Hammered Again

Gem (Channel 90) seems to have a collection of old Hammer horror movies on file that they bring out of the vaults for lat night enthusiasts on Saturday nights. With nowhere to go and nothing to do, this suits me down to the ground and I'm either catching up on old movies i've missed and only read about, or else reliving my youth watching 1970's styled vampires bite down on buxom women in low-cut blouses. Which brings me to the Gem that was on last night, "Blood from the Mummy's Tomb".

Adapated from Bram Stoker's novel The Jewel of Seven Stars, this stylish Hammer Horror film was director Seth Holt's last picture - he died from a heart attack on the set five weeks into the six week shooting schedule. The typical mummy movie genre is given a slight twist by Hammer, with the voluptuous Valerie Leon (remember we are talking Hammer here). Unsurprisingly, the normal garb of bandages is replaced for as much of Leon's bare flesh in the film as possible in the early 70's.

The director knows she’s the major attraction of the film and Leon is just drop dead gorgeous. She plays a dual role - Margaret the daughter of the expedition leader and Tera, the evil Egyptian queen. Leon spends most of her time as Tera sleeping in a jewelled sarcophagus in golden underwear and essentially does exactly the same as Margaret except she stands up and talks. Leon has an amazing presence and body and Hammer have used both of these to advantage. Filmed on an ultra low budget (200,000 pounds), the film works rather well given the changes from Stoker's original plot line. (It was to be remade as The Awakening years later with Charlton Heston and was even less successful than this effort). Not bad for Hammer, and a little different than the usual bandaged jerky mummy movie, but if it's on late at night, set the timer and record it like I should have.

Burn brightly, Pete.

If I Had a Hammer...

Sitting up late tonight, I'm watching an old favorite from the seventies - Hammer's schlock movie Dr Jekyll & Sister Hyde with Ralph Bates and Martine Beswick in the dual lead role. Bates was a well known Hammer horror actor in the 60s and 70s and Beswick also made several Hammer movies (more often than not wearing a bikini),  she is better known for the all-girl fight in the Bond film From Russia with Love, when Sean Connery "wins" her in the gypsy camp. 


Sister Hyde is yet another classic mash-up amalgam of movies, this time with Stevenson's Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (where the potion turns Bates into the voluptuous and alluring Beswick), Burke and Hare stealing bodies for experimentation and Jack the Ripper where Bates/Beswick is killing prostitutes in the West End for their thyroid glands.


The actual scripting is this movie is almost perfect (if you're prepared to overlook the mash-up details) - balanced with dark humour and interesting plot details; the acting standards are high with great performances all round, from Bates’ frail and shrinking Dr Jekyll to Beswick’s irresistible, almost nymphomaniacal Ms Hyde; and everything comes together in one of the final and best studio pieces that Hammer studios were ever to produce.

I first saw this Hammer Horror in a drive-in theatre in the mid 70s in my home town and it is rarely played except on late night TV once every 4 or 5 years, so the DVD recorder worked overtime this weekend. The Channel 9 version is quite a "dirty" print, badly scratched and in need of cleaning, but at least this version went to air uncensored (and very late at night) unlike some of the previous broadcast versions I've watched over the years. A lovely period piece by Hammer which they did so well - an uniquely British in its approach as well.
Burn brightly, Peter