Ingrid Pitt's most personal film project

Amongst all the tributes that have poured in following Ingrid Pitt's passing I just learned about probably the last and definitely most personal project she was ever involved in: an animated short movie about her time in the Stutthof concentration that she provided the voice over for. The film is not yet finished but a clip on YouTube gives a first glimpse at what's to come.

Do widzenia, Ingrid!

Really saddened to hear about the passing of Ingrid Pitt just two days after her 73rd birthday. I only heard about this late last night when I returned home from work and noticed how much the Internet was abuzz with news about her death in Facebook tributes, countless blog posts and numerous tweets... truly an indication how much Pitt was loved and admired by several generations of Hammer Fans.

She was one of the most prominent female Hammer Stars despite the fact that she only ever acted in two of their movies and one of which (Countess Dracula) really wasn't all that great. The other one (Vampire Lovers), however, launched a whole new wave of lesbian vampire movies and messed around with many a teenage boy's - and their father's! - hormones for years to come.

Given that Pitt's most iconic decade were the 1970s it bears reminding that during that period she only ever shot five feature films: the two Hammers as well as The Wicker Man, The House That Dripped Blood and the virtually unknown Nobody Ordered Love.

It is a sign of Pitt's resilience that out of this handful of movies she managed to create a lasting image in an active career that lasted up to her final days.

These days you're labelled a “survivor” just for making it through a bout of flu. Pitt, however, clearly had managed to beat the odds against her from an early age on when she survived the horrors of a Nazi concentration camp. She also escaped into the West by swimming through the Berlin River Spree.

Her most prominent role in the 1960s was alongside Clint Eastwood and Richard Burton in Where Eagles Dare, though she was also an extra in Doctor Zhivago and Chimes at Midnight, battled invisible dinosaurs (to save on special effects costs) in Sound of Horror and was the unfaithful wife in super cheap jungle adventure The Omegans.

Her key roles demonstrated that she not only had a very unusual Slavic sensuality – she was never what could be called the girl next door – but also a true ability to act that was never properly acknowledged at the time and even strangely covered when her voice was dubbed for Countess Dracula. An Easter European actress playing an Easter European aristocrat with an Easter European accent apparently was too radical a concept for Hammer.

After a break of a couple of years she returned back to the screens again in a small number of supporting roles in the 1980s such as Who Dares Wins, Wild Geese II and Underworld (aka Transmutations).

Probably noticing that her cinematic heyday was likely going to be over soon and not content to exclusively appear on the convention circuit like so many other female genre stars of her time, she switched over to writing. Her debut novel, Cuckoo Run, was published in 1980 followed by a number of other fictional books. Over several years Pitt had a regular monthly column in the sadly defunct Shivers magazine. Her autobiography, Life's a Scream, is essential reading for all Pitt Fans and she also penned a number of books about various aspects of Fantastic film and literature including the delightfully titled Ingrid Pitt Book of Murder, Depravity and Torture.

Over the last couple of years she lovingly held court over her fans during meet-ups organised by herself and her fan club, in Don Fearney's fabulous Hammer events as well as during other conventions and gradually became somewhat of an eccentric auntie who was always loving and grateful but never afraid to speak her mind.

It is my understanding that Pitt's latest (and now sadly last) book dedicated to The Hammer Xperience had only recently been finished and will hopefully soon find a publisher. Ingrid Pitt, Queen of Horror by McFarland, the first book covering her entire career, is also due out December 01.

I think I am not the only one who over the next couple of days will honour Pitt's memory by watching some of her movies and/or reading her books and silently thanking her for all the pleasure she brought us over the years. Her presence and larger-than-life personality will sorely be missed.

Words fail me

Based on the comments on YouTube this is not really Christopher Lee but pretty damn accurate. And so hilarious that it's actually quite disturbing.

Where Eagles Dare (1968)

I remember watching Where Eagles Dare for the first time about 20 years or so ago. Loved it to bits, but never rewatched it for whatever reason. Of course in the meantime I've been reading so much from Ingrid Pitt about her memories of the filming and her apparently gigantic contribution to the making of it. Trouble is that I could never actually remember seeing her in it.

Now Cinema Retro has published a fantastic special edition of their magazine focusing entirely on this movie on more than 80 richly illustrated pages. So when I finally held a copy of it in my hands, I just knew I was running out of excuses for not seeing this film a second time and popped it into the player again.

And what can I say? It still is one of the best WW2 adventure movies ever. Given that I hadn't seen it in more than two decades I was surprised how much of it I actually remembered, surely a sign how well the images had made an impression on me then. A near perfect film if ever there was one. Glad I watched it again and glad I have the Cinema Retro edition as a special memento.

But what about Ingrid Pitt?

Dammit, her role was so minute! No wonder she appears last on the cast list and no wonder I couldn't remember her. Did she even have a dozen lines in the film? Call me highly amused as to how much she managed to milk her tiny appearance in it over the last couple of years.

What also had me amazed was a contemporary Making Of documentary in which she has more to say than in the entire movie. (Probably because the main stars were busy actually filming.) The announcer's voice introduced her as being German which I put down as just another careless bit of research that we come across so frequently with this kind of promotional material. I was, however, genuinely agog when Ingrid Pitt herself introduced the plethora of different nationalities involved in the production and subsequently spoke of herself as being German!

She was born in Poland and suffered badly under the German occupation, so why would she all of a sudden introduce herself as German as opposed to being Polish? Surely from a production point of view it would have made no difference. It's utterly head scratching.

I definitely would like to know more about the director, Brian Hutton. The article on him in the Special Edition gave fascinating glimpses into this mysterious personality who at the height of a promising directing career decided to vanish into the sunset never to be seen or heard from again. It appears that he may have gotten into real estate, but attempts to contact him proved fruitless. Noone seems to know his whereabouts.

There are of course numerous cases of Hammer starlets gone missing, but this is the first time I am aware of a prestigious film director doing a vanishing act. After all, once a successful director you'd probably have a much vaster industry network than you would if you were a B-movie starlet, so it is intriguing to see how well he ended up staging this disappearance act. Gotta admire a man who lives according to his own rules and leaves when he is getting bored/disillusioned with it all.

Anyway, glad I finally managed to rewatch this production. I'll make sure I won't wait another 20 years to see it again.

The Wicker Man - Director's Cut

It’s been a long time coming, but I finally watched the longer director's cut of the original Wicker Man.

This is one of the few films that I can recall where I did a complete turnaround. I first came across it on a very bad video copy that left me far from being impressed. I also didn't get it upon repeat viewings and nearly gave up on it until I read INSIDE THE WICKER MAN by Allan Brown.

The film then came out on DVD and based on reading the book I gave it one final chance and was blown away by it. Usually a good film does *not* require a pristine copy as the story can speak for itself, but in my case having a good looking print made a huge difference to my appreciation of the film. It is one of those productions that give you a little bit more upon each viewing, yet cannot be grasped by analysing it too much. The more you think about it, the less it’ll actually make sense. Best to appreciate it on a visceral level and enjoy it as a wonderful portrayal of two clashing cultures, moodily filmed, full of great performances and with a wonderful soundtrack.

Although I have now watched and enjoyed the production a number of times, I hadn’t seen the longer director’s cut, although I had heard a lot of positive comments about it. Now that I have finally seen it I can't, however, say that it really adds a hell of a lot that wasn't already in the theatrical release: some more singing scenes that make the film appear even more like a musical, some nudies which are always welcome but not quintessential, an earlier appearance by Lord Summerisle which kind of lessens the mystery about his character and a few more extended scenes that are neither here nor there. Most of all the much touted mainland scenes really are absolutely unnecessary: I much prefer the more subtle way of getting to know about Howie's priggish Christian life style and didn't need to have it rammed down my throat. So overall I think I can live with the knowledge that some more scenes may forever be buried in a field near the M4 (or whatever). For me the theatrical version is better and more tightly cut and the quintessential release.

First Beyond the Rave review

Looks like the first Beyond the Rave review is in.... and it is from none other than Hammer's own Ingrid Pitt. In an exclusive Den of Geek article she describes being invited to the premiere of the new Hammer movie/serial and her reaction to it. Us ordinary mortals will have to wait until April 16 when the first episode will air on MySpace TV.

Some Irish Hammer News

For years you hear nothing about Irish Hammer connections of sorts, then within 24 hours I am receiving two news items primarily for my Irish readers. (Anyone? Raise your hands if you're out there!)

They say that good news comes in threes (or is that deaths?), so I wonder what's next on the horizon for the Irish Hammer Connection.

Robert Simpson has just published an article for the current edition of Film Ireland about the seldom discussed short documentary films of Hammer and more specifically the Hammer films shot in Ireland.

And the Irish Film and Television Network reports the following:

Veteran horror actress Ingrid Pitt (Countess Dracula, The Wicker Man) has joined the cast of October Eleven Pictures upcoming horror movie ‘Urban Creep’.

The Polish born actress rose to fame in the 1970’s when she played a female vampire in Hammer Film’s horror thriller ‘The Vampire Lovers’. The box office smash led to her donning the fangs again for roles in ‘The House That Dripped Blood’ and ‘Countess Dracula’

Special effects expert and puppeteer Michael McCormick (Return Of The Jedi, The Muppet Show) has also signed up to provide special effects for the movie.

Produced by Jonathan Figgis, the movie tells the tale of the citizens of Sewark City, who have succumbed to a viral infection that ignites in them a desire to consume living flesh. A small band of un-infected civilians reside at the northern tip of the city, amongst them an elderly Polish lady (Pitt) and her granddaughter Katya, to be played by Maria Manton. The group join forces, bracing themselves for inevitable assault, with one common purpose: survival.

The script will be co-written by British horror writer Shaun Hutson, whose novels include ‘Exit Wounds’ and ‘A Necessary Evil’, and October Eleven’s Jason Figgis, who will also direct.

‘Urban Creep’ will begin filming in Summer 2008, on location in Wicklow.

This and That

Bits and pieces that I had previously not reported on:

*Four of Hammer's Dracula movies have now been released in a cheap Region 1 box set containing Horror of Dracula, Dracula Has Risen From the Grave, and Taste the Blood of Dracula and Dracula A.D. 1972. All the films had previously been released before.



*Also just released, and a little something that I really want to have (Hint, hint.): Hammer Horror Vampire Terrortory, an interactive Hammer Vampire DVD game (Region 2) presented by Ingrid Pitt.



*A good place to be in is currently Scotland as a Hammer exhibition is taking place at the Falkirk Wheel until November 11. I really wish someone would visit, take some pictures and write a report. More info available here.

New weekly blog by Ingrid Pitt

Ingrid Pitt has just started writing a new column for the Den of Geek website that will be updated weekly every Tuesday. Well worth checking out.

Beyond the Rave

Adrian Smith's report from the filming of Hammer's new film, Beyond the Rave, can be found on the Cinema Retro web site. He worked on the set as an extra and also adds some additional info about the movie: Ingrid Pitt will have a small role in it and it's intended to be released not in cinemas or DVDs, but as mobile phone or Internet downloads. Not too sure how I feel about it, but I will keep an open mind and reserve my judgement until I have seen the final film (or should I say download).

Hammer related news

This is now a little bit old, but just for the record:

Hammer has been sold… yet again, this time to a consortium that includes Big Brother creator John de Mol. They intend to spend an initial $50m on new films. Yes, we’ve been there before, so let’s wait and see. Good news is that this new company at least has a track record in producing stuff.

More on this.

The Hammer’s Columbia films will now also be released. This back catalogue includes the likes of The Camp On Blood Island, Cash on Demand, Creatures the World Forgot, The Damned, Don’t Panic Chaps, The Gorgon, Maniac, Never Take Sweets From a Stranger, The Stranglers of Bombay, Sword of Sherwood Forest, Taste of Fear, The Terror of the Tongs and Watch it Sailor.

Please also read the info about this at the official Hammer site.

Ingrid Pitt to star in a new film with Robert Quarry! Fangoria reports that “Countess Dracula will meet Count Yorga when Ingrid Pitt and Robert Quarry star in a new feature version of THE TELL-TALE HEART for writer/director Mark (DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE) Redfield, who passed on some production art (see more below). Scheduled to shoot in LA and Baltimore in late July, the feature is Redfield’s second film inspired by Edgar Allan Poe, following his darkly surreal take on the author’s last week, THE DEATH OF POE.”

Here’s the full Fangora article.

Ingrid Pitt on MySpace

Ingrid Pitt has now joined the MySpace craze and created her own profile there. She already has a popular Yahoo Group in which she answers questions from her fans.

Other Hammer related MySpace sites worth checking out are the ones from Hammer Film Productions and from Robert Simpson, webmaster of the Unofficial Hammer Films Site.