Monday, September 04, 2006

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DYNAMIC DUOS PART 3: HAMMER TIME.

In the over 500,000 movies they made together, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee were often pitted against each other as deadly enemies. But as soon as the cameras stopped rolling, they would be making each other giggle (believe it or not) by doing impressions of cartoon characters. Whether Peter was the mad scientist and Christopher was his creation or Lee was the Lord of Vampires and Cushing was the vampire hunter, each actor gave a full performance. Photobucket - Video and Image HostingYou can see them traipsing the moors of the Baskerville estate, riding the Orient Express with Telly Savalas and a missing link discovered in the ice of Manchuria and struggling over the skeleton of an "Old One" which grows flesh when rained upon.

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In Horror Express, a murderous alien life form is loose on a train. A police inspector is being helped by characters played by Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. The Inspector says to them:

INSPECTOR: The two of you together? That's fine. But what if one of YOU is the monster?

CUSHING: Monster?!? We're British, you know!

Even when Cushing was shoving an arrow through Lee's chest (granted, Lee WAS a Mummy at the time), their friendship was legendary. Their performances built Hammer's House of Horror. Whether monsters or monster hunters, Cushing and Lee were the strongest pillars on which to rest a movie. The true Gentleman of Horror and the Master of Menace. There ain't NUTHIN' more enjoyable.

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