his work in this well known and quite gruesome scene from Hammer's Frankenstein And The Monster From Hell (1974) This scene was censored during the films original release, recently restored for the blu-ray.



OUR FINAL GIF from Frankenstein And The Monster From Hell (1974)… featured the touching moment between Sarah (Madeline Smith) and The Monster (Dave Prowse) before he is destroyed by the inmates of the asylum. Again, this is another of the restored shots that were included in the blu ray release, that had been removed from the US theatrical release of the film back in 1974.


OUR NEW #HAMMERFILMSSATURDAY brought us some interesting posts and comments too! This often requested contact print photograph of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee (below) meeting the press during the making of THE SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA Hammer films.



SUNDAY'S #GETTHECUSHINGITSCUSHING we also marked the passing of John Carradine, who we sadly lost on this day in 1988. A highly prolific actor who career covered nearly all genres of film from horror to dramas to westerns. He co starred with Peter Cushing in Shockwaves (1977) and House of the Long Shadows (1983)

 
#GETTHECUSHIONITSCUSHING:This week, our Cushing Clip was a big fav among 'Cushing-Van-Helsing-Fans'.During its final years Hammer was trying different experiments with films in an attempt to find new angles on old stories, one of them was their final vampire film The Legend Of The Seven Golden Vampires (1974) a co-production with the Shaw Brothers, was a hybrid of the Kung-Fu and Horror.Christopher Lee did not return as Dracula and instated was played by John Forbes Robinson. However Peter Cushing once again returned as Van Helsing and really gets involved in the action of the film. While the film was not a success at the time, it reputation has grown over the years as it features plenty of memorable scenes including this one, the final battle with The Seven Golden Vampires. What are some of your favourite moments from the film?


#GETTHECUSHIONITSCUSHING: Van Helsing (Peter Cushing) to the rescue as he stakes the final golden vampire from Hammer's 'The Legend Of The Seven Golden Vampires' (1974)



ON MONDAY we remembered the life and career of actor ANDRE MORELL and his passing in 1978.Today we remember Andre Morell, who we sadly lost on this day in 1978. A celebrated actor whose career had more than a few teamings with Peter Cushing and the fantasy genre.In 1938, Morell joined the Old Vic theatre company, and appeared in several of their high-profile productions both at their home theatre and on tour throughout Britain and across the rest of the world, appearing with both Alec Guinness and John Gielgud.'


HE KICK STARTED his association with 'creepy cinema' with Cushing as Sherlock Holmes, and playing Arthur Conan Doyle's character Doctor John H. Watson, in Hammer Film Productions' version of The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959). In 1960. He played Captain Edward Manningham in 'Cone of Silence' in 1960 also starring Cushing, Michael Craig and Bernard Lee. His wonderful portrayal as the 'bounder' Colonel Gore-Hepburn in Hammer's 'Cash on Demand' in 1961 makes very entertaining viewing, as he piles the pressure on Cushing's tormented bank manger, Harry Fordyce and 65 as Haumeid in Hammer's 'She'..with rather odd dubbing.

THERE WERE OTHER VERY GOOD HORRORS and thrillers too, Hammer's 'Plague of the Zombies' in 66 and the rather limp 'The Mummy's Shroud' again for Hammer in 1967, along with Michael Ripper's Longbarrow, one of the few times where supporting actors are more interesting then the central 'monster'. But, his stand out performance with Cushing, for me has to be in the BBC live televised production of George Orwell's '1984', as the chillingly good O'Brien. It's interesting that Morell played a very good Prof Quatermass in the BBC Quatermass tv series (1958-59) but when offered the role of the Prof in Hammer's 'Quatermass and the Pit' in 1967, turned it down.

MORELL ALWAYS LOOKED very at home in Hammer's early horrors, but inside personally felt a little more than embarrassed by the subject matter of some of the films, and often forbid his family to actually see them at the local cinema. By all accounts, a rather private man, but very generous on screen and made an outstanding contribution to some of Hammer and Cushing's best work.


FINALLY AS IT WAS ALSO #MONSTERMONDAY yesterday, Christopher Lee got the #MONSTERMONDAY treatment: Today our candidate for Monster Monday is Franklyn Marsh a snobbish art critic played by Christopher Lee from Amicus's Dr Terror's House Of Horrors (1965)


PAINTER ERIC LANDOR (Michael Gough) bears the brunt of one of Marsh's tirades, but gets even by humiliating the critic publicly, but when he takes it to far, Marsh gets revenge by running over Landor, casing him to lose his hand, unable to paint again he commits suicide. 

NOW THE QUESTION IS, Franklyn a true monster or just someone who got caught up in a situation that got out of control? You Decide  . . .


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Thursday 30 June 2016

#TBT '?UOY PLEH I YAM' CUSHING TOP SECRET!


#‎tbt‬ RELEASED JUNE 1984, Peter Cushing in 'TOP SECRET'. When Peter Cushing first appears in his scene, he is looking through a magnifying glass, pretty much the same way he had done in countless other films. The trick in this case is, when he lowers the glass...his eye REMAINS HUGE!


'FORWARDS,BACKWARDS, it's all the same to me,' said Peter Cushing in the film's pressbook, 'I've done so many pictures by now that I try to do what's asked of me to the best of my abilities and trust that all is well. My scene in 'Top Secret' was a very interesting exercise in technique and I enjoyed it very much...' Even though his scene is brief, the amount of prep and time spent on his make up appliance and the rehearsing and blocking of shooting his dialogue and action ..BACKWARDS... must have taken considerable time and effort. How do you think it LOOKED??

... THE GUY on the bottom left is STUART FREEBORN make up artist who made the Cushing prosthetic... he is also quite famous for something else... do you know what that is??


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