Showing posts with label carlson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label carlson. Show all posts

Monday 1 January 2018

TWO HUNDRED YEAR ANNIVERSARY AND THE GOTHIC CLASSIC STILL INSPIRES


#MONSTERMONDAY! This year marks the 200th anniversary of the publication of Mary Shelley's classic novel Frankenstein - first printed on 1 January 1818. As we are all probably know here, Hammer Films took on the Frankenstein horror franchise in 1957, with Peter Cushing playing Baron FRANKENSTEIN. 'The Curse of Frankenstein' also starred Christopher Lee as the creation and was the "first really gory horror film, showing blood and guts in colour", according to Professor MacCormack on the BBC NEW website today. Patricia MacCormack, is a professor of continental philosophy at Anglia Ruskin University, and has published papers on the horror genre.


'THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN' MONSTER had a very different aesthetic from the first Universal studios film, Cushing's monster was covered in scars and transplanted tissue - partly because the Universal Karloff-era make-up had been copyrighted. But it's this "patchwork human, which was touted as the closest to the monster of Mary Shelley's book," says Prof MacCormack. "The idea of a patchwork humanity is at the very core of Shelley's story.The film carries a strong message from the original book: "Beware ambition, it seems to say. It's all about men circumventing the role of women and the role of god - and the consequences of that."






REMEMBER! IF YOU LIKE what you see here at our website, you'll  love our daily themed posts at our PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE.  Just click that blue LINK and click LIKE when you get there, and help us . . Keep The Memory Alive!. The Peter Cushing Appreciation Society website, facebook fan page and youtube channel are managed, edited and written by Marcus Brooks, PCAS coordinator since 1979. PCAS is based in the UK and USA

Saturday 30 January 2016

GIF GALLERY FOUR FROM PETER CUSHING APPRECIATION SOCIETY


A selection of GIFS from DRACULA AD 1972 THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES THE REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN THE EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN THE LEGEND OF THE SEVEN GOLDEN VAMPIRESHOUSE OF THE LONG SHADOWS make up our FOURTH Peter Cushing Appreciation Society GIF Gallery! Feel free to use and repost! The LINKS above will take you to several FEATURES and GALLERIES that we have uploaded over the past two years. A great resource of RARE STILLS, POSTERS and MEMORABILLIA. The banner for these features are posted below...



The Peter Cushing Appreciation Society is now in it's 60th Year! Come celebratw with us DAILY at our official FACEBOOK FAN PAGE. Click LIKE and join us! We are just a click away : HERE

Wednesday 14 October 2015

WARNER BROTHERS : HORROR CLASSICS COMPETITION : ARE YOU ONE OF OUR WINNERS?


WE HAVE OUR WINNERS!!! Congratulations!! Thank you everyone who entered! HUNDREDS OF YOU!!! Many thanks to our sponsors Warner Brothers! There's a competition every week, sometimes TWO leading up to Halloween, both here at the PCAS WEBSITE and our FACEBOOK FAN PAGE...ANOTHER competition launches TOMORROW! Make sure not to miss out! Thanks again, everybody!


You can ORDER your own copy of HORROR CLASSICS VOLUME ONE
BLU RAY BOX SET : FOUR chilling classics starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee! RIGHT HERE 

Tuesday 12 November 2013

TROY HOWARTH REVIEWS: A LIFE IN FILM: PETER CUSHING DAVID MILLER


Of all the actors, writers or directors associated with the horror genre, arguably the most beloved and admired as a human being is Peter Cushing.  Much of this stems from the multiple accounts of his good nature and professionalism.  Unlike his frequent co-star and good friend Christopher Lee, he seldom spoke ill of the films he appeared in.  He approached each role with dedication.  Surviving documents show that his preparation was remarkably detailed, right down to the choice of costumes and hair pieces.  He was, by all accounts, a class act.  Like so many people who have been enshrined, however, the reality is somewhat more complex - yet it is seldom reported, let alone alluded to.  A number of writers have tried to come to grips with Cushing and his legacy, but few have attempted anything beyond the most routine of biographies, with an emphasis on the many films (91, in total) he completed between 1939 and his death in 1994 at the age of 81.  David Miller's book Peter Cushing: A Life in Film would have seemed an ideal opportunity to paint a proper portrait of the man himself, but it, too, charts a safer course.


The book kicks off with a loving introduction by Cushing's co-star from Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed and The Ghoul, Veronica Carlson.  Carlson was able to get to know Cushing before the death of his beloved wife Helen, and she also saw how her passing affected him when he appeared at his most forlorn in The Ghoul.  She notes the change in his character and recounts her time with him with genuine affection.


After that, Miller takes over with a bit of biographical background.  Miller's prose is engaging enough, but he fails to dig beneath the surface or ask any probing questions about his subject.  Instead, we are subjected to the usual portrait of Cushing as a hale fellow well met - a reputation which was undoubtedly well earned, but which doesn't allow one to really understand him and what made him tick.  As a biography, the book doesn't really bring anything new to the table - we hear much the same anecdotes that have cropped up in the other books on Cushing, thus giving the book a sense of deja vu.


Miller is more successful at charting the films and Cushing's meticulous work therein, though even here he resists the urge to buck convention by towing the conventional line that the actor was always at the top of his game.  The closest he gets to being openly critical is in his write up of the minor Vernon Sewell cold war thriller Some May Live (1967), which does indeed feature Cushing in one of his less memorable performances.  Cushing's rather difficult-to-take "old duffer" portrayals in the Dr. Who films and At The Earth's Core would appear to be as accomplished as his iconic turns as Dr. Van Helsing and Baron Frankenstein in this context, but ultimately it is very much a matter of opinion.

 



Ultimately, one doesn't wish to be too hard on Miller or his efforts.  Writing about Cushing is a difficult task.  He is so revered, so beloved, that any attempt to cut through the cliché and find the three-dimensional human being underneath is bound to be met with suspicion, even hostility.  Miller doesn't elect to take that approach and one can't really fault him much for it - after all, he is a true blue fan and his passion for the subject is evident on every page.  The end result may not be the definitive tome on Cushing, but that's perfectly OK.  It's an enjoyably breezy read, beautifully illustrated, which allows one to take in the diversity of Cushing's career - which went well beyond the confines of low budget genre fare for Hammer and Amicus.  The folks at Titan Press are to be congratulated for making this such a polished and classy looking production, one befitting the nature of its subject only too well. 


Troy Howarth

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