1984 - THE MASKS OF DEATH, an original Sherlock Holmes story

 A real old time actors film if ever there was one.  Peter Cushing in his 70's plays Sherlock Holmes for the last time.  He had played Holmes in Hammer's good version of The Hound of the Baskervilles and in a TV series.  British actor John Mills was Dr. Watson.  Mills was I believe 76 years old when this was filmed.  The rest of the cast is virtually a list of old guy British actors, Ray Milland, Gordon Jackson, Anton Diffring and somewhat incongruously American actress Anne Baxter in the role of Irene Adler.

The plot has Holmes and Watson called out of retirement to find a missing German prince.  But what you really have in this film is a couple of very good veteran actors showing how it's done when it comes to performing.  The film was directed by another old veteran Roy Ward Baker whose career started in 1947 and lasted until 1984.  Cushing had worked with Baker at Hammer so they probably got along very well.

 

The Masks of Death is Cushing's last major role before his retirement. He did some minor work after that but his health had started to decline.  Peter Cushing certainly had an interesting career.  His work at Hammer studios left an indelible mark on the studio and he found a whole new fame as Grand Moff Tarkin when George Lucas cleverly cast him in Star Wars.  A remarkable career.

 

The film was written by Anthony  Hinds and N. J. Crisp.  The running time is 78 minutes.

1974 - LEGEND OF THE 7 GOLDEN VAMPIRES features cameo by Count Dracula looking like a cheap whore

Dracula is barely in this Hammer film about Professor Van Helsing hunting Chinese vampires in China. He was apparently stuck in at the beginning and the end of the movie as a sop to the audience, who were probably confused about the mixing of the vampire and kung fu film genres. To further confuse the audience Dracula is made up to look like a drag queen. The movie has Peter Cushing as Professor Van Helsing who is in China lecturing when he is approached by a man who asks his help in ridding his village of vampires. The man has a family of siblings who are trained in kung fu and along with Van Helsing and his wimp of a son, they travel across China beating up the golden vampires. The kung fu action is the old style stuff where the fighters can't leap through the air defying gravity but it's still good. The movie is an exploitation piece for the most part. There is a incredibly stupid scene where Chinese woman are sacrificed to the golden vampires. The sacrifice involves having the women run around topless and has nothing to do with anything.

The movie also has a Norwegian "actress" named Julie Ege, who has a very large bosom. Her performance consists of cowering in terror every time the vampires attack and slowly peeling her clothes off. Apparently these were the roles she usually got in Britain, and she ended up quitting the movie business, went back to Norway and retrained as a nurse which she unsurprisingly told people was more personally rewarding for her. If you're looking for cheese cake pictures of her sorry you'll have to google her. Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires, is entertaining junk that is worth watching because Peter Cushing is in it but it you are want to see a good film with vampires and kung fu, then check out Mr. Vampire.