tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63094290339928554142024-02-19T03:46:31.739+00:00Hammer and BeyondAll about the World of Hammer movies and the talent in front and behind the camera and what became of them.Holger Haasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13359071414296803464noreply@blogger.comBlogger366125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6309429033992855414.post-88872755384765697752023-12-02T23:24:00.004+00:002023-12-03T12:23:58.352+00:00The Viking Queen (1967)<b><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDqDk1HYOXtuOhZZHOQtbaDiL3DTQNWgLT076KCHXdIuhHjggyS-9IJx_NVuojPvCB5duqm-ZDM8sxlYZzESMqv1t8A0JY5Za0Yz8Cl_jZP6O-iqiD6V9jz6VGjdy8i2nWjRNAnz12H4p-SmdptwCVs6iCEZMAgubMyZAjb5GQYj8iDzNs_NLJ_nk7xLal/s512/viking%20queen%20poster%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="The Viking Queen, Hammer, Carita, poster" border="0" data-original-height="386" data-original-width="512" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDqDk1HYOXtuOhZZHOQtbaDiL3DTQNWgLT076KCHXdIuhHjggyS-9IJx_NVuojPvCB5duqm-ZDM8sxlYZzESMqv1t8A0JY5Za0Yz8Cl_jZP6O-iqiD6V9jz6VGjdy8i2nWjRNAnz12H4p-SmdptwCVs6iCEZMAgubMyZAjb5GQYj8iDzNs_NLJ_nk7xLal/w320-h241/viking%20queen%20poster%202.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Part of <a href="https://cinematiccatharsis.blogspot.com/2023/10/introducing-hammer-amicus-blogathon-iv.html" target="_blank">The Hammer-Amicus Blogathon</a> </b><div><br /></div><div><i> During the Roman Invasion of Britain, a dying tribal King (Wilfrid Lawson) churns his oldest daughter, Beatrice, (Adrienne Corri) and instead nominates the more level headed Salina (Carita) to become the new Queen in order to live peacefully side by side with the Romans under Governor Justinian (Don Murray).</i></div><div><i> Beatrice is under the influence of war hungry Druid Priest Maelgan (Donald Houston) while Justinian’s Second-in-Command Octavian (Andrew Keir) also schemes to take over his Governor’s role. </i></div><div><i>Unaware of the schemings from both sides, Justinian and Salina quickly - very VERY quickly - fall in love and plan to marry, yet face obstacles from each of their camps. </i></div><div><i>When Justinian is on an away mission to quench a distant rebellion organised by some dissatisfied local traders, Octavian seeks power, burns down the Queen’s village and rapes her younger sister Talia (Nicola Pagett). </i></div><div><i>Chaos ensues and Salina leads her tribe in a brutal rebellion against the oppressors. </i></div><div><i>Will love conquer all in the end? </i></div><div><i>Don’t hold your breath for that. </i></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcOL9dhgELIC8UpeWk_UovSHt4ZDyxrbQGOdPbxLUr-lGaRg6ia-_yS88IGFAnnWnkwCZWlQQmIhPwydJ4qAv6FlVnXE3Lg8J_zevLhwCY7Jn9rdpLdXMjHS1jkP1TFPTGcbBTDxgkjUxK91dh6QQSVCGb_yQGeXYuXprszHgNjh7LaCAX8OLZZ8LnaYXR/s700/Viking%20Queen%20Poster.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="The Viking Queen, Hammer, Carita, poster" border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="499" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcOL9dhgELIC8UpeWk_UovSHt4ZDyxrbQGOdPbxLUr-lGaRg6ia-_yS88IGFAnnWnkwCZWlQQmIhPwydJ4qAv6FlVnXE3Lg8J_zevLhwCY7Jn9rdpLdXMjHS1jkP1TFPTGcbBTDxgkjUxK91dh6QQSVCGb_yQGeXYuXprszHgNjh7LaCAX8OLZZ8LnaYXR/w228-h320/Viking%20Queen%20Poster.jpg" width="228" /></a></div> Now, I am not a historian so can only assume that all the details in this production were meticulously researched and that there is a reason why this film is called <i>The Viking Queen</i> without a single Viking in sight and why the ancient pagan Briton Druids worshipped Zeus and not their local Gods, but I can clearly see that the true star of this Hammer production was the luscious Irish countryside. </div><div>Just like the later <i>Braveheart</i>, this is yet another example where the freedom fight in another part of the British Isles was transferred to be filmed in Ireland. </div><div> And as much as I always enjoy seeing the familiar backdrop of Black Park,<i> The Viking Queen</i> delights with views of Powerscourt Waterfall, Loch Tay, Wicklow Gap, Sally Gap and Kilruddery Estate. Local Ardmore Studios were also used rather than Elstree that at the time was becoming the new home studio following Hammer’s time in Bray. </div><div><br /></div><div> <i>The Viking Queen</i> does have a dreadful reputation and maybe I am getting soft in the head but it ain’t really all that bad. </div><div> Is it worth a full re-evaluation? </div><div>Probably not. </div><div>But it is a suitably entertaining little time waster with some surprisingly sadistic flogging scenes, hints of rape, fairly large scale battle sequences (with Irish soldiers as extras) and sufficient enough tittilation (including a wet T-Shirt scene after a convenient fall into a river) that I was again suitably entertained when I rewatched this production. </div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8jvY-0YsZFtORbwV9XFFSTnLpyobbxCEzQIBR5ivekpNWG0RqvGhRXkRPF85TsVl127hhMFSsDOp79izUB3hLCRrgAfKe0_t6FKvTijVxXF9hYqiq7D96zc1rs-iDNxlysneMNciYsR7f5_hvC80d2jVswqerisHnoc-liVhp7nhKffY-XS0aoh22AQtg/s1024/the-viking-queen_e0a0de66.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="The Viking Queen, Hammer, Carita, lobby card" border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8jvY-0YsZFtORbwV9XFFSTnLpyobbxCEzQIBR5ivekpNWG0RqvGhRXkRPF85TsVl127hhMFSsDOp79izUB3hLCRrgAfKe0_t6FKvTijVxXF9hYqiq7D96zc1rs-iDNxlysneMNciYsR7f5_hvC80d2jVswqerisHnoc-liVhp7nhKffY-XS0aoh22AQtg/w320-h240/the-viking-queen_e0a0de66.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /></div><div> A lot of the negative comments about this film are aimed at Carita, the main star, but for a complete unknown with practically zero experience she seems to have thrown herself wholeheartedly into this and whatever she may have lacked in acting nous she sure made up by convincingly steering a chariot and just looking appropriately glamorous whenever the occasion called for it. </div><div>IMDb lists <i>The Viking Queen</i> as her only film role but according to Marcus Hearn’s <i><a href="https://amzn.to/3R7aOMl" target="_blank">Hammer Glamour</a></i> book she does appear to have also had a role in the Lemmy Caution film <i>Lemmy pour les dames </i>(1962).</div><div> Hammer introduced her to the world as their Finnish discovery in June 1966 in Les Ambassadeurs in London. It was hoped that her pinup appeal would guarantee a follow up success similar to their other pseudo-historical dramas such as <i><a href="https://hammerandbeyond.blogspot.com/2010/07/she-1964.html" target="_blank">She</a></i> with Ursula Andress or <i>One Million Years B.C. </i>with <a href="https://hammerandbeyond.blogspot.com/2011/05/julie-ege-november-12-1943-april-29.html" target="_blank">Julie Ege</a>. </div><div>Co-Producer Twentieth Century Fox paid the newcomer $5000 in comparison to $75.000 to the more established Don Murray who was still primarily only known from his part in <i>Bus Stop</i> with Marilyn Monroe eleven years prior. </div><div>And yet Murray with his American accent and leaden performance is arguably the weakest aspect of this production. He was also noticeably older than the female lead and there is no real chemistry between the two of them, yet we are led to believe that he had so much charisma that a simple tumble into a river makes her fall truly madly deeply in love with her country’s oppressor. </div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixDHgcI9P26wjUAwEqLVAdKc912mEKdI_KCcMkZ8EzGAYM_GAYjKzFXC7aMzGXjFWgieWlSgY9NASPInBkj1ZSh0oZaJ-tWKTZbM649N_0yDoHnLJm3dX6vce28FIL9I1vB5wW8btmXh0s7mZ9OlcpuAO5EQFQmpBx3QHIut0PxWj_sjQ7jgA_SgYKomPE/s2461/the-viking-queen_nQ6iXF.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="The Viking Queen, Hammer, Carita" border="0" data-original-height="2461" data-original-width="2042" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixDHgcI9P26wjUAwEqLVAdKc912mEKdI_KCcMkZ8EzGAYM_GAYjKzFXC7aMzGXjFWgieWlSgY9NASPInBkj1ZSh0oZaJ-tWKTZbM649N_0yDoHnLJm3dX6vce28FIL9I1vB5wW8btmXh0s7mZ9OlcpuAO5EQFQmpBx3QHIut0PxWj_sjQ7jgA_SgYKomPE/w266-h320/the-viking-queen_nQ6iXF.jpeg" width="266" /></a></div><br /> The charm about this movie is that all the supporting stars play even their most ridiculous lines with deadly earnest, thereby giving an enjoyable gravitas to a slice of cinematic hokum. </div><div>Donald Houston as Maelgan is an utter delight to watch whether he demands some virgin sacrifice under a full moon surrounded by Stonehenge style standing stones or pleads Salina “before the sacred mistletoe and the golden sickle” to lead her people wisely. </div><div>Next to him Adrienne Corri as Salina’s older sister, obsessed with hatred against the Romans and upset about having to abdicate the title that was supposed to have been hers to her younger sibling. </div><div>Patrick Troughton is a revelation not because he joins in with an over the top performance but because in contrast to many of his other roles he actually does not display any eccentricities but instead comes across as a very masculine and heroic advisor. </div><div>Every film automatically gets better with Andrew Keir in it and his Octavian is a tough as nails by-the-book Roman leader who does not allow for any allowances or leniency towards the people he had invaded and despises his Governor for the soft touch he repeatedly displays. </div><div><br /></div><div> Directed by Don Chaffey, who had already helmed <i>One Million Years B.C. </i>for Hammer and would also be responsible for <i><a href="https://hammerandbeyond.blogspot.com/2010/07/creatures-world-forgot-1971.html" target="_blank">Creatures the World Forgot </a></i>a couple of years later, <i>The Viking Queen</i> looks well but suffers from being a bit of a mess with regards to its message. </div><div>Though Maelgan and Beatrice (just like Octavian on the other side) are generally being portrayed as scheming manipulators, when all is said and done given the way the Romans pillage their village when their soft-hearted Governor is absent, they are actually being proven right in their predictions. </div><div>Justinian’s tax tribunal in which he makes seemingly fair but at the same time also totally random ad hoc decisions is quite a bit of a head scratcher and though the ending is surprisingly bleak and downbeat, it also feels incredibly rushed. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9B5xgp6QPQ9N1ZiEFFEXUmnnE3jAXwZsIiW1KshPB_wEYUqlCOy6ikh8qvBJGovRD9cIzJ3bP4Yv88rAAPpVOkw2mRESFRUMsp_uedSPWBGhAGGN2q1Qs2llB3dTHHZQhs90Rbzahhe8KpGP97Nvi-yKtsfQPCR4R5pNK0xUajQ9Q1AUnHj2laL3k2Nvu/s1542/viking%20queen%20lobby.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="The Viking Queen, Hammer, Carita, lobbby card" border="0" data-original-height="1257" data-original-width="1542" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9B5xgp6QPQ9N1ZiEFFEXUmnnE3jAXwZsIiW1KshPB_wEYUqlCOy6ikh8qvBJGovRD9cIzJ3bP4Yv88rAAPpVOkw2mRESFRUMsp_uedSPWBGhAGGN2q1Qs2llB3dTHHZQhs90Rbzahhe8KpGP97Nvi-yKtsfQPCR4R5pNK0xUajQ9Q1AUnHj2laL3k2Nvu/w320-h261/viking%20queen%20lobby.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div> Still, I can’t hate a film where ancient pagan Amazons wear makeup that is as groovy as in this production. </div><div>It certainly may not be one of Hammer’s greatest but this Boadicea-in-disguise is a fast paced slice of humbug that is more than worth a watch. </div><div> That head-to-toe black-faced slave girl, however…. </div><div>Yeah, not sure about this one. </div><div><br /></div><div><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jUb3PiCIZp0?si=Pah98LKMXnVGMNv8" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div><iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" sandbox="allow-popups allow-scripts allow-modals allow-forms allow-same-origin" scrolling="no" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=theworldofham-21&language=en_GB&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B0BZSTPWZ5&asins=B0BZSTPWZ5&linkId=02133d1b3a9984c0890df4ceb49f65ad&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe></div>Holger Haasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13359071414296803464noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6309429033992855414.post-37058305893810055802023-07-31T19:36:00.002+01:002023-07-31T19:36:57.423+01:00MASK OF DUST (1954) on TPTV podcast<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRLrxMBhQUiiJxwqiB2kJa8kn7mj18csM0uAzKZ9OETKb7ukJt2jKenGTmzchxlCXn9d1Vw-0K5bQbQlBkDy4cz2COCBrzH5OWglDDAxcED52NrfAuAsFgadZYLIfuAt_NSpFOsXVgZV0Fz8YRxGNkK58banAU5NNfFTsurhBuLUAs0V9Z-4I2R8Kwuspz/s400/width_400_Logo-20230730-zqsi0lqpqg.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRLrxMBhQUiiJxwqiB2kJa8kn7mj18csM0uAzKZ9OETKb7ukJt2jKenGTmzchxlCXn9d1Vw-0K5bQbQlBkDy4cz2COCBrzH5OWglDDAxcED52NrfAuAsFgadZYLIfuAt_NSpFOsXVgZV0Fz8YRxGNkK58banAU5NNfFTsurhBuLUAs0V9Z-4I2R8Kwuspz/s320/width_400_Logo-20230730-zqsi0lqpqg.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /> Talking Pictures TV just posted <a href="https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/id/27603528" target="_blank">their new podcast</a> with the schedule for August and I contributed with a little bit of info about Hammer's racing movie MASK OF DUST aka A RACE FOR LIFE (1954), directed by Terence Fisher. <p></p><p>You can listen to it from around the 55 minute mark.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ2J76bC4BtVEy1Z4v2KzclikZ2D3R0ojzT3EO58WLwS6px0eolmmRuNUiv72NHQktb11GQyywMO37-vOMO6sT-zpDTBsDSB2S8IF2lNF5aTfSof4bvBLxKEubA4S0J73maQoWG3C_FxBOWuA3BIP0VSBJ5_K4bqhEnxJILtxrd6MBdaQhCu2Ms4eOdgiw/s1280/maxresdefault.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="mask of dust, a race for life, poster, hammer" border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ2J76bC4BtVEy1Z4v2KzclikZ2D3R0ojzT3EO58WLwS6px0eolmmRuNUiv72NHQktb11GQyywMO37-vOMO6sT-zpDTBsDSB2S8IF2lNF5aTfSof4bvBLxKEubA4S0J73maQoWG3C_FxBOWuA3BIP0VSBJ5_K4bqhEnxJILtxrd6MBdaQhCu2Ms4eOdgiw/w400-h225/maxresdefault.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4RGOAnbOGzmblKh-5hMNtDi_LZba0b8bOPTF0vQlsE6wZPWCFapSoAaaph1S9AlFeDmfhfUDe9CGTgd_zBNnSqlaL4y-9f1Rjw0ZbvmUo_-lzXzWpd4Sn_PvfGAOwh1QniP3EvDM5VwSIC0q6aO2eIJbUFRi3IDvmMc04Q4gi1e8N90LAsFHYMmi2YScw/s613/MV5BYTk1NWRkMjYtMjU3OC00ZWNhLWE4NmItMTQ0MTQ2OTU0OTY1XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMDM0NzcxMQ@@._V1_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="mask of dust, a race for life, poster, hammer" border="0" data-original-height="458" data-original-width="613" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4RGOAnbOGzmblKh-5hMNtDi_LZba0b8bOPTF0vQlsE6wZPWCFapSoAaaph1S9AlFeDmfhfUDe9CGTgd_zBNnSqlaL4y-9f1Rjw0ZbvmUo_-lzXzWpd4Sn_PvfGAOwh1QniP3EvDM5VwSIC0q6aO2eIJbUFRi3IDvmMc04Q4gi1e8N90LAsFHYMmi2YScw/w400-h299/MV5BYTk1NWRkMjYtMjU3OC00ZWNhLWE4NmItMTQ0MTQ2OTU0OTY1XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMDM0NzcxMQ@@._V1_.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-Vr7Hk1ifGpdjrjFmFGziQv64SE4RWk-HPXk_frHqWgXlzxQqfeNFzQ8zPqPBa6NXsinN76MLTgzn0f1TsIa3-uIhoSH7-roVrlQV_q-nIGa-QUdj_bszpLSkCPRWnh5ZxUsPDN7clVjnyOGTMSIf0dk2VAqBMYZRlPfUj3IMa01pXX5XvTapYyDboxgz/s1600/s-l1600.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="mask of dust, a race for life, poster, hammer" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="653" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-Vr7Hk1ifGpdjrjFmFGziQv64SE4RWk-HPXk_frHqWgXlzxQqfeNFzQ8zPqPBa6NXsinN76MLTgzn0f1TsIa3-uIhoSH7-roVrlQV_q-nIGa-QUdj_bszpLSkCPRWnh5ZxUsPDN7clVjnyOGTMSIf0dk2VAqBMYZRlPfUj3IMa01pXX5XvTapYyDboxgz/w164-h400/s-l1600.jpeg" width="164" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Holger Haasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13359071414296803464noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6309429033992855414.post-88207537412478248182023-05-09T15:01:00.000+01:002023-05-09T15:01:15.885+01:00The Unquenchable Thirst of Dracula<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA4-zpgT8E-vkcvAH0XDjF7cM7o5Kt0iaCaglnfGBdmcfMd8gLbdXpXF0WzmbTMW3l1uhTHNPKR8NLVqWUrEq0IaLWGq8mZ_F-8LlKG178cXM8qqQOE1i4Kn7TLCOwI2vSR_E7ZtuCxl6s5a-Djg9cVWzIkBjY-jJEKhptPgh7yPSp5YfxTOxt-BZmAw/s1456/Radio%20Poster.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Unquenchable Thirst of Dracula, Hammer, BBC, Audible" border="0" data-original-height="819" data-original-width="1456" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA4-zpgT8E-vkcvAH0XDjF7cM7o5Kt0iaCaglnfGBdmcfMd8gLbdXpXF0WzmbTMW3l1uhTHNPKR8NLVqWUrEq0IaLWGq8mZ_F-8LlKG178cXM8qqQOE1i4Kn7TLCOwI2vSR_E7ZtuCxl6s5a-Djg9cVWzIkBjY-jJEKhptPgh7yPSp5YfxTOxt-BZmAw/w400-h225/Radio%20Poster.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p>I swear, sometimes I feel this blog is like my own private Fantastic Four, i.e. an IP that once a year I need to keep updated so as to be able to hold on to it. </p><p>Truth be told whatever little writing time I have I now mainly invest in <a href="https://krimifilm.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">my Krimi blog</a> where I feel I have more to contribute as Hammer is a subject that already has so many good and incredibly well informed writers. </p><p>Still, Hammer is one of my first loves so every once in a blue moon I may put virtual pen to virtual paper and write a few lines. </p><p>The occasion this time was my discovery of Audible's <i><a href="https://amzn.to/3nMAJ16" target="_blank">The Unquenchable Thirst of Dracula</a></i>. I had heard of this courtesy of the Facebook's <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/306311546062155" target="_blank">Hammer Lovers Group</a>. </p><p>Directed by Mark Gatiss, this BBC production was originally transmitted around Halloween, on October 28 , 2017 at 2.30pm on BBC Radio 4 and is part of a series of radio adaptations of film scripts that never passed the pre-production stage. </p><p>The radio play is based on a 1974 script, <i>The Insatiable Thirst of Dracula</i>, by John Elder (=Anthony Hinds) and would have been following up from <i>The Satanic Rites of Dracula</i>. At the time Hammer had planned a national talent search to replace Christopher Lee in the role. (This is according to <i><a href="https://amzn.to/42Im8mp" target="_blank">Last Bus to Bray, Vol. 1</a></i>. The Amazon sales blurb mentions that this would have followed <i>Scars of Dracula</i> and was replaced in favour of <i>Dracula AD 1972</i> so what do I know?) </p><p>Similar to <i>The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires</i> (1974) where Lee had been replaced by John Forbes-Robertson, this production would also have been set in the early part of the 20th Century in Asia but this time it saw the Count having escaped from England to India. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH_rVGG3B9xdVKyUaUFAPUdsoHnrtKu3JrIIi-9Qi23ZUtdZICogRDTdeuwT3QmJIo9-UlbE_nGt-N_F8MtJf5gVtS41wISiHPQbWSt-EuS1ZDnAC7yWUFzFQ8dVaA27y4Iqe47h_GIzKLR_yPBJZ_NwEdZTeAv-2Kya_5R9mBC30CGzrWckcL04T-iw/s670/Kali.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Kali Devil Bride of Dracula, Hammer, poster" border="0" data-original-height="483" data-original-width="670" height="289" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH_rVGG3B9xdVKyUaUFAPUdsoHnrtKu3JrIIi-9Qi23ZUtdZICogRDTdeuwT3QmJIo9-UlbE_nGt-N_F8MtJf5gVtS41wISiHPQbWSt-EuS1ZDnAC7yWUFzFQ8dVaA27y4Iqe47h_GIzKLR_yPBJZ_NwEdZTeAv-2Kya_5R9mBC30CGzrWckcL04T-iw/w400-h289/Kali.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><p>Another more famous unfilmed Hammer production, <i>Kali - Devil Bride of Dracula</i>, had a similar premise and was written by Christopher Wicking. </p><p></p><p>According to <a href="https://scifibulletin.com/books/audiobooks/the-unquenchable-thirst-of-dracula-interview-mark-gatiss/" target="_blank">Mark Gatiss</a> <i>Kali</i> was indeed a later version of Hinds’ script. </p><p>When <i>The Insatiable Thirst of Dracula</i> failed to make it into production as a feature film, there were discussions about turning it into an episode of the planned <i>The Hammer House of Horror </i>TV series that was to focus on feature length TV films per episode. </p><p>Alas, this idea also was scrapped. </p><p><i> The Unquenchable Thirst of Dracula</i> follows young Englishwoman Penny seemingly on a spontaneous trip through 1930s India after being left a bit of an inheritance. On the train she meets two musicians, a brother and a sister, as well as another Indian who hosts her when she can’t find a hotel on short notice.</p><p> The two musicians are hired by the Maharajah and his wife to perform for them, not knowing that all this is on command of Count Dracula who has found shelter there and has the local court under his command.</p><p> And what about Penny? Did she really just go there on a whim? </p><p> Hearing this dramatisation is actually an absolutely amazing way to imagine what this film may have been like. It’s very well acted with excellent and moody sound effects and the fact that this sticks closely to the original script ensures that its running time of 86 minutes is also very much in line with that of a typical Hammer production so it definitely has that classic Hammer feeling… which may indeed be one of the reasons why it never saw production as it is something that ultimately would have come a bit too late in a period where even Hammer themselves had started approaching more contemporary approaches to their films (e.g. <i>To The Devil A Daughter</i>) and <i>The Exorcist</i> had redefined the way genre films were approached. </p><p>Still, I loved it and am planning to at least also listen to a similar adaptation of Alfred Hitchcock’s unfilmed <i>The Blind Man</i>. </p><p> <iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" sandbox="allow-popups allow-scripts allow-modals allow-forms allow-same-origin" scrolling="no" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=theworldofham-21&language=en_GB&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B09LHM93SB&asins=B09LHM93SB&linkId=d46cbc12bfd2e49fe5dc941ceddb9d0b&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe> <iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" sandbox="allow-popups allow-scripts allow-modals allow-forms allow-same-origin" scrolling="no" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=theworldofham-20&language=en_US&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B09LHNT651&asins=B09LHNT651&linkId=2a11b3b23b7667bc58a0fb0034635405&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe></p>Holger Haasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13359071414296803464noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6309429033992855414.post-50978702525728514062022-12-09T21:50:00.000+00:002022-12-09T21:50:54.827+00:00Hammer Playing Cards<p> I haven't updated this blog all that much. Truth be told I don't think I have even watched that many Hammer movies this year. (Shock, gasp, I hear you say.) </p><p>Whatever little blogging energy I can muster nowadays I primarily spend on my <a href="https://krimifilm.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Krimi related blog</a>. There's just so much Hammer related info out there, I feel I can contribute more to the less reported sub-genre of the German Krimi.</p><p>Still, this blog will stay up and every once in a while I may still add to it.</p><p>Just the other day came across my old set of Hammer Horror playing cards that were published in 1996 by the Heritage Toy and Game Company.</p><p>Once upon a time there were some decent scans of them around in a long deleted blog. So here are some less than decent scans to give an idea of what those cards look like.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrmnY7rx5HJIWXv_TXkD5jlWkHQpYkBipYECvlqVZFpIR_eKnRkkXyT5MVOUFHmHWD3x1_gjnTry7-_5aH5UiiN7dmPXFgLoyPwpfZcZ06OJAhhsqVicWq_Be2mtXlRHG4eoky2bsDby_xaqA8Ytf0oIsFvVIMiaOFvC63Ycz7h6SxbB37MAqRbmBYkw/s3000/20221209_212745.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Hammer Horror, playing cards" border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="2000" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrmnY7rx5HJIWXv_TXkD5jlWkHQpYkBipYECvlqVZFpIR_eKnRkkXyT5MVOUFHmHWD3x1_gjnTry7-_5aH5UiiN7dmPXFgLoyPwpfZcZ06OJAhhsqVicWq_Be2mtXlRHG4eoky2bsDby_xaqA8Ytf0oIsFvVIMiaOFvC63Ycz7h6SxbB37MAqRbmBYkw/w266-h400/20221209_212745.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiadi_9s-4RlczPCLastVaT0HywOwtNZ6KydQ9-y3bEGR-OjpzZ0M-ZU-ogiO4KVTrDHUGhuc6OUdGr3pZXWVxxNLr5iCUOV_hX6wOh5vOexm-TyjZ5gBOqXF5p9KrkSqMoXJpM0-0lIqxEvE_8c_9rSJTRnsoVZBQLKwep4RyfT0Sm3WUyPrLLFBWajA/s3000/20221209_212726.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Hammer Horror, playing cards" border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="2000" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiadi_9s-4RlczPCLastVaT0HywOwtNZ6KydQ9-y3bEGR-OjpzZ0M-ZU-ogiO4KVTrDHUGhuc6OUdGr3pZXWVxxNLr5iCUOV_hX6wOh5vOexm-TyjZ5gBOqXF5p9KrkSqMoXJpM0-0lIqxEvE_8c_9rSJTRnsoVZBQLKwep4RyfT0Sm3WUyPrLLFBWajA/w266-h400/20221209_212726.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2A3pyMbH4wVYhjMJOnq-wN3btHqKpz3m-GN8yiJr8Exha8c0hqSAOKaV8uo7WVUtbOotavYmejiEW09EXbiN1v-6ppVkqMM5Fghwbe5tAsyTWsOqASUbAPluOT217wDW-PF-UHlBX7YjWs82QlzSf1uWqBatKIiSta0R5AxHek6g6VXFzJjwBcEim5A/s3000/20221209_213007.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Hammer Horror, playing cards" border="0" data-original-height="2728" data-original-width="3000" height="364" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2A3pyMbH4wVYhjMJOnq-wN3btHqKpz3m-GN8yiJr8Exha8c0hqSAOKaV8uo7WVUtbOotavYmejiEW09EXbiN1v-6ppVkqMM5Fghwbe5tAsyTWsOqASUbAPluOT217wDW-PF-UHlBX7YjWs82QlzSf1uWqBatKIiSta0R5AxHek6g6VXFzJjwBcEim5A/w400-h364/20221209_213007.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6JhRbbIBE_BlyZLqJft-Tlq1RIfP5O91gjA7RtxcggPnPLDtSYkWUkFxGVb-gL8mX3P0fOYSQkg4cL3s34zfukDWSCZ6QhSXC6POyIlPRRFkfaFeAZnaXwHTznCahhHA0GjUXmUd_JhlqTczKBAUstl_HGuwVp4lFE47lED5JBUP71o-xP05CZqCPlw/s3000/20221209_212951.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Hammer Horror, playing cards" border="0" data-original-height="2780" data-original-width="3000" height="371" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6JhRbbIBE_BlyZLqJft-Tlq1RIfP5O91gjA7RtxcggPnPLDtSYkWUkFxGVb-gL8mX3P0fOYSQkg4cL3s34zfukDWSCZ6QhSXC6POyIlPRRFkfaFeAZnaXwHTznCahhHA0GjUXmUd_JhlqTczKBAUstl_HGuwVp4lFE47lED5JBUP71o-xP05CZqCPlw/w400-h371/20221209_212951.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5CT75w5wlUyr1taLEwd-Xt8gdBOGeofbk2FqHPGHVNeDcT3VRzjVjtkTwrmJ2f3xDPPz6_3X91azgtf7fZPA2C_OnsoaurqkGYJYa60pXl_C7zTPCwO1IhhAdj-SWiQml4lQ0tNFu0kjKNm9cwyic0RGf1f0YEl1YZGI2hfQJBI0oFfqgDC_dkpvBJA/s3000/20221209_213022.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Hammer Horror, playing cards" border="0" data-original-height="2680" data-original-width="3000" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5CT75w5wlUyr1taLEwd-Xt8gdBOGeofbk2FqHPGHVNeDcT3VRzjVjtkTwrmJ2f3xDPPz6_3X91azgtf7fZPA2C_OnsoaurqkGYJYa60pXl_C7zTPCwO1IhhAdj-SWiQml4lQ0tNFu0kjKNm9cwyic0RGf1f0YEl1YZGI2hfQJBI0oFfqgDC_dkpvBJA/w400-h358/20221209_213022.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpb7zeaftEsj84Q8yEJT3V3czlLNHjOzNVPv-VGsZweW3Jb4lAn3uHnE0P1_-nDt3ejLx6_-zrDdTMQmIyDnhHmJhIjd-u4DuWpZsJhg59FGMM4xv1nnXzYxljOKVygGjoygqnq0ncx65qzaeeHTcHUopiBQioX33IuX6MQC1XMbBfRGP6ZOs7aK2-iQ/s3000/20221209_213035.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Hammer Horror, playing cards" border="0" data-original-height="2732" data-original-width="3000" height="364" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpb7zeaftEsj84Q8yEJT3V3czlLNHjOzNVPv-VGsZweW3Jb4lAn3uHnE0P1_-nDt3ejLx6_-zrDdTMQmIyDnhHmJhIjd-u4DuWpZsJhg59FGMM4xv1nnXzYxljOKVygGjoygqnq0ncx65qzaeeHTcHUopiBQioX33IuX6MQC1XMbBfRGP6ZOs7aK2-iQ/w400-h364/20221209_213035.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Holger Haasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13359071414296803464noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6309429033992855414.post-52501341982287881622022-01-14T20:31:00.001+00:002022-01-14T21:20:36.238+00:00FRANKENSTEIN CREATED WOMAN (1967)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjdK6tW_9DQC7-r4EZsP5wzLaSyYswXuAYpJY4lzjLWyfy3Bz0-3_gPPkK49VNQ__sO2_Js2B2CPiWmC_ExN4Rw2QoLMyahFft2WjNxzO8z16TdJzfG5P8nhuKre7pgFAojy8OYhA7vCLDmRnvAt78x6EVgMn52qh9Ia-wR1cw0TI15D3h8R5D4zFP1kA=s2961" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Frankenstein Created Woman, Italian Poster, Susan Denberg, Peter Cushing" border="0" data-original-height="2961" data-original-width="2107" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjdK6tW_9DQC7-r4EZsP5wzLaSyYswXuAYpJY4lzjLWyfy3Bz0-3_gPPkK49VNQ__sO2_Js2B2CPiWmC_ExN4Rw2QoLMyahFft2WjNxzO8z16TdJzfG5P8nhuKre7pgFAojy8OYhA7vCLDmRnvAt78x6EVgMn52qh9Ia-wR1cw0TI15D3h8R5D4zFP1kA=w228-h320" width="228" /></a></div>Following <a href="https://cinepunked.com/" target="_blank">Cinepunked’s</a> first live stream discussion between <a href="https://twitter.com/exclusivephd" target="_blank">Robert JE Simpson</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/HammerGothic" target="_blank">David L Rattigan</a> about all things Hammer (“In the Grip of Hammer”) yesterday, I decided to rewatch <i>Frankenstein Created Woman</i> again. <p></p><p>The discussion is still <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7RVhTvPUmQ&t=517s" target="_blank">available on YouTube</a> and was an utterly enjoyable goodhearted chat between the two about their personal fascination with Hammer Films as well as about the fandom those movies generated. There was lively audience participation in the form of chat messages that the two picked up and elaborated on. </p><p>In the context of this movie they mentioned that it’s often criticised for not featuring enough of Peter Cushing but that it never bothered them personally. </p><p>Must admit that I also never took note of that before though this rewatch made me notice that he did indeed spend possibly less time on screen than in other outings, however, this production is notable for introducing us to a range of other truly memorable supporting characters (including Susan Denberg’s gender bending meat-cleaver swinging Christina) that it actually would have been a shame to lose time with them in exchange for more time with Cushing’s character so it’s probably fair to say that even though from a purely time on the screen perspective there was indeed less Cushing in this film than in others of the series but what we did get was more than sufficient for this particular story. </p><p>Part of the discussion also focused on their desire to explore Queer Hammer more and of course this movie is quintessentially queer whether it is the overt gender transfer between Christina and Hans (Robert Morris) or the more implied charmingly doddering bromance between Frankenstein and Thorley Walters’ Dr. Hertz. </p><p>So much to appreciate in this, one of Hammer’s most unusual productions. If only they’d have gone even further and also included that wraparound bandages bikini style outfit that was used in the film's poster and promotional material for Susan Denberg…. </p><p>Really glad that this discussion made me return to <i>Frankenstein Created Woman</i> again and hope that there will be more similar live streams to follow. </p><p> Below samples of some German and US lobby cards for this film as well as the recording of the live stream. (Best to watch it directly on YouTube though to properly read the parallel chats between the audience members.) </p><p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/F7RVhTvPUmQ" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><p><br /></p><p><u>German Lobby Cards:</u></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhkJ7519sBzLvD9ahAofVggD_IXXEVm-dfxV2bAUrjOvFSihflZR-pgI53akDPtrALCMjClJygleAqK5Q374-_4dha_tCu4b8E5v6VTaSAkoathtdx2eGx7D20AGHnwVSk5cN7ul9Dp3SX2VqKy8Z55v1MgzzWSjsDGitpDRvO-ifwtMxSqzQ1Jp5DE4Q=s881" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Frankenstein Created Woman, Lobby Card, Germany, Susan Denberg" border="0" data-original-height="687" data-original-width="881" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhkJ7519sBzLvD9ahAofVggD_IXXEVm-dfxV2bAUrjOvFSihflZR-pgI53akDPtrALCMjClJygleAqK5Q374-_4dha_tCu4b8E5v6VTaSAkoathtdx2eGx7D20AGHnwVSk5cN7ul9Dp3SX2VqKy8Z55v1MgzzWSjsDGitpDRvO-ifwtMxSqzQ1Jp5DE4Q=w400-h313" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhV6Gh967-VXEvomX5mh7x2CKlEOGMhXdeYjukHgbCqr0ceW0ZVPGP8X4oKYwl9H22KBMF93NsD39si3_QDvLgzP8hNIjz34I8mJfe5qCMSu6NhJNvlIdfWrSv-d0W7wnlbGg0Bhm8N0Y5dnr7-udk3HR4ij_0MIEbEZHEEEM4yDhCuVm8GA1RH_zYN3Q=s1592" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Frankenstein Created Woman, Lobby Card, Germany" border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1592" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhV6Gh967-VXEvomX5mh7x2CKlEOGMhXdeYjukHgbCqr0ceW0ZVPGP8X4oKYwl9H22KBMF93NsD39si3_QDvLgzP8hNIjz34I8mJfe5qCMSu6NhJNvlIdfWrSv-d0W7wnlbGg0Bhm8N0Y5dnr7-udk3HR4ij_0MIEbEZHEEEM4yDhCuVm8GA1RH_zYN3Q=w400-h301" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgaV1DyF9zBNphrHWGXoyscubWFey5ElRL13_Wud_Y_AMGeNgW4GuhXGUAllCvxuhjKZWFdDYENaxC5m4DFRqiPbQ-Jp76la910O61cf9NEo2La_vR3t66S3MYI_L9-8vbcpbo83n4rs-b2mqh8B2FTd3ry2Qnwee5IDHz86Hf-DcCuJs6pWoL3I9ITMQ=s796" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Frankenstein Created Woman, Lobby Card, Germany, Susan Denberg" border="0" data-original-height="625" data-original-width="796" height="314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgaV1DyF9zBNphrHWGXoyscubWFey5ElRL13_Wud_Y_AMGeNgW4GuhXGUAllCvxuhjKZWFdDYENaxC5m4DFRqiPbQ-Jp76la910O61cf9NEo2La_vR3t66S3MYI_L9-8vbcpbo83n4rs-b2mqh8B2FTd3ry2Qnwee5IDHz86Hf-DcCuJs6pWoL3I9ITMQ=w400-h314" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgTno6w7iFXQnHKCtpSlLKF2Fv__-Vj1_DiBGpThpF_ythbOyHk0g5k30OxMf-eRIaNq-rptRr0fTjR1V8NSR7ptpJDoMMTFutJDevaFIoY9a1H34wHZjd4DVvZFzFv86TjWfDXI57ZxJIsVlwT6KNeExivzRAy_PgGN-RD7UdIOtwwr_c7LQj_6Qevvw=s864" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Frankenstein Created Woman, Lobby Card, Germany, Susan Denberg" border="0" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="864" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgTno6w7iFXQnHKCtpSlLKF2Fv__-Vj1_DiBGpThpF_ythbOyHk0g5k30OxMf-eRIaNq-rptRr0fTjR1V8NSR7ptpJDoMMTFutJDevaFIoY9a1H34wHZjd4DVvZFzFv86TjWfDXI57ZxJIsVlwT6KNeExivzRAy_PgGN-RD7UdIOtwwr_c7LQj_6Qevvw=w400-h315" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; 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margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Frankenstein Created Woman, Lobby Card, Germany" border="0" data-original-height="1209" data-original-width="1595" height="304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi7VeIMr1KHayFGveWxxstr4Un8QDXNBOk_ivW8F0Q7vEwIJOyPlH34rZO8W7IbXhYGUgBU0D0TjRgkj6ZrAvbefvr9ePOoMd8SkTSBjOVbibQV08gw0nTSwqnvYtNqzbn7DVv4hwjYB_fRLVPa0dkqgKG3K8x7HH2e0CZEdOmZYl5hGgivzVwpwQ4dYQ=w400-h304" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiqQe5QNtbFUSErQPDvSnXYZ3FEVYZIukll95Tbb16QYyZck_xOrDywR9WPoyGTeYYqQl-F1URiO17lWkALq_I5PocWEsW-C4Z0FfwnlIAYrnAyog-S14UYR7wcii8dtgsHVE05l7SirAACel0-ndwp0nMbA2ssvFFIf2NR4nN7zJVPbCk99GeWP30l8g=s1599" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Frankenstein Created Woman, Lobby Card, Germany, Susan Denberg" border="0" data-original-height="1215" data-original-width="1599" height="304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiqQe5QNtbFUSErQPDvSnXYZ3FEVYZIukll95Tbb16QYyZck_xOrDywR9WPoyGTeYYqQl-F1URiO17lWkALq_I5PocWEsW-C4Z0FfwnlIAYrnAyog-S14UYR7wcii8dtgsHVE05l7SirAACel0-ndwp0nMbA2ssvFFIf2NR4nN7zJVPbCk99GeWP30l8g=w400-h304" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; 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margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Frankenstein Created Woman, Lobby Card, Germany, Susan Denberg" border="0" data-original-height="621" data-original-width="797" height="311" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhSa8CHpMMBLmzyeW4gUfARFllvAjOeXxrvwzGY2eE5JBTeWbD_7hKZazOrF6mNF5wVM5OeVuO9hAdlQnPAdQSlCOi3oJPEO_yHALpEMJLGzICF5_L54vvL4iI3Bigue1t4Y1O1cgJhwdiwEl7juHlkSaPyVM4GMpY6CJo98-QwtLxbljYLYRDhwtNbdQ=w400-h311" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiOL9UR8ZBLeepMJ-fuHxBFY4CRGDF5mILzHnTZgTZaYJfZMW-d7z8Lp-0oEAW7vbEnwJPFvaddlRRd3ErfWVnjZEMjK0uo6kxsebb4pVxuTQ8y39YZmvNs-YkFV_sGsWstKEVuy3llAlWgnRMTTJlAVRe0MP9Zgq0oODNbI0ZQtRJ3y62vCQCW0Y5vwQ=s866" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Frankenstein Created Woman, Lobby Card, Germany, Peter Cushing" border="0" data-original-height="667" data-original-width="866" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiOL9UR8ZBLeepMJ-fuHxBFY4CRGDF5mILzHnTZgTZaYJfZMW-d7z8Lp-0oEAW7vbEnwJPFvaddlRRd3ErfWVnjZEMjK0uo6kxsebb4pVxuTQ8y39YZmvNs-YkFV_sGsWstKEVuy3llAlWgnRMTTJlAVRe0MP9Zgq0oODNbI0ZQtRJ3y62vCQCW0Y5vwQ=w400-h308" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; 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margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Frankenstein Created Woman, Lobby Card, Germany, Susan Denberg" border="0" data-original-height="1201" data-original-width="1593" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj8gFOQl7SWTnQU9ePGlIN58W09zf7zBKwLqiaie9PQssgKdPsuRzHN0m0g-a4I_QDBLiT5nuu_5JV5QrOnLeVMUh84EskLIhXp08jmvJCcmrfh_xBs_leJek5capBe_hA9hl_ekD1nkxV9wmIGINFt1rvFjDASRJs9Zw1Kl30iz2UVUW-m08IzrX3I_w=w400-h301" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><u>US Lobby Cards:</u></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><u><br /></u></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg140DnDdB-l3Knpf2y7r1gIngHxV6K3FcBN2ywAX6vIl9ePiu1qWeQk3XQobWWDXrBUlZ1wWyFL9q1gi3BwouyOd8eqMfzyC-qAlHTBH-kJlNFHJH0ZpkIa-CJFr-Mumb2-RNGAEyAfnat76DyrRnZR1AukVetTsF9JblUfXCCtgBpUiJRFf7TqKgixQ=s1132" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Frankenstein Created Woman, US Lobby Card, Susan Denberg" border="0" data-original-height="892" data-original-width="1132" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg140DnDdB-l3Knpf2y7r1gIngHxV6K3FcBN2ywAX6vIl9ePiu1qWeQk3XQobWWDXrBUlZ1wWyFL9q1gi3BwouyOd8eqMfzyC-qAlHTBH-kJlNFHJH0ZpkIa-CJFr-Mumb2-RNGAEyAfnat76DyrRnZR1AukVetTsF9JblUfXCCtgBpUiJRFf7TqKgixQ=w400-h315" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiAea-sh-Fvr41e2O3LIobnKud7mTohahxtAk7H9dvrrfZ-1LWd1mKTuCWapJfBr72PQDCMgtrPjV3U0O4pD4gPSnE88REvLDS9h-Qf42yyJ3PHv4Y0WiiXLkd75h8jbBy__bMqLwwKzz8QOwRDnzkwtcQJ6AFx5OZo68bYCv3D9UohqbzeHkk6qh1mzg=s1135" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Frankenstein Created Woman, US Lobby Card, Peter Cushing" border="0" data-original-height="892" data-original-width="1135" height="314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiAea-sh-Fvr41e2O3LIobnKud7mTohahxtAk7H9dvrrfZ-1LWd1mKTuCWapJfBr72PQDCMgtrPjV3U0O4pD4gPSnE88REvLDS9h-Qf42yyJ3PHv4Y0WiiXLkd75h8jbBy__bMqLwwKzz8QOwRDnzkwtcQJ6AFx5OZo68bYCv3D9UohqbzeHkk6qh1mzg=w400-h314" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; 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text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><u>Available on Amazon:</u></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=theworldofham-20&language=en_US&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B07PL9PY4X&asins=B07PL9PY4X&linkId=0034f340b9397084f626692c27c5fe0f&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe> <iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=theworldofham-21&language=en_GB&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B00F4U8ZRQ&asins=B00F4U8ZRQ&linkId=f917b165e0ed16ed049ac970795c22f9&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe></div><br /><u><br /></u></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><br /><p><br /></p>Holger Haasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13359071414296803464noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6309429033992855414.post-80693239900550098182021-10-22T22:38:00.003+01:002021-10-23T08:37:10.035+01:00The Vengeance of She (1968)<p><b>This post is written as part of the <a href="https://weegiemidget.wordpress.com/2021/10/22/hammer-and-amicus-3/" target="_blank">Hammer/Amicus Blogathon</a> being hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/Barry_Cinematic" target="_blank">Barry_Cinematic</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/realweegiemidge" target="_blank">realweegiemidge</a> on Twitter.</b> </p><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6ovjRrGr62Z98UCUgo6ZC1gOdwTIbd-JFcNfsklux8Pg4h9o6DcIw3ZdoajSFZ6KCaiUg64RCYFj5YgSLEY0KRde-TQzrdMqkYNsl_N4VYZt9KE5T8_cFeyPBjewJMb5vl4co2t6wj6BY/s1345/the-vengeance-of-she-md-web.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="The Vengeance of She, H Rider Haggard, Olinka Berova, poster, Hammer Films" border="0" data-original-height="1345" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6ovjRrGr62Z98UCUgo6ZC1gOdwTIbd-JFcNfsklux8Pg4h9o6DcIw3ZdoajSFZ6KCaiUg64RCYFj5YgSLEY0KRde-TQzrdMqkYNsl_N4VYZt9KE5T8_cFeyPBjewJMb5vl4co2t6wj6BY/w285-h400/the-vengeance-of-she-md-web.jpeg" width="285" /></a></div>Filmed on location in Israel, <i><a href="https://hammerandbeyond.blogspot.com/2010/07/she-1964.html" target="_blank">She</a></i> (1965) was Hammer’s most expensive and ambitious project.<p></p><p> A follow-up was inevitable but whereas <i>She</i> was by and large a faithful adaptation of H. Rider Haggard’s original novel, for its sequel <i>The Vengeance of She</i> (1968) Hammer strayed away from the original tales and instead created a new plot courtesy of screen writer Peter O’Donnell.</p><p> Haggard’s own literary sequel <i>Ayesha, the Return of She</i> was serialised by “Windsor Magazine” from December 1904 - October 1905 and then published in book form in 1905, 18 years after the original <i>She</i>.</p><p> <i>Ayesha</i> takes place two decades after the events of the first book and reunites Horace Holly and Leo “Kallikrates” Vincey from the previous novel hosting a search for Ayesha through Tibet and Asia and eventually back to Africa after they receive indications that She hadn’t died after all all those years ago.</p><p> Haggard followed up this novel with two more in that series: <i>She and Allan</i> (1921) - bringing together his two most popular fictional characters, Ayesha and Allan Quatermain - and <i>Wisdom's Daughter</i> (1923), a prequel narrated from Ayesha’s perspective describing her (or should I write: She’s) past life in Ancient Egypt.</p><p> Rather than make this yet another period piece and set <i>The Vengeance of She</i> back at the beginning of the 20th Century, screen writer Peter O’Donnell (very likely for budget purposes) created a contemporary follow-up story.</p><p> O’Donnell is mainly known as the writer of the <i>Modesty Blaise</i> series of comic strips and novels. He was involved in the writing of Joseph Losey’s 1966 movie with Monica Vitti but was so disappointed with the way the production was developing that prior to the movie’s release he adapted his screenplay into a novel that was to become the first in the series of thirteen Modesty Blaise books.</p><p> From 1971 on he also wrote a number of unrelated novels under the pseudonym Madeleine Brent (same initials as Modesty Blaise).</p><p> <i>The Vengeance of She</i> was his second and final venture into movie screenwriting though in 1966 he had also written a six part BBC series <i>Take a Pair of Private Eyes</i> about a husband and wife detective team featuring Derek Fowlds and Jeanne Roland.</p><p> O’Donnell and Michael Carreras had in the past been discussing a possible screenplay for <i>Modesty Blaise</i> so both were familiar with each other which explains why Carreras opted for him as a screen writer in this production.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdV7rBotGQaJXdd02roNFAvc3crmz9oyuPrzue467GbK1UwjVUMKpZJRR23BdgRiMVf7ElgrFoFedoqdE-Ho8S1GymacTn9Me2yFasXt7FPEY8kjXeLnVH8NO5mi43AH-7F2hyphenhyphen5XCfkDGp/s847/the-vengeance-of-she_6M9aBD.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="The Vengeance of She, Lobby Card, Olinka Berova" border="0" data-original-height="666" data-original-width="847" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdV7rBotGQaJXdd02roNFAvc3crmz9oyuPrzue467GbK1UwjVUMKpZJRR23BdgRiMVf7ElgrFoFedoqdE-Ho8S1GymacTn9Me2yFasXt7FPEY8kjXeLnVH8NO5mi43AH-7F2hyphenhyphen5XCfkDGp/w400-h315/the-vengeance-of-she_6M9aBD.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><p> This was director Cliff Owen’s sole Hammer production. In actual fact this was also one of only a very small number of feature films he directed in general. Mainly known (if known at all) as a TV director (most regularly for <i>“ITV Television Playhouse”</i> and <i>“ITV Play of the Week”</i>), he sure was an odd choice to helm this movie.</p><p> Towards the end of the shoot producer Aida Young even took over directorial duties when Owen suffered from a slipped disc. <i>The Vengeance of She</i> would be Young’s first full producer credit for Hammer, making her one of the very few female producers at the time.</p><p> The main reason for having such a number of Hammer atypical talent involved lies in the fact that <i>The Vengeance of She</i> was - next to <i>The Devil Rides Out</i>, <i>The Lost Continent</i> and <i>The Anniversary</i> - one of four productions that were shot at about the same time so most of their regular house names were therefore otherwise employed.</p><p> Filmed between June 26 - September 16, 1967 on location in Monte Carlo and Almeria as well as in Elstree Studios, <i>The Vengeance of She</i> is arguably one of Hammer’s least loved productions. It has been called “a remarkably dull load of hokum” and “a cheap and gaudy piece of mumbo-jumbo”.</p><p> I had previously only watched this film once before a long, long time ago and remember enjoying it quite a bit regardless. When I picked this as my choice for the Hammer/Amicus Blogathon a part of me was wanting to give this a re-appraisal after years of bad press. Another part of me, however, was also anxious as to whether or not my opinion may not have radically changed over the decades and maybe, just maybe I may have actually developed a sense of refined taste and class that may have been sorely lacking in my younger years.</p><p> Fear not though… </p><p> I still seem to be the same unsophisticated ingénue I was way back when as I still enjoyed this considerably more than the rest of Hammer (or even: general) fandom appears to do.</p><p> I do, however, feel I have also discovered the reason why I dig this more than others.</p><p> <i>The Vengeance of She</i> is unlike most other Hammer films regardless of genre. If you were to try and summarise its plot, you would undoubtedly run into major issues as it is hand on heart quite a confusing mess in that regard.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrEiUZvNJedPIieIuivXM3zmjJYh1R25TaW7NqDmEg4fYUbkJ0-R57iu_FudLAZZOMbSIUx0fUfcl6LEzm9DJiwzn3gL3rqGPqbzzneeQRpJJhTG9nxLPLGpaLXAG_4rmTjzvsFGnbipKn/s858/the-vengeance-of-she_4V7Fdm.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="The Vengeance of She, Lobby Card, Olinka Berova" border="0" data-original-height="684" data-original-width="858" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrEiUZvNJedPIieIuivXM3zmjJYh1R25TaW7NqDmEg4fYUbkJ0-R57iu_FudLAZZOMbSIUx0fUfcl6LEzm9DJiwzn3gL3rqGPqbzzneeQRpJJhTG9nxLPLGpaLXAG_4rmTjzvsFGnbipKn/w400-h319/the-vengeance-of-she_4V7Fdm.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p> Especially in its first half, the film comes across more like a hallucinatory kind of dream following a mesmerising dream logic when we see Carol, <a href="https://hammerandbeyond.blogspot.com/2010/07/olinka-berova-march-15-1943.html" target="_blank">Olinka Berova’s</a> character, mutely stumble across the Southern French landscape, being picked up by a lecherous truck driver who attempts to rape her just to himself be crushed to death by his own vehicle while we hear snazzy variations of the film’s lounge lizardy title tune.</p><p> Haunted by visions of a golden statue she finds refuge on a beach in Monaco, then strips to her undies, leaving all the clothes behind (fur coat and all) and swims to a nearby yacht where married playboy George (Colin Blakely) together with his wife (Jill Melford) and friend Philip (Edward Judd) first parties hard, then dramatically sets sail in an attempt to escape from the creditors he owes money to. It is only on open sea that he discovers amnesiac Carol who can’t remember much about her life and what it is that drives her ever further on haunted by her mysterious visions.</p><p> This free flowing dreamlike narration underlined by swinging 1960s muzak ensures that this movie much more resembles contemporary Continental European productions by the likes of Jess Franco than traditional Hammer fare.</p><p> Now admittedly that is faint praise given that someone like Franco is a very acquired taste and most film viewers rather stay clear of his style of idiosyncratic film making. I do, however, belong to the minority of fans who actually digs this kind of feverish improvisational style so if you can stomach film making in that vein, then you may also be able to get a kick out of <i>The Vengeance of She</i>.</p><p> And if you can’t - and admittedly most won’t be able to do so - well, then you may still consider this a stinker.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDXvzuR7pHNw5A1aC6MoYbukp-yMgEh1zbA_OOwNuM9OvlkMWuvNhm19Qz6wPRp0t8vldIAjucvL2BRIbeh14RJpwd7HqQi3sAl3PVr4Gr0AqRkrH-fI6w7UydqeMpzg30OTpDPNnns8ot/s1334/the-vengeance-of-she_8pJUPT.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="The Vengeance of She, Lobby Card, Olinka Berova" border="0" data-original-height="1050" data-original-width="1334" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDXvzuR7pHNw5A1aC6MoYbukp-yMgEh1zbA_OOwNuM9OvlkMWuvNhm19Qz6wPRp0t8vldIAjucvL2BRIbeh14RJpwd7HqQi3sAl3PVr4Gr0AqRkrH-fI6w7UydqeMpzg30OTpDPNnns8ot/w400-h315/the-vengeance-of-she_8pJUPT.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p> Cause it just continues in similar fashion when we follow the perils of Carol aka the possible re-incarnation of Ayesha being driven ever closer back to Kuma where John Richardson’s Kallikrates under the guidance of Men-Hari (Derek Godfrey) hopes to guide her back through the flames again and resurrect his former lover back to eternal life at his side. </p><p> Between <i>Vengeance</i> and the original <i>She</i> there is practically no sense of continuity with regards to the character of Kallikrates. There is no single mention of him ever having been Leo and he appears to have been around for centuries if not millennia as opposed to the few decades between those two Hammer productions.</p><p> En route to Kuma Carol stumbles through Northern Africa, finds refuge with a local mystic (André Morell), is in the centre of some cool looking rituals (bearing more than just a little resemblance to Hammer’s Satanic rites in their Dennis Wheatley adaptations), is captured and fetishistically tied up and bound by a white slave trader while being followed by her personal white knight Philip and and and…..</p><p> It is only when she and Philip reach Kuma that the feverish surreality of her chase scenes makes way for a more conventional plot of court intrigues that see Kallikrates being manipulated by various fractions around him. For me this is then also when the film does start running out of steam a bit even though we at least get a flash back to the times when Ayesha ruled her kingdom with a merciless hand and enjoyed watching some poor souls being sadistically put to death in front of her eyes.</p><p> What we do not see is Ayesha with a whip at hand, an image that featured prominently on the posters and promotional material used to advertise the release of this production.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiHEeUUVBkTnV0NG_OB8pJJI3wmC6UlQ1-nWYYh0jtgdUfVG5bGdRX3LOlMMQk4Rf06LM2a_IXu7ffptv0Uoc68auc_GAPkyjnji2Y7Qt49qUF2u8ReZs6yzF0lc_qFURPNNANefmgx-jc/s1313/the-vengeance-of-she_3MUsXK.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="The Vengeance of She, Lobby Card, Olinka Berova" border="0" data-original-height="1050" data-original-width="1313" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiHEeUUVBkTnV0NG_OB8pJJI3wmC6UlQ1-nWYYh0jtgdUfVG5bGdRX3LOlMMQk4Rf06LM2a_IXu7ffptv0Uoc68auc_GAPkyjnji2Y7Qt49qUF2u8ReZs6yzF0lc_qFURPNNANefmgx-jc/w400-h320/the-vengeance-of-she_3MUsXK.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p> A Deus Ex Machina in the shape of a slave revolt and a poorer rehash of <i>She</i>’s original flame transformation effects rounds up this uneven follow up to Hammer’s biggest adventure films.</p><p> Somehow I cannot see this film ever being given a proper critical re-appraisal. Everything about it is second rate. It features none of Hammer’s biggest stars and Olinka Berova, beautiful as she is, cannot hold a candle to Ursula Andress. This is a seriously flawed production no doubt but if you are able to appreciate seeing Hammer emulate contemporary Continental Eurotrash and forsake conventional plot in favour of improvisational and hallucinatory set pieces under the ever memorable tunes of composer Mario Nascimbene, then this just may be for you after all.</p><p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/d5icYQruQ9I" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><p><iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=theworldofham-20&language=en_US&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B07KBQN1LK&asins=B07KBQN1LK&linkId=603080cba2e3ef5c5dccbba08c4c0079&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe> <iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=theworldofham-21&language=en_GB&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B00F4U8ZRQ&asins=B00F4U8ZRQ&linkId=735cc5e445df295b9bbb45eb2e4ac54c&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Holger Haasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13359071414296803464noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6309429033992855414.post-24593409588714194532021-08-19T14:52:00.000+01:002021-08-19T14:52:07.555+01:00German lobby cards for SCARS OF DRACULA (1970)<p>This is one of the few Hammer Draculas I hadn't watched multiple times. I remember not taking to it first time round, found it tacky and that those early 1970s hair styles were jarring and had turned me off the movie. </p><p>And jar they do indeed and yet, despite this, some dodgy bats and having both one of the lamest resurrection and destruction scenes, as a whole this film was actually a lot of fun and giving Lee (in whiter, sicker looking make-up than usual) considerably more lines than in any of the previous productions outside the very first one. </p><p>It also had more gore than normally associated with Hammer until then and some wonderful performances. I particularly enjoyed Anouska Hempel's impatient "Love me!" seduction spiel. </p><p>Directed by Roy Ward Baker, shooting took place in Elstree from May 07 - June 23. The film then premiered on November 08 on a double bill with <i>Horror of Frankenstein</i>. </p><p> For appearing in this film Lee would receive £10.000 plus a 10% share of the profits. Unfortunately this production would prove to become the least successful of all Hammer Draculas. Lee himself considers it to be “the weakest and most unconvincing of the DRACULA stories”. </p><p>Jenny Hanley remembers that his singing had drowned out the music from Bread, the rock band she was listening to at the time. When requested to turn down his voice a bit, he asked to be introduced to what she listened to and promised to sing this instead. </p><p> Lee suffered from back problems during the production and had to rely on stunt double Eddie Powell for some of the heavy lifting required when carrying Hanley to her bed room.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGdq1hy2gTWrWQD_9gIkDaq0OOXRPmElP3SbJED4wyzAsBX7LWAQW3nwwp1JLx6DNj2yqP_8DtrhyHjxGLzqE3iWIIK_hnbonsHzo0xopMSh2uHcUj3nZRWfztf7Fj1CWYZVTAqQexdGLC/s1063/scars-of-dracula_20Yu3L.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1063" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGdq1hy2gTWrWQD_9gIkDaq0OOXRPmElP3SbJED4wyzAsBX7LWAQW3nwwp1JLx6DNj2yqP_8DtrhyHjxGLzqE3iWIIK_hnbonsHzo0xopMSh2uHcUj3nZRWfztf7Fj1CWYZVTAqQexdGLC/w400-h283/scars-of-dracula_20Yu3L.jpeg" title="scars of dracula, lobby card" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; 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width: 120px;"></iframe></p>Holger Haasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13359071414296803464noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6309429033992855414.post-78308272247947399052021-08-17T22:31:00.003+01:002021-08-19T14:38:13.134+01:00Face the Music (1953)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoad6CA2bsxDlfAhUrhZVoWPctEQ6wGEO-tE369-ev8V3_FZC_N72sQxvLQUbkvSlFWTtK_j-b0xqdiZ8N4qIu9OKVnDoau6h7v8HL8m2HEZ8vGzZf4U5q4Dz5JKk9hL6CUK3Jof4XY-IQ/s885/Face_the_Music-850166125-large.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="885" data-original-width="580" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoad6CA2bsxDlfAhUrhZVoWPctEQ6wGEO-tE369-ev8V3_FZC_N72sQxvLQUbkvSlFWTtK_j-b0xqdiZ8N4qIu9OKVnDoau6h7v8HL8m2HEZ8vGzZf4U5q4Dz5JKk9hL6CUK3Jof4XY-IQ/w210-h320/Face_the_Music-850166125-large.jpeg" title="face the music, the black glove, hammer noir, poster" width="210" /></a></div>A jetlagged and overworked Jazz musician discovers a fascinating singer. They go to the best spaghetti house in town: her place! There they exchange cheesy quotes from songs about girls who lie and men who cheat. When he leaves the place, he forgets his trumpet and ends up being one of the main suspects when she is discovered killed. He turns amateur sleuth in order to find the real killer. <p></p><p>This very noirish thriller is one of Hammer’s best quota pictures from the early 1950s before they turned into a horror power house. Alex Nichol from <i>South Pacific</i> was Hammer’s American star du jour and was also used as the lead in Hammer’s next movie, <i>The House Across the Lake</i>. Terence Fisher directs and Michael Carreras manages to instill his love for jazz into the production. He can even briefly be glimpsed as one of the Band members in Kenny Baker’s Dozen. </p><p> Jazz permeates the entire movie and is the narrative thread that ties it all together: It introduces the main characters who are also repeatedly seen playing it. Jazz records are leads and red herrings in this mystery and Jazz instruments are even seen as potential murder instruments. </p><p>The screenplay was adapted from his own novel by Ernest Borneman, a fascinating character, jazz critic and musician, crime fiction writer, dedicated socialist and – most (in)famous of all – well known sexologist. Jimmy Sangster at that stage had not been elevated to writer status yet and acted as Assistant Director. Watch out for Geoffrey Keen who would later appear in many a Bond movie as Sir Frederick Gray. </p><p>There is one annoying plot hole when we discover that only two copies of an important demo record were ever pressed yet we can clearly see three copies making the round. Nevertheless the film overall is quite enjoyable especially given the novel jazz twist. </p><p> Oh yeah, in the US the film is also known under title <i>The Black Glove</i>, although it completely beats me as to why.</p><p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jMbT7JABKW4" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><p><iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=theworldofham-20&language=en_US&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B000R57W9A&asins=B000R57W9A&linkId=f8f977005a6dac17aad6d5ea59b3cafb&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe> <iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=theworldofham-21&language=en_GB&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B000R57W9A&asins=B000R57W9A&linkId=74bd4ca4c202aa848f3c9fa636eaf84f&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe>></p><p><br /></p>Holger Haasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13359071414296803464noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6309429033992855414.post-8694621556705782782021-07-31T19:37:00.002+01:002021-07-31T19:41:47.121+01:00Wayne Kinsey: The Hammer Vampire Scrapbook<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih8SSvp6sIvxpWAHEh-m19acLBHbGQk9Bf7PzJ6vmQWF2ZSPZ_18HpCbQ8KjlXAR82uIsWrAW2oYYEyBOc7_UTKBriB_0rQaUB_lDZE3LY3i5KiSOo2dIKLrnUw_lZEb_4eI5lJ2Yz2YiB/s1575/hammer+vampire.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Hammer Vampire Scrapbook, Wayne Kinsey, Peveril Publishing" border="0" data-original-height="1575" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih8SSvp6sIvxpWAHEh-m19acLBHbGQk9Bf7PzJ6vmQWF2ZSPZ_18HpCbQ8KjlXAR82uIsWrAW2oYYEyBOc7_UTKBriB_0rQaUB_lDZE3LY3i5KiSOo2dIKLrnUw_lZEb_4eI5lJ2Yz2YiB/w219-h320/hammer+vampire.jpeg" width="219" /></a></div> Wayne Kinsey has done it yet again!<p></p><p>Only a few months after publishing <i><a href="http://hammerandbeyond.blogspot.com/2021/01/wayne-kinsey-legend-of-7-golden.html" target="_blank">The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires Scrapbook</a>,</i> his <a href="https://peverilpublishing.co.uk/" target="_blank">Peveril Publishing House</a> has now released <i>The Hammer Vampire Scrapbook</i>.</p><p>Their previous <i>Hammer Dracula Scrapbook</i> focused on the Christopher Lee Dracula movies and is now out of print and goes for crazy money on Ebay (on the rare occasions that it actually surfaces). And needless to say - and to my everlasting chagrin - I didn't grab it when it was still available, just like I also failed to obtain a copy of their <i>Hammer Frankenstein Scrapbook.</i></p><p>Ah well, life is made up of a series of regrets...</p><p>His new book now concentrates on <i>The Brides of Dracula</i>, <i><a href="http://hammerandbeyond.blogspot.com/2007/05/kiss-of-vampire.html" target="_blank">Kiss of the Vampire</a></i>, <i>Vampire Circus</i> and <i>Captain Kronos, Vampire Hunter</i>, leaving room for the Karnstein Trilogy for a later publication.</p><p>Don't know what to write without falling into the ever same superlatives with regards to the Peveril Books. I seriously never tire of them and <i>The Hammer Vampire Scrapbook</i> is no exception with 352 pages choke full of often ultra rare and never before published images from contact sheets as well as promotional material, scripts, lobby cards and posters covering everything from promo photos of actors and other crew members, to behind-the-scenes coverage of the shooting, a look at the sets and locations, censor reports etc etc.</p><p>My own copy was 516/700 and no doubt this will sell out as fast as most of their other books did. This book can as always exclusively be purchased only <a href="https://peverilpublishing.co.uk/the-hammer-vampire-scrapbook/" target="_blank">on their website</a>.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Holger Haasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13359071414296803464noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6309429033992855414.post-38895068666426807752021-05-06T14:07:00.003+01:002021-05-06T14:07:53.447+01:00The Stranglers of Bombay (German Film Program)<p> Illustrierte Filmbühne 5276</p><p>Scan of a four-page German film program for <i><a href="http://hammerandbeyond.blogspot.com/2010/05/stranglers-of-bombay-1959.html" target="_blank">The Stranglers of Bombay</a></i> (1959) that I just received in the mail today.</p><p>Also check out a similar film program I had previously posted for <i><a href="http://hammerandbeyond.blogspot.com/2011/09/pirates-of-blood-river-german-film.html" target="_blank">The Pirates of Blood River</a></i>.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5Uy2e_8nft19052HqsQHBBSsUtokOpbfmCqDi8MRmnLu_V2FoFnb2b2lGwBy2eLaGahSWfABUJ9Xl414MllCl5z88aeS0Mlne1ork6uxUA8h00NTR7SdBs8bkydw9BlQ9VPo25oMMozIz/s2048/1620301534450-e2653ab7-e3f6-46b0-98ea-92f18504687a_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="The Stranglers of Bombay, Illustrierte Filmbühne, Film Program" border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5Uy2e_8nft19052HqsQHBBSsUtokOpbfmCqDi8MRmnLu_V2FoFnb2b2lGwBy2eLaGahSWfABUJ9Xl414MllCl5z88aeS0Mlne1ork6uxUA8h00NTR7SdBs8bkydw9BlQ9VPo25oMMozIz/w266-h400/1620301534450-e2653ab7-e3f6-46b0-98ea-92f18504687a_.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOuQfwEgzlbUz3Te2711Z7SaIqKubaPwBPMwBkkccGSNfe-t2ToQqXsLNl-9GLB1MrIpGWlOHpsjhbQDvYslFuqn5EZBtKrWmBwDuTbhyhJGNPpOWFcg5Mv2PK8G8hAq65eZOzt-gMNIj6/s2048/1620301757536-9332a7b6-a41f-42e6-b845-daea16a1be46_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="The Stranglers of Bombay, Illustrierte Filmbühne, Film Program" border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOuQfwEgzlbUz3Te2711Z7SaIqKubaPwBPMwBkkccGSNfe-t2ToQqXsLNl-9GLB1MrIpGWlOHpsjhbQDvYslFuqn5EZBtKrWmBwDuTbhyhJGNPpOWFcg5Mv2PK8G8hAq65eZOzt-gMNIj6/w266-h400/1620301757536-9332a7b6-a41f-42e6-b845-daea16a1be46_.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI9tZCicvVrzwqGBMu06fb9QMgtA_4b60J6Jc7UVs7dRFL4Tl_W0ipG8cnHqLFQyX0DF212j6NDpYhNDBq4dAvVIwxqdjCQpAstaynbv3-2i7mUnq_gpJyZ_ogmlBQG6ZFXCiar7d73InO/s2048/1620301827209-f0b5024d-3cf1-4dfc-9949-c3021f67095e_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="The Stranglers of Bombay, Illustrierte Filmbühne, Film Program" border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI9tZCicvVrzwqGBMu06fb9QMgtA_4b60J6Jc7UVs7dRFL4Tl_W0ipG8cnHqLFQyX0DF212j6NDpYhNDBq4dAvVIwxqdjCQpAstaynbv3-2i7mUnq_gpJyZ_ogmlBQG6ZFXCiar7d73InO/w266-h400/1620301827209-f0b5024d-3cf1-4dfc-9949-c3021f67095e_.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi95DJ_Njmz4yrUizFBjNTcWabVzknI6xx7lM9WA4vH3S9fxlcnNRfIc_8FrKt-HkMh9NbqtQx0kEbY9li2UZgkB2i5gx_BouGKXdMTw0AOc_r25QV0dxDilvTrhyphenhypheno_SN1Z2IWNMAmtrqHG/s2048/1620301917480-7d486798-d449-4705-9f6f-fb94f4b109b2_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="The Stranglers of Bombay, Illustrierte Filmbühne, Film Program" border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi95DJ_Njmz4yrUizFBjNTcWabVzknI6xx7lM9WA4vH3S9fxlcnNRfIc_8FrKt-HkMh9NbqtQx0kEbY9li2UZgkB2i5gx_BouGKXdMTw0AOc_r25QV0dxDilvTrhyphenhypheno_SN1Z2IWNMAmtrqHG/w266-h400/1620301917480-7d486798-d449-4705-9f6f-fb94f4b109b2_.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Holger Haasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13359071414296803464noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6309429033992855414.post-84612302874462947392021-04-08T03:07:00.001+01:002021-04-08T03:12:32.126+01:00German SHATTER poster<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHq_gxzaA3Tdl2hMknLom1FEhvbEXtwOvm2vsG07_fdqlKkQB-RYSIqBH1OK5byEj1OmJDf0-HCQ2IuWsxJu2pS8s0oXvolREF53lh6CRUVskdcMBTk2Fyu9C4JeeIdXntSbOY7sRbQThC/s2048/Mr+Shatter.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Ti Lung - Der tödliche Schatten des Mr Shatter, German film poster" border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1439" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHq_gxzaA3Tdl2hMknLom1FEhvbEXtwOvm2vsG07_fdqlKkQB-RYSIqBH1OK5byEj1OmJDf0-HCQ2IuWsxJu2pS8s0oXvolREF53lh6CRUVskdcMBTk2Fyu9C4JeeIdXntSbOY7sRbQThC/w281-h400/Mr+Shatter.jpeg" width="281" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">German poster for <i>Shatter/Call Him Mr Shatter</i> (1975), Hammer's second co-production with Shaw Brothers following right after <i>The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires</i>.</div><br /> <p></p>Holger Haasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13359071414296803464noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6309429033992855414.post-80887055127755996632021-04-02T19:10:00.002+01:002021-04-08T03:11:05.122+01:00Caroline Munro and David Hasselhoff promoting STARCRASH<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwgDCKox1eeWx3z0OxSOo1kcAr8Pj8IhWhUxMv8utkAE663Le3zMOAE3bAy_439RoR08A0b17hDLga_X0BSOjBCiLW2wzsWs52tNb_QCKi3rRxFdnYev8-cEQtNAJoOd4lIudRn67gNXIB/s995/starcrash+publicity.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Caroline Munro and David Hasselhoff on promo tour for STARCRASH" border="0" data-original-height="995" data-original-width="663" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwgDCKox1eeWx3z0OxSOo1kcAr8Pj8IhWhUxMv8utkAE663Le3zMOAE3bAy_439RoR08A0b17hDLga_X0BSOjBCiLW2wzsWs52tNb_QCKi3rRxFdnYev8-cEQtNAJoOd4lIudRn67gNXIB/w266-h400/starcrash+publicity.jpeg" width="266" /></a></div>Just discovered this photo on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/4006067939431887" target="_blank">The Grindhouse Sleaze & 80s VHS Trash Facebook Group</a>.<p></p><p>I know absolutely nothing about where this originally came from other than that after years of obsessing over <i>Starcrash</i><span> this is the first time I have come across this image.</span></p><p>Given that this was obviously a well stage promo event for the film, I suspect that there must be other similar material out there somewhere.</p>Holger Haasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13359071414296803464noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6309429033992855414.post-79633325984193168082021-03-04T16:19:00.000+00:002021-03-04T16:19:33.169+00:00The Traitor (1957)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBGcvABKZnc_66apcG-uaEt7Ojn01BU0xJSRuGc7I_i6CeAp4VWktZ5orHMg3nqxYxSlIad4jQQXXJYfMFGAw7oucnTCVcs_7nOoTx-KVGCdqiaEZK7oAnmAN3s6pj5EEvFItHZvi55mle/s2048/The+Traitor+Poster.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1442" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBGcvABKZnc_66apcG-uaEt7Ojn01BU0xJSRuGc7I_i6CeAp4VWktZ5orHMg3nqxYxSlIad4jQQXXJYfMFGAw7oucnTCVcs_7nOoTx-KVGCdqiaEZK7oAnmAN3s6pj5EEvFItHZvi55mle/s320/The+Traitor+Poster.jpg" /></a></div>I watched this movie for Christopher Lee and stayed for the sheer abundance of Hammer actors. <div> This film gives Lee yet another opportunity to sport a fake German accent and act opposite a number of future Hammer Horror colleagues such as Anton Diffring (<i>The Man Who Could Cheat Death</i>), Oscar Quitak (<i>The Revenge of Frankenstein</i>) and John Van Eyssen (<i>Dracula</i>) as well as Robert Bray of <i>Lassie</i> fame. </div><div> It was the first production to be filmed in the New Elstree Studios, a place that Christopher Lee does not appear to have been too enamoured with. In his autobiography, he remembers that he introduced co-star Donald Wolfit to Tolkien’s <i>The Hobbit</i> there “as a much-needed distraction from the water pouring down the cement walls, the duck boards between the stages traversing a sea of mud, the lights that didn’t work, the absence of windows in the dressing-rooms and the economies made on paint”. </div><div> The film focuses on a group of German Ex-Resistance fighters who meet annually at a mansion in England at the anniversary of their former leader’s death who had been executed by the Nazis. During this meeting, it becomes apparent that one of the friends must have betrayed him. Before the identity of the traitor can be revealed, however, they are also faced with some other murders in the midst. </div><div> This is a wonderfully old fashioned chamber piece in the tradition of Agatha Christie that lives by its superb cast and betrays nothing of the challenges associated with the new studio. A specially commissioned piano piece, <i>Prelude Without A Name</i>, plays an important role and the effectiveness of the movie is only somewhat marred by a gimmicky denouement that is out of step with the prior plot developments. </div><div> I watched the UK release which is probably the preferred one, even though the shorter US version also contains additional scenes not in the UK cut as per <a href="http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film4/dvd_reviews_59/the_accursed.htm" target="_blank">this review</a>. </div><div><br /></div><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Vw9BXmeWiCU" width="560"></iframe><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /><iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=theworldofham-20&language=en_US&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B00EFYB1OG&asins=B00EFYB1OG&linkId=c7270ad48255e07e990d3eea4d194f3c&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe> <iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=theworldofham-21&language=en_GB&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B004YCSXVI&asins=B004YCSXVI&linkId=fa039115e83a9beb33a85a21dae3c77b&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div>Holger Haasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13359071414296803464noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6309429033992855414.post-73495130506283890672021-01-07T19:52:00.001+00:002022-01-14T21:21:22.290+00:00Milk Advert and BBC Documentary shot on the set of THE LEGEND OF THE 7 GOLDEN VAMPIRES<p> Two videos filmed on the set of THE LEGEND OF THE 7 GOLDEN VAMPIRES.</p><p>The Dairy Council UK filmed an advert with behind the scenes clips of Peter Cushing and the other stars and crew members drinking some cold milk. (“Pick up a pinta… stay on top!”)</p>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VUd8pI5IiwY" width="560"></iframe> <div><br /></div><div>The BBC also came over and filmed a documentary FISTS OF FIRE about Shaw Brothers that incorporated clips of The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires as well towards the end of its 30 minute running time.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rDe-cUBl7es" width="560"></iframe></div>Holger Haasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13359071414296803464noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6309429033992855414.post-14436567779858331862021-01-01T20:01:00.002+00:002021-01-05T18:32:44.792+00:00Wayne Kinsey: The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires Scrapbook<p class="p1" style="font-family: Palatino; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 20.2px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJMsmDVXWdyAcu4UuNniNRu86T4eJydhAw2pMaDS-rxGSmIywGcd7t6BQGmGalIJFOGtTCypBPjRYo0suhhSsv1-h7y8FhMJtVVFUe1D_CvdjRLXXuK_kyGD580DLD4Ssf3YajJ7V9jSDJ/s845/Lot7GV.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="845" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJMsmDVXWdyAcu4UuNniNRu86T4eJydhAw2pMaDS-rxGSmIywGcd7t6BQGmGalIJFOGtTCypBPjRYo0suhhSsv1-h7y8FhMJtVVFUe1D_CvdjRLXXuK_kyGD580DLD4Ssf3YajJ7V9jSDJ/s320/Lot7GV.jpg" /></a></div><br />Wayne Kinsey’s <a href="https://peverilpublishing.co.uk/" target="_blank">Peveril Publishing House</a> has over the last few years kept the flame alive for us Hammer Fans when it comes to sumptuously illustrated coffee table books.<div><br /></div><div> Wayne had previously written a number of Hammer related books for <a href="https://amzn.to/2Kbdzhn" target="_blank">more traditional publishers</a>, some of which have now become collector’s items. He was also behind <i>The House That Hammer Built</i>, an incredibly in depth fanzine dedicated to all things Hammer and the research that went into publishing this was the basis for a lot of his subsequent oeuvres. </div><div><br /></div><div>As successful as all his ventures were, Hammer by now is a very niche market interest so at some stage it became increasingly more difficult for regular publishers to justify those kinds of publications so Wayne together with designer Steve Kirkham set about creating their own independent imprint. The rules they use for their books can be summarised as such: </div><div><br /></div><div> • Only the highest quality will do. </div><div> • They will have a very limited print run of usually 600-700 copies. </div><div> • They will only sell through their website so don’t bother searching for them on Amazon or elsewhere. • The books need to stay below 2kg as the postage rates would otherwise sky rocket. As a result their publications don’t come cheap but they are worth giving up on a few meals just to afford having them on your shelves. And once they’re gone you can rest assured that used copies will skyrocket in price in no time at all. </div><div><br /></div><div>I have previously reviewed <a href="http://hammerandbeyond.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-peter-cushing-scrapbook.html" target="_blank"><i>The Peter Cushing Scrapbook</i></a> and their <a href="http://hammerandbeyond.blogspot.com/2012/09/wayne-kinseygordon-thomson-hammer.html" target="_blank"><i>Hammer Locations</i></a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>I also own their non-Hammer related series of <i>Fantastic Films of the Decades </i>(three volumes so far) and their book on She. I have, however, missed out on some of their other books that have since sold out, most regrettably <i>The Hammer Frankenstein</i> and <i>Hammer Dracula Scrapbooks</i>. </div><div><br /></div><div>So when their latest publication was announced, <i>The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires Scrapbook</i>, I knew I had to get my hands on it. Though I was early enough with the ordering, my copy already is number 398 of 600 so by the time you read this, there may not be many more left. </div><div><br /></div><div><i><a href="http://hammerandbeyond.blogspot.com/2010/05/legend-of-7-golden-vampires.html" target="_blank">The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires</a></i> with its melange of Hammer Horror and Shaw Bros Martial Arts was always a film I totally adored, maybe not even despite but because of its faults. (John Forbes-Robertson, looking at your and your lipstick.) It never ceases to entertain me whenever I come around to viewing it but it is admittedly at first glance an odd choice for a standalone book of its kind. </div><div><br /></div><div>That is until you learn that Wayne is in possession of Cushing’s screenplay, arguably the only fully complete Cushing script still around and it features all his notes, drawings and costume suggestions. </div><div><br /></div><div>Wayne also already owned Roy Ward Baker’s script with notes so those two scripts mark the centre point of this new book. Add a plethora of other photos and material covering all aspects of the production plus additional material relating to a range of unfilmed Hammer Draculas and you have yet another absolute Must Have from Peveril.</div><p class="p1" style="font-family: Palatino; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 20.2px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dx937Q8xxLCbDgFQKEIYhahsQa3Xjjc0QxScgQHz29tgM_oBaD6MgrZDobQO7DQn75oAa2Zwxo-u4qDEKV-iQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br /><p class="p1" style="font-family: Palatino; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 20.2px;"><br /></p><br />Holger Haasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13359071414296803464noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6309429033992855414.post-42711386515698487792020-05-21T18:24:00.000+01:002020-05-21T18:24:11.539+01:00Ollie's Last Round<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggLZ-zA0TSp0zwdoukr38re7HqHczEd7Gfpq0Lwwr4v1MV1PpEgOX9C3hpU_mE8zGJokSk7up4-uakasLuHJ_A1X4P0H1_brssfn6Fu_EieacNQj6q7fyn0PeZQ-Wm6e7RTfOopbcKb9qL/s1600/Ollie%2527s+Last+Round+Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1035" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggLZ-zA0TSp0zwdoukr38re7HqHczEd7Gfpq0Lwwr4v1MV1PpEgOX9C3hpU_mE8zGJokSk7up4-uakasLuHJ_A1X4P0H1_brssfn6Fu_EieacNQj6q7fyn0PeZQ-Wm6e7RTfOopbcKb9qL/s320/Ollie%2527s+Last+Round+Cover.jpg" width="206" /></a></div>
Two years ago I had visited Oliver Reed's grave in Churchtown, Co. Cork, I blogged about it <a href="http://hammerandbeyond.blogspot.com/2019/01/paying-my-respects-to-oliver-reed.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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Prior to this on a visit to Malta I had met the guy in whose arms Reed had died while filming <i>Gladiator</i>. At the time I had published a travelogue about the experience for <a href="https://atomicbooks.com/products/hungover-gourmet-7" target="_blank">The Hungover Gourmet #7</a>.<br />
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This article together with five others have now been republished in <i>Ollie's Last Call</i>, a new 22.400+ word eBook that is available for just $0.99 (or whatever equivalent in your local online store Amazon deems this to be).<br />
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The full list of articles is as such:<br />
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<b>Ollie’s Last Round</b>: A travelogue about meeting the guy in whose arms Oliver Reed died while filming "Gladiator" in Malta<br />
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<b>Look What's Happened to the Omen and to Rosemary’s Baby:</b><br />
A look at two much maligned follow-ups to two of the best known movie classics, "Look What’s Happened to Rosemary’s Baby" and "Omen IV: The Awakening"<br />
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<b>Little Shop of Euro-Horrors</b>: Visiting the Profondo Rosso store in Rome, owned by Dario Argento and Luigi Cozzi, and meeting up with Luigi Cozzi<br />
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<b>Raising the (Blind) Dead:</b> An overview over the series of Blind Dead movies by Amando De Ossorio<br />
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<b>The Baroness:</b> A book by book look at the wonderfully lurid series of The Baroness paperbacks by “Paul Kenyon” with a solution to their true authorship<br />
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<b>Anatomies Dissected:</b> Reviews of the two German "Anatomie" movies<br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=theworldofham-20&language=en_US&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B088WZMBXB&asins=B088WZMBXB&linkId=5e9ad7d5d3331657c76eebe62da178d9&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe> <iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=theworldofham-21&language=en_GB&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B088WZMBXB&asins=B088WZMBXB&linkId=35228624cbec0ea307311430dfeb1027&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe>Holger Haasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13359071414296803464noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6309429033992855414.post-13637934747783408342020-04-15T22:21:00.000+01:002020-05-21T18:12:13.551+01:00The Alfred Hitchcock Hour: The Sign of Satan (08/May/1964)<div class="p1">
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Just discovered this episode of <i>The Alfred Hitchcock Hour </i>from May 08, 1964 with Christopher Lee on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TJf6X7H5LU" target="_blank">YouTube</a>. Not sure how long this will be on but it can also be viewed on <a href="https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7m30nb" target="_blank">DailyMotion</a>.</div>
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<i>The Sign of Satan</i> was filmed at Universal Studios and is from the second season of the hour long program. This show was effectively a continuation of the previous half an hour long “Alfred Hitchcock Presents”.</div>
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The episode was based on Robert Bloch’s short story <i>Return to the Sabbath</i>, first published in <a href="https://archive.org/details/wt_1938_07/mode/2up" target="_blank">“Weird Tales” (July 1938)</a> when Bloch was just 21. Other stories published that month in the magazine contained Henry Kuttner’s <i>Spawn of Dagon</i>, Seabury Quinn’s <i>Fortune’s Fools</i> and Clark Ashton Smith’s <i>Mother of Toads</i> as well as a poem each by H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard.</div>
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It features Lee as Karl Jorla, an Austrian Devil Worshipper who features in a recording of a Black Mass. When that recording gets released, his acolytes suspect that he was behind this and threaten to hunt and kill him. A film studio hires him as an actor for a similar role, not knowing that what they had seen in the initial production was not a work of fiction.</div>
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During the satanic ritual Lee is heard speaking German and truth be told his German is better than the German accent he puts on when speaking English. He also appears to be wearing a head piece as well as some crazy bushy eye brows and some of the scenes evoke his <i>Dracula</i>, no doubt one of the reasons he was hired for the job.</div>
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All the occult references are very moody and must have appealed to Lee as an aficionado in that area. Though the premise of this episode is preposterous - no studio would have hired a No Name and put up with all those exorbitant requests and strange behaviour - the fact that this is one of those productions that show him amongst Satanists and Devil Worshippers with hints of <i>Horror Hotel </i>(1960) as well as future Dennis Wheatley adaptations makes this well worth checking out.</div>
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Lee mentions in his autobiography that he was anxious to leave his 12-week old daughter Christina behind which places his arrival around the February 15 mark. This was Lee’s first invite to Hollywood. Rather than being placed in a grandiose hotel as he had hoped for, he is put up in an unfinished motel, but has Marlon Brando’s dressing room.</div>
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Filming lasts two weeks and while there, he also meets one of his idols, Groucho Marx, as well as Ray Bradbury who had wanted him to play Mr. Dark in an adaptation of<i> Something Wicked This Way Comes</i>.</div>
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Prior to filming he was seemingly convinced he’d be directed by Alfred Hitchcock directly and only became aware that this was not the case when meeting Bob Douglas, the actual director. He only ended up briefly seeing Hitch from a distance and also lost eight of Ray Milland’s golf balls in a match against him in Bel Air.<br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=theworldofham-20&language=en_US&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B018G9EPAW&asins=B018G9EPAW&linkId=9387debbbbb29ad6849df6d7c2358a7c&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe> <iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=theworldofham-21&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B018G9EPAW&asins=B018G9EPAW&linkId=6721b8818769ce930eac816f289331e8&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe>
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Holger Haasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13359071414296803464noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6309429033992855414.post-44658979987428412412020-03-18T15:26:00.000+00:002020-03-18T15:29:01.635+00:00Peter Cushing as a Mafioso<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXQfjpqm-5nXCq3bwI1BGEBk9JtPJXFNm2E2lcw79Zoad8EDvbVA9iXdRFWvXypuH1es9kJrNHNiS9fk7GH7VNRbZMw8SY4om3UVoIXGp_1YkJftRn5d5lV35tSeEdIeIBvj0EJSfVJKZf/s1600/Peter+Cushing+Jerry+Cotton.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1072" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXQfjpqm-5nXCq3bwI1BGEBk9JtPJXFNm2E2lcw79Zoad8EDvbVA9iXdRFWvXypuH1es9kJrNHNiS9fk7GH7VNRbZMw8SY4om3UVoIXGp_1YkJftRn5d5lV35tSeEdIeIBvj0EJSfVJKZf/s320/Peter+Cushing+Jerry+Cotton.jpg" width="214" /></a></div>
I recently published <a href="http://amzn.to/37D1g32" target="_blank">a 15.000 word eBook</a> dedicated to the German series of Dr. Mabuse movies from the <span class="s1">1960s</span>. I am planning this to be the first in a number of overviews dedicated to classic German Crime and Thriller flicks and for my next project want to approach the eight <i>Jerry Cotton </i>movies featuring George Nader as the eponymous FBI Agent.
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Jerry Cotton is a series of German "Heftromane", short weekly 60+ page novels that are exclusively sold through news agencies and by now has run up more than 3000 issues over the decades. Especially in the earlier years they tended to show covers with stills taken from totally unrelated movies.<br />
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So imagine my surprise when I wanted to stock up on some of them for research when I came across this cover for <i>Die Rache des Mafioso</i> ("The Mafioso's Revenge") featuring Peter Cushing in a scene from <i>The Satanic Rites of Dracula</i>.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
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I was reminded of the time when I posted a similar cover photo from a <i>Jerry Cotton </i>novel featuring <a href="https://hammerandbeyond.blogspot.com/2007/07/veronica-carlson-covergirl.html" target="_blank">Veronica <span class="s1">Carlson</span></a>.<br />
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For the Cushing cover I am particularly intrigued as the original image of course also included a crucifix which had been cropped to make him more in line with the Mafia theme of this issue (that I have yet to read).<br />
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Holger Haasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13359071414296803464noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6309429033992855414.post-26258718591591215982019-11-06T22:35:00.000+00:002019-11-06T22:41:58.589+00:00The Ugly Duckling (1959)<br />
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<span id="goog_1840547024"></span><span id="goog_1840547025"></span><b>THE UGLY DUCKLING</b> used to be one of the Holy Grails for Hammer aficionados.<br />
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Directed by prolific British B-Picture Director Lance Comfort and long considered lost, it was in actual fact hidden in plain sight in the vaults of Sony and BFI. It just hadn’t been screened for more than half a century.<br />
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British Free-to-Air channel <a href="https://talkingpicturestv.co.uk/" target="_blank">Talking Pictures</a> as part of their amazing lineup of vintage movies and TV series has twice now transmitted this production and thereby allowed Hammer Fans to finally view this often discussed but rarely seen comedy.<br />
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Must admit, given that comedy is probably the genre that easily dates the worst (never mind the fact that it often also doesn’t travel well from one culture to the other), I was at least just as anxious as I was curious about finally coming face to face with this movie.<br />
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But I shouldn’t have worried. It is hardly a forgotten masterpiece but it also isn’t a dud. Instead it is a thoroughly enjoyable little contemporary riff on Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde”. The film’s credits even indicate that the idea was “stolen” from that book.<br />
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Shot in 1959, at a time when Hammer’s Gothic reinvention had already begun, it’s something of a throwback to the company’s earlier black and white pictures and seems to have purposely been planned as a comedic variation to <b>THE TWO FACES OF DR. JEKYLL</b>, released in the same year.<br />
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<b>THE UGLY DUCKLING</b> features a number of familiar faces for Hammer and classic UK movie fans, such as Bernard Bresslaw (<b>MOON ZERO TWO</b> as well as countless <b>CARRY ON</b> films), Michael Ripper and Marla Landi (<b>THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES</b>, <b>PIRATES OF BLOOD RIVER</b>) as well as Jon Pertwee and many more.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvqC5KLlL9S3qca4K5ybw3MBrMrIQ5wnGUXIbWQkCrDj5NytHZxQbBXFg4CjgwdPwqCFWy_LpeppwfOYgy70vi924ajorYFTWc9mmyIJMppLmRjztt0U055B_O3wWVJEFWbreWd-VRzUc-/s1600/ulgy+duckling+promo+photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvqC5KLlL9S3qca4K5ybw3MBrMrIQ5wnGUXIbWQkCrDj5NytHZxQbBXFg4CjgwdPwqCFWy_LpeppwfOYgy70vi924ajorYFTWc9mmyIJMppLmRjztt0U055B_O3wWVJEFWbreWd-VRzUc-/s320/ulgy+duckling+promo+photo.jpg" width="264" /></a>Bresslaw plays Henry Jeckle (sic), great-great-grandson of the original Dr. Jekyll, and totally ill at ease amongst London’s hip youth….. who were still a few years away from being completely changed by the appearance of The Beatles and the subsequent upheavals of the 1960s.
When he revives his ancestor’s notorious formula he transforms into a self-confident hoodlum who helps a gang to steal some precious jewels, only to try and give them back to the owners during his more innocent but fumbling real personality.<br />
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And all kinds of mayhem ensues….<br />
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<b>THE UGLY DUCKLING</b> is clearly a product of its time - we even see Jeckle go to bed with a golliwogg doll. – but it’s a fast moving and enjoyably breezy comedy that may have even inspired Jerry Lewis to venture into similar territory with <b>THE NUTTY PROFESSOR</b> four years later.<br />
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The film also features a number of dance band pieces, possibly inspired by producer Michael Carreras lifelong love for jazz. Those musical interludes do at times overstay their welcome quite a bit.<br />
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Ultimately the film probably suffered from a different kind of bad timing as it is depicting a cultural landscape that just a few years later would irrevocably be changed for good and thereby quickly aged this production.<br />
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Still, it is good to finally be given a chance to appreciate this rare Hammer production, remarkable for its balancing act between comedy, musical numbers and the occasional digression into horror-lite with its well lit transformation scenes.
Holger Haasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13359071414296803464noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6309429033992855414.post-29859224130455701472019-10-15T15:22:00.000+01:002019-10-15T15:22:39.377+01:00Captain Kronos vs The Mummy (Titan Comics Releases)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfK0Fp7mrwunK2ZubrG9S-XujX7vg57vpij69xbImqrqUw8umDlt2LabJIAIZ2_CK79Du9rOfBgTMyMs-ozZmt6l6TCCaNYwFe9oOR6BSnbJtO3qWaqORK_UmxLPYcVpQEhIpZe2AdE6Os/s1600/palimpsest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="330" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfK0Fp7mrwunK2ZubrG9S-XujX7vg57vpij69xbImqrqUw8umDlt2LabJIAIZ2_CK79Du9rOfBgTMyMs-ozZmt6l6TCCaNYwFe9oOR6BSnbJtO3qWaqORK_UmxLPYcVpQEhIpZe2AdE6Os/s320/palimpsest.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
Recently read two officially licensed Hammer comics published through Titan Books.<br />
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Titan had previously issued Marcus Hearn’s excellent <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1845761855/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=theworldofham-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1845761855&linkId=3094f42baba64fbd555a07da38e2faa1" target="_blank">HAMMER STORY</a>, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1848562292/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=theworldofham-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1848562292&linkId=ff6544e78fb58543314310b4b5bbd8fb" target="_blank">HAMMER GLAMOUR</a>, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1785654470/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=theworldofham-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1785654470&linkId=135bbac9ab20f575472cb3e0807f4f37" target="_blank">THE HAMMER VAULT</a> and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1785654462/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=theworldofham-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1785654462&linkId=8425164d8d9b5ef9cd462c601860cbb6" target="_blank">THE ART OF HAMMER</a>, so is the perfect choice for Hammer Studio related publications.<br />
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In the past you were able to enjoy Hammer related comic book stories in the pages of the legendary “The House of Hammer” magazine, predominantly adaptations of their films, at the time an ideal way to immerse yourself in their movies when easy access to them via DVD, Blu Ray or streaming was unheard of.<br />
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Titan Comics’ recent THE MUMMY – PALIMPSEST and CAPTAIN KRONOS: VAMPIRE HUNTER both go a different direction by taking the original Hammer movies and using them as a spring board to develop new stories.<br />
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Each of those two are perfectly readable and enjoyable in their own right but CAPTAIN KRONOS is the one that has the edge with regards to truly carrying the Hammer torch whereas their version of THE MUMMY really is only tangentially linked to any of the Hammer mummy flicks.<br />
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Though often flashing back to previous incarnations, most of THE MUMMY – PALIMPSEST is set in modern day London.<br />
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In the late 19th Century members of a secret society, the Sect of Anubis, discovered how to cheat death and gain eternal life via the Palimpsest ritual, which required them every 33 years to drink the blood of a female victim chosen to be the host for the ancient Egyptian Priestess Nebetah. Their current chosen one, Angel Kostenko, has been brought to London by sex traffickers but proves resilient in her fight against both her kidnappers as well as the Sect. She is somewhat aided by another group battling the Sect of Anubis, however, soon learns that those guys’ motives may also not be quite as benevolent as they seem to be.<br />
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This is a very effective mummy story but it is only borderline related to Hammer’s original MUMMY (a few brief glimpses of Kharis here or there) and despite the focus on a female mummy also has little to nothing to do with BLOOD FROM THE MUMMY’S TOMB.<br />
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Even though the connections to Hammer are tenuous, this is a highly enjoyable read within the sub-genre of mummy literature and films with an ever so slight – cynics may say: token – feminist slant given that the current sacrifice is both a victim of sex traffickers as well as a pawn between two male-only member societies.<br />
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For Brazilian artist Ronilson Freire THE MUMMY – PALIMPSEST is arguably his biggest English language assignment yet as he is mainly known for work in his native country though has also been involved with DOCTOR WHO graphic novels and a number of other UK/US projects.<br />
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Up until I read the mini bio at the end of the comic, I was convinced that writer Peter (X-STATIX) Milligan was American as the weakest part of this graphic novel is the often ridiculously clunky, archaic and faux-English Upper Class dialogue by the members of the two Secret Societies battling each other. I was totally convinced that no one born in the UK would write lines like: “I am popping up to Scotland for a spot of shooting.”<br />
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Goes to prove how much I know…..<br />
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The CAPTAIN KRONOS: VAMPIRE HUNTER comic on the other hand is directly related to the characters in the movie and develops their story further.<br />
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The main hero was always one of the most original vampire hunters, a young, debonair, swashbuckling, pot smoking slayer who at one stage was even planned to be a time traveller, hence the name: Kronos.<br />
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No time travelling in this comic by writer Dan Abnett (GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY) and artist Tom Mandrake (THE SPECTRE). Instead the plot reunites the three main characters from the movie –Kronos with his trusted sidekick, the eccentric Professor Grost, and sexy gypsy girl Carla who they encountered in the movie and who has now joined them along their way - for a new adventure following the film’s events.<br />
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Their journey brings them to a little village besieged by powerful vampires. When Kronos ventures out to investigate he doesn’t just discover that these are immune to sunlight but also unearths an even bigger mystery.<br />
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What this story does really well, apart of course from some grandiose fight scenes, is to depict the fact that in Kronos’ world there are all different types of vampires that each require a new strategy to defeat them, again setting this character apart from the more traditional vampire hunters.<br />
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Both comics also contain short articles by Marcus Hearn about the history of the original Hammer movies these new stories were inspired by. CAPTAIN KRONOS: VAMPIRE HUNTER also contains a foreword by Caroline Munro.<br />
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Overall am quite impressed with New Hammer’s comic book excursions into Old Hammer material with a modern twist and I’m hoping there’ll be more to come… but have a funny feeling this will be yet another short lived attempt to try and breathe new life into an otherwise moribund company.<br />
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</iframe>Holger Haasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13359071414296803464noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6309429033992855414.post-732621742656723682019-01-17T15:04:00.000+00:002019-01-17T15:15:06.132+00:00Paying my respects to Oliver Reed<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I moved to Cork (Ireland) Christmas 1995 and had previously travelled back and forth for a good few years. As such I was very well aware of the fact that Oliver Reed was living quasi in my neighborhood, in Churchtown, a little village just about 50km to the North of Cork City, just off the N20.<br />
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There he lived a fairly quiet life, made friends with the locals and all in all seemed to enjoy that no one made a major deal about the celeb living in their midst. He became a regular to O’Brien’s Bar and despite all the rabble rousing stories told about him, the only time his stay in Churchtown garnered any attention during his lifetime was in a very positive light that would endear him to the locals for years to come: When he heard about a young local girl who suffered from Tetra-amelia, a very rare syndrome that had her born without arms and legs, <a href="https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/handicap-girl-aware-only-of-his-generosity-26148937.html" target="_blank">he arranged a fundraising campaign</a> that would ultimately help to raise IE£ 800.000 towards her treatment.<br />
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So at the time I knew what I had wanted to do. Drive over to Churchtown and plank myself on a bar stool in O’Briens until Reed would show up. Things always came in the way but I always assumed that I’d have all the time in the world to get this arranged.<br />
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Alas, Reed surprisingly died in a bar in Malta during the filming of GLADIATOR. A good few years ago I had managed to visit the bar while visiting the island and noticed that at least at the time the owners had turned this – not necessarily tastefully – into an Oliver Reed shrine to attract the punters and in another bar by chance even met the guy in whose arms Reed had died. (More details on this encounter can be read in my article about it for <a href="https://atomicbooks.com/products/hungover-gourmet-7" target="_blank">THE HUNGOVER GOURMET #7</a>)<br />
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Following his death, his corpse was laid to rest in Churchtown, proof how attached the actor had been to his last place of residence. The funeral ended up being <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk/1999/may/16/theobserver.uknews3" target="_blank">a 10-Day-Wake</a> with a number of celebrity mourners such as Michael Winner and Alex Higgins, leading to an influx of visitors that this village would likely never seen again.<br />
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And yet, despite living so close to Churchtown it took me until last summer to finally make it up there and in the end it took a visit by Hammer fan and historian <a href="https://twitter.com/avalard" target="_blank">Robert Simpson</a> to get me off my backside and up to Reeds’s gravesite.<br />
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What struck us first was how utterly non-descript the place is: a village square, a pub or two, a church, a couple of small roads and that’s really it.<br />
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Bruhenny Graveyard, the cemetery in which Reed is buried is located just off the main square and O’Brien’s Bar and can be entered through a narrow lane that can easily be missed unless you look out for it.<br />
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Inside one is struck by a feeling that this must be one of the most deserted cemeteries ever which makes it easy, though, to locate Reed’s grave which is just as spare as most of the other graves on the site. It has been reported that over the years visiting fans had drowned so much alcohol in his honour over the gravesite that <a href="https://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/no-wild-things-grow-on-reeds-grave-as-fans-drown-it-in-booze-says-son-227411.html" target="_blank">flowers no longer grow on it</a> which may explain why it now doesn’t stand out much anymore.<br />
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Instead a simple gravestone carrying his name (Robert Oliver Reed) and dates (1938-1999) together with the faded inscription “He made the air move” is all that now marks the final resting place for one of cinema’s most notorious rebel rousers.<br />
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Robert and I remained a few minutes in front of the grave until heading to O’Brien’s for a refreshing drink just across the road.<br />
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In contrast to the total overkill in Malta’s bar there is very little that serves as memory to their most famous patron. Where they respected his boundaries in real life and just treated him as one of their own, they continued doing so after his death and all that serves as a reminder now is a single photo of Reed whereas most of the other walls are dominated by horse racing images and memorabilia that reflect the importance of equestrianism for the area.<br />
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I guess we could have stayed and ask the elderly lady behind the bar or some of the few patrons that day about Reed and extract a story or two.<br />
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But we didn’t.<br />
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Truth be told it just didn’t feel right to interfere. No doubt no-one would have minded had we asked but we came to pay our respects and saw no need to further intrude.
Holger Haasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13359071414296803464noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6309429033992855414.post-89562424772209406522014-12-13T20:41:00.002+00:002014-12-13T20:41:48.085+00:00The Skull (1965)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>“Christopher Maitland sat back in his chair before the fireplace and fondled the binding of an old book. His thin face, modelled by the flickering firelight, bore a characteristic expression of scholarly preoccupation. </i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Maitland’s intellectual curiosity was focussed on the volume in his hands. Briefly, he was wondering if the human skin binding this book came from a man, a woman, or a child. </i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>(…) It was nice to have a book bound in a woman’s skin. It was nice to have a </i>crux ansata<i> fashioned from a thigh-bone; a collection of Dyack heads; a shrivelled hand of Glory stolen from a graveyard in Mainz. Maitland owned all these items, and many more. For he was a collector of the unusual.” </i></blockquote>
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<i>The Skull </i>is one Amicus’ first horror films. Coming hot on the heals of their first portmanteau flick, <i>Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors</i>, this is actually a feature length movie though ironically based on a short story, <a href="http://www.unz.org/Pub/WeirdTales-1945sep-00006" target="_blank"><i>The Skull of the Marquis de Sade</i></a>, by Robert Bloch, i.e. the kind of material that they would later typically use for the anthology productions.<br />
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Horror films about obsessive collectors are a fascinating sub-genre that have very rarely been explored outside of Amicus where Robert Bloch appears to have been the driving force behind that niche (see also <i>“The Man Who Collected Poe”</i> segment of <i>Torture Garden</i>).<br />
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For <i>The Skull </i>Milton Subotsky co-adapted Bloch’s screenplay about an esoteric collector (Peter Cushing) who starts a descent into murder and madness when he is being offered the genuine skull of the Marquis De Sade.<br />
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Though the movie by and large follows the general plot of the short story to the point where certain lines of dialogue are even lifted verbatim, given the requirements of a feature length production there are added sections that are virtually dialogue free in which the film truly shines.<br />
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For these scenes director Freddie Francis managed to create some memorable bravura images that clearly demonstrate the cinematographic skill that would ultimately lead to him winning an Oscar. (Official Director of Photography here was John Wilcox.)<br />
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A Gothic pre-credits scene is bathed in a very Bavaesque light and depictures a silent, moody grave robbing. At one stage everything is filmed from the point-of-view of the corpse. It appears as if the corpse was lying in a glass tomb and could look through it to see the dirt removed from the coffin.<br />
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The film has lots of those strange angles and we often get to see everything from the perspective of the skull, a type of imagery that Alfred Vohrer was also very fond of in German Edgar Wallace Krimis at the time.<br />
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Long periods without sound or talk other than musical cues and purely visual imagery dominate this production that is also chock-a-block with little unnerving details such as somewhat distorted mirror reflections or bizarre camera angles.<br />
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The most famous of these scenes is midway through and could have been taken straight out of TV’s <i>AVENGERS</i> series: Maitland appears to get arrested and is brought to a Kafkaesque location, a large but mainly empty room only presided over by a judge surrounded by demonic statuettes who communicates through mute sign language and forces him to play a game of Russian Roulette, probably the most drawn out one prior to <i>Deer Hunter</i>. Maitland afterwards escapes through a maze of red corridors, and is threatened by gas and crushing walls while the skull is seen floating through the air. It’s a wonderfully filmed surreal nightmarish vision that vastly improves on the short story’s equivalent which features a rather more conventional form of torture by Iron Maiden.<br />
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The visual opulence of this production is furthermore highlighted by some of the most stunning set designs to be found in a 1960s horror production (courtesy of Scott Slimon and Bill Constable).<br />
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The characters all live in individually styled surroundings emphasizing their various collecting interests: Maitland’s library; an opulent billiard room with tribal masks; a phrenologist’s apartment featuring a range of masks and dragons as well as lots of books, crystal balls and skulls; the paintings in the shady dealer’s room.<br />
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According to Deborah DelVecchio and Tom Johnson in <i><b>Peter Cushing: The Gentle Man of Horror and his 91 Films</b></i> all this was filmed in Shepperton Studios “on one composite set which consisted of five rooms and a hallway”.<br />
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<i>The Skull</i> is probably the closest we have to a Cushing/Lee-Team-Up in which Peter Cushing plays a Baddy against Christopher Lee’s Good Guy though Cushing’s character is never inherently evil just involuntarily under an evil influence. (And Lee is not really a Goody, just scared and not-evil.) In actual fact the film ramps up the body-count in comparison to the original short story where there were decidedly less killings and none of which were cause by Maitland.
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The film is a major tour-de-force for Cushing who features in the vast majority of the scenes and often is required to silently act within the confines of a dialogue-free atmospheric scenery.<br />
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The only other two actors in this production with any decent screen-time to speak off are Patrick Wymark as a wonderfully sleazy procurator of artefacts and Christopher Lee as a friend and fellow-collector who first of all gets embroiled in a bidding war over some demonic figurines and afterwards wants nothing more to do with them. It’s rare that we ever hear fear in Lee’s voice but this is one of the few occasions where he is made to portray a man at the end of his tethers.<br />
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Also watch out for Michael Gough as an auctioneer and Patrick Magee and Nigel Green as a coroner and police officer, all three in tiny blink-or-you-miss-them short appearances that beg the question why so many reasonably well known actors at the time constantly show up in what amount to little more than extra parts at that stage in their careers.<br />
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All in all, <i>The Skull </i>is one of Amicus’ best productions if not even THE best. Though the studio is mainly known for their portmanteau movies, it required a feature length adaptation of a short story to help them properly unleash a highly atmospheric feast. Some may consider this to be a bit short on actual horror but for me this is one of the most intriguing visual treats the studio had to offer.
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<br />Holger Haasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13359071414296803464noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6309429033992855414.post-77354539651118773022014-12-07T16:40:00.000+00:002014-12-07T16:49:03.786+00:00The ever-changing faces of Victoria VetriOr should I call this: The ever-changing hairstyles of <a href="http://hammerandbeyond.blogspot.ie/2010/11/victoria-vetri-september-26-1944.html" target="_blank">Victoria Vetri</a>?<br />
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Either way, I just happened to come across two of Vetri’s TV appearances this weekend:<br />
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<b>THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.’s <i>The Indian Affairs Affair</i></b> still features her under her alternative nom-de-plume Angela Dorian.<br />
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The episode is the series’ Season Two finale and with its exaggerated “Cowboys’n’Inchuns”-imagery already gives a taster for the campy madness that was to follow in the subsequent season.<br />
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All of the Native Americans on display may be American but they’re hardly native. Even Illya Kuryakin joins in and dons a dark wig and a fake accent.<br />
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Dorian/Vetri plays Charisma Highcloud, the daughter of an Indian Chief (played by familiar in face if not in name, Ted de Corsia) held captive by Indian hating L.C. Carson who intends to drop a hydrogen bomb and apparently needs the Indian’s reservation for his schemes. (Don’t ask.)<br />
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Seriously, whatever happened to the hydrogen bomb? Isn’t it time we get a decent hydrogen threat again? Atomic warfare is so lame in comparison!<br />
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Much to her father’s annoyance, Vetri’s character sustains her student’s lifestyle by becoming a Native go-go dancer in New York.<br />
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For <b>MISSION IMPOSSIBLE’s <i>Squeeze Play</i></b> she is back again to her more paler real self. This Season 5 episode is one of the shows with Leonard Nimoy and Leslie Warren in its line-up, both of which also have prominent roles infiltrating the hide-out of a dying Mafia don (Albert Paulsen, who had previously also appeared in a variety of other roles for <b>MISSION IMPOSSIBLE</b>) with the intention of obtaining his secret list of heroin distributors and causing an internal struggle in its ranks. <br />
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Vetri again plays a “Chief’s” younger family member, this time the grand-daughter who is pretty much innocent but has inklings of the nefarious activities of all those sharp-suited men in sunglasses around her.<br />
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Truth be told if the mention of “Angela Dorian” hadn’t triggered something in my memory I may never have connected her with the blonde-haired bewigged cavegirl of Hammer’s <b>WHEN DINOAURS RULED THE EARTH</b>.
Strange that someone who has become something of an iconic figure in Hammer Fandom, should ultimately be so unrecognizable in most of her other performances but such is the fate of Brunettes who briefly become famous as Blonde Bombshells.<br />
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The <b>MISSION IMPOSSIBLE</b> episode is currently available on YouTube or Netflix US. <b>THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. </b>may be on YouTube for some…. but not for my region. I watched this courtesy of my fab <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00005JM5Z/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00005JM5Z&linkCode=as2&tag=theworldofham-20&linkId=TGIBYIC7XG2BLUAF" target="_blank">U.N.C.L.E. box set</a>.<br />
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Now I better be off trying to come across some more of Vetri’s TV work. It seems that due to her looks she was often hired for more “ethnic” roles and therefore featured in a number of Western series as well, not just 1960s Spy shows.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/b7Pz_osInyE" width="420"></iframe><br br="" />Holger Haasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13359071414296803464noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6309429033992855414.post-58011715711278018332014-10-25T13:27:00.000+01:002014-10-25T13:31:11.964+01:00Four Sided Triangle (1953)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Given that <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfanVY5JswueLsOJH1o47Fw">Hammer’s official YouTube channel</a> has made some of their lesser known and previously only difficult to get a hold off early black & white productions more readily available, it is pretty pathetic that I haven’t spent a few sleepless nights yet in front of the screen in my endeavor to plug a few more of my holes in my Hammer filmography.<br />
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Time to change this…..<br />
<i>(Spoiler Alert: Please continue reading only after watching the film first.) </i><br />
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<a href="http://youtu.be/jmbgBlhaxV8">FOUR SIDED TRIANGLE</a> was Terence Fisher’s first Sci Fi movie and some of its concepts indeed seem to predate some of their later Frankenstein flicks (e.g. CREATED WOMAN).<br />
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In a pastoral English village, Robin (John Van Eyssen who is better known as (HORROR OF) DRACULA’S Jonathan Harker) and Bill (Stephen Murray), two friends since childhood, are collaborating together to create what was apparently going to become a prototype for Star Trek’s replicator. They are assisted by Lena (Barbara Payton), a childhood sweetheart who has just returned back from a stint in the States, and makes up the third (and later on also forth) side of their triangle.<br />
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Payton’s character is potentially the most interesting one in this movie as she is so decidedly off-centre, yet the film seems to treat most of her later decisions with the utmost normality.<br />
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We first see her in a flashback playing knights and lady with the boys and clearly already favouring Robin. Following a lengthy stay in the States she meets up with Dr Harvey (James Hayter), the narrator of this film, and proudly proclaims that she intends to spend all her money and subsequently “die in some reasonably unmessy fashion”.<br />
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This is quite possibly one of the most casual suicide declarations ever filmed and even more shocking as we never seem to get a proper idea why she considers herself such a failure and disappointed with life. What a way to get introduced to a character!<br />
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Meeting her old friends again, however, seems to give her a fresh purpose in life and she acts as their assistant and quickly rekindles her mutual infatuation with Robin, leaving Bill just longing after her.<br />
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Most of the research work is depicted as taking place in a laboratory that could easily have also been used in both the Universal or Hammer Frankenstein productions. Where at first the goal was to replicate inanimate objects, duplicating life is the obvious next step, especially given that Bill comes up with a plan to copy Lena giving him at last a chance for some quality time with her artificial twin but leading the viewer with a few more choice head-scratch moments with regards to her dubious decision making skills.<br />
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Not only does she readily agree to volunteer without batting an eyelid for this untested replication process. Her artificial twin (called Helen) is a carbon copy even down to her emotions for Robin yet out of some misdirected sense for – yes, for what exactly? it is never clear - , she decides to marry Bill, only to attempt to drown herself. To make things even worse, she subsequently believes that getting her memory wiped just so she can forget about her real true love is indeed a good idea (“an empty mind and a new beginning”).<br />
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And never during any of this do we get a feeling that this is anything else but common sense decision making!
Any single one of those decisions is actually beyond creepy so not emphasizing that creep factor in the movie and making all those actions appear downright normal is in the end an awfully wasted opportunity and a missed chance.<br />
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This could have become a proto-Cronenbergian Mind Fuck but just ends up being a very average and mercifully short production based on a preposterous idea.
Even a potentially disturbing surprise ending is solved amicably, unlike the literary original that appears to have gone just this extra bit further with regards to the final outcome.<br />
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William F. Temple’s original story was adapted to the screen in collaboration by both Terence Fisher and Paul Tabori, a Hungarian author who on top of writing some English language pulp fiction novels wrote a number of screenplays as well and was also involved with Terence Fisher’s next film, SPACEWAYS, yet another early Science Fiction movie by Hammer.<br />
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Whereas most of the talent in this film was just at the beginning of their careers, sadly 26-year-old Barbara Payton was already approaching the end of hers.<br />
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Once an up and coming potential Hollywood Star she was a true-life Femme Fatale and after having made the rounds through a number of her leading men and nearly being responsible for the death of one of them following a vicious brawl over her, she was deemed toxic in Hollywood and reduced to shooting the likes of BRIDE OF THE GORILLA.<br />
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Going to Bray was meant to be a new start for her. FOUR SIDED TRIANGLE was filmed from August – September 1952 and shooting on her second Hammer film <a href="http://hammerandbeyond.blogspot.ie/2008/12/bad-blondethe-flanagan-boy-1953.html">BAD BLONDE/THE FLANAGAN BOY</a> started right afterwards on September 25.<br />
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Alas, there was little else to come for her careerwise. She fell into a vicious spiral of alcoholism, drug abuse and homelessness, was at one stage reduced to sleeping on park benches and ended up selling her body. She died much too young at the age of just 39 as a result of heart and liver failure.<br />
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Though it’s easy to blame the Hollywood system for her downfall, it must also be said that there are ample examples of normal folks out there pressing the self-destruct button out of their own volition.<br />
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A cover story in CONFIDENTIAL magazine published an exposé: “How I went from a $10.000 a week movie queen to a $5 party girl!”<br />
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In her memoirs I AM NOT ASHAMED she wrote choice nuggets such as:<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"I went out with every big male star in town. They wanted my body and I needed their names for success. There was my picture on the front pages of every paper in the country... Today I live in a rat infested apartment with not a bean to my name and I drink too much Rose wine. I don't like what the scale tells me. The little money I do accumulate to pay the rent comes from old residuals, poetry and favors to men. I love the Negro race and I will accept money only from Negroes. Does it all sound depressing to you? Queasy? Well, I'm not ashamed."</i></blockquote>
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Having long been out of print and commanding high prices, the book was re-published a few years back (and is still available cheaply for the Kindle) as well as a biography about her, KISS TOMORROW GOODBYE, named after one of her films. I hope to review these books a bit more extensively in the near future but you know me: I may also just vanish again for a while from the blogosphere.<br />
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In the meantime: Do check out the movie. After all it comes free courtesy of Hammer’s YouTube channel. It may just be an average production overall but with the Frankensteinian vibes and some off-beat moments courtesy of one of Tinseltown’s most miserable real life stories, this is worth a quick glance.
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</iframe>Holger Haasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13359071414296803464noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6309429033992855414.post-10259402363911354532014-10-21T13:15:00.000+01:002014-10-21T13:18:13.521+01:00The Deadly Bees (1967)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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A contemporary Amicus horror film directed by Freddie Francis, starring Suzanna Leigh and a wild eyed, over-the-top and eccentric Frank Finlay, also featuring Michael Ripper as a publican, with songs by Elkie Brooks (dubbing Leigh) and The Birds on screen with Ronnie Wood and a screenplay co-written by Robert Bloch based on H.F. Heard’s bestselling Holmes pastiche <i>A Taste for Honey</i>.<br />
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So what could go wrong?<br />
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Actually not all that much at first glance.<br />
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Though mainly known for their anthology horror concepts, these always were a bit hit and miss and it’s therefore good to see one of Amicus’ proper feature length forays into horror. Not making this a Gothic horror production wisely set them apart from Hammer while at the same time securing some of Hammer’s key personnel guaranteeing a certain recognition factor.<br />
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Suzanna Leigh plays a popular singer on the verge of a mental breakdown who is sent off to a remote island for some respite. (The doctor who diagnoses her is played by a blink and you’ll miss him Michael Gwynn.) The vibes of Swinging London are represented by Swinging Cameras going back and forth while capturing a performance by The Birds (and the bees… nudge nudge). In contrast rural England is frequented by merry publicans, cheerful lasses, eccentric characters and a dysfunctional couple, the husband (Guy Doleman, best known as SPECTRE agent Count Lippe from <i>Thunderball</i>), a brooding farmer/bee keeper who keeps his raging emotions only barely under control and whose venomous, chain smoking wife (Catherine Finn, Michael Ripper’s wife in real life) never lets him forget who it is that has the money in the relationship and out of spite never even bothers answering the phone even when she sits right next to it.<br />
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Watching this kaleidoscope of 1960s genre characters is a joy but of course this is the first killer bee movie ever made and based on a popular Sherlock Holmes pastiche, so how does this fare as either a horror or mystery movie?<br />
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Not that well, is the short answer……<br />
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The only thing frightful about the killer bee attacks is how awful they look. Given that Freddie Francis was a future Academy Award winning cinematographer it is surprising how bland the production looked. The bee attacks in particular are badly process shot in slow motion while the actors were flailing wildly with plastic insects of a kind stuck to their faces.<br />
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And for a mystery there really is very little of that. We only ever have two suspects for being the mastermind behind the bee attacks and one of them is so blatantly obviously suspected by just about everyone that the real killer simply must be the other one.<br />
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Given that this is an adaptation of a popular book it is surprising to see how much Amicus didn’t even bother with the novel’s main attraction: the fact that its hero, Mr Mycroft, is a very thinly disguised Sherlock Holmes enjoying his retirement as a rural bee-keeper!<br />
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In the movie there is no reference to either Holmes or Mycroft or indeed the male Watson substitute and book’s narrator. It appears that in Bloch’s original version of the screenplay these references were much clearer. Bloch had seemingly envisaged Christopher Lee and Boris Karloff in the main parts. Amicus and/or Freddie Francis, however, took a dislike to Bloch’s concept and changed it further on leaving only the barest hints of its initial source idea.<br />
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Still, this may be both a failed mystery and horror thriller and at the time those aspects may have been the primary reason for it being critically dismissed. Nearly 50 years after the movie first hit the cinema screens, however, the then current horror flick has started carrying a patina that easily masks its short comings.<br />
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For me it will always be a pleasure to watch Michael Ripper behind a bar and encountering a range of off-beat English characters as well as 1960s starlets, a trip back in time to a mythical England where animals attack and civil servants wear bowler hats. Freddie Francis may just be a journeyman director but he is my kind of journeyman director and the film is a very enjoyable way to spend some 83 minutes.<br />
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<i>The Deadly Bees</i> was sometimes paired in a double feature together with <i><a href="http://hammerandbeyond.blogspot.ie/2009/03/vulture-1967.html">The Vulture</a></i>.<br />
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