Peter Cushing – Page 2 – We Are Movie Geeks

AT THE EARTH’S CORE – The Blu Review

Review by Roger Carpenter

Based upon the classic first novel of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ seven-book Pellucidar series and produced by British genre film company Amicus Productions, At the Earth’s Core (1976) is a star-studded tale of science fantasy complete with dinosaurs, a psychic master race of pteranodon-like monsters, and a caste-like civilization featuring a monkey-faced race who have enslaved the humans who populate the prehistoric land found inside the Earth.

Directed by Kevin Connor (The Land That Time Forgot; The People That Time Forgot; Warlords of the Deep; Motel Hell) and starring Doug McClure (The Land That Time Forgot; The People That Time Forgot; Roots; Humanoids from the Deep), the gorgeous Caroline Munro (The Spy Who Loved Me; Starcrash; Maniac), and the inimitable Peter Cushing, At the Earth’s Core is a fun, kid-oriented special effects extravaganza, with the emphasis on kid-oriented.

Though Amicus is best known for its portmanteau films like Tales from the Crypt and Vault of Horror, in the mid- to late-1970’s, just as the company was winding down, it produced three films based upon Edgar Rice Burroughs’ pulp novels. Each film was oriented to a pre-teen audience and, in America, they were all rated PG.

While all three films suffer from trying to do too much with too little, At the Earth’s Core suffers particularly. Though budgeted for 1.5 million dollars, creating a giant drilling machine, optical effects of the Earth’s mantle as the machine drills though the Earth, the creation of an entire underground tropical world, and plenty of dinosaur-like monsters for the heroes to fight was simply too much for the budget. Thus we have plastic plants that are easily spotted as well as tons of “scary” monsters that are perhaps just a notch above the Japanese Godzilla movies of the sixties and seventies—but just barely. So those viewers expecting a more mature adventure film best stay away.

That being said, if one goes into the film understanding it is essentially a children’s movie, it can be enjoyed on multiple levels. Regardless of the pre-teen orientation of the film, it’s still a rousing adventure story with plenty of action and intrigue. Those who have read anything Burroughs has written knows he knew how to keep the reader’s attention. The special effects are, quite simply, pretty terrible, which can be fun on its own terms. Seeing rubber monsters wearing atrocious fiberglass heads with rickety hinged jaws may be scary for a young child, but it’s also downright hilarious for someone a bit older. And while there are plenty of fights—between people, between monsters, between monsters and people—and plenty of death, it’s all quite bloodless and palatable even for the very young.

McClure stars as the hero of the film, David Innes who, along with Cushing’s Dr. Abner Perry, create a gigantic drilling machine to explore Earth’s inner layers. After a minor mishap knocks them unconscious during their maiden voyage they awaken to realize they have drilled all the way to the Earth’s core—and that far from being a mere molten hell, the core is actually hollow and houses an entire prehistoric society of ancient people and even more ancient monsters. The two explorers are captured very quickly by the evil, monkey-faced troglodytes and are enslaved along with many other unfortunate humans, including the comely Dia (Munro). The rest of the picture sees our heroes trying to escape the clutches of their captors while also trying to help the people of Pellucidar conquer the extra-sensory, bird-like monsters who rule the inner Earth. Along the way there is romantic intrigue as David falls in love with Dia and has to defend her from not one, but two, brutal cavemen who want her as their own.

There is much to enjoy with this kid’s movie even if you are an adult. Plenty of action set pieces keep the viewer interested throughout the 90-minute runtime and the special effects are laughably entertaining. While Munro is unfortunately relegated to batting her eyelashes and flashing her cleavage (and I’m not complaining!), McClure comes across as a genuinely good guy for whom honor is a priority. He’s the kind of leading man all kids want to be as they are growing up. Cushing is not only a highlight but also an absolute delight as the elderly and gently comedic Dr. Abner. He fumbles and bumbles his way through the adventure. As a scientist, he can’t help but stop to admire a newly discovered plant or reflect upon an ancient stone though he is being pursued by things that want to do him harm. It’s also fun to look for gaffes along the way. For instance, McClure’s character is never less than clean-shaven even when he’s enslaved in the hellish caverns of Pellucidar. And Munro is possibly the first cave girl to wear lipstick. Even McClure’s wounded and bloody shoulder sometimes is magically healed from shot to shot. Director Connor isn’t terribly worried. He tells of famed producer Milton Subotsky’s concern when he noticed these things in the rushes. But Connor wasn’t bothered by these mistakes…after all, what 9-year-old is going to notice those things?

In the end, the two adventurers manage to escape, freeing the humans from the clutches of the evil monsters. Could it have ended any differently? In a very humorous ending, the two break the surface of the Earth with their giant drill in a very questionable lawn…and I’ll leave it at that.

At the Earth’s Core is a fun little film. Sure, it’s hokey and the monsters are in rubber suits, but if you grew up watching Godzilla on Saturday afternoon then you can overlook the cheap nature of the film. Plus, Caroline Munro in a skimpy cave girl costume and Peter Cushing. What more do ya want?

Kino Lorber has just released a Blu-ray edition of the film. While it hasn’t been restored or cleaned up, it looks great. Special features include a 25-minute interview with Munro, a 20-minute interview with Connor, the original theatrical trailer, and an audio commentary with Connor. The film can be purchased directly through Kino Lorber at kinolorber.com or through Amazon.

Today is Peter Cushing’s 103rd Birthday! Here Are His Ten Best Roles

Article by Jim Batts, Dana Jung, Michael Haffner, Sam Moffitt, and Tom Stockman

Peter Cushing, born on this day in 1913, was one of the most respected and important actors in the horror and fantasy film genres. To his many fans, the British star, who died in 1994, was known as ‘The Gentle Man of Horror’ and is recognized for his work with Hammer Films which began in the late 1950’s, but he had numerous memorable roles outside of Hammer. A topnotch actor who was able to deliver superb performances on a consistent basis, Peter Cushing also had range. He could play both the hero and the villain with ease.

Here, according to We Are Movie Geeks, are Peter Cushing’s ten best roles:

Dr. Maitland

During the 1960s, Amicus Studios had a knack for borrowing from the pool of Hammer Studios actors and filmmakers to make their own Hammer-inspired films. While these movies (some would call them rip-offs) were usually inferior to the original Hammer signature productions, with THE SKULL in 1965, they hit all aces. Based on a Robert Bloch (PSYCHO) story, THE SKULL got a Hammer director in Freddie Francis (EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN, DRACULA HAS RISEN…), plus the classic duo of Hammer Films actors, Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. With Lee in solid support, Cushing essays one of his best roles as Dr. Maitland, a seemingly mild-mannered collector of occult objects. Unfortunately for Dr. Maitland, when his latest acquisition is the possessed skull of the Marquis de Sade, he gets much more than he bargained for. THE SKULL is a superior supernatural thriller shot with flair and imagination by Francis. The visual style is dark and foreboding, and some sequences are shot from the point of view of the skull, giving us a “skulls-eye view” if you will. This technique is used to great effect in the latter stages of the movie, as the evil spirit tries to exert its influence on Dr. Maitland. Cushing is excellent as a man of science and genteel nature being torn apart by forces he can neither understand nor control. The entire second half of the film is essentially a battle of wills between Maitland and the demonic skull, embodying all of de Sade’s “cruelty and savagery.” Many of these scenes have a nightmarish quality, such as when Maitland is forced to play Russian roulette. Here Cushing displays such simple desperation that we identify with him completely. By the film’s end, when the final struggle for Maitland’s soul is reaching a climax, Cushing expresses emotions by letting all the bewilderment, fear, and relief play across his face in various degrees. Even those of us most comfortable in our knowledge and beliefs can be undone when faced with the unknown.

Harry Fordyce

CASH ON DEMAND (1962) is a film that shows how versatile Peter Cushing could be. In a part with no fantastic or supernatural elements Cushing simply owns the movie, along with Andre Morrell who has a basically fool proof scheme to rob the bank (on Christmas Eve on less) which Cushing’s Harry Fordyce manages. Fordyce is the original horrible boss, brow beating and talking down to his employees, threatening their careers and throwing temper tantrums over ink pens and minute amounts of money. Morrell is holding Fordyce’ family hostage and threatens to kill them unless the vault is cleaned out by the end of the day. Fordyce has to help him or risk losing his wife and children who are “all he’s got”. In a heartbreaking scene he admits as much to an employee whose help he needs to insure the robbery goes as planned and that he “has no friends.” Cushing takes us from despising this little martinet to hoping he can somehow keep his family and his job. Shot and edited to more or less real time Cash on Demand is as suspenseful as the best Hitchcock films, and Cushing helps make it work beautifully as a thriller. He gives Fordyce a set of nervous mannerisms including, standing up on his tip toes and rocking back on his heels, straightening his tie, cocking his head to one side, adjusting his eyeglasses, smoothing his hair and by the film’s end he is doing them all at once bringing the tension to an excruciating level. And there is a double twist ending that is incredible and I would not reveal to anyone, watch it and see!

8. Dr. Who

DR. WHO AND THE DALEKS (1965) was the first taste of the Doctor Who name for the American market (the TV show had yet to air stateside). It was not a success here though Cushing was cast instead of William Hartnell (the TV Doctor at the time) because he would have been more familiar to American audiences. Cushing’s Doctor in the film, and its sequel DALEKS INVASION EARTH 2150, is not a 900-year old nameless Timelord from the planet Gallifrey as in the show, but simply a daffy old human scientist named Dr. Who who’s invented a machine to travel through space and time. These changes are probably the reason why these films aren’t really recognized as proper Doctor Who amongst the show’s die-hard fans. Cushing plays the character as a kindly, absent-minded grandfather, similar to the character he would later play in AT THE EARTH’S CORE and a lighter portrayal than what the TV actors were known for. The story had Dr. Who and his companions encountering the metal monsters known as the Daleks on the lost planet of Skaro and was aimed squarely at the family adventure crowd. It was fun and colorful, yet never campy. Still, the show’s fans hated it at the time, though their opinion has softened over the years. DALEKS INVASION EARTH 2150, released the following year, was darker and a bit more serious, and is considered to be a superior sequel.

7. Reverend Blyss

In Hammer’s NIGHT CREATURES (1962) we get a look at how well Peter Cushing could play a part portrayed by another good actor around the same time period. About a year after Night Creatures was released to theaters Walt Disney broadcast The Scarecrow, an early miniseries, on Disney’s Wonderful World of Color. Both productions tell essentially the same story, a tale of smuggling, secret identities and piracy based on stories written by Russell Thorndyke. Cushing is simply terrific as Dr. Blyss, the British title of Hammer’s production, a smarmy, self absorbed vicar in the tiny hamlet of Romney Marsh (he admits at one point his favorite topic of conversation is himself!) The vicar has a secret, he is really Captain Clegg a notorious pirate and now smuggler and many of the small town’s men are his own pirate crew. Patrick McGoohan played the same character in Disney’s beloved production under the character’s original name, Dr Syn. Both versions are excellent and are fine examples that show there is more than one way for good actors to play an engaging part. Just for more contrast there is a version from the 30s called Dr. Syn, with George Arliss, which is also a nice production.

Arthur Grimsdyke

When the great Mr. Cushing wasn’t haunting the hallowed halls of Hammer Studios he was often found at nearby Amicus Studios lending his considerable talents to their line of horror anthology features. In their biggest box office hit TALES FROM THE CRYPT, based on the much beloved EC comics line of the 1950’s, Peter was cast not as a demented doctor or an intrepid investigator, but finally got the full make-up treatment and played a monster, albeit a very sympathetic one. Comics originators Bill Gaines and Al Feldstein always said that the dead rising from the grave to exact revenge on their tormentors in life was their favorite type of spook story and such is the tale of Arthur Grimsdyke (a much better moniker than Abner from the original 1952 “Haunt of Fear” page-turner). For much of this segment (one of five in the 1972 flick) Cushing played a kindly, gentle character which, by many accounts, was much like the actor himself. Arthur rescues broken toys from the trash (he’s a long-time city worker), repairs them and gifts them to the neighborhood kids when not taking in stray dogs. This helps fill his days after the passing of his beloved wife. The fact that Cushing himself had lost his dear Helen after nearly 30 years of marriage (this was the first film he had done after a several month break to mourn) gives the scene of Arthur trying to talk to his wife via a “spirit board” an extra emotional heft. Unfortunately, the across the street neighbor lusts after his property and begins a campaign to get Arthur to vacate. The sequences of him losing his dog, his job, and his young “mates” (the helpful neighbor invited the local “mums” to tea and warn them about that “filthy old man”) are wrenching. The final straw is on Valentines Day as Arthur is stunned to receive a bundle of cards from the postman. But each one contains a cruel, taunting poem, courtesy of said neighbor. Your veins may be full of ice water if you aren’t moved by Cushing’s excellent work here. He goes from euphoric to bewildered to deflated in just a few seconds of screen time as he reads them aloud. This pushes him over the edge and sets up one of the film’s greatest images after a flash forward as the year-old corpse of Grimsdyke claws out of the grave. Kudos to make-up master Roy Ashton in giving us a ghoul worthy of original comic artist “Ghastly” Graham Ingles. Arthur’s sublime rhyme crime (couldn’t resist) is a memorable capper to the segment. Prior to this film we knew that Cushing could shiver our spines, but with this superb performance he proved he could also touch our hearts.

Sherlock Holmes

In 1959, riding high with their successes reviving Frankenstein and Dracula, Hammer Studios turned to one of the greatest detective stories ever written, A. Conan Doyle’s THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES. It is said that the Sherlock Holmes character has been filmed more than any other, so it probably seemed like a grand idea to employ the formidable resources of Hammer to bring arguably the best Holmes story to life. The result was not only one of the best Hammer films, but also one of the best Sherlock Holmes movies of all time. Hammer brought their A-team to film the tale; director Terrence Fisher had already helmed Hammer’s reboots of Dracula and Frankenstein, with the Mummy soon to follow. Hammer’s dynamic duo of Cushing and Christopher Lee signed on to play Holmes and Sir Henry Baskerville, respectively. Add to these credits Hammer’s stable of production personnel, and the result is a prime example of the studio in its glory days, with a sumptuous musical score, outstanding sets and costumes, and atmospheric cinematography—the first Holmes story ever filmed in color. While some of the original book’s details were modified to augment the more Gothic and horrific elements of the story, the movie as a whole is a faithful adaptation. For his part, Lee was given the rare opportunity to play a romantic lead, which he relished—especially given the beauty of his costar, Marla Landi. Lee also once remarked that a difference between he and Cushing—and perhaps a key to their onscreen chemistry—was that he used a more economical style of acting, whereas Cushing was more energetic. Lee never moved or made an action unless it was necessary to the performance, while Cushing utilized constant motion and activity to enhance his portrayals. This quality serves Cushing well as Holmes, whether he is gesturing or walking about a room, he is in constant motion to show that a brilliant mind is capable of attending to both physical and mental chores with equal acuity. Cushing also uses his physical presence to display Holmes’ sometimes aggressive nature, by standing a bit too close to other characters when interrogating them. Cushing is so immersed in the portrayal that he doesn’t need to resort to disguises and subterfuge to gain an advantage in this investigation. Cushing is at times rude, reticent, or overbearing to not only accentuate the eccentricity of the classic character, but also to fool the audience into believing a character trait when the opposite is true. Unfortunately, audiences at the time were possibly oversaturated with Holmes, and the film fared poorly at the box office (the classic Basil Rathbone portrayals of Holmes were still relatively fresh, with the last Rathbone Holmes film released just a dozen years before Hammer’s version, to say nothing of the numerous 1950s television portrayals by Rathbone and others). As a result, a planned series of Holmes films starring Cushing never materialized. This is sad news for movie lovers, because with his precise diction, hat, and pipe, it’s elementary that Cushing was one of the very best incarnations of the world’s greatest detective.

Gustav Weil

“The Gentleman of Horror” may be best known to fright fans as Baron Von Frankenstein or Dracula’s nemesis Van Helsing, but Cushing created just as memorable of a character with the terrifying Gustav Weil. The Hammer film TWINS OF EVIL arrived later in the British studio’s run of classic horror films. It’s considered the first in a loose trilogy of films called The Karnstein Trilogy; all of which stem from the erotic vampire novel CARMILLA. The family of vampires featured in the series is known for their ability to be able to walk around in the daylight and for their insatiable lust for the female flesh. Eliminating lesbian vampires is no easy task, but Gustav Weil’s main objective in TWINS OF EVIL is precisely that. In all seriousness though, Cushing plays the puritanical leader of a religious order called “The Brotherhood” with maniacal zeal and brutal intensity. You would hate the character all the more if it weren’t for a few scenes where you see that he may actually have a heart underneath his questionable ‘rule with an iron fist’ demeanor. He says to his wife in one scene, “I have tried always to be a good man.” Her response speaks to the essence of the character: Yes . . . you have tried. The character of Gustav Weil only appeared in TWINS OF EVIL. Cushing was meant to play a different vampire killer in all three of the Karnstein films but had to bow out of LUST FOR A VAMPIRE due to his wife’s illness and subsequent passing. It’s been widely discussed by some of his costars that Cushing was nothing more than a kind gentleman on the set between scenes. That kindness is nowhere to be found on-screen in Cushing’s take on the evilness that can reside in religious fervor.

Grand Moff Tarkin

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away . . . . Peter Cushing portrayed one of the most intimidating figures in the galactic universe. Not just anybody can raise his or her voice to the supremely evil Darth Vader and scold him for force-choking someone. But that is exactly what Grand Moff Tarkin does in his very first scene in George Lucas’ original sci-fi classic. With his never changing stern expression and icy stare, Cushing commands every scene he’s in, which is actually only a handful of short scenes in the entire 121 minute film. Lucas was originally thinking that Cushing would play the part of Obi -Wan Kenobi – a part eventually given to Sir Alec Guinness – before having him play the small but integral role of a General in the Galactic Empire and commander of the Death Star. His prescience is felt on the Death Star as he plays a central part in the interrogation of Princess Leia. The character has become so popular with fans of the STAR WARS series that a younger version of him can be seen in EPISODE III- REVENGE OF THE SITH and for THE CLONE WARS animated tv series. Outside of his horror films with Hammer Studios, many remember Cushing the most for this small but pivotal role. Who needs more than 10 minutes of actual screen time when you get to deliver such juicy lines as, “We will then crush the rebellion with one swift stroke.”

Professor Van Helsing

Peter Cushing’s signature role aside from the obsessed corpse-stealing Baron (who was really more of a monster than any of his experiments) was this horror hero created by Bram Stoker. Cushing essayed some version of vampire slayer Van Helsing in five films, as opposed to his six outings as the demented doctor. Let’s start with the first and best outing, 1958’s HORROR OF DRACULA. This is a more dynamic slayer than Edward Van Sloan’s slow-moving professor who faced Bela Lugosi in the 1931 DRACULA. Cushing gives us a determined crusader who’s not intimidated by the locals as he searches for Harker in 1885. Later we get a bit of whimsy as his servant is confused by Van Helsing’s use of an early version of a dictaphone (“I thought you were talking to someone” “Yes, I was talking to m’self”). But he’s all business as he meets the Holmwoods and see that Harker’s fiancée Lucy has been visited by the Count. Later the doctor is in full action hero mode as he swoops in to save Arthur and his little daughter Tania from a deadly kiss from his undead sister (love the cross searing into her forehead!). Then there’s the softer side of our hero as he gently comforts the shaken child ( Giving her a cross necklace “Will you wear this pretty thing?’ and bundling her up in his coat “You look like a Teddy bear”). But his best (and most physical) work is saved for the film’s fabulous finale. After a furious horse carriage chase, Van Helsing finds Count Dracula (Christopher Lee) attempting to hide from the approaching dawn. The two struggle and the doctor appears to pass out from the Count’s vise-like grip. But as the vampire leans in, fangs ready to strike, Van Helsing’s eyes burst open (ah, playing possum!). He’s able to push the fiend off of him, hop on to a long table, and leap to a curtain (like a classic film swashbuckler), ripping it away to reveal the streaming sunlight. But that’s not all! As Dracula tries to crawl away from those killing rays, Van Helsing stops him in his tracks by grabbing a pair of candlestick holders and using them as a cross to keep him at bay. Supposedly Cushing himself came up with many of the stunts, making for one of Hammer’s most thrilling hits (I saw it while home from school sick, catching it on the local TV morning move. I was practically bouncing off the walls during the last moments, adrenaline destroying that flu bug!). Of course, the studio would have to make a sequel, but it didn’t feature the Count (Lee wouldn’t don the cape and teeth again for several more years). Instead 1960’s THE BRIDES OF DRACULA stars Cushing once again as Abraham Van Helsing who tracks down a disciple of Dracula, Baron Meinster. We get to see the doctor early on as an almost fatherly figure to the innocent Marianne, the Baron’s intended victim. In order to protect her, he must do his job, first having to dispatch the tragic mother of the Baron (she actually tries to hide her fangs). The film’s high point is the big throw-down between the doctor and Meinster. But this has a much different outcome than the battle from the last film. Thanks in part to his crazed, still human, servant Greta, the Baron knocks out the doctor and bites him! When Van Helsing awakes, he sees the throat marks in a mirror. Cushing registers shock, despair, and resignation within seconds of his realization. But then his determination kicks in as he grabs a horseshoe maker’s tool from a blazing brazier (the fight was in a stable) and sears it into the wound. Before he passes out once more, he splashes his smoldering neck with holy water. The bite marks disappear and Van Helsing recovers in time to destroy Meinster using a windmill. It would be a dozen years before Cushing would return as the doctor in DRACULA A.D. 1972. This entry veers away from Hammer’s series as it opens in 1872 with Lawrence (?) Van Helsing and Dracula battling on top of a careening stagecoach. When it crashes, the Count (Lee again) is impaled on a broken wagon wheel. The doctor uses all of his strength to push Dracula on to the spikes, before he dies of his injuries. In the then modern year of 1972, the vampire lord is resurrected and sets his sights on Jessica, granddaughter of Professor Lorrimer (Cushing ) Van Helsing. The film focuses on the current “grooovey” trappings and gives Cushing little to do until the big rescue finale. The intervening years had taken a toll on the actor, and besides the opening sequence, there’s little action work. But the prof would be back next year in THE SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA with Jessica now a member of the British Secret Service investigating an occult high society club and a plot by Drac to unleash a new plague (is he trying to destroy his own food supply?). Again, Cushing is kept out of much of the pseudo 007-style action until he must, once again, rescue his granddaughter from Drac in the big finale. The film’s highlight may be a conversation between Lorrimer and the mysterious D.D. Denham who is, in reality,the Count. In order to keep up the ruse, a harsh light is trained on the prof”s eyes while Dracula speaks in a heavy accent (Lee almost seems to be mimicking Lugosi). It was back to the past for Cushing’s final slayer role in the following year’s THE LEGEND OF THE 7 GOLDEN VAMPIRES. This co-production between Hammer and Hong Kong’s Shaw Brothers Studio set in 1904 finds him as Professor Lawrence Van Helsing (could he be the son of Abraham? A nephew?) enlisted to help a rural village in China destroy the title menace. Cushing stays out of most of the martial arts mayhem (yup, it’s the first kung-fu vampire flick), but goes into action in the final moments when it’s revealed that Kah the High Priest behind the seven is really (of course) Count Dracula in disguise. But Lee bowed out of this hybrid and actor John Forbes-Robertson is on the receiving end of Cushing’s spear. In five films over the course of sixteen years, Peter Cushing made this unstoppable adversary of evil one of the movies’ most dynamic, enduring heroes.

Doctor Frankenstein

While Peter Cushing mastered the role of hero with his portrayals of Dr. Van Helsing, it was his performances as the villainous Baron Victor Frankenstein that launched him to horror film immortality. Over the course of six films for Hammer studios, all but one directed by Terence Fisher, Cushing showed how a man can evolve into something truly evil because he is obsessed with the desire to bring life back to a corpse. In CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1957), the Doctor embarks on his life-long quest to be the first human being to create life. But, as in the sequels, the real monster is Victor Frankenstein, a man who becomes consumed first by ambition, then arrogance, and eventually madness. Cushing’s portrayal of Frankenstein however, makes this monster personable and likable – the viewer almost wishes at times that he succeeds in the end. Although Baron Frankenstein seemed to pay for his sins against man and nature with his life at the end of the first film, Hammer and director Fisher nonetheless managed to save him for the intelligently written and solidly directed sequel THE REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1958). Assuming a new identity and becoming the director of a hospital for the poor, he builds a body for his crippled assistant (Michael Gwynn) from parts plucked from his patients. Unfortunately, body battles mind for supremacy and transforms the man into a shuffling, murderous cannibal. Cushing plays the Baron much more heroically and makes him less villainous than in Curse, however he doesn’t take the edge away. In THE EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN (1963 – the only film in the series not helmed by Terence Fisher but by Freddie Francis) the monster (Kiwi Kingston) is a flat-top Karloff clone that lumbers about and growls a lot. Although not as memorable as Christopher Lee’s creature in CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, this monster does give Mr. Cushing plenty of opportunity to use his athleticism. The Baron chases, leaps on, and actually tangles with this beast, at one point using a burning lamp to fend him off. Many of the movie’s trappings are lifted directly from the Universal Frankenstein series— the monster frozen in ice, the return to the ransacked castle, the exploding lab at the movie’s end, making the film seems like an anomaly in the Hammer series. FRANKENSTEIN CREATED WOMAN (1967) is one of the most unusual Hammer films. Although ostensibly a horror film, it is probably better described as a gothic romance and as such, it ranks among most intelligent of all Frankenstein films. Here the doctor isn’t creating a patchwork man, but instead a beautiful woman (played by tragic beauty Susan Denberg) and attempting to inhabit her body with a soul. The story is a peculiar one, but it has all the elements of a great gothic tale – dark secrets, tragic love, and ultimate justice. FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED (1969) is the one film where Peter Cushing plays the Baron as an utter villain – a blackmailer, rapist, murderer, and ruthless tyrant. In order to continue his experiments, the Baron blackmails a young couple into helping him abduct a brilliant but mad brain surgeon from the lunatic asylum so that he can operate on him, cure his sanity and transplant his brain into another body. FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED is the most unpleasant, yet suspenseful film in the series. In FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL (1973), Victor Frankenstein has shorn his old identity and taken control of an insane asylum that serves as a source of parts for his continuing experiments. With the help of a young medical student who has read Frankenstein’s 20-year-old texts on his early efforts, Frankenstein creates a creature (David Prowse) from parts of the inmates. The dark crowded asylum where the story takes place serves as the perfect mirror for Frankenstein’s mental state and Cushing’s intense and forceful performance of this man now lost in insanity is mesmerizing. Although Hammer Studios was in its waning days, this final reunion for Cushing and Terence Fisher, who together launched Hammer’s gothic dynasty with CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, was a worthy end to their collaborations.

R.I.P. Christopher Lee – Here Are His Ten Best Roles

The day monster kids have dreaded for some time has arrived. Mournful, nostalgic, and melancholy – it’s the end of an era for more than one generation of horror fans. It seemed like Christopher Lee would live through all eternity, but unlike some of the characters he played, there’s no bringing him back to life this time. He made it to 93 and went out on a high note, appearing in the final Hobbit film just this past winter. He had an amazing career of fantastic performances and remains the greatest villain actor in film history. RIP to the last classic horror star and thank you for all the monster memories.

Christopher Lee was married to his wife Birgit (Gitte) for 54 years.

Here, according to Movie Geeks Jim Batts, Dana Jung, Sam Moffitt, and myself, are Christopher Lee’s ten best roles.

10. FRANKENSTEIN

It’s only fitting that THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, the film that truly began England’s Hammer Studios’ theatrical run of full color gothic horror epics, should team (well, they’re both in the 1948 HAMLET, but have no scenes together) their greatest stars, Peter Cushing as Baron Victor Frankenstein and Christopher Lee as his monster (or, as he’s referred to in the credits,”the Creature”). This was the first big screen incarnation of the monster after Universal’s 30’s and 40’s classics with Lon Chaney Jr., Bela Lugosi, Glenn Strange, and, of course, Boris Karloff. Because the Jack Pierce make-up is owned by that studio, Hammer’s make-up man Phil Leakey had to create an original look for Mr. Lee. When the camera zoomed in for the big unveiling (or unwrapping, as he was covered with bandages from head to toe) audiences gasped in terror at his gruesome visage. He truly looked like something from the grave with stringy mop-like black hair (Hmm, maybe it inspired those Liverpool lads), glazed-over white right eye, and flayed, scarred flesh (it’s mentioned that birds had gotten to the body before it went to the lab). Victor has given him the brain of a brilliant medical mentor, but later damage to it had left the creature a murderous near mute. After he’s outfitted with a jet black coat and pants, the monster is left chained in a locked room next to the lab, all alone until Victor needs the creature to eliminate a problem: the Baron’s chambermaid mistress (played by Valerie Gaunt, who would be cast as Lee’s vampire bride in HORROR OF DRACULA a year later). This version of the doctor’s experiment is truly pathetic and nearly elicits the same sympathy as Karloff until we see its brutality in an attack on a blind man in the forest (no soup and cigars this time!). This viciousness is rewarded with a bullet to the eye (a shocking bit of gore for the time), then it’s back to the slab where he’s made to look more revolting and wretched! When Hammer continued the series they decided to concentrate on Victor (perhaps the true monster), but none of the succeeding patchwork people had the impact of the marvelous Mr. Lee.

9. RASPUTIN

RASPUTIN THE MAD MONK (1966) is one strange film and has one of the best villains Lee ever got to play, in a resume teeming with evil and scurrilous bastards. The movie exists because Hammer films had access to footage shot for ANASTASIA, a 1956 film about the phony daughter of Nicholas and Alexandra, the last Czar of Russia. The footage was in Cinemascope which resulted in Hammer shooting Rasputin in that process which was already outmoded and replaced by Panavision. We meet Rasputin in a monastery, follow him all over Russia as he eats, drinks and fornicates way too much, causing carnage and havoc everywhere he goes. Eventually, if you know your history, he ends up way too close to the Czar and his family. Claiming to be a healer Rasputin almost gains control of Russia. Interestingly this movie actually shows him healing people “with these two hands” as Lee ominously proclaims. In Lee’s talents Rasputin becomes an elemental force of nature, he roars through the movie, frightening women and children and causing all manner of scandals and bullying anybody who gets in his way. It is one of the best performances Lee gave at Hammer which was not in any way supernatural. Even that could be argued, Rasputin seems to have hypnotic as well as healing powers. In one of the most prolonged murder scenes committed to film, (historically accurate by the way) Rasputin is poisoned, shot, stabbed, strangled, stabbed again, beaten senseless, thrown out a window and drowned in an icy river! And the movie hints that he might still be alive! Unlike Dracula there was no sequel to Rasputin. And this is one son of a bitch that we are glad to see the last of, Rasputin is the embodiment of pure evil, no redeeming qualities what so ever.

8. ROCHEFORT

THE THREE MUSKETEERS (1973) and THE FOUR MUSKETEERS (1974) are easily the best version of Dumas’ classic adventure novel. An ensemble film, where every one of the actors, and the director, are at the very top of their form and obviously having a blast. Any film that would include Michael York, Faye Dunaway, Oliver Reed, Christopher Lee, Charlton Heston and many others as well as Spike Milligan and Raquel Welch has some kind of record for great casting! In what has to be an in joke Spike Milligan and Raquel Welch are a married couple! Michael York’s D’artagnan changes that. In a great cast and a wonderful story Lee brings a great deal to the main villain, Rochefort, described as Cardinal Richelieu’s living sword blade. Lee looks absolutely killer with his eye patch,(“You Sir! Without the eye!” yells young D’artaganan at one point) long hair and scarlet uniform, worn by all the Cardinal’s guards, the main group out to thwart the Musketeer’s who are sworn to protect the King, a complete idiot (not far from the truth, most crowned heads of Europe in those days were, but that is another story.) It is Lee and M’Lady DeWinter (Faye Dunaway) who cause all the action to proceed, at the instigation of Cardinal Richelieu, involving missing diamonds belonging to the Queen. In any adventure story it is the villain who makes things happen and Rochefort, in Lee’s capable hands is quite a piece of work. Lee has fenced his whole life and in an interview with Filmfax said that all the swords and knives in the film were absolutely real and sharp. Lee and all the other actors were wounded at some point. In an effort to make the sword fighting look real they made every effort to do some damage and very often did! The sword fighting in these films is some of the best ever captured on camera. Without a word of dialog indicating Rochefort’s feelings Lee lets us know, with facial expressions and body language that Rochefort is one world weary and bone tired son of a bitch. In one key scene with Heston Lee lets us know that Rochefort is sick and tired of the Cardinal’s nefarious machinations. Damn I like that phrase! I’ll write it again, Rochefort is sick and tired of the Cardinal’s nefarious machinations! But he has pledged his talents to supporting the Cardinal and not the King and has to play out his hand to the bitter end. It’s his job after all! You get the notion, especially in the second film, that poor old Rochefort might like to put the swords away and have a drink with the Musketeers, join them in some wenching and hell raising, give a little fatherly advice to D’Artaganan, and relax a little. In the climactic showdown we are seriously sorry to see Rochefort get his payback. In the Three and Four Musketeers Lee gives us something more interesting and complex than a tragic hero, a tragic villain.

7. KHARIS THE MUMMY

In 1959, Hammer Films completed remaking the Universal monster “big three” of Dracula, Frankenstein’s monster, and this last, the Mummy. Amazingly, Christopher Lee played the monster in all three—the first (and possibly only) person to perform this feat. Made at the height of the studio’s popularity, THE MUMMY is one of the best films Hammer ever produced. Co-starring Peter Cushing and the beautiful Yvonne Furneaux as the Ananka lookalike Isobel, and directed by Hammer’s ace Terence Fisher, THE MUMMY is dominated by Lee’s towering performance of vengeance unleashed. Wearing heavy bandages, driving his large body forward with choppy but powerful steps, Lee uses his physical presence to convey the menace of the monster. With only his eyes visible through the makeup, Lee also expresses an intensity that other movie mummys have lacked. And notice how his eyes change to a softer appearance when he sees Furneaux’s Isobel/ Ananka character. And if this wasn’t enough to cement this classic portrayal, we are treated to a long flashback sequence of Lee as the Egyptian priest Kharis conducting the burial ritual of Ananka in his most hypnotic tones. Lee himself had mixed feelings about THE MUMMY; on one hand, he admired the handsome production values and regarded it as one of his favorite Hammer films. However, the shoot proved to be a grueling physical challenge for the actor, and he suffered several injuries during production. For example, Lee had to not only maneuver through a muddy bog in full makeup, but do it carrying Furneaux. He later claimed that he pulled every muscle in his back during this scene. But, like all exceptional actors, Lee made the pain work for him through his performance, and the result is a memorable portrait that rivals the best films in the canon of the Egyptian undead myth.

6. COUNT DOOKU

No one really likes the three Star Wars prequels. They were sort of popular when new and it was okay to like them then, but they’ve aged so horribly that geekdom is investing their hopes in Disney to get it right next time. Light sabers are cool. Yoda is cool. Chewbacca is cool. But everyone can agree that the coolest thing about STAR WARS EPISODE II: ATTACK OF THE CLONES (2002), and STAR WARS EPISODE III: REVENGE OF THE SITH (2005) was the casting of Christopher Lee as Count Dooku, a Jedi Master who fell to the dark side of the Force and became a Dark Lord of the Sith, known as Darth Tyranus. It has been said that George Lucas is not a great director of actors, yet that couldn’t slow down Lee, the only actor in the series to exude real menace. Whenever he was on screen, those movies came alive. He made audiences cheer when he and Yoda squared off for their big battle and when he gleefully escaped from the Jedi Master on an intergalactic jet ski. As for the overblown trilogy as a whole, it was all too clearly a product of George Lucas’s production giant Industrial Light and Magic. No magic, little light, but an awful lot of industry.

5. LORD SUMMERISLE

“Come. It is time to keep your appointment with the Wicker Man”. Christopher Lee, who agreed to appear in THE WICKER MAN (1973) for free has claimed it was the greatest film he was ever part of. For good reasons, as this is one of the most unusual and original cinematic masterpieces ever brought to screen and an absolute must-see for everybody interested in movies. The unique greatness of THE WICKER MAN combines elements from a variety of genres; Horror, Thriller, Mystery, Fantasy, Drama, and even Musical, but it cannot really be limited to one particular genre. Scottish police sergeant Howie (Edward Woodward) is called by an anonymous letter to investigate the disappearance of a young girl on the remote Scottish island Summerisle. Upon his arrival, nobody seems to have ever heard of the girl. The deeply religious Sergeant Howie, however, is shocked to find out that the residents of the island, above all the sophisticated but mysterious Lord Summerisle (Christopher Lee), are practicing pagan customs and free sexuality as they await their next human sacrifice…… The final moments of THE WICKER MAN must rank amongst the finest ever committed to film. As Christopher Lee leads the crazed inhabitants of Summerisle in a chorus of ‘Summer Is A Comin’ In,’ Edward Woodward’s cries of anguish and frantic prayers are intermingled with the death throes of the sacrificed animals. The moment when Woodward first casts eyes on the giant Wicker Man of the title never fails to send a chill down the spine.

4. FU MANCHU

The character of Fu Manchu was first created by British author Sax Rohmer in 1912. Boris Karloff played the Chinese villain in 1932’s MASK OF FU MANCHU but after the 1940 serial Drums of Fu Manchu, film adaptations ceased. In 1965 movie producer Harry Alan Towers saw the novels as well- known enough to provide name recognition and signed Christopher Lee to the title role with a six-film deal. Despite being a 6’5” Brit, the actor seemed somehow perfectly suited to the role of the evil Chinaman (Karloff was English as well, though 6 inches shorter than Lee) and the make-up man simply taped up his eyelids for that slanty Asian look. The first film, FACE OF FU MANCHU (1965) directed by Hammer vet Don Sharp was a lively mix of Sherlock Holmes and James Bond concerning the kidnapping of a German scientist who Fu Manchu forces to develop a super weapon. FACE underperformed financially so the next two installments, BRIDES OF FU MANCHU (1966) and VENGEANCE OF FU MANCHU (1967) were filmed with considerably lower budgets, though Towers did take the crew to Hong Kong for some location flavor. In 1968 Towers met Spanish cult director Jess Franco and hired him to film the fourth entry BLOOD OF FU MANCHU (1968) in Brazil, which marked the beginning of the series’ decline. By the next year, Franco and Towers were working on elaborate erotica and sleazy women-in-prison films, and the Fu Manchu series was a dead weight. The final film in the series, CASTLE OF FU MANCHU (1969), was a dismal affair, bringing the series to a premature halt.

3. SARUMAN

When casting was announced for the first LORD OF THE RINGS film, Christopher Lee fans were both excited and a little apprehensive. The character of Saruman, like many a character in Tolkien’s books, is referred to often, but has very few “active” storylines. RINGS director Peter Jackson recognized that one of the weakest parts of the RINGS saga was its lack of a strong visual villain. Sure, Sauron is the Big Bad that pervades every page of the books and every scene of the films, but audiences also need something or someone to focus on as the personification of that evil. Fortunately for both readers and cinephiles alike, Jackson knew how to make use of Lee’s commanding screen persona. With his steely gaze and resonant voice, Lee imbues Saruman with all the self-righteous ego and persuasive yet treacherous charm that is only hinted at in the books. With a more expanded and enhanced role, Lee also has at least one pivotal sequence in each of the three RINGS films. In FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING, the wizard’s duel between Saruman and Gandalf is a key reveal as to who is the embodiment of the evil Sauron. The sequence also emphasizes the sheer physical presence Lee has, which is sometimes overlooked when compared to his magnificent vocal delivery. In TWO TOWERS, Saruman’s storyline adheres fairly closely to the book, as Lee organizes and directs the war machine he has helped create as Sauron’s advocate. And in RETURN OF THE KING, although some fans disliked the new resolution for Saruman that Jackson’s team came up with–which differs quite a bit from the book– Jackson probably made the correct decision, as the book’s ending does seem to drag on unnecessarily. Unfortunately, Saruman’s ending was cut from the initial release print of RETURN OF THE KING, but is available on the Extended Edition DVD/Blu-Ray release. It is difficult to understand Jackson’s reasons for leaving out this sequence, because it is quite spectacular—even by RINGS standards—and gives closure to Lee’s perfect depiction of corrupted power.

2. SCARAMANGA

In 1974, the James Bond movie series was a dozen years old. For Roger Moore’s second outing as 007, the producers wanted to find a foe that could be his very equal. While recent tiles were comic riffs on well-known adages (YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, LIVE AND LET DIE, etc.) the new film’s title, like two of the early classics (DR. NO and GOLDFINGER) refers to the villain, the master assassin Francisco Scaramanga, THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN. While Bond kills for Queen and country, Scaramanga’s does it for the cash (“a million a shot” as the opening song says). Sure he’s got a load of henchmen on his gorgeous island hideaway, but no need for any muscled leg-breakers like Oddjob and Jaws. Mr. S is deadly enough (although his manservant Nick Nack played Herve Villachaize, yep it’s TV’s Tatoo, helps and sometimes taunts his boss). As the 1970’s began Lee was expanding beyond the horror genre and appearing in bigger budgeted studio fare such as JULIUS CAESAR, THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, and THE THREE MUSKETEERS. This film was a wonderful showcase for his talents and introduced him to an even larger audience (hey, we monster fans already knew he was wonderful!). For the film’s pre-title sequence we see his physical side as he turns the tables on a ruthless American gangster (the great Marc Lawrence). Later the romantic Mr. Lee appears as he beds (but no biting!) the alluring Maud Adams (back to that song, “Love is required, whenever he’s hired…”). In the final showdown Moore faces his greatest (up to that point) screen battle as the two engage in a deadly duel to the death. It’s was a wonder that producers Saltzman and Broccoli waited so long to cast him (Lee is the step-cousin of Bond creator Ian Fleming!), but Christopher Lee elevates this, the ninth 007 epic, with his cultured deep baritone and imposing presence, and makes this high-priced hired gun one of the most memorable adversaries in the fifty-plus years of the greatest film franchise ever.

1. DRACULA

Christopher Lee, with is deep, commanding voice and six-foot, five-inch frame was the perfect choice for the role of Dracula. His Count is an imposing presence, stately and cool, with the gentlemanly manner that belies a lurking, evil presence. He is able to imbue his character with both erotic charm and animalistic fury at the same time and was much more terrifying than Bela Lugosi’s romantic seducer. After the international box-office success of THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, Hammer Studios decided to reunite its two key actors from that film, Peter Cushing and Lee. Hammer turned to another Universal Studios staple, Dracula which by then Universal Studios had little use for, last using him for a role in ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN. While only fitfully faithful to Stoker’s novel, Hammer Studios first version of Dracula, known in the U.S. as HORROR OF DRACULA (1958), remains the epitome of the English gothic horror film, complete with lavishly dressed sets, a vivid use of color, art and production design that effectively used Technicolor’s oversaturated color scheme, fluid, but never obtrusive camerawork, and compelling characters. Ironically enough, Lee is only on the screen a total of seven minutes in HORROR OF DRACULA yet his frightening presence is felt through the film. It would be seven more years before Lee would reprise the role for DRACULA, PRINCE OF DARKNESS, but his screen time in the series for Hammer never got any longer. Playing the role of Count Dracula for the second time, Christopher Lee was superbly menacing even though he does not utter a single word. The resurrection sequence in DRACULA, PRINCE OF DARKNESS, in which Dracula’s creepy manservant slashes one of the guests at Dracula’s castle and uses his blood to revive the long-dead Count still retains its shock value. DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE (1968) saw Oscar winning cinematographer Freddie Francis taking over the directorial reins from Terence Fisher and put an unusually strong emphasis on religion. Christopher Lee delivered another memorable performance as the man in the red-lined black cape. In TASTE THE BLOOD OF DRACULA (1970), the Count is revived by a Devil worshiper and three middle-aged men making a thrill-seeking pact. Chris Lee’s screen time is again brief, and he’s not given much to do except be the orchestrator for revenge as he makes the children of the businessmen kill their parents for him. SCARS OF DRACULA (1970) focused more on the actions of Dracula himself and affords Christopher Lee more screen time than in any other Hammer Dracula film. It was filmed on a lower budget, and while this shows, it does not prevent this from being one of the most memorable and unfairly derided of the long-running vampire series. DRACULA, A.D. 1972 (1972) found the Count in (then) modern day. Hippy kids “out for kicks” dabble in the Black Mass summon the great Count back to swinging London. The swinging ‘70s scene was dated when the film was released but its aged well and marked the return of Peter Cushing to the series. SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA (1973), the final installment of the Hammer Dracula saga, is different because it uses Lee’s scant appearances to its advantage, keeping Dracula aloof and mysterious, concerning itself with the disease of vampirism, which is compared to a plague. Because of its science fiction overtones, SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA felt more like an installment of The Avengers than a typical Hammer film. Lee played Dracula several times outside of Hammer studios. In COUNT DRACULA (1970) Lee looked just like the description of the Count in Bram Stoker’s novel and even he considered it his most accurate performance as the Count. He’s given more of a human side that is missing in the Hammer films, and delivers a good deal of dialog. COUNT DRACULA benefited from superior atmosphere and direction by Spanish cult figure Jess Franco and a deranged Klaus Kinski as the insane Renfield! Lee cameoed as the Count in the Peter Sellers comedy THE MAGIC CHRISTIAN (1969) and the Jerry Lewis directed ONE MORE TIME (1970) starring Sammy Davis Jr. Lee played Dracula for the last time in DRACULA AND SON (1976) a comedic take on the legend shot in France and Yugoslavia in French which ended up having Lee’s distinctive voice dubbed by another actor for the English-language dub. Christopher Lee has played many roles in his career but it will Dracula for which he will always be best remembered.

Rest in peace, Sir Christopher Lee. Your talent and professionalism will never be forgotten.

(much of this article was originally posted in August of 2013)

Peter Cushing’s Nazi Zombies! – SHOCK WAVES Midnights at The Hi-Pointe This Weekend

SHOCK WAVES screens midnights this Friday and Saturday (November 14th and 15th) at The Hi-Pointe Theater (1005 McCausland Ave., St. Louis, MO 63117)

Nazi Zombies! – we know you well. DEAD SNOW 2 just had its St. Louis premiere at the MX last month, but the subgenre dates back to at least THE FROZEN DEAD in 1966 and maybe earlier than that. But the undisputed king of undead Gestapo cinema has to be the 1977 shocker SHOCK WAVES, a great, low-budget atmospheric gem that will be playing this weekend (November 14^th and 15^th) midnights at The Hi-Pointe as part of Destroy the Brain’s monthly Late Night Grindhouse

A pleasure cruise goes horribly wrong, two couples and the boat’s three-man crew get stranded on a nearly-deserted island. An aging Nazi scientist orders them to leave before horrible things start happening, the N.Z.’s rise up from their watery graves, and, well, horrible things start happening, until only one person remains to tell the tale. That’s really it, in a nutshell.
But SHOCK WAVES fleshes out this simple skeleton of a story with piles of creepy visuals and effective characterizations. For starters, we’ve got a couple of veteran genre actors in the mix – Peter Cushing as the Nazi scientist, and John Carradine as the irascible captain of the pleasure boat, the standard “angry old man who’s out of the movie by the end of the first reel” role he portrayed too many times to count in the later years of his career. But the real stars of this film are the N.Z.s themselves. With their simple, gray SS uniforms, intimidating black goggles, identical blond haircuts, and makeup that mutes the actors’ individual features, they really look like you would imagine unstoppable, undead, Nazi killing machines should. The scenes where they rise up out of the water, or stride ominously back down beneath the surface, are supremely creepy each and every time they occur. Plus, since they are not technically zombies, but scientifically re-animated super-soldiers, they are allowed to show much more intelligence and forethought than your typical ghoul, laying traps, co-operating, and toying with their victims before doing them in.

Don’t miss SHOCK WAVES at The Hi-Pointe this weekend!

Admission is $7 and the pre-show begins at 11:30

The Facebook event page for the Friday screening can be found HERE

https://www.facebook.com/events/1385967981684356

The Facebook event page for the Saturday screening can be found HERE

https://www.facebook.com/events/586895584770638/

The Destroy The Brain.com site can be found HERE

http://www.destroythebrain.com/

The Hi-Pointe Theater’s site can be found HERE

TOP TEN TUESDAY: Peter Cushing – His Ten Best Movie Roles

Article by Jim Batts, Dana Jung, Michael Haffner, Sam Moffitt, and Tom Stockman

Peter Cushing (1913-1994) was one of the most respected and important actors in the horror and fantasy film genres. To his many fans, the British star was known as ‘The Gentle Man of Horror’ and is recognized for his work with Hammer Films which began in the late 1950’s, but he had numerous memorable roles outside of Hammer. A topnotch actor who was able to deliver superb performances on a consistent basis, Peter Cushing also had range. He could play both the hero and the villain with ease.

SUPER-8 PETER CUSHING MOVIE MADNESS takes place February 4th at The Way Out Club in St. Louis and will be a great way to celebrate the actor’s career. The event is on February 4th beginning at 8pm. Condensed versions (average length: 15 minutes) of these great Peter Cushing films will be screened on a big screen on Super-8 sound film: DR WHO DALEKS INVASION EARTH 2150 AD, THE BEAST MUST DIE, STAR WARS, AT THE EARTH’S CORE, TWINS OF EVIL, THE GORGON, and HORROR OF DRACULA. The non- Peter Cushing Super-8 films we’ll be showing February 4th are: W.C. Fields in IT’S A GIFT, Steve Martin in THE JERK, WAR OF THE WORLDS, THOSE MAGNIFICENT MEN IN THEIR FLYING MACHINES, HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, ABBOTT AND COSTELLO GO TO MARS, and a Horror Movie Trailer Reel. We’ll have some Peter Cushing trivia with great prizes as well as the usual T-Shirt and Poster giveaways. The show starts at 8pm and goes until Midnight. The Way Out Club is located at 2525 Jefferson Avenue (at Gravois) in South St. Louis. Admission is only $3.00. Yummy Way Out Pizzas are available. The Facebook invite for the event can be found HERE – https://www.facebook.com/events/673107166044849

Here, according to We Are Movie Geeks, are Peter Cushing’s ten best roles:

10. Dr. Maitland

9. Harry Fordyce

8. Dr. Who

7. Reverend Blyss

6. Arthur Grimsdyke

5. Sherlock Holmes

4. Gustav Weil

3. Grand Moff Tarkin

2. Professor Van Helsing

1. Doctor Frankenstein

Poster of the Week… ‘The Brides of Dracula’ (1960)

Title: The Brides of Dracula (1960)
AKA: les Maitresses de Dracula
Studio: Hammer Film Productions
Directed by Terence Fisher
Starring Peter Cushing
French Grande Poster, 47 in. X 63 in.
Artist: Marcel Landais

Plot: Vampire hunter Van Helsing returns to Transylvania to destroy handsome bloodsucker Baron Meinster, who has designs on beautiful young schoolteacher Marianne.

Tagline: He Turned Innocent Beauty Into Unspeakable Horror.

Trivia: Contrary to popular belief, Christopher Lee did not refuse to appear in this film, rather he was not asked for fear that the studio would have to pay him more money.

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