I love the seance sequence at the beginning of Count Yorga Vampire.  That, and the scene where the Count, attired in a smoking jacket and a very frosty smile, is "entertaining" the two protagonists who have been unwise enough to enter his home, I actually found reminiscent of similar sequences on DS.  I thought the film slithered rapidly downhill from a rather promising start.  For years, I had thought that it was the fault of the hack job the censors had done on the CBS Late Movie broadcast print, but a few years back I finally got to see the original, uncut release film and it was still cheesy, slipshod, amateurish work.

My personal favorite Quarry performance is as Darius Beiderbecke in Dr. Phibes Rises Again.  Although Quarry and Vincent Price did not get along very well (due to some busybody who "helfpully" told Price that Quarry was being groomed as his "replacement" at AIP), they had a wonderful chem together onscreen.  They acted together as well in Madhouse, which is out on DVD now but I have yet to catch up with.  I saw it on VHS in the 90s and was distinctly underwhelmed, despite the fab cast--Peter Cushing and Adrienne Corri also appear--Corri probably has the best scenes of anyone in this.

There was a really good print interview of Quarry in one of the mags some years ago.  His departure has yet another "end of an era" ring to it.

G.

Thanks Midnite for posting this notice.  I'd never even heard of the film.

Best,

G.

MB Dahling,

those images of Boss Buzz are fan-f**king-tabulosa!  Thanks so much!

cheers, G.

Point taken, Brian; but some of Corman's stuff was really fine, especially some of the Sixties films.

It would seem from my viewing of the Lair #1 and the accounts of the shooting schedules that was called for, more than anything else, is a highly competent technician with the ability to log maximum minutes of footage per day.  Ray seems capable of filling that bill.

G.

Counter-culture?  Don't forget DS' very own Wild One, the incomparable Buzz Hackett, complete with bomber jacket, boots, stubble, and a hairpiece that resembled barely-taxidermed roadkill.

In the words of the Master, 'if ya feel it, sit it!"

G.

I'm getting quite a charge out of today's screen capture of Jebulous and Pruno heatedly conferring in a darkened foyer at Collinwood.  I am old enough to remember when these shaggy coats and bits of woolly trim were fashionable on men's winter coats, but I'm still thinking of these two as "the ranch poodle brigade" and I'm wondering whether Bruno's hairpiece ever went flying when push came to shove.

Thanks again MB for brightening another dreary Winter afternoon here at the Great House!

cheers, G.

Hey Philippe, I certainly do remember the lurvely "exposure" dear little (hmmm, not so little!) Dougie Henshall received in "Angels and Insects" (fabou tho the film was, the book by Miss Byatt was so much better).

That new version of Dorian Gray sounds potentially intriguing.  Have you noticed that this story *which inspired some significant storylines on DS* has had about four different film versions lensed in recent years? I believe they all sank without a trace.

The most hysterical version has to be the early 1980s TV version with, if memory serves, Anthony Perkins in the Lord Henry "role," in which Dorian was a female model and the "portrait" was a video clip (yes, it's the Eighties--whoo hoo! break out that hair gel and those shoulder pads!).

The most arty version--my vote goes for the Helmut Berger one from the late Sixties.

Probably the most brilliant from a dramatic and aesthetic perspective will always be the 1940s film with Hurd Hatfield who was nothing at all like Dorian in the book, but brought a hypnotically compelling understated moodiness to the role.

I personally am very fond of the Dan Curtis version.

G.