CUSHING CURIOSITIES (1960-1974)
6-DISC BLU-RAY & BOOK BOX SET
CONE OF SILENCE (1960)
SUSPECT (1960)
THE MAN WHO FINALLY DIED (1962)
SHERLOCK HOLMS (1968)
BLOODSUCKERS (1972)
TENDER DRACULA (1974)
From Hammer Films to STAR WARS, he remains one of genre films’ best-loved actors. Now celebrate six of the most unexpected, rarely seen and decidedly curious performances from the legendary career of PETER CUSHING: Cushing delivers a rare villain turn in the 1960 aviation thriller CONE OF SILENCE. That same year, Cushing brought gentle dignity to The Boulting Brothers’ cold-war drama SUSPECT. In 1962’s THE MAN WHO FINALLY DIED, Cushing co-stars opposite Stanley Baker as a former Nazi hiding a grave post-war secret. Cushing returns to his iconic role of SHERLOCK HOLMES in these six surviving episodes of the 1968 BBC-TV series. The oft-maligned 1971 shocker BLOODSUCKERS can now be reassessed for the first time in its Restored Extended Version. And Cushing portrays a vampire for the first and only time in 1974’s off-the-wall erotic comedy TENDER DRACULA, premiering here in its Director’s Cut. Each disc has been mastered from original vault elements with over 16 total hours of trailers, commentaries, vintage interviews, location features and more, plus the all-new 200-page book PETER CUSHING: A PORTRAIT IN SIX SKETCHES by award-winning horror film historian Jonathan Rigby.
Disc 1:
CONE OF SILENCE (1960)
Label: Severin Films
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 91 Minutes 50 Seconds
Audio: English DTS-HD MA Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: Charles Frend
Cast: Christopher Lee, George Sanders, Michael Craig, Elizabeth Seal, André Morell
The first of the curios is Cone of Silence (1960) aka Trouble in the Sky in the U.S., an aviation-thriller/courtroom drama featuring Peter Cushing (Corruption) as not exactly a villain, but certainly an arrogant pilot Clive Judd who attempts to undermine the investigation into the cause of an airline disaster that killed seasoned Captain George Gort (Bernard Lee, Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell) and his crew. This coming after a previous crash that killed his co-pilot under almost identical circumstances, after which he was permitted to return to piloting after testing by Captain Hugh Dallas (Michael Craig, Turkey Shoot). During the courtroom trial the aircraft company and Judd make a case laying the blame on the deceased Gort, while Dallas argues for the deceased, but his own objectivity is called into question as he is now involved in a romantic relationship wit Gort’s daughter, Charlotte (Elizabeth Seal, Vampire Circus). Also be on the lookout for familiar Brit-faces George Sanders (Psychomania), and André Morell (The Plague of the Zombies). Taughtly directed by former Hitchcock editor and Charles Frend (The Cruel Sea) this is a handsomely and briskly-paced drama that while not my usual cup of tea was a solid watch, the courtroom proceedings are quite well done, with the case pretty much boiling down to a sprig of hedge caught up in the wheels of the plane.
Audio/Video: Cone of Silence (1960) gets a new 2K scan from the dupe negative performed by the BFI and looks terrific in HD, the B&W image showcases filmic grain structures, excellent contrast and strong black levels, a strong presentation that highlights the lensing from Arthur Grant (Quatermass and the Pit). Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA Dual-Mono with optional English subtitles, everything sounds great, dialogue is crisp and clean and the score from Gerard Schurmann (Horrors of the Black Museum) sound wonderful.
Special Features:
- High Drama - Interview with Actor Michael Craig (8:56)
- Newsreel Of Peter Cushing And His Miniature Soldiers (2:19)
- Illustrated Audio Interviews
- Peter Cushing On The Funster Show With Paul Carrington (23:10)
- The Guardian Interview With Peter Cushing (01:301:49)
Peter Cushing Interviewed By Tony Dalton, Author Of Terence Fisher: Master Of Gothic Cinema (01:03:46)
- Cushing's View – 1973 Interview With Peter Cushing On Whitstable And His Late Wife Helen (12:35)
Disc 2:
SUSPECT (1960)
&
THE MAN WHO FINALLY DIED (1962)
Label: Severin Films
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 81 Minutes 27 Seconds (Suspect) / 100 Minutes (The Man Who Finally Died)
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.O Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.66:1)(Suspect) / 2.35:1 (The Man Who Finally Died)
Director: The Boulting Brothers / Quentin Lawrence
Cast: Peter Cushing, Donald Pleasence, Ian Bannen, Spike Milligan / Peter Cushing, Stanley Baker, Mai Zetterling, and Nigel Green
misanthropic veteran who lost both his arms during the war, who introduces him to a shady character named Brown (Donald Pleasence, Raw Meat), who hears Marriott voicing his displeasure, and assures him that he can get the research into the hands of an international scientific exchange program he represents. Initially I did not think that this cold-war thriller would do much for me, and I am happy to report I was quite wrong. While Cushing falls to the wayside to a degree it was the trio of Marriott-Lucy-Andrews that really pulled me in and kept me rapt. Lucy's strange relationship with her maimed former finance fascinated me, especially once she starts a new romance with Marriott, and Andrews twisted maneuvering to see that Marriott's story did not end happily. Also, seeing Pleasance play the sweaty and very shady mystery man here was terrific. The second-half of the disc 2 double-feature is The Man Who Finally Died (1962), a slow-burning thriller chock full of socio-political commentary about a jazz musician Joe Newman (Stanley Baker, A Lizard in a Woman's Skin) who was born in Germany but lives in London. Long estranged from his family he receives word from his father that he must return to the Bavarian village he grew up in. This is quite odd as he believes his father died 20 years ago, and it gets even weirder because when he does return he is told his father dies several days before he received the phone call. Looking for answers he gets a lot of reluctance and runaround, even from his father's physician Doctor Peter von Brecht (Cushing, Frankenstein Created Woman) and his wife Lisa (Mai Zetterling, The Witches), and he begins to suspect a widescale cover-up concerning his father. Is he still alive, if not when exactly did he die, and why is everyone seemingly lying about it? Another solid slow-burn thriller with plenty of noir-flavor.
Audio/Video: Both films are presented in 1080p HD widescreen and were scanned in 2K from the original negatives by Studio Canal. Both look wonderful, the sources are in great shape, grain is unmolested, with excellent contrast and solid shadow detail. Audio on both come by way if uncompressed English DTS-HA MA s.0 dual-mono with optional English subtitles, only the most minor of age related hiss was audible on either.
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary For SUSPECT With Jonathan Rigby, Author Of English Gothic, And Horror Historian Kevin Lyons
- Audio Commentary For THE MAN WHO FINALLY DIED With Kim Newman, Author Of Anno Dracula, And Barry Forshaw, Author Of Brit Noir
Discs 3 & 4:
SHERLOCK HOLMES (1968)
All Surviving Episodes of the BBC TV Series
Label: Severin Films
Region Code: A
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 308 Minutes
Audio: English Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Fullscreen (1.33:1)
Cast: Peter Cushing, Nigel Stock, Madge Ryan, Ann Bell, Nick Tate, Gary Raymond
Having first portrayed the legendary detective for Hammer Films in 1959's The Hound of the Baskervilles, Peter Cushing (Horror Express) returned to the role of Sherlock Holmes for this 1968 BBC television series co-starring Nigel Stock (The Lost Continent) as Dr. Watson. The show ran for sixteen epodes, but the BBC mind-boggling practice of of erasing master tapes and reusing them resulted in there only being six surviving episodes – which is what Severin have preserved here. It's interesting to note how Cushing approached the iconic sleuth here compared to his previous turn, the two are quite different, but both are fascinating in their own respects. Of the six episodes we also get the two-part The Hound of The Baskervilles adaptation, and Nigel Stock makes for a terrific Watson to Cushing Holmes. The made-for-TV series looks a bit anemic in places, they cut a lot of corners during the production from what I have read, but still manages to bring across an authentic Victorian flavor with convincing period costuming, plus those based on the classic whodunnit stories shine even when compressed for time, particularly the 2-part The Hound of the Baskervilles which was shot on location in the Devonshire moors.
Audio/Video: The Sherlock Holmes episodes are presented in 1.33:1 full frame, and were scanned from BBC tape protection masters. Obviously the SD source for these do not make for top-notch viewing, but as these are the only surviving elements available I appreciate just having them. Given the source limitations I was quite pleased how watchable they were with decent color and stability, but the VHS ttpe tape anomalies are there, including what looks to be some frame rate issues that give motion an unnatural lack of fluidity, bt overall I was still happy. Audio comes by way of English Mono with optional English subtitles.
Episodes:
1. A Study in Scarlet (50:27)
2. The Hound of the Baskervilles Pt. 1 (51:52)
3. The Hound of the Baskervilles Pt. 2 (51:39)
4. The Sign of Four (52:29)
5. The Boscombe Valley Mystery (50:55)
6. The Blue Carbuncle (50:42)
Special Features:
- Audio Commentaries For All Episodes Featuring Kim Newman, Author Of Annotated Dracula, Barry Forshaw, Author Of Brit Noir And David Stuart Davies, Author Of
Starring Sherlock Holmes: A Century Of The Master Detective On Screen (18:10)
- All Episodes Available With BBC Countdown Clock
- Illustrated Peter Cushing Audio Interview With David Stuart Davies (8:21)
- Lost Segments With Optional Commentary By Jonathan Rigby, Author Of English Gothic, And Horror Historian Kevin Lyons
Disc 5:
BLOODSUCKERS (1971)
Label: Severin Films
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 86 Minutes 27 Seconds
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.66:1)
Director: Robert Hartford-Davis
Cast: Peter Cushing, Patrick Macnee, Alex Davion, Edward Woodward
Of all the curios on this set the one that I most curious about was Bloodsuckers (1971) aka Incense of the Damned, aka Freedom Seekers; directed by Robert Hartford-Davis who a few years earlier directed Cushing in the surgical proto-slasher Corruption (1968), which I consider to be quite a nasty gem in the Cushing canon. Having never seen it previously I'd read quite a bit about it, and it's been
maligned quite a bit, but sometimes those movies most maligned fall right in line with what I love. In it brilliant young Oxford professor Richard Fountain (Patrick Mower, The Devil Rides Out) disappears while researching a book on mythology in Greece. His mentor (Cushing) sends Tony Seymour (Alexander Davion, Paranoiac) of the Foreign Office and Bob Kirby (Johnny Sekka, Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen) one of Richard's pupils to Greece to search for him, they are joined by Richard's fiancé Penelope Goodrich (Madeleine Hinde, School for Unclaimed Girls). Upon arrival they enlist the help of Brit military attaché Maj. Derek Longbow (Patrick Macnee, The Howling) who tells that that their friend has fallen in with a mysterious woman named Chriseis (Imogen Hassall, Girly) and her bloodsucking cult. They find him at their compound in a catatonic state and eventually free him, though one of the squad fall to their death in a pretty harrowing fall from a mountaintop cliff. That's the basic gist of what occurs here, but the execution of this one is a headscratcher, right from the get-go with the Cushing narration and choppy editing let you know early on this production had problems, but they attempt to conceal it with an abundance of psychedelics
orgies (10 minutes worth!), ritual sacrifice nightmares, and a deranged anti-academia speech, followed by a run along the rooftops of academia and an impalement on an iron fence. This curio is quite curious indeed, while I wouldn't dare say it was a particularly good or coherent bit of filmmaking it is an interesting and quite delirious take on a vampire tale, of sorts. Cushing's involvement is rather meager but it stands out, the guy classes everything up a bit, and I wish Macnee would have been around a bit longer, it was fub to see hi in ass-kicking mode for a bit before taking a plunge.
Audio/Video: Bloodsuckers is scanned in 2K from the original negative with additional elements from a recently discovered 35mm vault print – including the uncut psychedelic orgy sequence – released here for the first time ever in 1080p HD widescreen (1.66:1). This looks wonderful, the image is sharp with pleasing depth and clarity, grain is well-managed, and the colors are vivid throughout, cinematographer Desmond Dickinson's (A Study in Terror) work here looks quite nice. Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Dual-Mono with optional English subtitles. Dialogue is delivered quite nicely, the track is free of source related issues, and the score from Robert Richards (Saturday Night Out) has some nice presence,
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary With Jonathan Rigby, Author Of English Gothic, And Horror Historian Kevin Lyons
- Stranger In The City (1961) – Short Film By Robert Hartford-Davis (22:24)
- Daddy's Girl – Interview With Director Robert Hartford-Davis’ Daughter, Jean Hartford-Davis (17:21)
- Bite Me! – Tigon: Blood On A Budget Author John Hamilton on Robert Hartford-Davis (20:20)
- The Trip – Interview With Uncredited Drug Orgy Actress Françoise Pascal (16:53)
- Hydra Phonics - Interview with Sound Recording Tony Dawe (9:59)
- Freedom Seeker Title Sequence. (1:35)
- Trailer (2:13)
- Easter Egg: Peter Cushing Beer Commercial (33 secs)
Disc 6:
TENDER DRACULA (1974)
Label: Severin Films
Region Code: A
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 89 Minutes 33 Seconds
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Dual-Mono, French DTS-HD MA 2.0 Dual -Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.66:1)
Director: Pierre Grunstein
Cast: Miou-Miou, Alida Valli, Bernard Menez, Peter Cushing
The most curious of the curios here is the North American home video debut of Tender Dracula (1974), a French comedy notable because it is the first and only film in which Peter Cushing (Night Creatures) portrayed a vampire, having played vampire-slayer Van Helsing for Hammer many times. In it Cushing plays horror icon McGregor who for years has starred as a vampire in a long-running TV show, announcing that he has grown weary of horror and instead wishes to pursue romantic roles. This drives his producer (Julien Guiomar, Borsalino) to send a pair of the show's screenwriters, Boris (Stephane Shandor) and Alfred (Bernard Menez, Dracula and Son), alongside their girlfriends Maddie (Nathalie Courval) and Marie (Miou Miou, Memoirs of a French Whore), to the actor's Gothic castle to convince McGregor otherwise. It makes for a wild weekend that feels ike a fever dream, there are erotic happening, sado masochism, orgies, cinema verité, and surreal sequences that defy logic, but through it all Cushing's McGregor, who may or may not be an actual vampire, or he might just be cracked, is enigmatic and stoic, even though the film itself is quite a farcical comedy that has the look of an arthouse Gothic. Cushing really seems to be giving a nod to Bela Lugosi's Dracula with his look. Adding to the insanity of it is the presence of Alida Valli (Suspiria) with her Cheshire cat grin as McGregor wife. Beautifully shot with wonderful Gothic touches and nods to Cushing's own career this was an entertaining bit of French farce, and I loved how artful and Gothic it was.
Audio/Video: Tender Dracula has been restored by Pathé, scanned in 2K from the original Paris vault negative and authorized by the director, presented here in 1080p HD widescreen (1.66:1). Audio comes by way of of both English or French DTS-HD MA 2.0 dual-mono with optional English subtitles, I stayed with the English dub for most of it and found it to be more than satisfactory. The track is relatively clean and dialogue and the score by Karl-Heinz Schäfer (Zig-Zag) fares well also.
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary With Jonathan Rigby, Author Of English Gothic, And Horror Historian Kevin Lyons
- Love Me Tender, Dracula – Interview With Director Pierre Grunstein (15:55) Subtitled French
- Menez of Speaking – Interview With Actor Bernard Menez (21:10) Subtitled French
- Trailer (2:37)
The five-film, one TV series, six-disc set and 1-book set arrives in a very handsome top-loading hardbox set. The portrait of Cushing have a spot of tea is pretty classy, as is the overall layout and aesthetic which has a copper-patina theme to it. Inside the box the films are presented in Viva Elite black keepcases with a single-sided sleeve of artwork featuring the original illustrated movie poster artwork, which are gorgeous, inside the Blu-ray discs feature the same key artwork as the wraps. Also tucked away inside is an all-new 200-page book Peter Cushing: A Portrait in Six Sketches by noted horror film historian Jonathan Rigby. The gorgeously dense square-bound book details Cushing's early career on through to his death, getting into the TV productions and films he appeared in, projects he turned down or left, and his thoughts on each of them. It also gets into his marriage and the death of his wife, how that affected him, his thoughts on his horror icon status, as well as dispelling the myth of the saintly St. Cushing, that he was a fallible man just like everyone else. It's loaded with images and includes a complete filmography and source notes.
The Cushing Curiosities 6-Disc/Book box set from Severin Films is a wonderful deep dive into the lesser known and rarely seen curios from the horror icons filmography that might otherwise have gone unnoticed and unseen. Kudos to Severin for this fantastic set that not only features six Cushing rarities presented with loving 2K restorations, but loaded with a set of extras that run over sixteen hours, plus we get a 200-page book detailing his film and TV career that would be worth a purchase all on it's own - it's an embarrassment of riches for cinema fans. In a year where Severin were absolutely killing the box set game here we have yet another truly wonderful compendium of cult cinema, and a prefect companion to Severin's pair of The Eurocrypt of Christopher Lee Collections - so, here's hoping we get another volume of Cushing Curiosities if this sells well enough!
Screenshots from the Severin Films Blu-rays:
Cone of Silence (1960)
Cushing Curiosities/Cone of Silence Extras Extras:
Suspect (1960)
The Man Who Finally Died (1962)
Sherlock Holmes (1968)
Sherlock Holmes Extras:
Bloodsuckers (1971)
Bloodsuckers Extras:
Tender Dracula (1974)
Tender Dracula Extras:
