Announcing a brand new book – Don’t Dare See It Alone! Essays on Hammer Films – by Robert J.E. Simpson (yes, that’s me, the editor of ExclusiveFilms.co.uk), published through Avalard Publishing. Read on!
Don’t Dare See It Alone! Essays on Hammer Films by Robert JE Simpson. *Not final cover art*
With the Exclusive Films Book taking a little longer than anticipated to complete, and with Hammer’s 90th birthday later this year, I’m releasing an anthology of my writing on Hammer Films from the last 25 years.
A collection of essays covering the entire history of Hammer, from it and Exclusive Films’ origins, studies of some of the classic gothics, reflective essays, archival finds, and even set reports from 21st century Hammer’s Wake Wood. Drawn from magazines, books, conferences, websites, blogs and other places words are shared, with many appearing in print for the first time in many years (or indeed ever!). Even if you’ve followed my writing in the past, there’s bound to be something new for you in here.
The book will appear in print during May 2024* in paperback and ebook editions, with a collector’s hardback following in June (owing to production issues, the hardbacks always take a little longer). The volume is illustrated, with a collection of colour and black and white imagery. Final contents are still being settled but will be over 250 pages long, with an RRP of £20 for paperback and £45 for hardback.
I’ve been writing about Hammer since 1998, I was the editor of the Unofficial Hammer Films Site, and later editor for Hammer’s official website and an archivist for the company. I’m currently writing a book about Hammer’s distribution arm, Exclusive Films, and my first book – The Willing Fool: The Spectacle of The Wicker Manwas published in 2021. I regularly broadcast on BBC Radio, host the CinePunked podcast, and was recently seen in the official mini-documentary Hammer A.D. 2023 which was released to tie-in with the cinematic debut of Doctor Jekyll.
Don’t Dare See It Alone will be available through Amazon and selected retailers from the end of May, but you can pre-order now directly through my personal Ko-Fi page and secure both signed and unsigned copies. Pre-ordering direct helps support my ongoing research and will ensure you’re among the first to receive your copies.
If we reach 100 pre-orders I’ll add a previously unpublished interview with Jimmy Sangster to the book, and you’ll have the option to have your name included in the acknowledgements.
If we get to 150 pre-orders, I’ll add a previously unpublished piece about an unmade Hammer film.
To pre-order a signed copy of the book in paperback or hardback, CLICK HERE.
To pre-order an unsigned copy of the book in paperback or hardback, CLICK HERE.
Thanks again for your support!
* Publication is set for mid-late May 2024. If there’s any delays we’ll let you know! Shipping for paperbacks and hardbacks will be no later than June 2024.
The original Hammer Productions trademark logo with Bombardier Billy Wells (1934)
Today (9 November 2023) marks the actual birthday of Hammer Films. At the start of the week, on 5 November, Hammer released a short documentary about the history and legacy of the company’s horror output to mark the 89th anniversary of Hammer – albeit slightly prematurely. The documentary Hammer A.D. 2023 was made by Deep Fusion Films for Hammer, produced and directed by Benjamin Field and executive produced by Jamie Anderson (part of both Deep Fusion and Hammer’s new directorships). It features contributions from Hammer actors Caroline Munro and Madeline Smith, alongside critical assessments from Mark Gatiss, Mike Muncer, Sam Clemens and a certain Robert J.E. Simpson, plus Hammer’s new CEO John Gore. It is my first official Hammer contribution in many years and I’m delighted to be part of it.
You can watch the video via Hammer’s YouTube channel:
Somewhat surprisingly, the exact date of Hammer’s inception seems to have eluded Hammer historians over the last 30 years. While there are some who will take the view that the Hammer that emerged at the end of the 1940s is the ‘true’ Hammer, the filmmaking credentials stem back to the formation of Hammer Productions Ltd, an extension of Will ‘Hammer’ Hinds’ various business endeavours.
Hammer’s own official history, The Hammer Story gives the inception only as “November 1934” (Hearn, Marcus & Barnes, Alan, The Hammer Story: The Authorised History of Hammer Films, Revised edition, Titan Books: London, 2007, p8).
Denis Meikle (normally so good on these things) also gives it simply as “November 1934” (Meikle, Denis, A History of Horrors: The Rise and Fall of the House of Hammer, Revised Edition, Scarecrow Press: Lanham, 2009, p2). And then erroneously gives Exclusive Films’ inception as ‘December 1934’ (Meikle, p3), whereas that company wasn’t registered until 10 May 1935.
Even Wayne Kinsey’s most recent offering (Kinsey, Wayne, The House That Hammer Built: The Complete Hinds/Carreras Years (1934-79). Volume 1: 1934-49, Peveril Publishing: Barnby, 2022), which manages to identify the formation of Will Hinds’ WH Productions Ltd on 19 April 1933 (Kinsey, p6) again only states a ‘November 1934’ formation for Hammer Productions Ltd (Kinsey, p8).
Some years ago, while working as archivist and online content provider for Hammer I set about trying to identify the exact formation date, a tiny but important detail I planned to use in my upcoming books. With Hammer’s 90th just a year away, and an anniversary worth marking, and even the current company uncertain re its origins it seems timely to put that right.
Hammer Productions Ltd (company #293,900) was in fact registered on 9 November 1934, with shares worth £1000 (900 Ordinary Shares of £1 each, and 2000 Cumulative Preference shares of 1s). Its stated objects : to carry on the business of proprietors of theatres, kinematograph theatres, and music and concert halls, producers of stage plays, operas etc.
The listed directors of the new company: Henry Passmore, 1 Meadway, Golders Green, N.W.; George A. Gillings, 102 Morshead Mansions, Maida Vale, W.9; David J. Gillings (aka. George Mozart), 102 Morshead Mansions, Maida Vale, W.9, comedian; James E. Wills, Flat 24, 20 Hallam Street, W.C., film director; Will Hammer, 261 Goldhawk Road, W.12, entertainer.
Company secretary was James Dawson, and the registered office was 261 Goldhawk Road, home to Will Hinds’ various business pursuits. The production office was at 53 Haymarket in central London.
Preparation was already well underway on Hammer’s projected slate of theatre and film productions. on 17 November 1934 an agreement was signed between Herbert Ayres and Bernard Mainwaring and Hammer Productions Ltd for the rights in their screenplay “Henry the Ninth” with the sum of £150 paid to each writer for their work. Production would commence under Mainwaring’s direction at A.T.P Studios, Ealing the following week with BBC Radio star Leonard Henry in the titular role.
A second film was announced, to be directed by J Elder Wills – a newspaper story called ‘6.30 News’, from a screenplay by Cork-born Percy Robinson and actor Terence de Marney (who would later appear in Hammer’s The Mystery of the Mary Celeste). It appears to have been shelved at an early stage.
While at Ealing, Hammer also filmed their distinctive first trademark logo – with famous heavyweight boxer ‘Bombardier’ Billy Wells (then aged 45) striking a red hot iron with a hammer on an anvil. Later he would be the third body behind Rank’s ‘Gongman’ character, and in the 1960s would return to Hammer as a set bus driver!
The eventual first feature The Public Life of Henry the Ninth was submitted to the BBFC on 10 January 1935 and trade shown at the end of the month, with eventual release by MGM. Aside from a re-release by Exclusive Films in April 1940, the film has disappeared and is now thought lost.
Robert JE Simpson 9 November 2023
At present I am working on two volumes outlining the ‘other’ history of the Hammer group – the first of which, on Exclusive Films, is due out early 2024, with the second intended to follow later in the year. If you’d like to support my ongoing research, you can donate via https://ko-fi.com/avalard
This article is provided free of charge. However you can support my research and work via donations via my Ko-Fi here Quatermass and the Pit – UK quad poster artwork, 1967April 2022 marks the centenary of legendary screenwriter Nigel Kneale. This, the first in a two-part article, takes an in-depth look at the set dressing for the Hammer Films version of Kneale’s Quatermass and the Pit.
Hammer’s film version of Nigel Kneale’s Quatermass and the Pit (1967) – based on the earlier BBC tv serial – is widely regarded as one of the highlights in the canon of Hammer horror. Not just because of its splendid script, performances and direction under the guiding hand of Roy Ward Baker, but because of its stunning production design courtesy of Hammer veteran Bernard Robinson.
Having abandoned Bray Studios, Hammer was now in partnership with Seven Arts, ABPC, and Twentieth Century Fox – and for filming, decamped to MGM Studios near Borehamwood.
Filming took place from 27 February through 25 April 1967, with a convincing London street section and tube station built on the backlot.
Attentive fans have long noticed a bit of self-promotion from the Hammer brand within the production design of the film. As Wayne Kinsey notes: “In a cheeky bit of free publicity, one of the posters that adorned the wall of his tube station was from Hammer’s The Witches.”[1]
But, this isn’t the only piece of advertising in the film – indeed, there are a number of posters on display, including several for Hammer products.
Considering the streets and tube station are fictional constructs, it is enlightening to see the efforts that the production team went to, to convey a believable space. The various posters on show do tie the film into its production period in 1967 in an unmistakable manner.
Kim Newman suggests that “For the most part, the serial uses fake products, companies and newspapers.” [2] But in actual fact, the bulk of the named products and companies are real. The posters are real. The magazines are real.
Thanks to the joys of modern home entertainment formats, it is possible to scrutinise the set in greater detail than a typical cinema outing.
The Posters of Hobbs End Underground Station
The underground station itself contains no fewer than three Hammer posters.
Kinsey is quite right when he notes the poster for The Witches. Visible on the wall in several shots is a standard British quad (approx 30 x 40″ in size). The artwork was by the legendary Tom Chantrell, and posters were screen printed, including vibrant dayglo inks. See the full artwork here:
The Witches had been produced at Bray Studios as part of the same deal as Quatermass and the Pit and had opened in London in November 1966, and as filming started on Quatermass was still playing on screens across the UK in places like the Alexandra Cinema in Coventry (demolished in 2014) and The Curzon in Belfast (demolished 2003).
In the frenzy that follows the fatal press conference towards the film’s climax, the poster will end up on the floor among the debris, covering the body of one of the injured. Itself perhaps a nod to The Witchs‘ own frenzied end (see above).
On the wall opposite the poster for The Witches, and to the left, just visible as various cast members enter the Hobbs Lane set is a quad for Dracula Prince of Darkness – another Tom Chantrell artwork, screen printed with dayglo inks (and one of my personal favourite Hammer posters). You can see it on the far left of the screengrab above – and in more detail in the picture below (of an original in my own collection – those inks are quite something!).
Dracula Prince of Darkness had been released to UK cinemas by Warner Pathe in January 1966, and by the end of February 1967 as cameras rolled on Quatermass was no longer screening (although it was playing at the Abbey Cinema in Wicklow, Ireland. It had still been playing regional screens in Irvine, Scotland, and Belfast in Northern Ireland the month before, and would pick up additional screenings after Quatermass wrapped (hitting the Lyric, Coventry in August).
Also visible in the shot above is a quad poster featuring artwork by Bob Peak for the film adaptation of musical My Fair Lady, starring Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn. Another Warner Pathe release, it had made its way to UK screens at the end of 1964.
Perhaps surprisingly for cinema-goers in 2022, My Fair Lady was still playing cinemas at the time of the Quatermass production. Screening in March and April 1967 at the likes of Belfast, Warrington, Coventry, King’s Lynn, Lanarkshire and at the Oxford Cinema, Whitstable (which Hammer fans may note is now the Peter Cushing pub!).
Pictured to its right in the Hobbs Lane set is a promotional poster for daily Coach Air trips from London to Jersey, at the bargain price of £6 14s. I haven’t been able to identify the poster precisely, but it appears to be a 1967 Jersey Airways product.
From another angle, we can see two further posters on the platform itself. Just a couple of feet to the left of The Witches image that started this thread (just visible above) there is an advertisement for Johnnie Walker Scotch Whisky.
Walker’s Scotch had origins in Ayrshire in the 1820s, and its ‘striding man’ ident had been in use since 1908. There are many similar adverts based around the man with a plain white background, usually accompanied by the slogan “still going strong”. While I haven’t found an exact duplicate the following advertisement (found via Alamy) is similar:
This second version is closer in terms of wording, but lacks the obvious copy from the bottom of the Underground poster, but appears to be a modern repro based on a vintage advert.
Another Johnnie Walker poster is visible as the visitors exit the lift into the platform area, close to the Dracula poster.
And a third Johnnie Walker poster is present on the other side of the tunnel. We see it only fleetingly in a pan, but it carries a picture of a bottle of whisky and to its right a tumbler with a measure of spirits, and the legend “Johnnie Walker for all seasons”.
As the dishevelled soldier is taken to a seat, we can actually see the image of the whisky tumbler on one side of the frame, while Barbara Shelley takes out a hipflask and offers a tot. Then we see Quatermass taking a nip of whisky while one of the Johnnie Walker posters is clear in the back of frame, “I don’t normally before midday” – I think its safe to say this was a bit of careful product placement.
Disappointingly, the slogan “Choose English Cheese” which we can see as the soldier is being tended to, does not result in a cheddar and crackers picnic.
The ‘Choose English Cheese’ adverts, were part of a marketing strategy used throughout the 1960s and beyond by the Milk Marketing Board – a company Hammer worked with on multiple promotions, including during filming of The Mummy’s Shroud and Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires.
You can see a full authentic ‘Choose English Cheese’ poster, complete with cheesy stack, just behind the car in this photo taken in West End Lane in 1966 by Flickr user Libby Hall.
West End Lane, London, 1966. Pic by Libby Hall embedded from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/libbyhalldogs/17192438610/
And, also from 1966 the same poster (identical to the one on the Hammer set) photographed in Trinity Street, Coventry on the Flickr account of Glen Fairweather.
‘Choose English Cheese’ poster in Coventry, 1966. Pic by Glen Fairweather. Embedded from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/trainsandstuff/38169984262
To the left of the Johnnie Walker poster, visible over Barbara Shelley’s shoulder in the screengrab below, is another quad film poster…
This one is for Hotel, a Warner Bros melodrama directed by Richard Quine, which had just gone on UK release as Hammer commenced filming. [If you’re interested, there’s a quad on ebay from RareFilmPosters at the time of writing – January 2022 – here].
One other Hammer makes an appearance in the station set, just visible in the next image:
Easily missed, is the Tom Chantrell artwork on the quad poster for Hammer/Warner Pathe’s The Reptile. First released on a double bill with Rasputin – The Mad Monk in March 1966, it had just finished a short run at the Regal, Wadebridge in February 1967, and opened at the Broxburn Regal, West Lothian on 27 February and would continue a run of Irish and Scottish screens during March and April.
There are several other posters visible in the Hobbs Lane set. I’ve not been able to get a clear image of each of them.
Just beside the cordoned off platform is a rather bright advertisement with the words “express road services through the Thames Valley” (there’s another example beside the Dracula poster and lift doors). This is actually an advert for motorway services – fuel stations, accommodations, rest stops and their ilk – from South Midland Motor Services Ltd, and Thames Valley Traction Co. Ltd. It was designed by artist Royston Cooper in 1960 and outlines the coach routes from London to Worcester in a flower form. Cooper designed quite a few transport and health and safety posters during the 60s and 70s – many of you will know his work, without knowing his work.
The routes incidentally, take in High Wycombe and Maidenhead – right through the heart of the old Hammer country…
Unsurprisingly, a second Royston Cooper poster for the network is also present on the set. Depicting the route in a tree like form, you can see it in the next image. On the wall opposite is one of his flower posters, and you can also see a Johnnie Walker and Dracula Prince of Darkness images.
This also originates to c. 1960.
Also present are a travel advert advertising the “Sunny South Coast” with a large orange fish on a navy background. And on the right, what looks to be an advert for train services through the Northwest, Midlands and London. I have not been able to locate original examples of these at time of writing.
Seaside holidays were evidently the done thing, in the days before cheap international travel, and UK stations happily promoted the convenience of the transport network. One final example can be clearly spotted just to the left of the platform advert for the South Midland Motor Services.
The lovely example on the right of the poster for The Reptile, is advertising the pleasantries of Clacton and its daily entertainment. It does seem a rather apt choice for a Hammer film. Will Hammer had presented entertainment shows in Clacton for many years, and owned the West Cliff Theatre, alongside presenting shows in other venues in the town.
The distinctive poster with its girl and inflatable duck is by illustrator Daphne Padden (21 May 1927 – 21 September 2009). She worked extensively during the 1950s, 60s and 70s on advertising material in a distinctive style (echoed by the satirical work of Scarfolk today), mostly in watercolour and gouache.
An example with very wording to the one used in the Hammer set can be found on the Flickr account of Velda.
Clacton poster by Daphne Padden, 1959. Pic by Flickr user Velda. Embedded from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/32233680@N00/3371273552
Padden’s work was not unfamiliar on the London Underground. In 2010 works at Notting Hill Gate station uncovered a time-capsule of film posters and Padden posters dating to around 1959. There’s no Hammer posters among them (though plenty of names familiar to fans), but it does have eerie echoes. You can see more photos and read more background here.
Notting Hill Gate station posters from c.1959, uncovered in 2010. Photographed for London Underground by Flickr user mickeyashworth. Embedded from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/36844288@N00/4669837848
I have spotted at least three other posters in the Underground station that I cannot identify – if at a future date I am able to, I will update this article.
While that takes us safely through the posters in the Hobbs Lane interior, there are a number of other names and logos seen throughout the film. Some of these are quite probably examples of product placement from sponsors, and not merely being used for verisimilitude. I’ve left a few examples for others to play with, but have attempted to identify any advertising on walls within the sets, should you wish to build your own Quatermass and the Pit replica set.
In part 2 of this study we will look at some of the advertising outside of the Hobbs Lane station set.
Robert JE Simpson
8 April 2022
If you enjoyed this, you can follow my Hammer Films research on Twitter at @exclusivephdThis article is provided free of charge. However you can support my research and work via donations via my Ko-Fi here
[1]Wayne Kinsey, Hammer Films: The Elstree Years (Tomahawk Press, 2009), p24
[2]Kim Newman, BFI Film Classics: Quatermass and the Pit (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2019)
Belfast poster (2021)One Million Years B.C. poster (1966)
Kenneth Branagh’s 2021 film Belfast is not just a film about Branagh’s own complicated relationship with the city of his birth, but also a film which celebrates his love for the stage and screen.
While the film is presented mostly in striking black and white (bar bookends of the modern city, which sit separate to the main narrative), when the young protagonist, Buddy, is at the cinema, or goes to the theatre, the action he watches is played out in glorious colour. That includes a theatre sequence featuring A Christmas Carol, and cinema outings to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and earlier in the film, Hammer’s 1966 picture One Million Years BC.
The film takes place in 1969, some three years after the original release of One Million Years BC. It can be hard for modern audiences to get their heads around a time when films would still be playing out in cinemas for months and even years after their initial release. But it could easily take a mainstream release a year or two to reach the regional cinemas of the UK and Ireland in the 1960s.
Its worth remembering too, that in 1969 there were around 20 cinemas across the greater Belfast area, made up mostly of independently run companies and local chains, plus the bigger ABC. The programmes were hugely varied, cinemas tended to have only one or two screens, and in order to see all the films you wanted, you had to move around. The multiplex experience has given us clone-like offerings, and taken away a great deal of the uniqueness of cinema programming.
As a fellow Belfast boy, albeit one 20 years younger than writer/director Branagh, and one who has long been a writer on film and a fan of Hammer films, the use of a Hammer title in Belfast was bound to prick my attention. And the film historian in me wondered whether it might be possible to anchor the events Branagh seems to be remembering to a real-life timeline and identify both the dates and cinemas attended. After a bit of archival detective work, I believe I’ve narrowed the remembered outing to an exact day in 1969.
The opening moments of Belfast gives an onscreen caption dating the beginning of the story to 15 August 1969, and events unfurl between then and the following Easter. There’s a certain amount of historical truth to the timings of the riots etc. But we’re not concerned with those here. We’re only concerned with the film screenings.
At some point after the break out of trouble in Belfast, Buddy’s father comes come – which he does every other weekend anyway, from his job in England.
Buddy tries to convince his family to see Robin and the 7 Hoods (Belfast. Dir. Kenneth Branagh, 2021)
During one of those return visits young Buddy (Jude Hill) enthusiastically suggests to his father, Pa (played by Jamie Dornan – a man who earned his own Hammer credentials with an appearance in the 2006 MySpace co-production Beyond the Rave) that they could go and see Robin and the 7 Hoods, which is playing in the afternoon in the Capitol. His mum asks him if its about gangsters, and his brother says its a musical.
Buddy, confused, says: “No it’s not. There’s Little John and swords and everything!”
Evidently Buddy and his family are thinking of two different Robin Hood films.
Pa tells them he’ll pick the film and they’ll go to the big cinema in town. The family, we know, live in the Tiger’s Bay area of North Belfast, and Buddy attends Grove Primary School. (The area is not too far from the Nelson Street birthplace of another veteran Hammer performer – Sam Kydd).
There were cinemas closer to them, but much smaller, and a little less of an event. The closest cinema would probably have been the Grove (known prior to 1965 as the Troxy), although if they ventured further up the Shore Road, they could have gone to the Lido (also owned by Troxy Cinemas Ltd, and in possession of the first cinemascope screen in Belfast).
Robin and the 7 Hoods is a 1964 film starring Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr, Bing Crosby and Peter Falk, and while based loosely on Robin Hood, is indeed both a gangster film and a musical, including a glorious number ‘Mr. Booze’ which younger readers might be familiar with from a Family Guy homage.
‘Mr. Booze’ in Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964)
It had played Belfast in 1964 and 1967, and had indeed played screens in the city in 1969, but from Monday 31 March to Saturday 4 April when it played the Classic at 12.35, 4.30 and 8.25pm daily.
The Classic cinema was a small cinema on College Square East that originally opened in 1910 and was destroyed in a bomb blast in 1971.
College Square East, 1953. On the right of frame is the Mayfair Cinema, later known as the Classic. Photographer: unknown.
If the timing is right, Buddy must be mistaken about which Robin Hood film is playing. More on that shortly.
Instead of the promise of a Rat Pack gangster musical (which I would encourage you all to check out, its rather brilliant), Pa takes the family to see the glories of Raquel Welch and her iconic fur bikini in Hammer’s One Million Years B.C. – “it’s educational” he insists.
Buddy watches Raquel Welch in Hammer’s One Million Years B.C. (Belfast. Dir. Kenneth Branagh, 2021)
At the cinema we watch as Buddy is enraptured by the women on screen, in a vivid moment of over-saturated colour breaking through the black and white world of Belfast.
One Million Years B.C. had its UK cinema premier on 30 December 1966, so is it possible that the film was still screening in the big cinema in Belfast city centre in 1969? Indeed it is…
October 1969
The ABC Majestic Cinema, Lisburn Road, Belfast. Photographer unknown.
Distributors Warner-Pathé re-released the film across the UK and Ireland in 1968.
For the week beginning 13 October 1969, One Million Years B.C. was playing at the ABC Majestic on the Lisburn Road in a double bill with Hammer’s She in a continuous show Monday and Saturday at 2.15pm, and Tuesday to Friday 5.15pm.
It was also playing at the ABC Strand (in East Belfast, still in operation today as the Strand Arts Centre), also in a double bill with She at 7.15pm each evening, with a Saturday matinee at 2pm and a minors’ matinee on the Saturday at 9.30am! Curiously both films at the Strand screening are described as ‘abridged version’ suggesting there was a shorter edit in circulation (something I’ve never come across before now!).
Advert for One Million Years B.C. and She at ABC Strand, Belfast from 13 October 1969. Note the ‘Abridged version’ advert.
Meanwhile The Capitol on the Antrim Road (where Buddy mistakenly says Robin and the 7 Hoods is playing) was screening The Most Dangerous Man in the World and Gendarme of St. Tropez.
The Capitol Cinema, Antrim Road, Belfast. Photographer: Unknown
Incidentally, Hammer fans that week could also have taken themselves to see The Gorgon, which was screening every day at the Rex on the Woodstock Road in East Belfast (at a very precise 8.43pm, with Saturday matinee at 2pm). Or you could have caught *ehem* revival screenings of Kiss of the Vampire and Paranoiac at the Park Cinema on the Oldpark Road on Monday and Tuesday. Glorious!!
July 1969 However, I rather suspect that the actual screening that Buddy (or indeed Kenneth Branagh) was at, was in July 1969 during what is known in these parts as the ‘Twelfth Fortnight’, where many folks take their holidays owing to the proliferation of Orange marches [I’ll spare you the history lesson on these] and shutting down of many businesses for the early part of the month.
Double bill quad for the re-release of Hammer’s One Million Years B.C. and She.
On 12th July itself, a protestant family like Buddy’s looking for entertainment, could either join in and watch the annual Orange Order marches through the city, or plonk themselves in the ABC Cinema where One Million Years B.C. and She were playing (as they had been from Monday 7th through to Saturday 12th) – the Ursula Andress vehicle screening at 12.50, 4.05 and 7.20pm, with Raquel Welch and Ray Harryhausen’s dinosaurs screening at 2.35, 5.50 and 9.10pm.
The following day, Sunday 13th, and for the next seven days the Classic Cinema (yes it again) was screening Hammer’s A Challenge for Robin Hood as 2.20, 4.45 and 9.05pm (with a family special on Sunday at 7pm).
Advert from Belfast Telegraph, 12 July 1969 showing One Million Years BC showing at Hammer’s ABC Theatre and A Challenge for Robin Hood at Classic, College Square.
With A Challenge For Robin Hood having screened in various Belfast cinemas in 1968 already, it seems that young Buddy is describing the contents of A Challenge For Robin Hood (a fairly traditional telling with “Little John, swords and everything”), which was due to screen at the Classic (and was advertised in the newspapers alongside the listings for One Million Years B.C. – see above), but mixing it up with the title of Robin and the 7 Hoods, which had played at the same cinema a couple of months before, and that the outing must have been to the ABC screening of One Million Years B.C. on 12th July itself.
Theatrical trailer for A Challenge For Robin Hood (1967).
This makes sense as we know Pa is normally only home at weekends. Further, Pa is told by one of the other men that he isn’t a ‘proper’ protestant, which could easily be reflected in the family’s shunning the more traditional seasonal celebrations for the glow of the silver screen.
We can probably rule out the 9.10pm screening as this seems a little late to be going to for the 9 year-old Buddy/Branagh. If I was to take a guess, I’d hazard the 5.50pm screening more likely than the 2.35pm one, as it would allow them to enjoy a leisurely morning/afternoon outdoors, and hopefully avoid any of the traffic complications of the returning Orange Order marches when the screen got out around 7.30pm. This would also have made it quite possibly they saw the 4.05pm screening of She too, although that isn’t mentioned in Belfast.
If there was any doubt about that particular cinema’s status, the ABC originally opened as the Ritz in 1936 and was known as ‘Ireland’s wonder cinema’ with its wurlitzer organ and cafe and seating for over 2200. It was the big cinema in the centre of town. It stood a couple of doors down from the Grand Opera House on Great Victoria Street, later becoming the Cannon cinema, before being demolished in 1994. [My only memory of it is seeing Ghostbusters II here when I was a kid!]. It was also just across the street and up a few doors from the humble Classic.
Relative positions of The Grand Opera House, the Royal Hippodrome (later New Vic), and the Ritz (later ABC Theatre / Cannon Film Centre). Photographer: Unknown.
So there you have it, the memory of a 9 year old Kenneth Branagh, is actually pretty good, and we can allow the slight discrepancy down to dramatic license and the passing of 50 years. One also can’t help but wonder if Branagh is a fellow Hammer fan, with interest not just in One Million Years B.C., but a voiced desire to see A Challenge For Robin Hood. Mr Branagh, if you’re reading… do let us know!
Robert JE Simpson 24 March 2022
If you enjoyed this, you can follow my Hammer Films research on Twitter at @exclusivephd
This article is provided free of charge. You can support my research and work via donations via my Ko-Fi here.
X the Unknown, for the uninitiated, is a science fiction film from Hammer Films, released in 1956. Starring Dean Jagger as an atomic scientist, the film is concerned with a blob-like threat that thrives off nuclear energy. Scripted by Jimmy Sangster, and directed by Leslie Norman (following the sudden departure of Joseph Losey after filming had commenced).
Originally Hammer / Exclusive Films had conceived the project as a direct sequel to their smash success The Quatermass Xperiment, itself based on a popular BBC serial by Nigel Kneale. Once Kneale got wind of the plan, he refused permission, and Hammer proceeded to develop the project with a thinly-disguised alternative lead character instead of the continued adventures of Professor Bernard Quatermass (well, until Kneale scripted an adaptation of Quatermass II for them).
The film was originally a co-production between Exclusive Films and Sol Lesser’s RKO in the US, with RKO lined up to distribute in North America, until their fortune faltered and the film was picked up instead by Warner Bros.
Over the years, X the Unknown has been repeated on television fairly regularly, and has been released on laserdisc, DVD and finally restored in HD for Blu-Ray, with several releases around the world including Shock Entertainment in Australia and Scream Factory in the US. The print you’ll see in HD is sourced from an original Warner Bros US release, and is more than serviceable. But overlooked to date on every release is the fact that this differs significantly from the original UK release by Exclusive Films in one crucial sequence – the opening.
In the print you’re more than likely familiar with, X the Unknown opens with captions played out over a scene of an empty quarry, backed to a rousing, menacing James Bernard score. Once the credits end, the music cuts and the shot moves to take into frame a soldier with a Geiger counter, scanning the mud. Its quite an effective jump and moves us into a sense of eerie emptiness and a work in progress.
Here’s the sequence as it plays out on screen:
X the Unknown – US title sequence
Back in 2011 Icon Films released a series of Hammer titles to DVD. Following a warehouse fire, the masters to the previous range of DVDs in the UK produced by DD Home Entertainment were lost. And so, Icon resorted to whatever masters they could get their hands on – mostly much older. The fans, noticing the drop in picture quality and restoration between the DD releases (which appear to have used the same source material as the Anchor Bay discs in the US and Anolis releases in Germany) and the new Icon discs, were outraged and disappointed. Perhaps understandably.
However, unnoticed by just about everyone, the copy of X the Unknown wasn’t a sub-standard version of the WB print, but an old SD video taken from an original UK Exclusive Films print. The quality featured a notable drop, but I was excited, for surely in the UK, this film ought to be sourced from a country-of-origin master?
The Icon disc included BBFC X cert card, the Exclusive name, and a slight text variation in the credits themselves. Curiously, while the US print bears a copyright line for Sol Lesser, the Exclusive print omits a copyright line entirely.
The significant change, is something quite different.
In the US prints, the music starts as soon as the Warner Bros logo appears and continues throughout the credits sequence. In the UK Exclusive print however, after an initial sting as the film’s title appears onscreen, the music suddenly drops away. And instead we are left with the sequence playing out over a wild track. You can hear the sounds of the quarry, some birds. Its still, its eerie. And it puts us right into the zone of discomfort even before we see the soldiers on their exercise.
X the Unknown is a film that plays with very little non-diegetic music overall. It allows those uneasy silences and stillness to play out, emphasising the remote nature of the Scottish landscape where events unfold. The decision to cut the music right from the start is very much part of the mise-en-scene of the picture.
Here’s the sequence from the Exclusive print for comparison:
X the Unknown – UK title sequence
Surprisingly, as far as I can tell, the rest of the sound cues throughout the film are exactly the same between the two prints. It is possible that there are visual cues that differ, but watching the two prints back to back this week, I couldn’t spot them.
What is clear, however, is that the Exclusive print is darker overall. This is probably the result of a soft transfer onto SD video at some point in the 1980s from an old, tired, release print of the film – possibly even a 16mm print rather than a 35mm. However, while at times, it is a little too much like peering through mud, I do think there’s an argument to be made for darkening any future restoration. The night sequences in the Exclusive print, do appear to take place at night – the shadows loom large like a film noir. With the current HD Warner print the night sequences are a little over-lit. Similarly, the special effects shots seem a little more convincing in the dark – when we can’t see the join.
X the Unknown deserves a proper restoration, alongside its spiritual brothers The Quatermass Xperiment and Quatermass II. And taken from original UK elements where possible. (Paging the BFI!)
The BFI archives hold an original 35mm negative, along with multiple positive prints and a digital master (although I’m not clear if that digital master is taken from Exclusive or Warner Bros source material). Therefore it would seem hypothetically possible for a remaster built around the original UK/Exclusive elements should be possible.
As an addendum : Curiously in the early hours of Sunday 13 October 2013 the BBC screenedX the Unknown in a unique hybrid. The broadcast included the Exclusive Films title at the front, but from that point on used the existing WB print source for the rest of the film. Completists may have thought they’d been treated to a clean original UK print, but sadly not.
I prepared a comparison of the opening and closing captions of the Exclusive and Warner Bros prints later that day and sent the notes to my former line manager at Hammer (I’d by this point stopped working for the company), Nic Ransome, who had been overseeing a major restoration project for Blu-Ray, in case it was of use. At that point, X the Unknown wasn’t lined up for an HD restoration however. Those comparisons are below for reference. The one clear difference is on the production team credit card. The final “A Hammer Film” card comes from the close of the film and is not part of the opening sequence.
Before I began work on my PhD officially, I started working out an outline of ideas and tried to solidify the framework that would steer the project.
The following is the text of a paper I first presented as part of the Irish Postgraduate Research Seminar at Trinity College Dublin in 2008. To generate interest in the project, I recorded an audio version for my first podcast – The Box of Obfuscation. As the conference proceedings were not published, and the podcast has long since been taken down, I’m reposting the text below. The research has been supplemented a lot since then, but the gist remains the same. I’ve left it almost entirely as originally delivered, adding a couple of clarifying comments in square brackets.
The title, “Is THIS a Hammer Film” is a play on the words pasted across pre-production artworks by the company to help sell their features and assert their brand. The question form serves to highlight some of the more unusual titles in the catalogue. Please note, as this paper was not reworked for publication, it is without citations.
Is THIS A Hammer Film? – Debating the Criteria for a filmographical study of Hammer Films
Hammer has established its name as the producer of horror films, primarily between 1956 and 1976, however the company’s history goes back more than 20 years prior and their production slate includes a great deal of non-horror material. Despite the vast amount written about Hammer, scholars (Kinsey, Pirie, Meikle, Hearn) still remain in disagreement about which films can/should be regarded as Hammer films. Even Hammer themselves conflict in their claims, with two different current “official” filmographies available to researchers.
This paper draws on ongoing research which has informed both the published filmography on the official Hammer website (www.hammerfilms.com) and in the compilation of my own book on the company [Originally commissioned as a complete history, it has evolved into the current research as of 2021]. It seeks to explore the complexitites involved in formulating an accurate and complete list of Hammer films and to break down the confused and misleading area of authorship in light of nearly 80 years of exhibition, production, development and acquisition. It seeks to suggest that there is no such thing as a “typical” Hammer film and that until an authoritative filmography is compiled, we cannot adequately understand the company and its creative development.
The question of exactly what makes a Hammer film is one which has been debated by critics and fans of Hammer alike. The question is one which encompasses issues of authorship, style, and ownership and as such has never adequately been answered.
This paper is the result of several years of research – research that is ongoing – examining the complex history of the British film production company Hammer Films. It engages with the confused and misleading authorship of many Hammer film titles arguing that there is no such thing as a “typical” Hammer film and until an authoritative filmography is compiled, we cannot adequately understand the company and its creative development.
At the outset I should explain my specific involvement with this subject. I have been compiling a book on Hammer for the last couple of years – a book which will take the form of a filmographical study complete with production data and critical analysis. [The scope has altered slightly, but the same approach is largely in place with the current project] With the exception of Johnson and Del Vecchio’s 1996 publication Hammer Films An Exhaustive Filmography, nearly all of the existing published studies of Hammer have concentrated on the horror and fantasy films with which the company is best known for. It is my intention to appraise not just the horror films, but every single Hammer film ever made. With this in mind, one needs to have an accurate and finalised list of productions to work with.
Whilst writing the book I have also been working directly with the present incarnation of Hammer Films on a variety of projects including their official website. Central to this is a production archive which details each of Hammer’s previous and current film projects. Having been provided with an official list of Hammer properties by the Hammer management it quickly became apparent that discrepencies exist between Hammer’s internal list of properties and those agreed on by various scholars over the years. This fact was compounded by the publication of another list in the official history of Hammer – Hearn and Barnes’ The Hammer Story, published in 1997 and revised in 2007. There are two conflicting official lists and numerous other unofficial lists, all of which disagree in part.
With Hammer once again financing and producing new films, the question of just what makes a Hammer film has never been so pertinent. I would argue that popular responses to the question show a surface awareness of trends within a certain limited body of Hammer’s work which unduly influences their expectation of the rest of the company’s output. But in order to understand the essence of Hammer as a production entity it is vital to grasp a complete awareness of their production history and for that we need to be able to agree upon the canon of Hammer films.
As this is a deeply complicated issue I would like to break the topic into three main areas. The first is of style, the second of authorship, and finally that of ownership.
STYLE
Earlier this year [2008] I taught an Open Learning course at Queen’s University Belfast on Hammer Horror and raised the question of what makes a Hammer film during the first class (it is incidentally a question I have asked on occasions on Hammer film fan online discussion boards, and the answers are largely the same). Drawing largely on thematic and stylistic observations Hammer films generally include stars like Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. That Vincent Price is also regularly mentioned is a problem which I shall address in a moment. They tend to be gothic horror stories, set in period costume and filmed in colour. There is often a creepy house and an omnipresent wood. And they are resolutely English – with the contrast between the aristocracy and peasantry key to the films’ narrative.
Whilst many of these trends are indeed present in many Hammer horror films, it is neither a binding trend for all Hammer films, and nor are they exclusive to Hammer itself. Often the mistake is made of assuming that any film with Cushing or Lee in it, for example, is a Hammer film, for they are the most prominent of Hammer’s stars. Robin Hardy’s 1973 classic The Wicker Man is often cited as a Hammer film thanks to the presence of Christopher Lee.
It has often been said that the Hammer productions had a “family” feel, with both actors and crew returning time and time again, and the temptation is to look at the involvement of family members to qualify a Hammer production. The realities of the situation are somewhat different, with Hammer employing a range of people on single picture deals. Further, Hammer employees could work on other films, providing an aesthetic that is virtually indistinguishable from a bona fide Hammer production. The American’ financed Amicus in particular made a deliberate attempt to ape Hammer’s style with the casting of Hammer’s actors, as well as directors like Freddie Francis. How do we view then something like Tyburn’s Legend of the Werewolf (1974) which not only stars Cushing, but was written by Anthony Hinds, part of the original Hammer family.
To concentrate on Hammer’s horror output is to be persuaded by journalistic shorthand rather than any considered evaluation of the company itself. It was certainly horror which brought Hammer international success and wealth, and would provide a backbone which continues right up to the present day, but it was not horror on which Hammer developed, and nor would horror ever be the sole concern of the company.
There are over 250 titles (on which we can agree) in the Hammer catalogue, of these there are perhaps 53 titles (excluding television stories) which could be thought of as vaguely horror. There are in the region of 25 comedy titles, which is still a significant percentage of the total product. Whilst some fans of the Hammer brand might be quick to distance themselves from Hammer’s On the Buses (1971), comedy would provide a lucrative strand in Hammer’s production in the 1970s, much as it had in the 1940s and 1950s.
It is perhaps a case of Hammer’s own rebranding of its image in the years subsequent to its decline in the 1970s, that we are left with the impression that Hammer is a horror film company only. The slogan “Hammer House of Horror” has been used as a shorthand for British horror for years, with Hammer using it themselves at least as far back as 1966
UK double bill poster for Rasputin-The Mad Monk and The Reptile (1966) containing the slogan “Hammer, The House of Horror”
Hammer’s official history book (Hearn and Barnes’ The Hammer Story) concentrates almost solely on the horror product, with the first 20 years of the company’s development limited to eight pages. Similarly, historians including Denis Meikle and David Pirie tend to ignore the non-horror films in their extensive Hammer biographies. And so the myth is perpetuated that Hammer is horror, and nothing else.
AUTHORSHIP
Feeding on from this is the complex issue of authorship of Hammer films. The dominant tendency within film studies remains in the belief that the director of a film is the author. In legalistic terms (at least with regards to copyright) the author of a film is a mixture of writer/director and producer. However, when looking at a Production company rather than an individual talent, such arbitrary assignments are unhelpful. And so, we look for the onscreen declaration that this is “A Hammer Film Production” to verify the authorship of the film.
An investigation of the various Hammer filmographies produced in the last 30 years reveals a significant amount of variance between the lists. But more than this, there are particular titles which remain in dispute between scholars regarding their authentic Hammer status.
UK 1 sheet for Sands of the Desert (1960)
David Pirie’s A New Heritage of Horror features a comprehensive Hammer filmography, but it omits any mention of 1960 comedy feature Sands of the Desert, and neither does Wayne Kinsey’s otherwise meticulous Hammer Films: The Bray Studios Years. And yet the title does feature on both of the official Hammer lists. An inspection of the film itself reveals no names of familiar Hammer personnel, and Hammer’s name does not appear on the credits anywhere. Instead the credit goes to Associated British Picture Corporation, and production took place at Elstree rather than Hammer’s own facilities at Bray.
Despite not having an onscreen acknowledgement, Hammer invested 50% of the film’s budget and still receive residual payments today. It thus seems likely that there are more films which Hammer has invested in over the years which were not acknowledged onscreen. The paper records are incomplete, particularly with regards to the period pre-1949. Choosing a known financial involvement in a production as a way of legitimising Hammer status is also problematic. By 1964 Hammer was very much a company for hire, with most of the money for the films coming from the likes of Columbia and Universal. A prime example is The Evil of Frankenstein in 1964. It bears an onscreen Hammer name, was shot at Bray Studios, directed by Freddie Francis from a script by Tony Hinds and starring Hammer’s leading man Peter Cushing. It is in every essence a typical Hammer film, except the budget was provided by Universal. So whilst Hammer undeniably provide the facilities, and craftsmanship, their expense in the project is negligible. To suggest that The Evil of Frankenstein is not a Hammer film is unthinkable.
There is also a large body of films which were produced by Exclusive Films in the period leading up to 1958. Exclusive Films like Hammer were controlled by the families of Carreras and Hinds, and as Hammer’s sister company were inextricably linked to Hammer for many years. Hammer would serve as the production arm and Exclusive would distribute, although this distinction is not always clear, and both company’s mastheads can be seen, such as in the opening credits for the 1936 film Song of Freedom. [The original release was distributed by British Lion. The print currently on DVD and Hammer’s YouTube is from an Exclusive re-release]. The two business were run in tandem, and projects would move from one company to another –and as such, it is generally accepted that Exclusive productions (as opposed to Exclusive distributed productions) should be placed alongside the rest of Hammer’s production output. Certainly the Hearn/Barnes filmography takes this stance, as do most of the others.
Hammer House of Horror (1980) onscreen title card
Another peculiar example of questionable authorship is the 1980 television series Hammer House of Horror. During production of The Lady Vanishes the year before, Hammer were declared bankrupt and the company was effectively wound up. Producer Roy Skeggs formed a company called Cinema Arts International and licensed the Hammer name from the receivers in order to make the television series, and as part of the same deal a theatrical version of sitcom Rising Damp. While the series carries the Hammer catchphrase as its title, and sports an “in association with” credit at the end of each episode, the series is effectively not a Hammer production, though few would agree with this contention. What may seem like a case of semantics bears a pertinent point if we examine the status of the Rising Damp film.
The Cinema Arts International productions are not generally thought of as Hammer productions, and it seems that all the scholars agree on this point. However, I would contest that we should view Cinema Arts as part of the Hammer group of companies, much the same as we view Exclusive as part of Hammer. Skeggs appears to have moved projects between Hammer and Cinema Arts once he bought control of Hammer from the receiver. Scripts such as Vlad the Impaler (which originated in Hammer in the 1970s) are touted throughout the next two decades as Hammer projects, and yet the draft script from 2000 is a Cinema Arts project once again. Potentially things are more complicated when Hammer is sold by Skeggs to a private consortium in 2000 and Cinema Arts continues independently for three more years, but it also appears that the Cinema Arts projects produced in the 1980s are transferred to Hammer at some stage prior to the 2000 takeover. According to the official list supplied to me by Hammer in 2006 and again in 2007, Hammer have rights in both Cinema Arts films, Rising Damp and George and Mildred.
In consultation with Marcus Hearn, who had previously been involved in Hammer’s archive during the Skeggs era, it was agreed that the Cinema Arts projects should not appear on the online Hammer filmography, as it is misleading. However, this remains a confused issue – if Hammer have an interest in a project, whether they were the production name behind it, then a public filmography ought to include that information. At present the official Hammer site does not allow for a detailed discussion of the merits of ownership of productions – something which I am attempting to remedy with my own study.
Wes Walker’s two part series The Corporate House of Hammer , published in Little Shoppe of Horrors 17 and 18 presents us with a vast array of company names used by the Hammer family between 1934 and 2000, hinting at titles which need to be re-evaluated and examined afresh to determine their eligibility for Hammer production status. Neither onscreen declaration of ownership nor evidence of financial involvement in a film has proved completely satisfactory for classification purposes.
ACQUISITION
This does however lead into the pertinent discussion of Hammer’s acquisition of properties during its lifetime. It is this which has prompted so many problems with an accurate assessment of Hammer’s output. The transfer of rights from Cinema Arts to Hammer is the latest in a line of transfers which obscure the accuracy of Hammer’s holdings.
If we look at the earliest days of Hammer’s existence, Exclusive Films was in operation alongside Hammer, acquiring short films and second run features for distribution on the independent circuit. Exclusive remained in business until the early 1960s (an exact cut-off date for Exclusive’s activity is hard to pinpoint with any certainty, for the company remained active on paper at least for some time after it stopped distribution). Further research is to be conducted into Exclusive’s involvement in some of the short films it acquired in particular, for some of the films do not bear either the Hammer or Exclusive name, but are owned by Exclusive and are passed on to Hammer in perpetuity in 1966.
O’Hara’s Holiday (1960) title card
One such example is the Irish-made tourist film O’Hara’s Holiday, produced by Peter Bryan under the auspices of his own company Peter Bryan Productions. It is United Artists that register the right to distribute the film with the BBFC in 1960, but Hammer are passed on the rights from Exclusive in 1966. So whilst Hammer own the film today, there is some uncertainty at present regarding the involvement at the time of production.
Much clearer is the presence of a television pilot about Robin Hood entitled Wolfshead. The pilot was originally produced for ITV network LWT in 1969 before Hammer bought the pilot outright circa 1971, with the tv series listed on Hammer’s own production schedules. In this instance Hammer becomes the distributor much as Exclusive had done before it. There are prints of the film in existence with the LWT logo, and there are prints with the Hammer Films name (and address). There is a strong argument that this is then not a Hammer film, as any investment in the piece is after the fact – Hammer are not the originator nor creative force behind it, but without Hammer’s claim it would be orphaned and presumable forgotten.
“A Hammer Film Production” caption card on a print of Wolfshead (1969) – sourced from a Dutch VHS.
CONCLUSIONS
By now it should be evident that the perception of Hammer as the originator of horror films should have been called into question, but more importantly we must ask ourselves again how we can assign credibility to these films.
The result of scholars and historians examining the horror and fantasy product of Hammer in great detail, and giving only a cursory mention of the non-horror material has been to provide a skewed reading of Hammer. More, it has facilitated an injustice, neglecting the diversity of Hammer’s production slate. I concede with Miles, who posted on the Hammer Films Yahoo group in April [2008] that
“Regardless of the many genres Hammer worked in, it’s the horror genre that it’s primarily known for (Hammer horror). And it’s the horror genre that is the sole reason investors bought the name and created new Hammer. I don’t expect to see TV spin-off comedies and travelogues coming from new Hammer any time soon.”
But that is precisely my point, we expect Hammer today to be a horror producer, because that is our perception of Hammer in the past. Hammer’s historical output would allow for a much wider remit of low-budget filmmaking which ultimately may be more creative than the restrictive binds of a horror-only slate. The very first Hammer film is a now lost comedy, The Public Life of the Henry the Ninth, made in 1934. In the 1970s Hammer made almost as many comedies and thrillers as they did horror, and their last film in 1979 was a remake of Hitchcock’s The Lady Vanishes.
It is somewhat beyond the confines of this discussion, but each of Hammer’s films must be seen in the context of the productions that surround it. To look at 1959 feature The Mummy without also looking at Don’t Panic Chaps, The Ugly Duckling or Never Take Sweet From A Stranger, which were also made by Hammer that year, is to airbrush history. The relative lack of success with some of their other work in comparison with the horror films may contribute to the emphasis on horror. The critical baiting by the press over Never Take Sweets explains why Hammer didn’t make more message films, but it is vital that we understand that Hammer tried and experimented with different genres and types. The presence of the other films may somewhat diminish the idea of Hammer as a strong brand of quality filmmaking, but simultaneously the presence of flops only serves to emphasise the standards of some of their best known pictures.
Compiling a definitive list when there are gaps in the paperwork and the terms of criteria are changed from one title to the next depending on a multitude of factors, only serve to make the task all the more impossible.
Finally it would be remiss of any film historian not to investigate the entire picture where possible. There are parallels between films which can only be drawn if we allow ourselves to look at everything that Hammer made – themes which proceed the wave of horror productions, but which continue throughout their existence, there are actors and craftsmen who recur between Exclusive and Hammer and become synonymous with the company (people like Michael Ripper, or Jimmy Sangster). To understand that relationship we must consider everything, including the debated titles.
[It has been 13 years since I first delivered the paper, and published the podcast, but the essence of the discussion remains the same. I hope that the forthcoming book will help clarify some of the questions, but also open up new titles for consideration as part of the Hammer canon. I welcome any discussion of the points raised, either via the comments, social media or email].
Occasionally you get side-tracked down a tangential path when researching. The document equivalent of the wikipedia hole. I can recall occasions where a curious piece of information leapt out at me from the page, and prompted a diversion into another ream of files to see if anything else could be elicited.
I collect postcards among other things, and in amongst them are a small selection of Hammer related images – mostly of landmarks long forgotten. But among my favourites are those in which the Hammer element has crept in and isn’t actually the main focus of the picture.
Take for example this picture postcard of London. Its split into two via the diagonal line – in one half Westminster Bridge, the other the bustle and lights of Piccadilly Circus:
Picture postcard of London c. 1955
What grabs the attention for me, isn’t the fairly standard view of Piccadilly, but the poster in the bottom right hand corner. Adorning part of the Trocadero is, well let’s see if a close-up helps…
Close-up of the London postcard
Yes, that’s a huge billboard for nothing less than the Exclusive / Hammer production Quatermass II.
The postcard itself has been colourised by the looks of it, but its still a wonderful glimpse of the famous Hammer films as part of the everyday London landscape, pocketed and sent across the world in picture form by tourists.
I managed to find another colourised postcard snap which includes nearly all the billboard:
Piccadilly Circus with Quatermass II billboard
What’s made abundantly clear in this image, is just how big a deal Hammer was making of their X certificate – a category that just a year before was perceived as a kiss of death for a film’s commercial chances. The X is worn as a badge of honour.
There are black and white versions of this view, but I’ve chosen to show the colour images because they help the imagery stand out.
The building is today part of the Trocadero centre (possibly soon to be turned into a hotel), but was from 1934 under the control of United Artists as the London Pavilion. Opened as a music hall in 1885 and used for cinema exhibition from 1908 until 1981, and is sited at 1 Piccadilly Circus. It has over the years been used to house a number of Exclusive and Hammer titles. [I was in it a few years ago when it played host to the Ripley’s Believe It Or Not exhibition, blissfully ignorant of its Hammer connections].
In 1961 as part of the popular Ladybird books series for children, The Ladybird Book of London was published, with text by John Lewesden and art by John Berry. The book contains a rather lovely painting of Piccadilly at Night featuring a familiar billboard:
‘Piccadilly Circus at Night’ by John Berry (1961) from The Ladybird Book of London Picture sourced via Gail Thomas on Flickr
This wouldn’t be the last time that a Hammer horror title would make its presence felt in a book primarily aimed at children, but it is a rather lovely portrait of the city and the impact that the illuminated advert outside the Pavilion had in the evening during late May and into June 1957.
Historians deal with prime sources of a number of kinds, including oral histories, newspapers, archival records, and photographs. Its easy to forget that sketches and illustrations can be just as informative and telling primary sources as any of these. There’s as much fuzziness as some oral reminiscence, but the ‘truth’ is very much on display.
I love that with both the postcards and the book, the Quatermass branding is subtly shared with thousands of unsuspecting members of the public. How many people who saw that banner had their curiosity piqued? In the days before home video, this might well have been a tease that would take years to be sated…
I’ll share more of these sorts of images in future blog posts, and in the book. I’m always interested in seeing the marquees and displays of our favourite films – marketing is a hugely important part of the film process.
Captain Clegg is an often-overlooked gothic fantasy picture from the Hammer Fms stable, first distributed by Universal in 1962. Based on the Dr Syn novels by Russell Thorndyke, it was for many years completely unavailable to the domestic commercial home video market, and quite hard to find. I’d even supplied a DVD dub to the film’s producer John Temple-Smith.
Personal card from John Temple-Smith, producer of Captain Clegg, to Robert JE Simpson
The prints that had surfaced on television over the years, and which did the trading rounds back in the 1990s and early 2000s, were all sourced from US prints of the film, under the title Night Creatures. In 2005 the film finally made its way to DVD as part of Universal’s The Hammer Horror Series collection of 8 films.
[Clegg isn’t an Exclusive film, by the way. It’s firmly a Hammer film. But as a long-time Hammer researcher, and former archivist, it comes under my area of interest, and is just tangential enough to merit inclusion here on the blog.]
That US DVD came under criticism for its incorrect aspect ratio, but it did mean the film finally got a commercial release, and many more fans could finally appreciate its fine performances (Peter Cushing is on top form) and Scooby Doo-type plotting (seriously, it’s a Scooby Doo story, down to the unmasking of mysterious phantoms).
In 2014 the film was released in the UK for the first time via Final Cut, under the UK title Captain Clegg. And then in June 2021 on the Indicator label as part of Hammer Volume Six box set, which it claimed offered a presentation of the film containing its original UK title sequence among its extras.
Indicator’s advertised Captain Clegg Blu-ray special features list
Earlier this week, over on Twitter, HammerGothic and I got to talking about Clegg and title sequences. And we quickly spotted a problem:
Things like original title cards from my favourite films get me disproportionately excited. Do all existing prints on DVD and Blu-ray have the US title card (Night Creatures)? First time I\’ve seen this one. https://t.co/LC0TkjAuGs
I had shared an image of the titles I took in 2012 from a screening of Captain Clegg at the National Media Museum in Bradford. I had programmed a Hammer thread as part of the Fantastic Films Weekend and had gone to pains to source a few genuine rarities for the audience. I’d spent some time negotiating a slightly complex situation, but had secured an actual original UK 35mm print from Universal. The film was seldom shown in the UK, had been difficult to secure, and because I was only ever familiar with the Night Creatures card, I had to photograph this for reference. It was as elusive as the original British titles for Hammer’s Dracula, and very exciting to finally see in person.
[That image has been shared via various bits of my social media over the years, and has been in a public Flickr album for quite some time.]
HammerGothic then posted this image of the title card from the Final Cut Blu-Ray:
Captain Clegg title from the Final Cut BluRay (2014)
Even though I’ve had the disc on my shelf for several years, I hadn’t ever got round to watching it, and so it had never occurred to me to check. But I was instantly struck because the titles were evidently not the original UK ones. They are a modern remake, using the British title, but overlayed on top of the American sequence. They’re uniform, in a slight italic, unlike the slightly haphazard alignment of the originals – which follows through into the Night Creatures caption:
Night Creatures title card – snapped from my TV screen, apologies for the reflection!
During the remade titles, movement in the background becomes visibly stopped. There’s a rounded almost comicbook look about them. To me, the original captions (both UK and US) suggest instability – foreshadowing the mental breakdown of the Mulatto, and the fragility of the deception that keeps Clegg’s identity hidden in the film.
We then asked around on Twitter to see if anyone could supply a shot from the new Indicator Blu-Ray, seeing as neither of us had picked it up yet. In return we were sent an image taken from his tv by HorrorPosterGuy:
The remade Captain Clegg title as used in the Indicator Blu-Ray
Its pretty clear then that Indicator have used the same source as Final Cut for their HD master – one that incorporates a remade title card, and not the original UK title sequence as advertised.
Having previously done a little work for Final Cut, I’m well aware that they tend to work with whatever elements are supplied to them, and are at the whim of Universal. But Indicator have earned much plaudit for their extensive extras packages, and additional research, including 8mm cut-down versions and alternate title sequences. So this oversight seems somewhat egregious.
What isn’t clear, is why a remade title card was produced for HD transfers no later than 2014, when original UK elements, at least in print form, were available in the summer of 2012. I know, because I handled them. How likely is it that Universal have subsequently junked their theatrical 35mm print? Even with an HD digital master available, I have my doubts.
At any rate, a 35mm print of Clegg is held in the archives of the BFI, so subject to clearances, it should be possible to scan a genuinely original UK title sequence for preservation and restoration purposes.
It would arguably be sensible to scan the entirety of the opening and closing captions in case of other text variances too. Looking at my photo from the 35mm screening, the lettering under the title also appears different, which means that there may be other subtle adjustments elsewhere (something I’ve noticed previously when comparing US and UK credits). It would probably also make sense to do a complete comparison of UK and US prints in these sorts of situations in case of other small alterations, otherwise overlooked. Something that is currently impossible for anyone to do domestically with this title.
Ultimately, it appears that at present, regardless of which version of Captain Clegg you buy on home video, none of them use original UK release titles, even as an extra. Hopefully now that this has been flagged* any company preparing a future release, may be able to fix this.
Original UK title card for Captain Clegg as screened in Bradford in 2012
* I tagged Indicator on Twitter on 10 August 2021, and asked about the remade titles within both the Hammer and Indicator fan groups on Facebook that employees of Indicator frequent, without any acknowledgement as of 17 August. I’ll update the post in the event that changes.
Its been a long time since I posted anything in this blog, so you can be forgiven for thinking that I had utterly abandoned the Exclusive PhD project. I guess for a while, I did a bit, but I’ve never entirely parted ways with it, and lately I’ve been throwing myself back into the project with renewed interest.
It might help though to update those who were kind enough to support me early on, as much has changed. As I haven’t written on here in a decade, please allow me to try and fill you in on the gaps.
This is a little more personal than my blogs usually are here, but it might be useful to understand the frustrations of academic research. I’ve heard from too many friends who have had to give up on funded PhDs because they picked the wrong topic, or had personal life interfere. Students often don’t talk about it because of a sense of failure, and presumably also because of the money invested in them that isn’t returned.
I had made attempts to secure funding for my PhD without success. So when I started it, I was completely self-funded. I took out a loan to see me through my first year, and worked to pay that off, while I attempted to find an inroad later on – I was advised that sometimes it is easier to secure funding in a second year. It was a huge amount of money for me and wasn’t going to be sustainable for the duration.
Firstly, and probably no surprise, I’m no longer at Trinity College Dublin, and the PhD itself is in essence on hold. On hold, not abandoned.
The situation was complicated. Around the time of the last posts on here, back in 2010. I was going through massive upheavals in my personal life which are a matter of public record if anyone cares to dig around online. I took ill and had to step out for a year from TCD. Then there were some delays getting back in, and some breakdowns in communication between the university administration and me. I took redundancy from my job as a librarian in Belfast at the end of 2011 and planned to put much of my redundancy payment into my fees. But found myself in a position where I had to pay the fees for the year with very little time to find the money and submit a 20k chapter while recovering from a series of breakdowns. I might have been able to do it, just, but to pay for a whole year when for half that time I hadn’t had any access to university resources made it impossible, and seemed unfair. With great regret I had to pull out.
My supervisor, Dr Ruth Barton, was never anything but hugely supportive and encouraging with the research, and I would have loved to stay on. As a result I felt I’d let myself down, her, and the others who had offered their support.
While there was some discussion about transferring the project to another university, the realities of my personal situation at the time meant that wasn’t something I would be able to progress – at that moment. I hoped I might be able to resolve those in time and to pick up the project with a new institution behind me.
It is soul-destroying to have to give up on something you have been working at for a long time owing to circumstances you can’t control. Frustrating to have to set aside a promising research project because you are financially crippled. Not because I wasn’t capable, but because I couldn’t make the logistics work on my own. The reality of trying to work near full-time hours to fund a PhD, which one then hasn’t the time to dedicate to is a drain. I spent thousands of pounds on fees, plus additional research expenses. To walk away from that still stings.
Nonetheless in June 2012 I curated a strand on Hammer at the Fantastic Films Weekend in Bradford’s National Media Museum, which included a strong Exclusive Films angle including a screening of rarely seen thriller The Man In Black and an on-stage interview with Hammer/Exclusive veteran Renee Glynne. Every chance I could get to open up people to the earlier part of Hammer’s history and my own particular interests, I would take.
The following month I took part in the ‘Hammer Has Risen From The Grave’ conference organised by DeMontfort University’s CATH centre. This included a number of on-stage interviews, a screening of the once-thought lost Exclusive/Hammer crime drama River Patrol (sourced from my personal 16mm print) and a talk on the early history of the company.
The festival began appropriately at the beginning of Hammer’s long and colourful history, and after an overview of the conference from organiser Professor Steve Chibnall, Robert J.E. Simpson, the official Hammer archivist introduced Exclusive Films, parent company and distribution arm to Hammer, whose relationship continues in Hammer’s current incarnation. The insight into Hammer’s early years was fascinating, documenting the company’s many and varied business ventures from jewellers to hairdressers!
My archival researches had clarified some of the comments half-quoted in articles and documentaries over the years, and I started to flesh out a real picture of the company and their activities.
Starting that August, Hammer themselves launched a dedicated YouTube channel featuring a select number of films available for free via the platform. I was contracted to provide a number of short introductions for the Exclusive titles [these have just been made unavailable as of July 2021, as Hammer no longer seem to be maintaining their social media accounts]. In the end intros were published for River Patrol (the copy of the feature uploaded to YouTube, as at the Leicester conference, came from a scan of my personal 16mm print), Cloudburst, Dick Barton: Special Agent, Stolen Face, The Last Page, The Man In Black, Murder By Proxy, and The Glass Tomb. I had also prepped at least two more before the project was called to an early halt. Produced under very trying circumstances with kit that didn’t quite do what it needed to, I attempted to compensate for the short fallings by making these in a 1.33:1 ratio in black and white, akin to the aesthetic many would have encountered the films in. A decade on, I’d love to revisit them with the skills I’ve learned since, and the benefit of a lot more screen and broadcasting time.
During the first half of 2013 in the midst of corporate restructuring I lost my freelance contract with Hammer themselves, which had been incredibly useful opening up certain archives to me. I had made some interesting findings that required following up, but without official backing, or the support of a university programme, I simply couldn’t afford the expense in time or money.
I had also prior to this been discussing the prospect of publishing the research in book form – and had broached the idea of doing it as an officially licensed text – and had a couple of interested publishers on hand. As my ability to research was curtailed, so too did everything else.
[I keep returning here to the issue of finance, but its an important one. For the fan at home, spending their cash on blu-rays, books and other memorabilia, it can be an expensive prospect. But to produce the material, to trawl archives, find the time to write up, and acquire material, all costs a great deal. When I left TCD, typical fees were in excess of £6,000 per annum, and they’ve grown since. That’s a lot of spare money to find. At a later date I may blog about the costs involved in more detail.]
Between mental health battles, an acrimonious divorce, and unemployment, the PhD quickly crumbled, and my sense of dissatisfaction with myself intensified and academia became sullied.
A few years before an academic I had trusted and previously admired, was overhead boasting to a colleague about how I needed brought down. And the result at the time had been that I lost a lot of faith in my abilities and worth. It had taken some time to rebuild that. My research was about the only thing giving me focus during the personal turmoil of 2012/3, but inevitably one impacted the other. My personal situation meant I wasn’t allowed to focus adequately on my work, and I dare say it suffered. I won’t bore you with that stuff here, as I’ve written about it on other blogs and social media at. However, I would say it seems self-evident that the intensity of research will impact one’s personal life and one’s personal life will impact work. I found myself in a situation were I could do none of the things I wanted, and couldn’t fix any of the problems that had arisen. I lost meaning and value and largely retreated from the public life I had built within the field.
For the May 2014 issue of Little Shoppe of Horrors (#32) I wrote my first proper feature for the long-running Hammer magazine, on ‘The Original/First Hammer House of Theatre’.
Hammer had recently started exploring theatrical productions as a new ‘Hammer House of Horror’ strand, and I saw this as an opportunity to explore my own thesis that Hammer Films was originally about providing another outlet for Will Hammer’s theatrical pursuits. Drawing on my growing personal archive of material surrounding Will Hammer’s theatre projects I provided what I believe is the first article since the 1950s to actually explore this area of the Hammer brand. I was fiercely proud of it, editor Dick Klemensen was very kind about it, but otherwise the response was disappointingly quiet.
As a creative I have always needed feedback in order to do my work. If something is bad, or needs changing I would rather know. I can adapt, modify and hopefully improve. When there is no response it is too easy to loose one’s way. That article had been my last attempt to keep a hand in, packed with original research, and excited no-one. My feeling, after working with the brand for many years, is that the bulk of the fans only care about the horror films. Certainly they’re probably the most accessible. But it is only a fraction of the story.
By 2015 I felt adrift without the resolution of the project, and the dull response to the LSoH article. I had, I have to admit, continued sporadic research and revision of its scope when I could find a little time to think. The LSoH piece had demonstrated the direction the research was now swinging, less about Exclusive as distributor, and more about the wider Hammer brand. In my head new avenues presented themselves and I hoped I might still be able to return to an academic setting and give them some validation.
Then a major international conference in Paris came up, and I put forward a paper on the origins of Hammer, which would incorporate some of the new directions of my research and a better grounding of the Exclusive history.
At this point I was utterly unemployed and had been for some time. I was living on the UK government’s Job Seekers Allowance, which was something along the lines of £70 per week. From that I had to pay my bills and eat. And here was I looking at disappearing to France for the best part of a week. I didn’t know until the last minute if I’d actually be able to make it work. But I did. I would have to sign off for the time I was away (so no income that week), but it was too good an opportunity not to do it. I paid my accommodation and flights off ahead of time, and managed to get enough cash together that I’d be able to get around for a few days on the cheap. When I got pickpocketed on my penultimate day it felt like a real kick in the teeth, but the buzz of being involved got me through.
Robert Simpson delivered a fascinating insight into Hammer’s early history with ‘261 Goldhawk Road: William Hinds and the Birth of Hammer Films’. Drawing on a wide range of archival research, his focus was on the very early years of the company and the importance of its founder William Hinds (stage name Will Hammer) to its identity, and to the eventual ‘Hammer’ branding.
It was a superb conference to be part of. I delivered my paper just an hour or so after hearing that Sir Christopher Lee had died, and that evening would broadcast from my AirBnB an obituary to BBC Radio Ulster listeners back home. Some of the paper I gave at the conference was a re-tread of material delivered in Leicester, but there were new findings too, and with talk of published conference proceedings to follow it seemed like a good opportunity to share the findings with a wider audience. That publication, incidentally, does not appear to have been advanced.
Perhaps strangest was attending a paper by Steve Chibnall from De Montfort University, and seeing a photo of myself symbolically overseeing the handing over of the Hammer script archive from Hammer to DMU, projected as part of the presentation. I wasn’t expecting that.
Steve Chibnall presents a paper in Paris about the work of the CATH research centre at DMU
I came back revived and reconnected, but still ultimately a bit lost and alone. I no longer had the excuses to publish on the subject on a regular basis. And so far I haven’t. I packed my books and files away. I ignored the films on my shelves. Hammer had become tainted – reminding me only of my personal disappointments and regret.
For the last few years I have been trying to work discreetly on a related project, but failing to see it to completion. In 2019 I made inroads again in my professional life, and the confidence to maybe do something. Then the pandemic hit.
The last year and a half has been a roller coaster for so many of us. Removing so much of our respective normalities, depriving us of friends, family and colleagues. Some of us have lost our livelihoods. Some of us have just about hung on thanks to furlough. Many of us have retreated into our homes and the safety of the television, and beloved programmes from our past.
I found myself essentially out of work, with intermittent furlough support. I then found myself leading a series of writing workshops, and alongside trying to inspire my group to get past their own writers block, I found myself joining in and breaking free of my own. Not something I had expected. The little bit of fiction was enough to allow me to start getting back into non-fiction writing. And so gradually, I started going through my old files, and watching some of the films I’ve had on hold. Perhaps most significantly, I started to go through the collection I inherited from my late friend Robert Lane (more about him in another post). Something clicked, and I’ve managed to make a substantial progress on the book.
Nothing is ever simple though. A couple of very long-term projects have had to be given up. I’ve conceded defeat. I’ve given my apologies to those I was working with, and remain racked with guilt.
They’ve found other people to collaborate with, who I hope will be able to deliver for them as they deserve. I know its for the best. In the process, they’ll get the outcomes they need. And I can reprioritise and manage what I have.
At time of writing, the Exclusive Films book contains over 81,000 words and the main catalogue of titles is complete. I’d hoped to be finished by end of this summer (2021), but critical commentary, revisions, and additional research could mean its the end of the year now. Then there’s the photos to scan and ready. But it is coming. And soon. I’ll be opening a mailing list for it shortly, and pre-orders once the book is near ready.
The frustration now, is that no matter what way the work turns out, there wont be a PhD in it for me. Academia is very particular about what you publish and who you publish with for it to be counted, and this won’t hit those marks. I just hope that some of you are interested in purchasing the work and reading it. I’m confident you’ll learn something from it.
So here we are. A decade later, somewhat beaten, but still progressing. And now this blog can continue what it was meant to do – tell the story of the research and supplement the findings and eventual publication.
Feel free to hit me up with comments and questions. And thanks for your support.
I\’ve not got time tonight to blog properly, but I\’ll be posting an update before the week is through. By then I\’m hoping to have settled a few promising leads I\’ve had recently. My \’major\’ supporters (ie. those that have donated significant contributions to funding the research) will have received one of the regular updates already. It gives an added layer of insight into the project and a heads up of announcements before they go public. For yes, there will be announcements. I\’m pretty sure of it now. The research has been too good for there not to be.
At any rate, I\’ll be presenting a couple of conference papers between now and April too, two companion pieces which may well make up the bulk of one of my chapters. I\’ll post details later this week.
The Witches had been produced at Bray Studios as part of the same deal as Quatermass and the Pit and had opened in London in November 1966, and as filming started on Quatermass was still playing on screens across the UK in places like the Alexandra Cinema in Coventry (demolished in 2014) and The Curzon in Belfast (demolished 2003).
In the frenzy that follows the fatal press conference towards the film’s climax, the poster will end up on the floor among the debris, covering the body of one of the injured. Itself perhaps a nod to The Witchs‘ own frenzied end (see above).
On the wall opposite the poster for The Witches, and to the left, just visible as various cast members enter the Hobbs Lane set is a quad for Dracula Prince of Darkness – another Tom Chantrell artwork, screen printed with dayglo inks (and one of my personal favourite Hammer posters). You can see it on the far left of the screengrab above – and in more detail in the picture below (of an original in my own collection – those inks are quite something!).
Dracula Prince of Darkness had been released to UK cinemas by Warner Pathe in January 1966, and by the end of February 1967 as cameras rolled on Quatermass was no longer screening (although it was playing at the Abbey Cinema in Wicklow, Ireland. It had still been playing regional screens in Irvine, Scotland, and Belfast in Northern Ireland the month before, and would pick up additional screenings after Quatermass wrapped (hitting the Lyric, Coventry in August).
Also visible in the shot above is a quad poster featuring artwork by Bob Peak for the film adaptation of musical My Fair Lady, starring Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn. Another Warner Pathe release, it had made its way to UK screens at the end of 1964.
Perhaps surprisingly for cinema-goers in 2022, My Fair Lady was still playing cinemas at the time of the Quatermass production. Screening in March and April 1967 at the likes of Belfast, Warrington, Coventry, King’s Lynn, Lanarkshire and at the Oxford Cinema, Whitstable (which Hammer fans may note is now the Peter Cushing pub!).
Pictured to its right in the Hobbs Lane set is a promotional poster for daily Coach Air trips from London to Jersey, at the bargain price of £6 14s. I haven’t been able to identify the poster precisely, but it appears to be a 1967 Jersey Airways product.
From another angle, we can see two further posters on the platform itself. Just a couple of feet to the left of The Witches image that started this thread (just visible above) there is an advertisement for Johnnie Walker Scotch Whisky.
Walker’s Scotch had origins in Ayrshire in the 1820s, and its ‘striding man’ ident had been in use since 1908. There are many similar adverts based around the man with a plain white background, usually accompanied by the slogan “still going strong”. While I haven’t found an exact duplicate the following advertisement (found via Alamy) is similar:
This second version is closer in terms of wording, but lacks the obvious copy from the bottom of the Underground poster, but appears to be a modern repro based on a vintage advert.
Another Johnnie Walker poster is visible as the visitors exit the lift into the platform area, close to the Dracula poster.
And a third Johnnie Walker poster is present on the other side of the tunnel. We see it only fleetingly in a pan, but it carries a picture of a bottle of whisky and to its right a tumbler with a measure of spirits, and the legend “Johnnie Walker for all seasons”.
As the dishevelled soldier is taken to a seat, we can actually see the image of the whisky tumbler on one side of the frame, while Barbara Shelley takes out a hipflask and offers a tot. Then we see Quatermass taking a nip of whisky while one of the Johnnie Walker posters is clear in the back of frame, “I don’t normally before midday” – I think its safe to say this was a bit of careful product placement.
Disappointingly, the slogan “Choose English Cheese” which we can see as the soldier is being tended to, does not result in a cheddar and crackers picnic.
The ‘Choose English Cheese’ adverts, were part of a marketing strategy used throughout the 1960s and beyond by the Milk Marketing Board – a company Hammer worked with on multiple promotions, including during filming of The Mummy’s Shroud and Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires.
You can see a full authentic ‘Choose English Cheese’ poster, complete with cheesy stack, just behind the car in this photo taken in West End Lane in 1966 by Flickr user 
This one is for Hotel, a Warner Bros melodrama directed by Richard Quine, which had just gone on UK release as Hammer commenced filming. [If you’re interested, there’s a quad on ebay from RareFilmPosters at the time of writing – January 2022 – 
One other Hammer makes an appearance in the station set, just visible in the next image:
Easily missed, is the Tom Chantrell artwork on the quad poster for Hammer/Warner Pathe’s The Reptile. First released on a double bill with Rasputin – The Mad Monk in March 1966, it had just finished a short run at the Regal, Wadebridge in February 1967, and opened at the Broxburn Regal, West Lothian on 27 February and would continue a run of Irish and Scottish screens during March and April.
There are several other posters visible in the Hobbs Lane set. I’ve not been able to get a clear image of each of them. 
Just beside the cordoned off platform is a rather bright advertisement with the words “express road services through the Thames Valley” (there’s another example beside the Dracula poster and lift doors). This is actually an advert for motorway services – fuel stations, accommodations, rest stops and their ilk – from South Midland Motor Services Ltd, and Thames Valley Traction Co. Ltd. It was designed by artist Royston Cooper in 1960 and outlines the coach routes from London to Worcester in a flower form. Cooper designed quite a few transport and health and safety posters during the 60s and 70s – many of you will know his work, without knowing his work.
The routes incidentally, take in High Wycombe and Maidenhead – right through the heart of the old Hammer country…
Unsurprisingly, a second Royston Cooper poster for the network is also present on the set. Depicting the route in a tree like form, you can see it in the next image. On the wall opposite is one of his flower posters, and you can also see a Johnnie Walker and Dracula Prince of Darkness images.
This also originates to c. 1960.
Also present are a travel advert advertising the “Sunny South Coast” with a large orange fish on a navy background. And on the right, what looks to be an advert for train services through the Northwest, Midlands and London. I have not been able to locate original examples of these at time of writing.
Seaside holidays were evidently the done thing, in the days before cheap international travel, and UK stations happily promoted the convenience of the transport network. One final example can be clearly spotted just to the left of the platform advert for the South Midland Motor Services.
The lovely example on the right of the poster for The Reptile, is advertising the pleasantries of Clacton and its daily entertainment. It does seem a rather apt choice for a Hammer film. Will Hammer had presented entertainment shows in Clacton for many years, and owned the West Cliff Theatre, alongside presenting shows in other venues in the town.
The distinctive poster with its girl and inflatable duck is by illustrator 
The Exclusive Films Project 