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The director’s new BFI season championing hidden gems of British film, hot on the heels of his Powell and Pressburger documentary, reveals some of the inspirations of a film-making great and passionate fan

This weekend, the BFI Southbank in London begins a season of films entitled Martin Scorsese Selects Hidden Gems of British Cinema. Among the treats that caught my eye are a terrific Terence Fisher double bill (1948’s To the Public Danger and 1952’s Stolen Face), Roy Ward Baker’s Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde (1971), John Hough’s The Legend of Hell House (1973) and a rare nitrate-print screening of Alberto Cavalcanti’s dark 1942 gem, Went the Day Well?

The fact that a director whose own extraordinary CV includes Taxi Driver (1973), Raging Bull (1980), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), Casino (1995), Gangs of New York (2002), The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) and, just last year, Killers of the Flower Moon should curate...

During a three-hour discussion on a recent episode of “The Empire Film Podcast,” Edgar Wright and Quentin Tarantino revealed the existence of their makeshift quarantine movie club over the last 9 months. As Wright explained, “It’s nice. We’ve kept in touch in a sort of way that cinephiles do. It’s been one of the very few blessings of this [pandemic], the chance to disappear down a rabbit hole with the hours indoors that we have.” Tarantino added, “Edgar is more social than I am. It’s a big deal that I’ve been talking to him these past 9 months.”

A bulk of the film club was curated by none other than Martin Scorsese, who sent Wright a recommendation list of nearly 50 British films that Scorsese considers personal favorites. In the five months Wright spent in lockdown before resuming production on “Last Night in Soho” — and before he received the...

(Terence Fisher, 1959, Icon/Hammer, 12)

The Mummy

After nearly 20 years of unmemorable programme fillers, Hammer Films found sudden international success with horror movies, first the black-and-white The Quatermass Xperiment, then Technicolor versions of the 1930s Universal classics, The Curse of Frankenstein, Horror of Dracula and The Mummy. Made in a sprawling country mansion on the Thames at Bray, near Windsor, all three films featured the same stars (Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee) and the same crew, headed by director Terence Fisher, screenwriter Jimmy Sangster, designer Bernard Robinson and cinematographer Jack Asher. A distinctive style was born, and Hammer became synonymous with horror. The Mummy drew on four Universal movies for its tale of an Egyptologist (Peter Cushing) being pursued back to Britain by the ancient, vengeful mummy of an Egyptian priest (Christopher Lee) that he has roused from his tomb in Karnak in 1896.

Alternately corny and magical, scary and comic, naive and perverse,...

The remastered classics just keep coming, and this time it's Icon Film Distribution stepping up to the plate to bring 1959's Peter Cushing chiller The Mummy back to hi-def life on Blu-ray in the UK on October 14th.

From the Press Release:

On 14th October Hammer’s classic film The Mummy will be released for the first time ever in HD on Blu-ray and on DVD double play and presented in its original UK theatrical aspect ratio of 1.66:1. Fans will also be treated to a host of brand new extras never seen before.

Starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee in their iconic roles in the third of Hammer’s original Gothic classics, The Mummy (1959) was directed by the legendary Terence Fisher, who previously helmed Dracula and The Curse Of Frankenstein.

Available 14th October in the UK on 3-disc Double Play, the pack comprises 1 x Blu-ray and 2 x DVD; the...

It has been officially announced that Hammer’s The Mummy will be released in October in the UK as a 3-disc Blu-ray and DVD set. Starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, the 1959 classic will be available on October 14th and includes an extensive set of bonus features:

“One by one the archaeologists who discover the 4,000-year-old tomb of Princess Ananka are brutally murdered. Kharis (Lee), high priest in Egypt 40 centuries ago, has been brought to life by the power of the ancient gods and his sole purpose is to destroy those responsible for the desecration of the sacred tomb. But Isobel Banning (Furneaux), wife of one of the explorers (Cushing), resembles the beautiful princess, forcing the speechless and tormented monster to defy commands and abduct Isobel to an unknown fate… ”

Presentation Details and Bonus Features (via The Digital Fix):

Original UK theatrical aspect ratio: 1.66:1 (the film has never...

We are saddened to hear of the passing of Jimmy Sangster today, at the age of 83. While Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing may be the first names Hammer Horror fans think of, Sangster was just as influential when it came to the success of Hammer’s films in the 50′s and 60′s.

Having written The Mummy, Horror of Dracula, and The Curse of Frankenstein, Jimmy Sangster was one of the men responsible for the creating some of Hammer’s most beloved films and horror franchises. After the success of those films, Sangster worked consistently with Hammer as a writer on dozens of films in the 60′s, including Dracula: Prince of Darkness. In the 70′s, Sangster tried his hand at directing and took on The Horror of Frankenstein and Lust For a Vampire.

Jimmy Sangster was married to his longtime wife and actress Mary Peach and they lived together in London.

Veteran British star John Wood has died at the age of 81.

The actor passed away in his sleep on Saturday, his agent has confirmed.

An accomplished TV, film and stage performer, Wood began his career in 1952, when he landed his first film role in Stolen Face.

He went on to earn a name for himself onstage with a number of Royal Shakespeare Company productions, and he won a Tony Award in 1976 for his role in Tom Stoppard play Travesties. He later earned another two Tony nominations and one for an Olivier Award in 1997, for his turn in another Stoppard piece, The Invention of Love.

Wood's most notable film credits include WarGames (1983), Ladyhawke (1985), Ian McKellen's Richard III (1995), and 1994's The Madness of King George, while his TV work ranged from Kavanagh QC (1997) and Foyle's War (2004) to his most recent show, 2007's Lewis.

He was honoured by Queen Elizabeth II in 2007 when he was made a Commander of the British Empire (Cbe) in recognition of his services to drama.