Peter Cushing Movies
Imperious, intellectual-looking British actor Peter Cushing studied for a theatrical career under the guidance of Cairns James at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Cushing supported himself as a clerk in a surveyor's office before making his first professional stage appearance in 1935. Four years later, he came to America, where he was featured in a handful of Broadway plays and Hollywood feature films. He had a small part in The Man in the Iron Mask (1939) and also doubled for Louis Hayward in the "twin" scenes; he was among the rather overaged students in Laurel and Hardy's A Chump at Oxford (1940); and he was second male lead in the Carole Lombard vehicle Vigil in the Night (1940). After closing out his Hollywood tenure with They Dare Not Love (1941), he returned to stage work in England. His next film appearance was as Osric in Laurence Olivier's Hamlet (1948), which also featured his future co-star Christopher Lee in a nonspeaking bit (Cushing and Lee's paths would cross again cinematically in Moulin Rouge [1952], though, as in Hamlet, they shared no scenes).In the early '50s, Cushing became a TV star by virtue of his performance in the BBC production of George Orwell's 1984. Still, film stardom would elude him until 1957, when he was cast as Baron Frankenstein in Hammer Films' The Curse of Frankenstein. It was the first of 19 appearances under the Hammer banner; Cushing went on to play Van Helsing in Horror of Dracula (1958) and Sherlock Holmes in The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959), roles which, like Baron Frankenstein, he would repeat time and again. Though his horror film appearances brought him fame and fortune, Cushing ruefully commented that he'd prefer not to be so tightly typecast: It is significant that his entry in the British publication Who's Who in the Theatre lists all of his theatrical credits, but only one title -- Hamlet -- in his film manifest. In 1975, after a decade's absence, Cushing made a return to the theater in Washington Square, ironically playing the role originated on Broadway by fellow Sherlock Holmes interpreter Basil Rathbone. Many of Cushing's later film assignments were in the tongue-in-cheek category, notably his sneeringly evil Governor Tarkin in Star Wars (1977) and his backwards-talking librarian in Top Secret! (1984). Retiring from the screen in 1986, Peter Cushing penned two volumes of memoirs: An Autobiography (1986) and Past Forgetting (1988). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
An uneven but entertaining blend of graphic horror and black comedy from John Landis, very much in the mode of the director's successful An American Werewolf in London. French actress Anne Parillaud -- star of Luc Besson's acclaimed thriller La Femme Nikita -- plays Marie, a lithe and lovely vampire with a conscience who will not take "innocent blood" and maintains a low profile by dining exclusively on criminals and lowlifes. She finds a virtual smorgasbord in Pittsburgh's criminal underworld, arriving in the thick of a bloody mob war sparked by ruthless kingpin Sal Macelli (Robert Loggia). After preying on one of Macelli's hoods (Chazz Palminteri), Marie fumbles her attack on the boss himself and he manages to escape, eventually transforming into a vampire himself. Macelli soon comes to appreciate his new superhuman condition and hatches a diabolical scheme to control the syndicates by turning his underlings into vampires -- including his beleaguered lawyer, Emmanuel Bergman (Don Rickles). Marie, faced with a new and powerful undead enemy, is forced to take matters into her own claws. To this end she enlists the reluctant aid (and eventual affection) of undercover cop Joe Gennaro (Anthony LaPaglia), whose cover has just been leaked to the press, making him a target for Macelli and his growing army of blood drinkers. Landis has crafted a dark and brooding film, pumped up with bouts of extreme gore and gangland violence -- but where American Werewolf's occasional comic touches helped to ground the story and give the "straight" horror scenes more punch, most attempts at humor here seem jarring and out of place. The film's highlights come from numerous horror in-jokes, including cameos from Sam Raimi, Clive Barker, Dario Argento and Linnea Quigley; Rickles' explosive death scene ranks among the weirdest in cinema history. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anne Parillaud, Robert Loggia, (more)
- 1986
- PG
Based on the characters created by popular fantasy author Capt. W. E. Johns, Biggles: Adventures in Time casts Neil Dickson in the title role. Biggles is a World War I British flying ace with a gift for time travel. Sucked into Biggles' adventures is a 1980s fast-food entrepreneur, played by Alex Hyde-White. Once he's figured out what's what, Hyde-White vows to help Biggles stay alive. Also along for the ride is Hyde-White's girlfriend Fiona Hutchinson. The beauty part of Biggles: Adventures in Time is that the audience is just as disoriented and confused as Hyde-White; as a result, the film never lowers itself to the Pat and Predictable. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Neil Dickson, Alex Hyde-White, (more)
- 1984
Twenty-seven years after Hound of the Baskervilles (1959), Peter Cushing makes a belated return to the role of Sherlock Holmes in the made-for-television Masks of Death. Befitting his age, Cushing plays Holmes in retirement, content to play his violin and look after his bees. He is dragged back into action by a series of baffling East End murders. Each one of the victims has been discovered with an expression of stark, raw fear frozen on his or her face. With faithful Dr. Watson (John Mills) at his right hand, Holmes puts the pieces together. Ray Milland and Anne Baxter co-star in this stylish bouquet to the Baker Street Irregulars of the world. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Cushing, John Mills, (more)
- 1984
This semi-sequel to William Gibson's The Miracle Worker recounts the early adult years of the profoundly handicapped but brilliant Helen Keller. Helen, played by Mare Winningham, enters college, with her friend and mentor Annie Sullivan Macy (Blythe Danner) by her side. As Helen's international fame grows, she must withstand the pressures of those who'd treat her as a freak rather than a human being as well as Annie's near-strident demands that she excel at everything. The multi-faceted Ms. Keller lived too much of a life to be squeezed into a mere two-hour running time; the script betrays the strain of trying to show us more than it's able by wrapping up everything in a hurried, unsatisfying conclusion. Helen Keller: The Miracle Continues was initially telecast as part of the syndicated Operation Prime Time package in 1984. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mare Winningham, Blythe Danner, (more)
- 1984
In this film, a collection of rare and unique animals, including human beings, becomes a captivating hobby for the former commander of a Nazi concentration camp. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
The second of Zucker-Abraham-Zucker's theatrical-feature spoofs (Airplane was the first, discounting the patchwork Kentucky Fried Movie), Top Secret! lampoons practically every film genre. Specifically, however, this is a hybrid of an "Elvis" movie and a World War II "underground resistance" thriller. In his film debut, Val Kilmer plays Nick Rivers, a Presley-like American rock idol sent behind the Iron Curtain on a goodwill tour. Before long, he is involved in a complex espionage scheme thanks to beautiful Lucy Gutteridge, the daughter of a scientist (Michael Gough) held captive by the Communists. Also essential to the action is flamboyant resistance leader Christopher Villiers, who behaves like Victor Mature in Betrayed (1954) and talks like James Mason. Adhering to Z-A-Z's cheerful disregard for people, places and events, the East Germans are depicted as Nazis, while the Underground is comprised of Frenchmen. The plot is mainly an excuse for the Z-A-Z team's fondness for joke-a-minute lampoonery, skewering cinematic targets ranging from The Blue Lagoon (1980) to The Wizard of Oz (1939). As in Z-A-Z's other efforts, Top Secret! scores its biggest yocks when invoking cliches that we never realized were cliches-and falls on its face whenever attempting a too-obvious gag (the biggest clinker: that pigeon statue in the park). Everyone has his or her favorite bits in this film: our faves include the resistance fighter named Deja Vu ("Haven't we met somewhere before?"), Kilmer's horrible nightmare while being tortured (he arrives too late to take final exams), the army-booted cow, the sensitive Pinto, and the East German National Anthem, sung to the tune of the Shorewood (Wisconsin) High School marching song. But let's say no more: comedy of this nature is designed to be seen, not written or read about. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Val Kilmer, Lucy Gutteridge, (more)
In this uneven dramatization of a legendary sword-and-sorcery tale, the Green Knight (Sean Connery) is a magician who appears at King Arthur's court brandishing an axe and challenging anyone to do battle with him. When no one responds, King Arthur himself steps into the breach -- but is turned back when Gawain (Miles O'Keeffe) takes up his axe to stand in for the king -- and promptly decapitates the Green Knight. But lo-and-behold, the Knight's magic is so great that he puts head and body back together again and then further challenges Gawain with a riddle that must be solved within the next 12 months or Gawain is dead. Lucky for Gawain, the riddle involves several rescues of the charming Princess Linet (Cyrielle Claire) -- but how will he manage to outfox the Green Knight and the evil Morgan La Fay (Emma Sutton)? ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Miles O'Keeffe, Cyrielle Claire, (more)
- 1982
In this umpteenth remake of the George M. Cohan-Earl Derr Biggers play Seven Keys to Baldpate, Desi Arnaz Jr. plays Kenneth Magee, the young writer who bets that he can bat out a mystery play in one evening. Magee squirrels himself away in a forbidding old mansion where, unbeknownst to him, a bizarre family reunion is scheduled to commence. As the participants begin dropping like flies, Magee finds himself in the middle of a genuine mystery. At least, he thinks he does. At least, the audience thinks he thinks he does. Of historical importance is the fact that House of Long Shadows represents the only co-starring effort of those titans of terror Vincent Price, Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and John Carradine. The highlight is the cozy tete-a-tete between Price and Cushing during the climactic party scene. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, (more)
- 1981
After cannibalizing Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth in his 1977 film Where Time Began, Spanish director Juan Piquer Simon returned to the author with this substandard retelling of Mysterious Island. The story concerns a shipwrecked group who discover natural wonders and a gold treasure on a dangerous island populated by dinosaurs and living seaweed. Terence Stamp is the bad guy. Supposedly the most expensive film made in Spain to that point, it has an admittedly strong genre cast including Peter Cushing, Paul Naschy, and Ian Sera, but is really a cheesy monster movie likely to appeal only to children too young to be critical of special effects. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Terence Stamp, Peter Cushing, (more)
Chris Sarandon does the "far, far, better thing" when he tackles the dual role of Syndey Carton and Charles Darnay in this Anglo-American TV adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities. The ubiquitous producer/screenwriter combination of Norman Rosemont and John Gay was responsible for this lavish, faithful cinemazation of Dickens' multiplotted account of the French Revolution. Featured in the huge cast are Peter Cushing as Dr. Manette, Alice Krige as Lucie Manette, Billie Whitelaw as the vengeful, eternally knitting Madame DeFarge and Barry Morse as the odious aristocrat St. Evremonde. Poignantly, the film also offers the late Kenneth More, making one of his last appearances as Jarvis Lorry, and the magnificent Flora Robson, taking her final bow in the role of Miss Pross. An Emmy nomination went to Olga Lehmann's costume design. A Tale of Two Cities debuted December 2, 1980. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Cushing, Chris Sarandon, (more)
A valiant prince battles an evil sorcerer to rescue his true love in this colorful fantasy, which features high adventure and plenty of special effects. The hero must overcome a number of dangers, along the way receiving help from a beautiful street urchin and a magical rose. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher Lee, Milo O'Shea, (more)
- 1978
The leader of a right-wing political party discovers that a young man named Willi (Bud Cort), an illiterate woodcarver, is actually the son of Adolf Hitler. He and his chauffeur kidnap the boy from a mental hospital and then set out to prepare him to start the Fourth Reich. Believe it or not, this is a comedy ... ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bud Cort, Peter Cushing, (more)
- 1978
In an attempt to sell his manuscript, a writer tries to persuade a prospective publisher that cats are ultimately evil by providing him with three different stories of kitty brutality in this anthology of horror. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
This horror film concerns a shipwrecked yachting party. Rose (Brooke Adams) and her fellow yacht-mates, including the captain (John Carradine) run aground on an island when they hit an odd-looking freighter. Once beached, they meet up with an aging SS Commander (Peter Cushing) who had been in charge of a crew of zombies. This is not meant as a comment on the quality of the men under him, they were "real" zombies. Since the zombies were taken from the ranks of murderers and other miscreants, they were not activated and the SS Commander sunk them with his submarine. Now they are rising up from the depths to create mayhem among the stranded members of the yachting party. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Cushing, Brooke Adams, (more)
- 1977
Toward the end of 1918, soldiers in the Austrian army were well aware that things were not going well. In this story, an army cadet arrives to serve in Belgrade and receives orders to serve in a regiment which is accompanying a Hanoverian princess on her return to Vienna. While in Belgrade, the young man and the princess are able to meet, and they fall in love. The cadet knows that it is foolish to expect the Slavs, who have been drafted into the army, to fight very hard for an empire they would happily see dissolved, but his superior officers are oblivious to this simple fact, and as a consequence, they suffer serious military reverses. Inspired by their ancient code of military honor, the regiment's officers fight and die to preserve the regiment's battleflag, which comes into the keeping of the cadet. He is entrusted with the task of returning it to the Hapsburg royal family. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Simon Ward, Siegfried Rauch, (more)
- 1977
- PG
Brian Eno composed the score for this horror tale about a cult (led by Peter Cushing) which kidnaps Greek tourists for their ritual murders. Also known as Minotaur and The Devil's Men. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
George Lucas' mythological popcorn movie is a two-hour roller-coaster ride that has passed into movie legend. The story, for the tiny number of people not familiar with it, concerns a farm boy named Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) who discovers that the used robot recently purchased by his family plays back a message from one Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), begging for help from Obi-Wan Kenobi. Luke asks his father's friend Ben Kenobi (Alec Guinness) about this, and he discovers that Ben and Obi-Wan are one and the same. Kenobi tells Luke of the battle of the rebels against the ruling Empire and the spiritual energy called "The Force." Soon Luke, Kenobi, and a mercenary named Han Solo (Harrison Ford) join forces to rescue Princess Leia from the Empire's mammoth warship, the Death Star, controlled by evil genius Darth Vader (David Prowse, with the voice of James Earl Jones). George Lucas has frequently cited the influence of several films on Star Wars, particularly Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress and Yojimbo and John Ford's The Searchers, as well as the original Flash Gordon serials. After Star Wars became a success, Lucas announced his intention to turn the film into a series, originally totalling nine films (later pared back to six). Consequently, most reissue prints now feature the title Star Wars: Episode IV -- A New Hope, with The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983) serving as Episodes Five and Six in the serial, and Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace (1999) going back to the myth's beginnings. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, (more)
- 1976
Made for television, The Great Houdinis tells the life story of famed American illusionist/escape-artist Harry Houdini and his wife Bess. Studiously avoiding covering the same ground as the 1953 Houdini theatrical-film biopic, director Mel Shavelson's script for Great Houdinis spends a great deal of time on the conflict between Harry's Catholic wife Bess and his Jewish mother. The spiritualism angle so important to the Houdini story allows the 1976 film to recreate Houdini's meetings with "true believer" Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Again departing from the 1953 Houdini, this later film does not end with Houdini's death from peritonitis in 1926; instead, we watch as the widowed Bess desperately tries to make contact with her husband in the "other world," all the while debunking phony mediums, just as her husband had done. Paul Michael Glaser and Sally Struthers star as the Houdinis, with Ruth Gordon as Harry's mother Mrs. Weiss, Peter Cushing as Conan Doyle, Jack Carter as Houdini's brother, Adrienne Barbeau as his mistress, Nina Foch as a medium, and Vivian Vance as the all-around best friend/severest critic, who narrates the film. The Great Houdinis first aired on October 8, 1976. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1976
The New Avengers begins its two-season run with "old" avenger John Steed (Patrick Macnee), as fastidious and gentlemanly as ever, teamed with two new, young, and attractive partners: Purdey (Joanna Lumley), a sexy, cool-headed martial arts expert (sound familiar?), and Mike Gambit (Gareth Hunt), a rough-hewn ex-mercenary. Their first assignment sends the trio to the remote island of St. Dorca, where another secret agent has already met his doom at the end of some poisoned fishing hooks. The new avengers must pick up where their dead comrade left off and seek out a kidnapped scientist. Their search takes them to a sinister monastery, populated by a very Teutonic-looking band of monks which is preparing to thaw out "Germany's Greatest Treasure," cryogenically frozen since 1945. Biggest surprise: guest star Peter Cushing is not the villain of the piece! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patrick Macnee, Gareth Hunt, (more)
- 1976
A former policeman investigates a series of murders by centering on an organization which re-creates medieval battles. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
This is the second sci-fi adventure based on a novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the first being 1975's The Land That Time Forgot. At The Earth's Core stars Doug McClure as explorer David Innes and Peter Cushing as professor Abner Perry, whose experimental "iron core" drill goes out of control and leads them to the underground kingdom of Pellucidar, where the Wing People are ruled by the monstrous, flying Mahars. With the help of the professor, Innes leads the Wing People in revolt against their evil masters. Monsters and mayhem abound in what is essentially a well-produced, if somewhat juvenile, knockoff of The Time Machine. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Doug McClure, Peter Cushing, (more)
England's Tigon studios produced fairly sophisticated period horror films in the 1970s, including this drawing-room horror-mystery directed by Hammer stalwart Freddie Francis. Peter Cushing stars as a former priest who harbors a dark and horrible secret in his attic. The locked room serves as a prison cell for his crazed, cannibalistic adult son, who acquired his savage tastes in India during his father's missionary work there. Cushing fears that his son will escape to prey upon the effete guests at his rural English estate during a cross-country auto race... though there may be more to fear from one of his guests than from his monstrous son. Far too stuffy to generate any real suspense until the violent, blood-soaked climax, this is definitely one of Tigon's lesser efforts, benefiting mainly from the presence of Cushing and John Hurt as an unbalanced young gardener. Not to be confused with the 1933 horror classic of the same name. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Cushing, John Hurt, (more)
- 1975
- R
Peter Cushing stars as a police investigator whose search into a series of murders--committed during the full moon--leads him to a French zoo run by a strange keeper. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 1974
When Macgregor (Peter Cushing) announces that he is no longer going to appear in horror films, but wants to work in romances, two screenwriters are sent to his eerie house to try to persuade the ghoulish man to keep doing horror films. They are not above dotting his house and the surrounding landscape with corpses of murdered people in order to drive their point home. At some point, the producer of the film steps in from outside the frame and takes charge of this film about films, firing everyone in the process. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
