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Jimmy Sangster
James Henry Kinmel Sangster (2 December 1927 – 19 August 2011) was a British screenwriter and director, most famous for his work on the initial horror films made by the British company Hammer Film Productions, Hammer Films, including ''The Curse of Frankenstein'' (1957) and ''Dracula (1958 film), Dracula'' (1958). Early life The son of an estate agent, Sangster was born in Kinmel Bay, Kimmel Bay, North Wales and was educated at Ewell Castle School in Surrey, and Llandaff Cathedral School in Cardiff. He began his film career, aged 16, as a Clapperboard, clapper-boy. After service with the Royal Air Force, RAF, he worked as a third assistant director on Ealing Studios, Ealing Studios productions, then joined Exclusive Studios (later Hammer Film Productions, Hammer Films) in 1949. Career Sangster originally worked as a Production assistant#Television and feature film, production assistant at Hammer Films, as well as being an assistant director, Second unit#Directors, second un ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Intent To Kill (1958 Film)
''Intent to Kill'' is a 1958 British film noir thriller directed by Jack Cardiff and starring Richard Todd, Betsy Drake and Herbert Lom. The film was based on the 1957 novel of the same name by Brian Moore (written under the pen-name Michael Bryan). It was shot on location in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, with an international cast of European and North American actors. Plot Having previously survived an assassination attempt, Juan Menda (Lom), president of an unspecified South American country, is moved to Montreal under an anonymous pseudonym for treatment of a potentially fatal cranial blood clot. His political opponents have got wind of his whereabouts and hire a trio of Canadian hitmen to finish the job. Menda's aide Francisco (Carlo Giustini) is also in town, and unknown to Menda he is actually a prime-mover in the assassination plot, keeping close to Menda while duplicitously passing on information to the would-be killers. Not only is Francisco an unsuspected political ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Production Assistant
A production assistant, also known as a PA, is a member of the film crew and is a job title used in filmmaking and television for a person responsible for various aspects of a production. The job of a PA can vary greatly depending on the budget and specific requirements of a production as well as whether the production is unionized. Production assistants on films are sometimes attached to individual actors or filmmakers. Television and feature film In unionized television and feature film, production assistants are usually divided into different categories. Variations exist depending on a show's structure or region of the United States or Canada. *''Office PAs'' usually spend most hours in the respective show's production office handling such tasks as phones, deliveries, script copies, lunch pick-ups, and related tasks in coordination with the production manager and production coordinator. *''Set PAs'' work on the physical set of the production, whether on location or on a soun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Siege Of Sidney Street
''The Siege of Sidney Street'' is a 1960 British historical drama film co-directed by Robert S. Baker and Monty Berman. It stars Donald Sinden, Nicole Berger and Kieron Moore. The film dramatises the 1909 Tottenham Outrage - a bungled wages-snatch which resulted in the murder of a police officer and a ten-year-old bystander as well as the two armed robbers - and the 1911 Siege of Sidney Street, in which armed police surrounded a house in East End of London occupied by a gang who had killed three police officers during a bungled attempt to break into a jeweller's shop. The film depicts the two events as both taking place in 1911, the work of the same gang. It was filmed at Ardmore Studios in Ireland, with shots of Dublin standing in for pre-First World War East London. Cast Production Donald Sinden, then a contract star for the Rank Organisation at Pinewood Studios, recalled "The scene in the blazing room we filmed in the studio and I was vastly intrigued to watch the way th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Anniversary (1968 Film)
''The Anniversary'' is a 1968 British black comedy film directed by Roy Ward Baker for Hammer Films and Seven Arts and starring Bette Davis. The screenplay, by Jimmy Sangster, was adapted from Bill MacIlwraith's 1966 play. Plot One-eyed Mrs. Taggart is an emasculating woman whose husband, a successful building contractor, has been dead for ten years. Joining her for the traditional annual celebration of her wedding anniversary are her three sons: eldest Henry is a transvestite; middle son Terry is planning to emigrate to Canada with his shrewish wife Karen and their five children; and youngest Tom, a promiscuous philanderer whose many past relationships have ended at his mother's insistence, arrives with his pregnant girlfriend Shirley in town. Throughout the day and evening, the domineering, evil, vindictive, manipulative matriarch does everything in her power to remind her children who controls the family finances and ultimately their futures. Cast * Bette Davis as Mrs. Taggar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Nanny (1965 Film)
''The Nanny'' is a 1965 British suspense film directed by Seth Holt, and starring Bette Davis, Wendy Craig, and Jill Bennett. Davis appears as a supposedly devoted nanny caring for a 10-year-old boy recently discharged from a home for disturbed children. It is based on the novel of the same title by Evelyn Piper (a pseudonym for Merriam Modell) and was scored by Richard Rodney Bennett. It was made by Hammer Film Productions at Elstree Studios. Plot Joey spends two years at a school for emotionally disturbed children after being blamed for drowning his younger sister Susy. The school's headmaster informs Joey's father, Bill, that his son harbours an intense dislike of middle-aged women. This extends to the family's nanny, whom Joey distrusts and disrespects. When Joey returns home, he refuses to eat the meals Nanny prepares because he suspects she may poison him. He abandons the room Nanny has decorated for him and moves to one with a strong lock on its door. Joey's rude beha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress with a career spanning more than 50 years and 100 acting credits. She was noted for playing unsympathetic, sardonic characters, and was famous for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical films, suspense horror, and occasional comedies, although her greater successes were in romantic dramas. A recipient of two Academy Awards, she was the first thespian to accrue ten nominations. Bette Davis appeared on Broadway in New York, then the 22-year-old Davis moved to Hollywood in 1930. After some unsuccessful films, she had her critical breakthrough playing a vulgar waitress in ''Of Human Bondage'' (1934) although, contentiously, she was not among the three nominees for the Academy Award for Best Actress that year. The next year, her performance as a down-and-out actress in ''Dangerous'' (1935) did land Davis her first Best Actress nomination, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ralph Bates
Ralph Bates (12 February 1940 – 27 March 1991) was an English film and television actor, known for his role in the British sitcom '' Dear John'' and the original ''Poldark''. Biography Bates was born in Bristol, England. His parents were both psychiatrists; his mother was French and he was a great-great-grandson of French scientist Louis Pasteur. He held dual-nationality and was bilingual, and was educated at Trinity College Dublin. He read French there, before winning a scholarship to Yale Drama School. The course completed, Bates returned to Ireland to make his stage debut in Shaw's '' You Never Can Tell'' at The Gate Theatre, Dublin, in 1963. A career in repertory theatre followed, and the young actor gained experience in productions ranging from ''Hedda Gabler'' to raucous comedies. Later, Bates carved a niche in the world of horror films and played important roles or the lead in several Hammer Horror productions, such as ''Taste the Blood of Dracula'', ''The Horror of F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taste Of Fear
''Taste of Fear'' is a 1961 British thriller film directed by Seth Holt. The film stars Susan Strasberg, Ronald Lewis, Ann Todd, and Christopher Lee in a supporting role. It was released in the United States as ''Scream of Fear''. Plot After the suicide of her best friend, wheelchair-user heiress Penny Appleby ( Susan Strasberg) arrives at her estranged father's estate on the French Riviera. Her stepmother ( Ann Todd), whom Penny has only just met, informs her that the father has been called away on business. She cannot say when he will return or why he left when he was expecting Penny's arrival. Although the stepmother has made the place comfortable for Penny, the young woman does not trust her. That night she believes she sees her father's corpse in the guest cottage. When others respond to her hysterical screams, the corpse is not there. The stepmother tries to convince Penny that her recent tragedy is causing her to hallucinate, and the family doctor (Christopher Lee) cit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fear In The Night (1972 Film)
''Fear in the Night'' (also known as ''Dynasty of Fear'' and ''Honeymoon of Fear'') is a 1972 British psychological horror film directed, produced, and co-written by Jimmy Sangster and produced by Hammer Film Productions. The film stars Judy Geeson as a psychologically-fragile woman who, upon relocating to a rural boarding school where her husband has taken a job, finds herself being tormented by a mysterious figure with a prosthetic arm. Peter Cushing and Joan Collins, respectively, also star as the school's mysterious headmaster and his wife. Like many horror films of its era, ''Fear in the Night'' has been noted for its usage of female hysteria as a central narrative motif, and was released as a double bill in the United Kingdom with '' Straight on Till Morning'', another Hammer film featuring similar themes. In the United States, the film was released as part of a double bill with ''Demons of the Mind''. Plot Peggy, an unassuming twenty-two year old caregiver, has recent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lust For A Vampire
''Lust for a Vampire'', also known as ''Love for a Vampire'' or ''To Love a Vampire'' (the latter title was the one used on American television), is a 1971 British Hammer Horror film directed by Jimmy Sangster, starring Ralph Bates, Barbara Jefford, Suzanna Leigh, Michael Johnson, and Yutte Stensgaard. It was given an ''R'' rating in the United States for some violence, gore, strong adult content and nudity. It is the second film in the Karnstein Trilogy, loosely based on the 1872 Sheridan Le Fanu novella ''Carmilla''. It was preceded by ''The Vampire Lovers'' (1970) and followed by ''Twins of Evil'' (1971). The three films do not form a chronological development, but use the Karnstein family as the source of the vampiric threat and were somewhat daring for the time in explicitly depicting lesbian themes. Production of ''Lust for a Vampire'' began not long after the release of ''The Vampire Lovers''. The film has a cult following, although some Hammer Horror fans have accused i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Horror Of Frankenstein
''The Horror of Frankenstein'' is a 1970 British horror film by Hammer Film Productions that is both a semi-parody and semi-remake of the 1957 film ''The Curse of Frankenstein'', of Hammer's ''Frankenstein'' series. It was produced and directed by Jimmy Sangster, starring Ralph Bates, Kate O'Mara, Veronica Carlson and David Prowse as the monster. It was the only film in the Frankenstein series which did not star Peter Cushing. The original music score was composed by Malcolm Williamson. Plot Victor Frankenstein, a cold, arrogant and womanizing genius, is angry when his father forbids him to continue his anatomy experiments. He ruthlessly murders his father by sabotaging the old man's shotgun, consequently inheriting the title of Baron von Frankenstein and the family fortune. He uses the money to enter medical school in Vienna, but is forced to return home when he impregnates the daughter of the Dean. Returning to his own castle, he sets up a laboratory and starts a series of e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
X The Unknown
''X the Unknown'' is a 1956 British science fiction horror film directed by Leslie Norman and starring Dean Jagger and Edward Chapman. It was made by the Hammer Film Productions company and written by Jimmy Sangster. The film is significant in that "it firmly established Hammer's transition from B-movie thrillers to out-and-out horror/science fiction" and, with ''The Quatermass Xperiment'' (1955) and ''Quatermass 2'' (1957), completes "an important trilogy containing relevant allegorical threads revealing Cold War anxieties and a diminishing national identity resulting from Britain's decrease in status as a world power". Plot The film takes place in the Lochmouth region of Scotland, near Glasgow. Members of a group of soldiers are taking turns using a Geiger counter to find a small and harmless hidden source of radioactivity in a wide pit area. Private Lansing (Kenneth Cope) finds another mysterious source of radiation where ground water starts to boil. As the other soldiers b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
