|
|
Post by helrunar on Feb 25, 2017 14:44:10 GMT
Fabulous work, Dem! From the photos it looks as if they paid for a very expensive copy of Pharaoh Tutankhamun's tomb and the main canopic shrine to be produced for this--unless the Egyptian authorities permitted them to film IN the museum display in Cairo... I think there was some location filming for this show so who knows.
That 1966 book of Hammer film adaptations is very cool. I don't suppose you'd have time to glance at the text of THE GORGON and determine if it would be worth my bothering to try tracking it down? That's one of my personal favorite Hammers.
The film shown on the book cover is CURSE OF THE MUMMY'S TOMB which was a 1965 release. BLOOD FROM THE MUMMY'S TOMB came out in '71 so that is a different monkey...
cheers, H.
|
|
|
|
Post by dem on Feb 25, 2017 17:44:31 GMT
Fabulous work, Dem! From the photos it looks as if they paid for a very expensive copy of Pharaoh Tutankhamun's tomb and the main canopic shrine to be produced for this--unless the Egyptian authorities permitted them to film IN the museum display in Cairo... I think there was some location filming for this show so who knows. That 1966 book of Hammer film adaptations is very cool. I don't suppose you'd have time to glance at the text of THE GORGON and determine if it would be worth my bothering to try tracking it down? That's one of my personal favorite Hammers. The film shown on the book cover is CURSE OF THE MUMMY'S TOMB which was a 1965 release. BLOOD FROM THE MUMMY'S TOMB came out in '71 so that is a different monkey... cheers, H. . Realised my mistake when I was forty pages into the action. Not bad, seeing the title is printed at top of every one of them.  Here's Mr. Sunshine Crab's guide to The GorgonQuite possible 'Hands Of the Ripper' was unpublished as a novel before the film version - 'Witchfinder General' was optioned by Tigon from galley proofs handed to them by either Ronald Bassett's agent or his publisher, and Tony Tenser snapped it up. It seemed to be a common practise then (and certainly is now for name writers' agents) Turgid novel, and obliquely similar to the film (ie the historical bits, roughly) - must admit, didn't like the book though if I'd read it before seeing the film that may have been different - I was not expecting what I got! On pulpier ground, Jeff Rice's first Kolchak book was optioned before publication as well, wasn't it? I think you're right. Rice's novel, The Night Stalker, received terrible reviews so no huge surprise I thought it was terrif. |
|
|
|
Post by ripper on Feb 25, 2017 19:02:38 GMT
I am a bit puzzled, though, why they went to the trouble of commissioning a novelisation by RCH, instead of just producing a tie-in to the film of Stoker's book. Considerable plot differences don't seem to be a barrier to that sort of thing, a prime example being the "novelisation" of Hammer's Hands of the Ripper. Still, a nice little earner for RCH by the sound of it.  is an odd one as I believe - might be wrong - it was adapted from Edward Spencer Shew's (then) unpublished novel? Guy Adams recent update for Hammer Books is great fun. In the case of The Awakening, Arrow owned the rights to Jewel Of The Seven Stars and reissued it in movie tie-in edition. That's really surprised me, Dem. Having effectively two tie-ins to what was really a fairly minor movie must be quite uncommon I would have thought. |
|
|
|
Post by ripper on Feb 25, 2017 19:10:54 GMT
Quite possible 'Hands Of the Ripper' was unpublished as a novel before the film version - 'Witchfinder General' was optioned by Tigon from galley proofs handed to them by either Ronald Bassett's agent or his publisher, and Tony Tenser snapped it up. It seemed to be a common practise then (and certainly is now for name writers' agents) Turgid novel, and obliquely similar to the film (ie the historical bits, roughly) - must admit, didn't like the book though if I'd read it before seeing the film that may have been different - I was not expecting what I got! On pulpier ground, Jeff Rice's first Kolchak book was optioned before publication as well, wasn't it? My understanding is that the Hands of the Ripper book was unpublished prior to the Hammer film being released, and I remember being both surprised and disappointed when reading it due to its drastic differences from the screenplay, particularly as it is one of my favourite of the 70s Hammers. |
|
|
|
Post by helrunar on Feb 26, 2017 0:53:15 GMT
Thanks, Dem, for the reference to Mr. Sunshine Crab's review. I'm relieved in a way that the adaptation was so dull since I imagine the book would be expensive to buy online, due to the Hammer connection.
cheers, H.
|
|
|
|
Post by dem on Feb 26, 2017 13:30:28 GMT
John Burke's novelisations are admittedly pretty linear, but they do it for me, especially The Plague Of The Zombies and The Reptile in Volume II. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang less so. That's really surprised me, Dem. Having effectively two tie-ins to what was really a fairly minor movie must be quite uncommon I would have thought. The wonder is that Arrow didn't reissued Jewel of the Seven Stars in 1971 as a Blood From The Mummy's Tomb tie-in. For what it is worth, the shot of Jane assailed by supernatural forces looks as if THE AWAKENING may have owed not a little to BLOOD FROM THE MUMMY'S TOMB which is corking great fun. Did I mention Valerie Leon's breasts? They require exceptional remark. And I write those words as a lifelong male homosexual. (Vault screengrab library) Can't say I've ever given Valerie's attributes much thought myself ...  |
|
|
|
Post by helrunar on Feb 26, 2017 18:57:29 GMT
LOL! I would have thought that was a deleted scene from Lulu and Lucia...
Thanks for the giggle!
cheers, H.
|
|
|
|
Post by helrunar on Mar 1, 2017 13:32:53 GMT
I have been reading the novel and it's quite the page-turner! Excellent diversion for a somewhat stressfully busy week.
The most one could say about the film The Awakening, judging from what I'm reading, is that it was "suggested by Bram Stoker's Jewel of the Seven Stars." There are a couple of ideas from the original book that survive--what I'm reading is way beyond an adaptation.
I have to confess that one of the things that makes me shy away from seeing the movie is that although I enjoyed the artistry of C. Heston in my younger years, in crabby old age I seem to be allergic to the old reprobate. But, we'll see.
The books of Haggard and Rohmer were fairly well researched in terms of contemporary Egyptology. What the screenwriters did with the ancient Egyptian material in this work seems to foreshadow those epically awful novels of Miss Anne Rice, Queen of the Damned (or is that dim) and The Mummy. It's all look at pretty pictures of the Tut tomb and write a bubble gum wrapper comic out of what you see.
cheers, H.
|
|
|
|
Post by helrunar on Mar 1, 2017 15:30:39 GMT
Further note: Nowhere on the RCH book is Bram Stoker mentioned. This may be due to legal reasons if the other publisher owned the rights to the original book.
Also, while on the train this morning I read a passage (regarding the horrific career of the insidious Queen Kara) that was a direct steal from H. Rider Haggard's classic novel She, which I highly recommend (not stealing from it, but reading it). I would think this came from the screenplay--why would someone with RCH's powers of imagination bother to steal?
cheers, H.
|
|
|
|
Post by dem on Mar 3, 2017 18:39:58 GMT
Further note: Nowhere on the RCH book is Bram Stoker mentioned. This may be due to legal reasons if the other publisher owned the rights to the original book. That, or they were loathe to draw attention to the book's existence. Am still psyching myself up to do battle with that abbreviated (to approx. 46 pages) version of Jewel Of The Seven Stars. A false start a few nights back suggests that even the mega-truncated version will be heavy going. Spookily enough, the self same Into The Mummy's Tomb includes a sixteen page extract from Anne Rice's The Mummy which I shall be ignoring on the grounds that it is by Anne Rice and therefore sixteen pages too many. |
|
|
|
Post by helrunar on Mar 4, 2017 1:25:38 GMT
Hey Dem, I re-watched "The Curse of the Mummy" from the 1970 Mystery and Imagination series yesterday. Excellent fun for this viewer. Isobel Black is deliciously insidious when she's playing Tera (renamed Kara in the RCH novel). Graham Crowden turns in one of his trademark performances as the world's maddest Egyptologist. The eyerolling and bloodthundering gets pretty terrific.
It's off-thread but tonight I started watching The Monster Club, based on tales by RCH and featuring John Carradine as the great man himself. I imagine this film will be rated as too jokey for some--it's both a tribute to the Amicus studios anthology films of the 1960s and 70s, and an attempt to duplicate the success of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I find it quite entertaining for what it is.
The effusions of Miss Anne Rice are best avoided in the opinion of this reader...
Have a grand weekend!
cheers, H.
|
|
|
|
Post by dem on Mar 4, 2017 11:07:15 GMT
It's off-thread but tonight I started watching The Monster Club, based on tales by RCH and featuring John Carradine as the great man himself. I imagine this film will be rated as too jokey for some--it's both a tribute to the Amicus studios anthology films of the 1960s and 70s, and an attempt to duplicate the success of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I find it quite entertaining for what it is. The last truly great horror film! [citation unnecessary]Where to start? The Monster Club novel. The Monster Club film. The Monster Club soundtrack. Also a proper review from Lord Probert in his House Of Mortal Cinema |
|
|
|
Post by helrunar on Mar 6, 2017 1:46:22 GMT
Just finished The Awakening which I enjoyed very much. I have to say I found the ending ultimately pointless. Won't say any more about that (spoilers--some care about them--I don't, any longer)--but it is a weakness shared with Blood from the Mummy's Tomb. An oddity is that Roman Polanski seems to have cribbed the ending of his film The Tenant from Blood from the Mummy's Tomb--at least, that was my impression when I saw the Polanski film thirty-[indistinct mumble] years ago.
I thought ironically the ITV version did come up with an ending that left me feeling somewhat satisfied. It was all very theatrical and very British but no doubt that's a good part of the reason why I liked it.
Apparently there's yet another version of this yarn from a few years ago bearing the title Legend of the Mummy. Doubt I'll bother but it seems peculiar just how mileage producers have gotten out of what I recall having been rather unpromising material (the original Stoker novel).
cheers, H.
|
|
|
|
Post by dem on Mar 6, 2017 19:35:11 GMT
No complaints about the ending from me. I like 'em nihilistic. Thought he made a decent fist of Dominique, too, come to that. |
|
