DIRECTOR PETER DUFFELL DIES AGED 95

VERY SAD to hear that director Peter Duffell has died. Duffell worked with Peter Cushing on amicus films, 'The House That Dripped Blood' (1971) it was a title Duffell hated, because there is no blood in the movie! 

In 2011, he published his entertaining autobiography, Playing Piano in a Brothel: Memoirs of a Film Director, in the preface of which Christopher Lee described him as “the most underrated director we have had in Britain for a very long time”.

Duffell proved that he was a dab hand at the horror genre, brilliantly using all the elements of the macabre – creepy sound, striking camera angles, a skillful buildup of tension, black humour and performances just the right side of ham by a cast that included Ingrid Pitt, Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Denholm Elliott and Jon Pertwee. Peter Duffell was born 10th December 1922, he was 95.

Director Peter Duffell and Peter Cushing on location during the shooting of 'The House That Dripped Blood' (1971)

 

MORE ON Peter Duffell and 'THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD' HERE!  

AND IN THIS FEATURE ABOVE : HERE! 

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#GIMMETHEGIFWEDNESDAY: IT'S DONALDS BIRTHDAY REMEMBERED AND PERTWEE AND PITT DO PRETENTION

REMEMBERING: Actor Donald Pleasence who was born today in 1919... Pleasence appeared alongside Peter Cushing in a surprising amount of titles. From the quite early on brilliant BBC production of '1984' to the not so brilliant 'The Devil's Men', 'Flesh and the Fiends', 'Trial By Combat' and 'From Beyond The Grave' In a very lengthy career, with many highlights, Pleasence was always entertaining, especially with nervous, evil obsessive characters. Pleasence is probably best know for his role of Dr. Sam Loomis in the 'Halloween' films...a role interestingly enough that Peter Cushing was originally approached to play....

#GIMMETHEGIFWEDNESDAY: Peter Cushing as the forensic surgeon of Tyburn films, Legend of the Werewolf, kisses the 'SILVER' top, of his favourite walking cane... he needs the silver for a better purpose....

 

#GIMMETHEGIFWEDNESDAY: TOMAS HILL from Sheffield, UK has requested this gif of JON PERTWEE and INGRID PITT from the Amicus film, 'The House That Dripped Blood' . . . what a pair of 'Theatricals'! Both Pertwee and Pitt enjoyed playing the roles of Paul Henderson and Carla Lind in what was intended to be 'the fun' story in the film, 'The Cloak'. Watching an interview with director Peter Duffell included in the extras of the DVD box set release, Duffell explained that he wasn't quite sure if the under-cranked shots in the story actually achieve the effect he was looking for. I think I agree with him. In two of producer Milton Subotsky's films that include a 'wacky-comedy story' The House that Dripped Blood' (1971) : The Cloak and 'The Monster Club' (1980) :  The Vampires, they are, in my opinion, the weakest stories of the bunch, and the comedy in very weak and pathetically pun filled'. Still, 'The Cloak' did give Pertwee the opportunity to exercise his comedy chops, a field in which he made his name, and it gave us the rare opportunity to see him and Ingrid work together.

#GIMMETHEGIFWEDNESDAY: Requested by Anne Price. The Nightmare sequence featured in 'The House That Dripped Blood' is one of the few stand out moments in the film. Cushing had played a similar scene for another Amicus film, The Skull back in 1965. Interestingly, here we can see the choices of two directors, shooting the illusion of a terrifying nightmare... both effectively use distorted angles, slow motion and dry ice. In The Skull Freddie Francis used different lenses, while director Peter Duffell here in this scene, uses the cheaper, but maybe more effective method of almost comic strip, 'Dutch Tilts'. It's the one scene that most often is remembered when you write to us about this Cushing film.

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DUFFELL AND PETER CUSHING: ON SET PHOTOGRAPHS FROM 'THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD' (1971)

THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD:

CAST:

Linking Story:– John Bennett (Inspector Holloway), John Bryans (Stoker), John Malcolm (Sergeant). Method for Murder:– Denholm Elliott (Charles Hillyer), Joanna Dunham (Alice Hillyer), Tom Adams (Dominick), Robert Lang (Psychiatrist). Waxworks:– Peter Cushing (Philip Grayson), Joss Ackland (Neville Rogers), Wolfe Morris (Proprietor). Sweets to the Sweet:– Chloe Franks (Jane Reid), Christopher Lee (John Reid), Nyree Dawn Porter (Ann Norton). The Cloak: Jon Pertwee (Paul Henderson), Ingrid Pitt (Carla), Geoffrey Bayldon (Count Von Hartmann)
 

PRODUCTION:

Director – Peter Duffell, Screenplay – Robert Bloch, Based on his Short Stories, Producers – Max J. Rosenberg & Milton Subotsky, Photography – Ray Parslow, Music – Michael Dress, Art Direction – Tony Curtis. Production Company – Amicus. UK. 1970.

SYNOPSIS:

A police inspector, searching for a missing horror film star, visits the house that the actor rented. There the realtor and a local police sergeant tell a series of stories about the house and the strange effect it has on the inhabitants. Method for Murder:– Horror writer Charles Hillyer creates the character of the strangler Dominick for his next book. However, Dominick then turns up for real and tries to strangle Hillyer’s wife – but she insists that it was Hillyer acting under subconscious compulsion. Waxworks:– Retired stockbroker Philip Grayson becomes obsessed with the exhibit of a beautiful woman in a wax museum and comes to realise that it may be the owner’s wife. Sweets to the Sweet:– John Reid hires Ann Norton as anew tutor by for his daughter Jane. Ann then discovers that Jane, who is harshly closeted by Reid, is taking revenge against her father using a voodoo doll. The Cloak:– The missing horror film actor Paul Henderson rents the house. Seeking authenticity in his next film, Henderson is given a cloak that was purportedly worn by a real vampire. However, when Henderson puts the cloak on it makes him fly, develop fangs and a thirst for blood.