Yvonne Romain (* February 17, 1938)

Also known as Yvonne Romaine and Yvonne Warren.

Despite her exotic looks and French name, Yvonne Romain is a born and bred Londoner. Her parents are of Maltese and British decent and her maiden name was Yvonne Warren. She took the stage name Romain after the family name of her grandmother and great-grandmother.

Educated in St Mary’s Abbey, her mother sent her to the Italia Conti acting school at an early age and from the age of 12 on she appeared in children’s television shows and repertory. Unfortunately nothing more in depth is currently known about any of these childhood performances.

Her measures at the height of her success were a stunning 38-22-36. Just what Hammer generally looked for in their female stars: She first played Oliver Reed’s mother in Curse of the Werewolf, then became his fiancée in Captain Clegg, before sharing her third and final screen appearance with him in his (and her!) last Hammer outing The Brigand of Kandahar.

Other memorable roles include: Action of the Tiger with a young Sean Connery. She also starred with him again in The Frightened City, the year before he made it big as 007. Corridors of Blood unites her with screen legend Boris Karloff. She gets fed to the lions in the excellent Circus of Horrors. One of her final British roles was in Lindsay Shonteff’s shlock classic and ventriloquist horror movie Devil Doll.

She fell in love with and married composer Leslie Bricusse (Goldfinger, You Only Twice as well as the excellent Sherlock Holmes – The Musical) and subsequently moved to L.A. At that time she had to turn down a seven year contract with Fellini as that would have meant spending all the time in Rome away from her Hollywood based husband and little son. Once based in the US, she gradually moved away from the film business. Her last two roles in the 60s were in the groovy The Swinger opposite Ann Margret and she became one of Elvis’ film gals for Double Trouble. She then practically retired and only returned to the screen briefly for the excellent murder mystery The Last of Sheila: She’s Sheila, which means she is dead and an all star cast of familiar 1970s faces is attempting to solve the Whodunnit as to who killed her off.

Still stunning looking at over 70 she occasionally shows up at Fan Get-Togethers like Wayne Kinsey’s first book launch.

Sexy and sultry, she may not have made a huge number of screen appearances, but is fondly remembered by male Hammer Fans the world over.

If you're interested in reading more about her, check out Yvonne Romain's by far lengthiest interview (to my knowledge) in The House That Hammer Built #18, p. 99-102. This is Wayne Kinsey’s special Captain Clegg issue, so it is only fitting that he manages to extract a lot of valuable info from her for this one. 90% of the biographical info I have published for this blog post came courtesy of this single interview!

Hazel Court in THE MAN WHO WAS NOBODY (Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre)

In the early 1960s Merton Park Studios adapted a number of Edgar Wallace books for the big - or should I say: small? - screen as those hour-long shows got cinematic releases but were also screened as a TV series under the heading “The Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre”.

Most of the episodes are quite talky and bordering on the dull though some are still of interest these days due to some of the guest stars on view. They sure aren't as much fun as the German Rialto series from about the same time, though I have long discovered that I am gradually turning into a Wallace completist so all of the episodes are fair game to me.... provided I can get a hold of them. They are notoriously difficult to trace and I have so far only managed to get my dirty grips on about a dozen of them thanks to a very kind Procurator.

THE MAN WHO WAS NOBODY is only the second and one of the most interesting films of the series as it features Hazel Court in unusual modern gear for a nice change. If you look at the screen caps below you may think: “How classily dressed she is!” Ironically, though, her character is meant to be an incredibly hip (not classy), boho and unconventional female private eye in search of a missing man and possible diamond smuggler. Look she even does Yoga! How radical!

I wish I could say this was a long lost treasure but it really is still a very talky affair with the added benefit of seeing Court in an unusual lead role far away from the Gothic parts she generally took.

Victoria Vetri (* September 26, 1944)

Though born Victoria Cecilia Vetry to an Italian-American family in San Francisco, for the first couple of years of her career the actress/model worked under the pseudonym Angela Dorian, reminiscent of the famous ill fated schooner “SS. Andrea Doria” until she changed her name back to her original native version following the advice of Roman Polanski with whom she had filmed Rosemary’s Baby (1968). In that movie there is a famous scene in which Mia Farrow’s character asks Angela Dorian as to whether she was the actress Victoria Vetri which she denies. That scene came straight from the book though in there the character was asked whether she was Piper Laurie. Some sources also indicate that at some stage she used the surname Rathgeb.

Prior to her supporting role in the Polanski thriller she had parts in a large number of popular TV shows of the time. He biggest career jump was when she was nominated as Playboy’s Playmate of the Month in September 1967 and subsequently became Playmate of the Year 1968. At the time she was such a popular Playmate that some practical joker in NASA even went so far as to secretly place her photo into Apollo 12’s check list. Years later Vetri reappeared for a couple of new topless photos for Playboy’s April 1984 edition.

Hammer hired her for their prehistoric romp, When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (1970). Some of the versions of the film show her in the nude. She also displayed a lot of flesh for Group Marriage (1973) and Invasion of the Bee Girls/Graveyard Tramps (1973). For most genre fans the the image of a blonde cave girl in the Hammer production is the way Vetri would most of all be remembered, however, she is a natural brunette who had point blank refused to get her hair dyed and instead insisted on wearing a blonde wig.

For a while it appeared as if she was going to start a promising B-movie career, however, nothing much was heard off her afterwards other than that she was reportedly suffering from a broken nose and ribs following a brutal attack in her house in 1980.

Some sources claim that she also attempted a rock music career, however, I have yet to come across any reference to recorded singles or albums under any of her pseudonyms.

She still seems to raise quite a few male hart beats: Bestseller author Dan Brown sounds like a fan given the fact that the female lead character in his Angels and Demons was called... Vittoria Vetra. Unfortunately, since October 2010 she will likely be remembered as much for her movies as for the fact that she was arrested following the alleged attempted murder of her boyfriend and is now facing possible jail time.

Hammer Fantasy & Sci Fi book

An hour or so after posting my current Hammer book overview I received a jpg of Bruce G Hallenbeck's upcoming book due out around March 2011. Now is that a beauty or is that a beauty?

Following this publication another two books are planned in the series focusing on Hammer Noir and Gothic.

'Nuff said.

Books galore

Marcus Hearn's ART OF HAMMER does exactly what it says on the tin and presents close to 200 pages of wonderfully reproduced posters for most of the classic Hammer movies, both horror and non-horror. Apart from a short introduction the book almost exclusively focuses on the reproductions with a few explanatory words here or there.

No matter how long you have been fascinated with Hammer, you are bound to discover a couple of images you have likely never come across before.

This is an absolute feast for the eyes. You know a coffee table book has gone the whole way when you remove the dust wrapper and subsequently unearth not a just a blank black cover but another set of striking images both for the front as well as the back cover.

Definitely a Must Have for anyone only remotely interested in classic Hammer. One of these days I would also like to see a similar production featuring all the different lobby cards and other promotional and press material.

Another Must Have is Wayne Kinsey's new book dedicated to HAMMER FILMS – THE UNSUNG HEROES. I purchased it a week ago during the official launch at Don Fearney's latest Hammer event in London's Cine Lumiere but haven't come around to reading it yet.

If you're exclusively interested in reading about the Hammer actors, don't bother as you won't find anything in this tome. As the title suggests this is about all the folks behind the camera.

Initially I thought that he may just rely on entries he had already penned for his “House That Hammer Built” zine but I should have guessed that Wayne won't go the lazy way. A cursory glance through it reveals that he didn't just recycle old posts but instead wrote extensive new biographical entries about the directors, technicians, management and other dedicated Hammer artists. As usual with his books we also get a huge number of rare and often previously unpublished behind-the-scenes photographs both in black and white and colour.

The book is available in a strictly limited to 500 hardcover edition and the standard softcover variant from Tomahawk Press.

Wayne is already working on his next oeuvre dedicated to the Hammer film locations. If you're like me and enjoy travelling as much as watching films or reading books, then you can't help but remain in high anticipation of this one. No idea how Wayne manages to write so many well researched books while still having a highly demanding day job. Hmmm, maybe he just doesn't sleep at night.

If my pidgin French was any better I'd probably also opt for Nicolas Stanzick's DANS LES GRIFFES DE LA HAMMER. It is a reworking of a previous edition which was the first feature length French book about our favourite film studio. This is what Yvonne Monlaur wrote about it in her latest blog entry:

“In France, DANS LES GRIFFES DE LA HAMMER, the first book entirely devoted to the studios, has just been republished in a more complete version. The author, Nicolas Stanzick, whom I had the pleasure to meet at this opportunity, is a young journalist with a passion for the famous film company. His richly documented book proposes to discover Hammer films through the controversial articles of the French critics at the time of their release. It is also an homage to the early supporters of Hammer films. The annex contains very in-depth interviews with, among others, Jean-Pierre Bouyxou and Gérard Lenne.”

I'd appreciate any comments from French language readers who are familiar with this book or its predecessor as to what can be expected. I have a small smattering of French so may understand a small bit. Would it be worth my while? Are there any illustrations of e.g. French promotional material that may make it worth a purchase?

In a way it's a pity that the author did not make it to London for the UNSUNG HEROES launch as this took place in the French Cine Lumiere Institute and he probably would have been able to plug a few copies and give us all an insight into the contents.

But of course that isn't all.

Sometime later this year/early next year we should also see Bruce G. Hallenbeck's follow up to his excellent HAMMER VAMPIRE oeuvre dedicated to Hammer Sci Fi & Fantasy. It will again be published by Hemlock Books.

Speaking of Hemlock: They are also the British distributors of the 2-volume set of LAST BUS TO BRAY, dedicated to all of Hammer's unfinished projects. The first volume covers the years 1950-1970; the second volume 1970 – 2010. These volumes should be out any day now.

You may notice that I have now published a Hemlock Books logo with a link to their page at the top right corner of my blog. I don't get any commission from this, so this is entirely a show of appreciation for the great work they do in both providing new Hammer and general movie and horror related material as well as help distribute US mags such as “Little Shoppe of Horrors” (Issue #25 now out with a focus on Blood on Satan's Claw) to UK/Ireland and other countries close by. They sure helped save me the occasional penny or two in postage and always provide great service.

I do get a – paltry – commission from my Amazon links. In the interest of total disclosure: $26.75 worth of Amazon gift vouchers for the year so far. Keeping up this blog is time consuming and indirectly also a drain on my financial resources. (Ah, who am I fooling: I'd buy those books and movies anyway.) On some very rare occasions I have been provided with review copies but for the most part paid hard cash for everything on review here. With Christmas around the corner please consider ordering through some of my review links if anything tickles your fancy or even if you just feel like ordering anything from Amazon anyway.

End of desperate commercial appeal.

While at the UNSUNG HEROES book lauch I was approached by one of the folks behind FAB Press. Those guys have been responsible for some of the most lavishly illustrated, back breaking tomes on cult cinema and now it appears that a HAMMER A-Z is due by them sometime in the New Year.

Other books in various stages of production are Ingrid Pitt's view at Hammer history, a doctoral thesis about the Exclusive films and another unofficial guide to Hammer movies.

Did I forget anything?

Time to get a new shelf methinks.

Let Me In

Watched Hammer's first cinematic release in more than 30 years today, Let Me In, and was pleasantly surprised how well it turned out.

You may recall that I was not a huge fan of the original. Add to that my aversion to English language remakes of foreign productions, and I initially had major misgivings about the new release.

Then something strange happened. People whose opinions I value started raving about the film when they saw it a few weeks ago in the States. And my initial disdain for the idea started to wane and I was actually ever so slightly beginning to look forward to the movie but didn't dare raise my hopes too highly.

The moment I then saw the Hammer logo on the big screen with a collage of their most iconic classic movie posters I felt a small lump in my throat.

The film itself is very similar to Let The Right One In though there are a number of important changes. Most importantly the pacing is much better in the Hammer version. There are longer, more elegiac moments but overall whereas the original seemed to entirely consist of those (often overlong shots), here we have a right mix of slow burn and occasional fast paced.

The characters are also much more believable in Let Me In and don't act as if they're all on valium. Those ludicrous scenes of depressed Swedish people sitting in a bar are gone completely and some of the scenes now are much better directed and truly haunting. There is also one particular scene showing a car accident shot from the perspective of people inside the car that is pretty amazing.

Unfortunately none of the really dark scenes of the source novel made it over - in my interview with Simon Oakes he explains why -, but overall this is a film that New Hammer can be proud of. I would have enjoyed it more if that had been completely new territory but for a remake this was quite first rate and bodes well for future new cinematic releases.

At last we can we can forget about the truly awful Beyond the Rave and instead see the true vision the new producers were having in mind.

Will Hammer ever be the kind of horror power house again with their new productions that fans will fondly remember decades later?

Probably not.

But they are again a major player worth looking out for. And that's fine enough for me.

Operation: 101010 – Sherlock Holmes

The year is drawing to a close and I have yet only properly finished three Operation: 101010 categories.... until today. I just finished my tenth Sherlock Holmes movie of the year and only need another film each to finish two other categories. So there still is some chance that I may actually draw all these to a close.

As for Sherlock Holmes: This proved to be quite a fruitful year. Following the success of last year's cinematic blockbuster, we were treated to a couple of new productions. On the one hand The Asylum's Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes that wasn't as bad as I feared it would be. It did, however, have the most awfully miscast Holmes of all times. Ben Snyder - with no previous cinematic acting experience of any kind, how did he end up with one of the most iconic roles of all times? - plays a soft spoken, near helium voiced Holmes who is at least one head too small and spouts utter nonsense.

Much better were the three episodes of the Beeb's new contemporary Sherlock series that simply redefined the Master Detective for a new and younger generation while staying faithful to the source material.

Thanks to YouTube and Archive.org I also caught up with some older Holmes interpretations that I hadn't been familiar with before. Most prominently those of Arthur Wontner who is a very convincing Holmes in some very slow paced productions.

Below the ten Holmes productions that I enjoyed in 2010:

The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes (Arthur Wontner)



Murder at the Baskervilles (Arthur Wontner)



Batman: The Brave and the Bold – Trials of the Demon

Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking



Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes (The Asylum)




Sherlock: A Study in Pink



Sherlock: The Blind Banker



Sherlock: The Great Game



The Man Who Disappeared (TV pilot, 1954)



The Masks of Death