General Witchfinders

Captain Kronos – Vampire Hunter is a 1974 British swashbuckling action horror film, written and directed by Brian Clemens in his directorial debut. Clemens was celebrated for his work as a screenwriter, particularly for his contributions to British television series. Prior to Captain Kronos, he wrote and produced Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde for Hammer. Other films he wrote that fall into and circle around our areas of interest include And Soon the Darkness (which he wrote with Dalek creator Terry Nation), See No Evil (the 1971 Mia Farrow film,), The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, The Watcher in the Woods (one of Disney's forays into horror and one of Ross's all-time favorites), and one of the most bizarre sequels of all time—Highlander II: The Quickening. According to his son Samuel, Clemens' last words were, "I did quite a good job," spoken after watching an episode of The Avengers.In Captain Kronos, the titular character is played by Horst Janson, famous in Germany for his role in Salto Mortale, where he portrayed a trapeze artist. He later became familiar to younger audiences as "Horst" in Sesamstrasse, the German adaptation of Sesame Street, which he hosted from 1980 to 1983. The Captain's voice was dubbed in this film due to Janson's strong German accent, with Julian Holloway taking on the task. Holloway, who featured in eight Carry On films before moving into voice-over work, has recently voiced Prime Minister Almec and Admiral Kilian in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. He also appeared in Doctor Who's last story of the classic era, Survival. In 1976, he had a brief relationship with Tessa Dahl, daughter of Patricia Neal and Roald Dahl, which produced one daughter, the author and former model Sophie Dahl, who was born the following year. The supporting cast includes John Carson as Dr. Marcus, a physician who enlists Kronos's help to investigate strange deaths in his village. Carson, often noted for his voice that bears a striking resemblance to James Mason’s, was a Hammer regular with appearances in Taste the Blood of Dracula and The Plague of the Zombies. Caroline Munro appears as Carla, a Romanian girl who becomes Kronos's feisty sidekick. Known for her glamorous looks, Munro rose to fame as the "Lamb's Navy Rum" poster girl, a role she held for ten years. She initially caught Hammer’s attention through her work on The Abominable Dr. Phibes, where she played Vincent Price's silent, deceased wife, and its sequel Dr. Phibes Rises Again (check out episode 10 for our review of the first of those two "classics"). As well as this film, she of course appeared in the subject of our very first podcast episode, Dracula A.D. 1972. Outside Hammer, Munro went on to play the slave girl Margiana in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, the princess in At the Earth's Core, and the deadly Bond girl Naomi in The Spy Who Loved Me, turning down the role of Ursa in Superman to accept it. The film’s score was composed by Laurie Johnson, who, from the 1960s to the 1980s, composed over fifty themes and scores, including the theme used on This Is Your Life (entitled "Gala Performance"), The Avengers (from 1965), Animal Magic (entitled "Las Vegas"), Jason King, The New Avengers, and The Professionals. Though Captain Kronos was shot in 1972, it was delayed and eventually released in 1974. The film was intended to kick off a series featuring Kronos and his companions, but no sequels were made—although there have been a number of follow up comic book adventures. Get bonus content on PatreonSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/general-witchfinders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Dæmons is the final story in the eighth season of Doctor Who, with Jon Pertwee playing the eponymous hero (see episode 48 covering The House That Dripped Blood for some fantastic Pertrivia). It aired over five weeks on BBC1 from 22 May to 19 June 1971. In The Dæmons, the Master, played by Roger Delgado, awakens the ancient horned alien Azal, hoping to gain his immense power. Delgado, a close friend of Pertwee, worked extensively on stage, TV, film, and radio. His work included the BBC’s Quatermass II, Battle of the River Plate, Hammer's The Mummy's Shroud, and English dubbing for The Horror Express (see episode 7). He often played villains in British action-adventure series like Danger Man, The Saint, The Champions, and Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased). Tragically, Delgado died in a car accident in Turkey while filming a Franco-German mini-series. He was only 55 years old. The Dæmons began as an audition scene for Jo Grant, played by Katy Manning, and was later reworked into episode four. Manning attended Miss Dixon and Miss Wolfe's School for Girls, becoming close friends with Liza Minnelli. She socialized with stars like James Mason, Dirk Bogarde, and had tea with Noël Coward at The Savoy. As a teenager, she modeled for Biba and dated Jimi Hendrix, Richard Eyre, David Troughton, Derek Fowlds, Stewart Bevan, and Peter Bardens, Rod Stewart’s keyboard player. Manning had a close bond with Pertwee, who would pick her up daily for filming, either in his car or on his motorbike, where she would ride pillion. They even raced with Dick Emery and Sir Ralph Richardson to see who could reach the BBC studios first. After three years on Doctor Who, Manning left to pursue other acting work. Pertwee was saddened by her departure, citing her exit and Delgado’s death as two major reasons for leaving the show a year later. Producer Barry Letts wanted to write a story about black magic to tap into the zeitgeist of the Age of Aquarius and frighten young viewers. However, script editor Terrance Dicks had concerns it might be seen as Satanist. The story was revised to focus on a scientific threat with occult themes. Originally, the Master was to worship the demon in a church, but to avoid offending religious viewers, the scenes were moved to a crypt, later referred to as a cavern (though the set remained crypt-like). Letts co-wrote the script with playwright Robert Sloman under the pseudonym Guy Leopold, as the BBC frowned on production staff writing for their own shows. Much of the serial was filmed on location in Aldbourne, Wiltshire, with two weeks allocated for filming—more than double the usual time—leading to more outdoor scenes. The cast included comedy actress Damaris Hayman, who starred as Miss Hawthorne. Hayman had an interest in the supernatural and served as an unofficial adviser on the production. Her friend, a practicing witch, praised the accuracy of the scripts. Future Sooty puppeteer Matthew Corbett had a brief role in the final episode as a hooded coven member who objects to Jo’s sacrifice. Corbett, whose great-uncle was Harry Ramsden of fish-and-chip fame, had to change his name when joining the actors' union Equity, as there was already a Peter Corbett registered.Studio taping for The Dæmons was completed on 16 May 1971, just weeks before the final episode aired. This episode included footage of a model church being blown up, which was so realistic that it prompted viewer complaints. If the clip of the Brigadier's helicopter crashing into the heat shield looks familiar, it was borrowed from the James Bond film From Russia with Love. Get bonus content on PatreonSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/general-witchfinders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This time, we listened to and read Ringing the Changes by Robert Aickman. Robert Fordyce Aickman was an English conservationist and writer. As a conservationist, he played a key role in preserving and restoring England's inland canal system. As a writer, he is best known for his supernatural fiction, which he described as "strange stories."On his mother’s side, Aickman was the grandson of the prolific Victorian novelist Richard Marsh. Marsh is known for his occult thriller The Beetle, a book as popular in its time as Bram Stoker's Dracula. Aickman is best known for his 48 "strange stories," published across eight volumes.Podcast favorite Jeremy Dyson has adapted Aickman’s work in various forms. Listen to episode 8 for our most in-depth look at Jeremy’s work. A musical version of Aickman’s short story The Same Dog, co-written by Dyson and Joby Talbot, premiered in 2000 at the Barbican Concert Hall.In 2000, Dyson, along with his League of Gentlemen collaborator Mark Gatiss, adapted Ringing the Changes into a BBC Radio Four play, airing exactly twenty years after the CBC adaptation. This adaptation was intended to start a tradition of 'An Aickman Story for Halloween,' but unfortunately, it did not continue. Dyson also directed a 2002 short film based on Aickman’s story The Cicerones, with Gatiss as the principal actor.It is this Dyson/Gatiss adaptation that we listened to for this episode. (Thanks to ‘Mysterious Magpie’ for putting this up on YouTube so we could listen to it)The cast includes George Baker as Gerald. Baker is known for his roles in The Dam Busters as Flight Lieutenant D. J. H. Maltby, Tiberius in I, Claudius, D.C.I. Wexford in The Ruth Rendell Mysteries, Decider Logrin in the Doctor Who story Full Circle, and appearances in two James Bond films. Fiona Allen plays Phrynne. Allen is an actress and writer known for 24 Hour Party People, Smack the Pony, and Poirot. She has been married to Michael Parkinson since April 2001. This surprised Ross when writing this until he discovered it wasn’t ‘That’ Michael Parkinson (see episode 18 of this podcast for more about him). Instead, it’s the patronymic son of the chat show legend, whom she met while he was working as a location manager on Smack the Pony. Confused? I am! Friend of the show Mark Gatiss appears as the Narrator and Mr. Pascoe, the landlord. Commandant Shortcroft is played by Michael Cochrane, known for his role in 280 episodes of The Archers, Arnold (Private Godfrey) Ridley in We’re Doomed! The Dad’s Army Story, and for playing three different characters in three different episodes of Heartbeat.Barbara Shelley plays Mrs. Pascoe. Known to our podcast listeners for her portrayal of Barbara Judd in the Hammer version of Quatermass and the Pit (reviewed in episode 34), she also starred in The Village of the Damned (which we need to review soon), Dracula: Prince of Darkness (one of the Dracula films we still need to cover), Rasputin: The Mad Monk, The Gorgon, and the 1958 Hammer wannabe Blood of the Vampire, written by Jimmy Sangster. She also appeared in both Blake’s 7 and Doctor Who— as I'm sure James is dying to know, we can tell you she played Sorasta in Planet of Fire and was considered for the role of Tanha in Snakedance… but that’s enough Doctor Who for now… Get bonus content on PatreonSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/general-witchfinders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"The House That Dripped Blood" is a 1971 British anthology horror film directed by Peter Duffell and distributed by Amicus Productions. The film is a collection of four short stories, each concerning a series of inhabitants of the eponymous building. Denholm Elliott appears in the segment "Method for Murder," playing Charles Hillyer. He is joined by Joanna Dunham, who portrays Alice Hillyer, Charles' wife. Peter Cushing stars in the segment "Waxworks," portraying Philip Grayson. Joss Ackland (known for "Lethal Weapon 2," "Watership Down," and "Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey," among over 100 other films) plays Neville Rogers, Grayson's friend. Wolfe Morris appears as the Waxworks Proprietor. Christopher Lee appears in the segment "Sweets to the Sweet," playing John Reid. He is joined by Nyree Dawn Porter (star of "The Forsyte Saga," who turned down the lead female role in "The Avengers") as Ann Norton, the tutor hired to care for Reid's daughter. Jon Pertwee features in the segment "The Cloak," portraying Paul Henderson. Ingrid Pitt plays Carla Lind, Henderson's co-star and love interest in the vampire film they're working on. All of the stories were written by Robert Bloch, best known as the writer of "Psycho." Bloch wrote hundreds of short stories and over 30 novels and was a protégé of H. P. Lovecraft. Amicus films are sometimes mistaken for the output of Hammer Films due to their similar visual style and use of some of the same actors. However, unlike the period gothic Hammer films, Amicus productions were usually set in the present day. In the Second World War, Denholm Elliott (famous to this podcast for his titular role as the Signalman in the BBC "Ghost Story for Christmas," podcast episode 21) joined the Royal Air Force, training as a wireless operator/air gunner in 1942. His aircraft was hit by flak and subsequently ditched in the North Sea. Elliott and four of his crewmen survived, and he spent the rest of the war in Stalag Luft VIIIb, a prisoner-of-war camp. Later, Pertwee was attached to the top-secret Naval Intelligence Division, working alongside future James Bond author (and of course Big Chris Lee’s cousin) Ian Fleming and reporting directly to Prime Minister Winston Churchill. In 1967, he was chosen by "Dad's Army" producer David Croft for the role of Captain Mainwaring, but Pertwee turned it down. In 1969, Pertwee asked his agent to apply for the role of Doctor Who and was surprised to find he was already on the shortlist. He was the second choice for the role; Ron Moody was the first but was unavailable. Jon Pertwee later claimed that "The House That Dripped Blood" was meant to be a comedy-horror film and was initially filmed in that way. However, during the production, "the producer came in, took one look at what we are doing, and went raving mad," insisting it be a horror film and not a comedy. This change meant a shift in tone, but the material already filmed remained, resulting in the film dipping in quality and edits to remove comedy elements from Pertwee's sequences. He also admitted that he intentionally based his character on his co-star and friend Christopher Lee. In a scene where Jon's character talks about favourite roles, he says that he prefers Bela Lugosi's Dracula rather than "the chap who plays him nowadays." Get bonus content on PatreonSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/general-witchfinders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.