New Diane Clare biography online

I just posted a new Diane Clare biography for my World of Hammer Glamour. This page was written by Mark Davies who was previously also responsible for the Isobel Black page. What I love about Mark's entries is that they generally provide an insight into the lives of actresses of whom there is otherwise very little known. With regards to Diane Clare I didn't even bother to enter a links or bibliography section as I simply couldn't come up with anything apart from the usual IMDb page... and even the info there had proved to be incomplete, so info like Mark's IMHO is vitally important to help spread the knowledge about the lives of the actresses that we refer to when we speak of Hammer Glamour.

So a big Thank You to Mark for this excellent piece!!!!

Converting YouTube videos through VDownloader

While discussing my previous post containing the YouTube videos for the full version of When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth one kind reader referred me to the VDownloader website. Looks like there is now a free software application available that allows you to transfer your favourite YouTube videos (as well as a couple of other formats) into the more universally acknowledged AVI or MPG formats.

Methinks that is indeed something worth checking out. After all one never knows how long some of your favourite YouTube videos will remain there. ;-)

When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (1970)

When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (1970) is one of those Hammer movies that have still not received a proper DVD release yet. It was previously released on VHS, though those prints did not contain the original nude scenes with Victoria Vetri that were part of the UK print of the movie. That print was shown a few years ago on UK television and kudos do those of you that were lucky to catch it then and possibly even record it.

YouTube now has a series of videos from a Spanish source that show the entire movie. The few bits of narration are in Spanish, but you get over that. If you would like to skip to the chase: The infamous nude shots appear after the 7th minute of the 7 clip.

Enjoy for as long as this will be available on YouTube.

The Adventurer

I just added a new page dedicated to ITC's The Adventurer to my Hammer Glamour site. Check back there regularly as over the next few weeks I will regularly add some more info about the episodes featuring Hammer actresses.

Gene Barry is Gene Bradley, The Adventurer, a jet setting Playboy actor cum secret agent who solves international spy mysteries and through the international party scene gains exclusive access to areas otherwise not granted to regular secret agents.

The series was one of ITC’s last. Catherine Schell (Moon Zero Two) appears in a supporting role in half of the episodes. In general this is a very worthwhile series for admirers of Hammer Glamour as a lot of these actresses show up quite frequently. Eight episodes were directed by none other than Val Guest.

The mix of classy European locations, suave banter and spy action was one that had previously proved popular for the company (e.g. The Persuaders), however, The Adventurer was not exactly well written and Gene Barry, rather than being an elegant international man of mystery, just came across as pompous and full of himself, quite possibly a representation of his real persona: Based on comments from fellow actors he was not a very popular person to be around with. The actor was previously known primarily for his starring role in the classic War of the Worlds (1953), but had also appeared in a variety of different TV series. Barry had also played a similar millionaire investigator in his series Burke’s Law.

Well, what can I say? I am a sucker for these kinds of shows and despite its limitations, this is an easy watch. As the episodes are only 25 minutes long they hardly overstay their welcome.

The show is available on Region 2 discs.

Hammer Movie Poll

I would love to host a poll here for the most popular Hammer movie. Please let me know which ones I definitely need to include in it as the list needs to be somewhat limited. I would imagine 20 movies are the max that I should put on the list. And what are your thoughts: Should I allow people to vote for multiple movies or restric the voting to one movie each?

Sands of the Desert

Thanks to a discussion at the Hammerfilms Yahoo group I first became aware of the film Sands of the Desert, a production I can’t recall ever having seen mentioned anywhere before.

According to Robert Simpson he “first saw it listed in Marcus Hearn's Hammer Story - whilst Hammer's name isn't on any of the advertising, and also didn't seem to crop up in the trade magazines at the time, Marcus assures me that he's seen paperwork that confirms Hammer's involvement with the production”.

The films stars Charlie Drake, a popular comedian at the time, and is currently not available on DVD. There has, however, been a VHS release that occasionally crops up on Ebay and sells for around £15.

On the downside, this film was mentioned in the context of worst Hammer movies ever made. ;-)

You can read more about the film on its IMDB page.

BBC news item about Beyond the Rave

Click here for a BBC news item about Hammer's new horror movie and the recent phenomenon of posting film series on social networking sites.