QI Cxx - Peter Cushing lives in Whitstable (QI Mix)

PETER CUSHING CENTENNARY

HAPPY 100th BIRTHDAY PETER CUSHING! 

 

 

Of all the towering talents of horror cinema, there are few ranked higher in my affection and esteem than Peter Cushing.  Perhaps only Boris Karloff and Vincent Price could challenge him.  I cannot even begin to remember where or when I first saw Peter Cushing.  On one of the endless instances I watched horror movies on Dr. Shock or Creature Double Feature probably.  Cushing was, of course, a constant presence in the pages of FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND magazine of which I was a frequent reader (when I could find it) and Alan Frank's hardcover MONSTERS AND VAMPIRES also provided me with my first in depth examination of Hammer's Frankenstein and Dracula series.  All I know is that Peter Cushing was a beloved friend well before seeing him in STAR WARS at the age of eleven.  The "Gentle Man of Horror" was a peerless actor who never gave a bad performance.  He never phone it in just because he was appearing in a less-than-stellar production; in fact, he often shined and made a grade-Z film watchable.  He had a boundless sense of humour and was infamous in his use of props during a scene; it seemed like he could pick up anything and make a memorable routine with it.  His contribution to the history of cinema and horror films in particular is rich and full.  And here are some of the reasons (from my vault) why I love and revere him:

• THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1957)
• THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN  (1957)
• HORROR OF DRACULA  (1958)
• THE REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN  (1958)
• THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES  (1959)
• THE MUMMY  (1959)
• THE FLESH AND THE FIENDS aka THE FIENDISH GHOULS aka MANIA (1960)
• THE BRIDES OF DRACULA  (1960)
• THE RISK  (1960)
• THE HELLFIRE CLUB  (1961)
• CASH ON DEMAND  (1962)
• NIGHT CREATURES aka CAPTAIN CLEGG  (1962)
• THE EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN  (1964)
• THE GORGON  (1964)
• DR. TERROR'S HOUSE OF HORRORS  (1965)
• SHE  (1965)
• THE SKULL  (1965)
• DR. WHO AND THE DALEKS  (1965)
• ISLAND OF TERROR  (1966)
• DALEKS INVASION EARTH:  2150 A.D.  (1966)
• FRANKENSTEIN CREATED WOMAN  (1967)
• THE AVENGERS - "RETURN OF THE CYBERNAUTS"  (1967)
• TORTURE GARDEN  (1967)
• THE BLOOD BEAST TERROR  (1968)
• SHERLOCK HOLMES (TV Series)  (1968)
• FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED  (1969)
• SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN  (1970)
• BLOODSUCKERS  (1970)
• THE VAMPIRE LOVERS  (1970)
• THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD  (1971)
• TWINS OF EVIL  (1971)
• TALES FROM THE CRYPT  (1972)
• DRACULA A.D. 1972  (1972)
• ASYLUM  (1972)
• DR. PHIBES RISES AGAIN  (1972)
• HORROR EXPRESS  (1972)
• THE CREEPING FLESH  (1973)
• ...AND NOW THE SCREAMING STARTS  (1973)
• FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL  (1973)
• THE SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA  (1973)
• FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE  (1974)
• MADHOUSE  (1974)
• THE BEAST MUST DIE  (1974)
• LEGEND OF THE 7 GOLDEN VAMPIRES  (1974)
• THE GHOUL  (1975)
• SPACE:  1999 - "MISSING LINK"  (1976)
• STAR WARS  (1977)
• SHOCK WAVES  (1977)
• HAMMER HOUSE OF HORROR - "THE SILENT SCREAM"  (1980)
• HOUSE OF THE LONG SHADOWS  (1983)
• TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED - "THE VORPAL BLADE"  (1983)
• FLESH AND BLOOD:  THE HAMMER HERITAGE OF HORROR  (1994)

Peter Cushing Centenary Tribute

GOLDEN BAT (1966)

ŌGON BATTO A.K.A. THE GOLDEN BAT IS GENERALLY CONSIDERED THE FIRST JAPANESE SUPERHERO CHARACTER. 

Here we find him up on the silver screen in a 1966 Toei film starring future martial arts superstar Sonny Chiba (though not as the titular hero).  GOLDEN BAT is an oddly-still-in-B&W-by-this-late-date film obviously made for the children's market; a superhero/monster genre which all fans of ULTRAMAN, STARMAN and SUPER INFRAMAN will gladly embrace.  Silly in the extreme and coming at the height of the mid-60's camp craze, GOLDEN BAT operates simultaneously on the level of camp entertainment for adults as well as wide-eyed wonder for the kiddies watching.  I remember as a kid, I watched the BATMAN TV show reruns as a drama and it was only when I got a little bit older I first tweaked to the camp factor involved.  However, I suspect the filmmakers weren't actually going for camp but instead for a certain type of fairy-tale fantasy which these movies embody.

The story starts when a pint-sized amateur astronomer and science geek little boy named Akira (Wataru Yamagawa) discovers that the planetoid Icarus is hurtling toward the Earth and will destroy it.  What all the OTHER astronomers and scientists over the age of 21 were doing that they all missed this rather important detail is never disclosed.  Shortly after bringing this to said slacking scientists at a nearby observatory, Akira is accosted by a group of dashing white-turtleneck-clad science adventurers led by Captain Yamatone (Sonny Chiba) who recruit Akira to join the Pearl Research Institute:  a kinda super-secret group set up by the United Nations to investigate strange phenomena and spacey things (much like a Japanese UNIT).  They've invented a "Super Destruction Beam Cannon" with the power of "1000 H-Bombs" which would blast Icarus out of the sky . . . if only they had the super-rare mineral needed to fashion a lens for the cannon . . . which they ain't got.  Luckily for Earth, no sooner is this fact revealed than an away-team searching for the mineral discovers the lost continent of Atlantis risen from the depths and is wiped out by a gigantic tower that looks like a drill wearing a pair of librarian spectacles. 

Our team led by Cap Yamatone and including not only young Akira but also head honcho the Anglo Dr. Pearl (Andrew Hughes) and his 12 year old granddaughter Emily (Emily Takami) hop in their Supercar (every superteam needs one) and lands on the resurfaced Atlantis.  Why Dr. Pearl is Anglo-Saxon and Emily is Japanese is never gone into -- neither is the strange tendency a UN Research Institute has for hiring pre-pubescents.  Nevertheless, after the gigantic tower zaps at them and strange dark minions harass them, our team discovers the lost Egyptian-style tomb of the Golden Bat. 

Not only do they discover a note stating that 1000 years after his entombment, Golden Bat will be revived by a drop of water to fight some dire threat but also Ogon Batto happens to be holding the exact mineral needed to make the Super Destruction Beam Cannon's lens.  After Emily revives Golden Bat, the skull-faced superhero tells her that, because she brought him back, only she can summon him in times of danger via a small golden bat brooch obviously purchased from the same store selling Jimmy Olsen's Superman signal watch.  

The huge drill is the mobile base of the evil Nazo (Ruler of the Universe) who intends to wipe out all life because "only he deserves to live"; kinda making his "Ruler of the Universe" position into the potential "Ruler of a Buncha Nothing".  I suppose Nazo is meant to resemble a tarantula with six eyes but he looks like his mom made his costume out of felt and string for $1.98!  It's pantomime time!  After beating back Nazo's henchmen with his "Baton of Justice", Golden Bat tells the scientists to call him when they need him and to get the hell off Atlantis because it's gonna sink again.

The movie proceeds much in this fashion with Nazo continually trying (and eventually succeeding) in stealing the Super Destruction Beam Cannon, realizing sadly he's not got a lens to work it with, kidnapping several members of Dr. Pearl's Institute and replacing them with identical copies in order to get the lens and unleashing his goofy trio of stooges to defeat the good guys.  This wonderful trio of terror consists of a wolfman-like fella named Jackal, a woman named Pirahna and a scar-faced loon named Keloid.  

The movie is a symphony of silliness but oddly the Golden Bat himself is under-utilized throughout much of the middle part of the film.  Ogon Batto himself is a wonderful image with his skull-face, long cape (crimson in the poster art) and his habit of laughing maniacally whenever he appears and striking vogue-like dramatic poses. 

Sadly, the superhero is used sparingly only when our scientific team get themselves into such messes as they can no longer get out of.  Then Emily summons Golden Bat who swoops in, defeats the bad guys and departs until next time.  While "leaving them wanting more" is always a good strategy . . .well . . . dammit I want more of the Golden Bat. 

The scientific team is just not charismatic enough to support the film (even Sonny Chiba is rather bland despite his natty beard and white turtleneck sweater) and the film begins to groan when too much screen time sans the Golden Bat unspools.  However, the villains are insanely goofy so at least they hold up their end.  And there are a couple instances of nastiness surprising in a children's film.  In one scene the abducted 12 year old Emily is backhanded rather mercilessly (and startlingly) and later on Keloid begins to callously toss members of the Pearl Institute off the top of Nazo Tower to their deaths.  However, the film does move a quite a brisk clip and never lags into boredom.  There are a plethora of Gerry Anderson-like gadgets and vehicles from the daffy Nazo Tower to the Pearl Institute's Supercar to the villains' shark-like flying submarine.  The strange fact of the film's being in black & white (in 1966!) may be a bit of a disappointment but there are several really nice camera setups and atmospheric B&W camerawork (especially at the beginning) which are quite tasty.  Then we get into semi-Godzilla/Gamera territory when the Nazo Tower drills up from underneath Tokyo and begins to destroy the city while the flaming planetoid Icarus grows ever nearer and larger in the sky.  Come on, this movie's hard not to love! 

Ōgon Bat was created by writer Ichiro Suzuki and artist Takeo Nagamatsu in 1930 (pre-dating Batman by almost a decade) for the early 20th century Japanese entertainment form Kamishibai; a traveling show similar to "magic lantern shows" which featured a storyteller and a series of illustrated pictures.  This was also similar to the peculiar form of early 20th century silent cinema in Japan which featured a "benshi" who told the audience the story of the film they were going to see before it started and then narrated and did the voices of all on screen actors; this practice actually went on quite late even after the introduction of sound movies in Japan.  Apparently there was a previous Golden Bat film in 1950 as well as a 52 episode animated series the year after this film and a live-action TV series in 1972.  I'd love to see the animated series (and, for that matter, ALL the other Golden Bat incarnations) which include such episode titles as "In Pursuit of the Melon Bombs", "The Mystery of Finkhamen", "The Ghost Tower", "Superpowered Cyborgs", "The Bat Hag and the Monster Shelgon", "Revenge of the Liger Man" and "The Devil's Giant Statue".
         

GOLDEN BAT (OGON BATTO) TRAILER

POSTMAN'S KNOCK (1962)

A SHAMEFUL WASTE OF A COMIC GENIUS. 

MGM unleashed this extremely minor comedy on the world in 1962; or it probably is more accurate to say that the film wandered slowly out of the studio when the gate was left open.  Spike Milligan -- rightly revered from his work writing and starring in the illustrious wireless talking-type radio classic GOON SHOW -- was cast as a country postman who gets promoted to the big city of London.  While there he is at equal turns bewildered by city ways and something of an idiot savant with outdoing post office machinery.  Or something.  This is one of those pictures where a star from a medium outside the movies - in Spike's case radio - is shoe-horned into a film where the premise seems to have been arrived at as a means to an end -- in Spike's case let's make him . . . um . . . let's see . . . how about a postman and then we'll write the jokes around that occupation.  POSTMAN'S KNOCK could've starred ANY British comic actor with absolutely no change to the script or direction of the film.  Spike is damn near invisible in the film with absolutely none of his rapier-like comic madness on display; he demonstrates one or two pleasant comic turns during the entire film -- none of which elicits more than a smile.  The astonishing part is that the script apparently required the input of five writers -- one of which was Spike himself (God knows where) providing "additional dialogue".  This is in itself funnier than anything in the film since POSTMAN'S KNOCK utilizes Spike as more of a silent film comedian doing mostly visual slapstick; very odd for a comedian who made his reputation with spoken dialogue on the radio!  None of the slapstick is particularly funny and most had been seen many times before and is totally predictable.  POSTMAN'S KNOCK is one of those minor comedies which is forgotten almost as soon as the end card fades away.

Besides Spike Milligan, the film stars the usually wonderful Barbara Shelley (Hammer Horror heroine of everything from DRACULA, PRINCE OF DARKNESS to QUATERMASS AND THE PIT) here coming off as bland and uninteresting as the art student Spike's postman stumbles across as soon as he arrives in London.  Shelley's character is so insipidly written as noble and virginal that there can be no real interest in her either.  Startlingly, John Wood (creator of the mad supercomputer in the early 80's Matthew Broderick film WAR GAMES) appears here incredibly young-looking as a bumbling policeman endlessly shadowing Spike and Barbara for some reason or another.  Other wonderful British character actors appear to no great effect:  Wilfrid Lawson (PYGMALION's Alfred P. Doolittle), Bob Todd (for years on THE BENNY HILL SHOW), beloved Arthur Mullard (the café boss in SMASHING TIME amongst many other appearance) and, with probably the most pleasing performance in the film (and that's not saying much) Miles Malleson ("Room for one more inside, sir") as a dotty psychologist in probably the only memorable scene in the film.  Lacklusterly directed by Robert Lynn who specialized mostly in television (a couple episodes of SPACE:  1999, several episodes of CAPTAIN SCARLET & THE MYSTERONS and one lone EDGAR WALLACE MYSTERY THEATRE his most notable), POSTMAN'S KNOCK is a sad waste of talent all the way round.   

UNOFFICIAL FLICKERS PROJECT FIRST 100

 

YEP, THAT'S CORRECT, HUMPH -- I'M A SLACKER!  While this year I'm not officially continuing last year's "Super-Colossal Eye-Popping Flickers Project" which found me watching as many films as I could in one year, I have been keeping an unofficial count and I've finally reached 100 films watched this year.  This is, indeed, a paltry pittance and I knew it would be -- that's why I'm not doing the Flickers Project as such since I knew my movie-watching wasn't going to be what I hope for.  However, it's interesting to see what I DID manage to fit in so far this year.

The year started off with the Russian film version of HAMLET (Thanks, Weaverman!) as well as Francois Truffaut's flawed filming of the Ray Bradbury novel.  The first part of the year was rather heavy with silent movies:  D.W. Griffith's A CORNER IN WHEAT, Sergei Eisenstein's STRIKE, EARTH, CHESS FEVER, THE BIRTH THE LIFE AND THE DEATH OF CHRIST, THE PENALTY starring Lon Chaney, the first feature length motion picture (Sorry, Walt Disney) THE ADVENTURES OF PRINCE ACHMED, THE GODDESS starring the Chinese Garbo Ruan Ling-yu, THE MAN WHO LAUGHS starring Conrad Veidt and THE BELLS featuring an early role for Boris Karloff.  The beginning of the year also rather a lot of Russian movies with the aforementioned HAMLET, STRIKE, EARTH, CHESS FEVER and THE ADVENTURES OF PRINCE ACHMED.  Documentaries too featured very heavily so far in 2013 with AND EVERYTHING IS GOING FINE (about Spalding Gray), GREAT DIRECTORS, UNIVERSAL HORROR (the 90's doco about Universal Horror narrated by Kenneth Branagh), IN SEARCH OF BEETHOVEN, PUBLIC SPEAKING (Martin Scorsese's tribute to Fran Leibowitz), KINGDOM OF SHADOWS (an examination of horror in silent film narrated by Rod Steiger), PAUL WILLIAMS:  STILL ALIVE, A PERSONAL JOURNEY WITH MARTIN SCORSESE THROUGH AMERICAN MOVIES, FAMILY BAND:  THE COWSILLS STORY (Who knew?!?), DEFIANT REQUIEM,  ZERO:  AN INVESTIGATION INTO 9/11 (conspiracy theorists unite) and the monumental career-spanning HISTORY OF THE EAGLES.  And, of course, not ALL the movies I've watched this year were re-watches; some were brand new to me.  The oddest film of the year, for sure, is the over 7 hour long HITLER:  A FILM FROM GERMANY with Roy Boulting's THUNDER ROCK a close second; the former because of it's avant-garde filmmaking techniques from to-the-camera soliloquies to a Hitler puppet and the latter because of it's schizophrenic nature not knowing whether it wants to be a ghost movie, a propaganda film, an anti-fascist statement or a socially-conscious suffragette tribute!  And of all the new movies I watched this year, what was the worst one?  Well, sadly ABRAHAM LINCOLN VAMPIRE HUNTER takes the dubious crown.  And now...on to watch the second 100 movies of 2013.  Hopefully they won't take as long to get through as this lot!

1. HAMLET (1964)
2. FAHRENHEIT 451
3. WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION
4. LE JOUR SE LEVE
5. THE NAKED TRUTH
6. JUSTE AVANTE LA NUIT
7. MONSTER IN A BOX
8. AND EVERYTHING IS GOING FINE
9. A CORNER IN WHEAT
10. LE CERCLE ROUGE
11. GREAT DIRECTORS
12. DRACULA (1931)
13. DRACULA (1931, Spanish language)
14. STRIKE
15. EARTH
16. CHESS FEVER
17. TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY
18. CULT OF THE COBRA
19. THE THREE STOOGES
20. UNIVERSAL HORROR
21. PUBLIC SPEAKING
22. IN SEARCH OF BEETHOVEN
23. SMILES OF A SUMMER NIGHT
24. IRON SKY
25. WINTER'S BONE
26. THE ARBOR
27. KINGDOM OF SHADOWS
28. THE BIRTH, THE LIFE AND THE DEATH OF CHRIST
29. THE PENALTY
30. THE ADVENTURES OF PRINCE ACHMED
31. CASINO ROYALE (2006)
32. HITLER:  A FILM FROM GERMANY
33. THE GODDESS
34. THIRTEEN WOMEN
35. POR PRIMERA VEZ
36. THE MAN WHO LAUGHS
37. THE DEVIL'S EYE
38. THE THIRD MAN
39. SKYFALL
40. THE MAN WHO COULD WORK MIRACLES
41. THE BELLS
42. THE SONG REMAINS THE SAME
43. THE IRON LADY
44. PAUL WILLIAMS:  STILL ALIVE
45. A PERSONAL JOURNEY WITH MARTIN SCORSESE THROUGH AMERICAN MOVIES
46. ROCK 'N' ROLL HIGH SCHOOL
47. THE HEADLESS WOMAN
48. DOCTOR WHO (1996)
49. FRANKENWEENIE (2012)
50. THE RETURN OF DR. MABUSE
51. CARTESIUS
52. X:  THE MAN WITH X-RAY EYES
53. FAMILY BAND:  THE COWSILLS STORY
54. ARGO
55. I LIVE IN FEAR
56. COLORADO TERRITORY
57. THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
58. ORLANDO
59. MONSTERS
60. TWELFTH NIGHT
61. DEFIANT REQUIEM
62. PHIL SPECTOR
63. THE BLACK DAHLIA
64. THE BOUNTY
65. ARTHUR
66. THE IDES OF MARCH
67. PRESUMED INNOCENT
68. THE SUSPICIONS OF MR. WHICHER
69. WILSON
70. TOO MANY CROOKS
71. YOUNG AND INNOCENT
72. ZERO:  AN INVESTIGATION INTO 9/11
73. REMBRANDT
74. A ROYAL AFFAIR
75. IN WHICH WE SERVE
76. THUNDER ROCK
77. THE BREAKFAST CLUB
78. RED
79. THE CRIMINAL
80. THE TITFIELD THUNDERBOLT
81. HOUSE BY THE RIVER
82. DRAGONWYCK
83. THE SMALL WORLD OF SAMMY LEE
84. TWO WAY STRETCH
85. MAKE MINE MINK
86. SUDDENLY, LAST SUMMER
87. VERTIGO
88. THE THIRTY-NINE STEPS (1978)
89. ABRAHAM LINCOLN VAMPIRE HUNTER
90. SEANCE ON A WET AFTERNOON
91. OUR MAN IN HAVANA
92. HISTORY OF THE EAGLES
93. CROMWELL
94. THE SERVANT
95. THE MIND BENDERS
96. ACCIDENT
97. COMANCHE STATION
98. DANGER:  DIABOLIK
99. SANTO AND THE VENGEANCE OF THE MUMMY
100. THE HAND OF POWER

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