The Peter Cushing Centennial Blogathon : Day Six

Day Six already? Lots more coming!

I am proud to have John McElwee of Greenbriar Picture Shows contributing to our Peter Cushing Blogathon. Greenbriar is a persistently splendid blog devoted to classic films, packed with information, peppered with anecdotes and dressed up in rare stills, promotional material and film posters.

Here, John celebrates Cushing and examines three of The Baron’s efforts: The Revenge of Frankenstein, Frankenstein Created Woman and Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell.

I suggest you linger and enjoy the archives on the site. You’ll thank me for the suggestion.

Steve Thompson at Booksteve’s Library makes a good, solid appraisal of Captain Clegg — Night Creatures in North America — a Hammer thriller based on Russell Thorndyke’s Dr. Syn stories. It was an unusual role for Cushing — and he nails it — with support from a young Oliver Reed, Yvonne Romain, and a meaty part for Hammer regular Michael Ripper.

A good selection of stills completes a great post.

Cushing illustrated... The Baron and all his Monsters, by Derek Charm, The Baron in linocut by Jason Krekel, and The Baron busy in the lab, by Francesco Francavilla.

This, folks, is not Peter Cushing. Look closely. Closer still… This is an astounding, hyperealistic likeness of Cushing’s Tarkin sculpted in silicone by California-based artist Jordu Schell.

See more marvels at Schell’s website and blog.

Today, Joe Thompson applies the Six Degrees of Separation theory to Cushing’s Doctor Who. Nicely illustrated with pix of the Doctor and his assistants.

The Computations are up now on The Pneumatic Rolling-Sphere Carrier Delusion.

From the Frankensteinia Archives, here’s a link to my examination of Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell, Hammer and Cushing’s final Frankenstein, the last film written by Anthony Hinds (as John Elder), the last film directed by Terence Fisher, even as Hammer was collapsing around them.

I called it Twilight of the Goths.

Cushing Gets Confused: Star Wars Outtakes is a short video parody created by the father and son team of Jason and Joshua Carter, especially for the Cushing Blogathon. Good, silly fun! See it on The Writer’s Journey.

Blogger RayRay continues his dissection of the Hammer Frankensteins with his careful examination of Frankenstein Created Woman. 

The still above is from my favorite scene, when Cushing’s Baron thumbs through a bible as if he’d never seen one and leaves it there, obviously unimpressed. It’s a brief, effortless moment for Cushing that says more about Baron Frankenstein than a whole page of dialog would.

Ray’s piece, on WeirdFlix, is called Frankensteins Prefer Blondes.

Zombie Rust’s ink portrait for today is Dr. Schrek, aka Dr. Terror. Go ahead, pick a card. On Slash The Zombie.

Stephen Jacobs reminisces about BBC2’s horror double-bills of his childhood, an introduction of classic Universal and Hammer films for a generation of Brits.

Stephen is the author of the Rondo Award winning Boris Karloff: More Than a Monster, an exactingly researched biography the horror icon.

A Childhood Spent Watching Peter Cushing is up on The Spooky Isles.