20th - 22nd September 2013 at Manchester

20th - 22nd September 2013 at Manchester Conference Centre
Welcome to the first progress report for the 24th Festival. When the Festival began we had little
idea that it would be an enduring favourite with so many of you. We are constantly pleased that
so many of you return, with quite a few of you having notched up more than one decade with us.
In this age of DVD, digital download and the trade press extoling the virtues of the tablet
computer this Committee believes that many people would like to see movies on a screen bigger
than a digital watch.
Many a creaky movie has been made enjoyable by the shared experience of the audience
reaction. From The Giant Claw to the Rocky Horror Picture Show the Festival audience has
changed these from a movie to an experience. Without you the Festival would not exist, thanks
for your support
Please Note—Hotel Rooms Limited—Book Now
Recently we were informed by the hotel that with the Conservative Party Conference
occurring the week after the Festival many attendees of the conference were intending to go
early and were booking rooms covering the weekend of the Festival. This will result in those
rooms available to Festival attendees being reduced. We asked for your views on this
offering a number of options, including moving the Festival to different dates. The resulting
response was an overwhelming desire to retain the original dates.
So the Festival dates will not change. However it should be understood that hotel rooms may
not be available closer to the Festival so we would encourage anyone who wishes to stay in
the main hotel to book now. It does not cost anything to book and if necessary you can
cancel provided you give notice. (preferably a few weeks)
We have produced a booking form that can be emailed to the hotel. The hotel has confirmed
bookings very quickly, in many cases the next day.
To access the form please click on the thumbnail on the right.
If you have trouble accessing this then email us.
Room Rates are listed on Page 14 of this PR
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Welcome to the Festival
From entering you’ll be provided
opportunities to pursue your passions.
The Completist will find a few things they
don’t have and must, if Ramsey actually
lets anyone else buy anything.
The obsessive will discover that they are
not that obsessive compared to others,
and most will watch movies, talk about
them and wonder why the weekend went
so quickly.
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Retrospective Programme.
Presented by Tony Meadows
Hello Folks,
I hope and trust that you are all in good health. I*'ve
not made my mind up yet about titles for this years
bash, but I will have some titles for the next PR.
I would like to throw a few British SF titles this year,
of course there will be offerings from Germany,
Japan and Italy. But nothing firm enough to mention
at the moment.
Of course there will be the TV Zones, and a few
classics from the USA. So until the next PR.
remember to 'KEEP WATCHING THE SKIES'.
All the best
(Doc Meadows.)
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The 23rd Festival — 26th to 28th October 2012
Plans for this year’s Festival are progressing. We have received a number of tentative responses
from names who you will be familiar with. We hope that they will be able to confirm soon. Check
out our FACEBOOK page for the latest news. As an appetiser we have collected together a
reminder for you who were there and a taste of the festival interviews for those who weren’t.
Apart from the accustomed minor glitches (including a leaking ceiling in Cinema One and a
series of fire alarms during the Dead Dog Party) the general consensus has been that last year’s
festival was overall a resounding success.
The guests asked us to pass on their thanks for being invited and the reception they received. It
is difficult to convey the passion and the pride that came from each guest as they regaled us
with snippets from their careers. The articles that follow are the guests ‘in their own words’ we
hope you enjoy.
Membership Information
Rates are £70 for the full weekend of the 2013 Festival.
Day membership is available
Friday £20
Saturday £35
Sunday £30
Please remember to include an email address for receipt and for future updates.
Supporting Membership - £30
This entitles you to all publications, ID Badge and attendance at any of the
events on a single day of the Festival. Membership can be upgraded at any time
to FULL by paying the balance before 20th October.
Children—Attending membership
£20 Up to 12 years of age
£30 Up to 16 years of age
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You can download the registration
form by clicking on the image above
Derren Nesbitt
On his much-anticipated return visit to the Festival, Derren Nesbitt was interviewed by Darrell
Buxton and continued where he’d left off a couple of years earlier.
“Since last time here I’ve been in a couple of plays and
movies – one with Michael Caine.
“I’ve done movie called Flawless with my old friend Ray
Winstone. It was great fun. I played a German – my
family were Jewish and people often ask me, ‘How can
you play Nazis?’ and I reply, ‘Because it play it up –
badly!’
His best-remembered Nazi role was in Where Eagles
Dare opposite Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood. “I was
at the Old Vic with Burton, and on Where Eagles Dare
he was drinking four bottles of vodka a day. Clint
Eastwood was a charming man, nice, talented, sweet,
lovely man and Brian Hutton, the director was great, I got
on very well with him.” “But Burton was not at home.”
“I nearly killed a man in Salzburg ion that film.
“It was very cold and I thought why go all the way to the
location, Werfen castle, before putting on my uniform, so
I changed in my hotel suite. Dressed as an SS officer, I
went to the waiting car, then to the castle. When I got
back to the hotel at 4 am, the hotel owner saw me
coming down the corridor in my SS uniform, he collapsed
– he’d been Himmler’s driver – I nearly killed him.
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“I did a film with Mr Sinatra and he’d only do two takes,
to catch that moment. Tony Curtis was the same. “Mr
Sinatra was a remarkable man. On the first day, when
we started filming, we had an eight page dialogue
scene to be shot at Blackheath Aerodrome. At eight
a.m. there was no sign of Sinatra, 9 a.m., no sign, I was
beginning to forget all my lines. Still no sign of him by
midday, but the director of photography, Otto Heller lit
the scene. I was forgetting everything, if somebody
asked my name I had to think. At two-o’clock a Sinatra
helicopter arrived with Frank.
“I smiled and my teeth stuck to my lips. In the film, my
character has just kidnapped his son.
“At three o’clock, Mr Sinatra said, ‘Let’s shoot the
scene.’ So we did the eight pages of dialogue – all
made up as we said it – the continuity girl looked
baffled and at the end Mr Sinatra said, ‘That was kinda
different, but it was OK.’
“At the time the Daily Mirror was offering a lot of money
to anyone who’s talk about working with Sinatra, the
biggest star in the world. He heard that I turned it down
and he became a friend – everybody wanted something
out of him.”
Nesbitt continued “So they decided to shoot my scene
in Copenhagen – it was supposed to be in Welwyn Garden City – I was flown out in a private jet,
handed an envelope – money from Mr Sinatra – and I was given another envelope every day of
the ten days I was there. He was a lovely man, very charming, stayed in Claridge’s, thought
nothing of spending £1,700 on a bottle of Chateau Margaux, then send out for pizza at 4.00am.”
“But the hardest thing you’ve got to do in film is contend with a director. I was going to be the
permanent Number Two in The Prisoner with Patrick McGoohan – he was stark raving mad.
On the sound stage when I was playing Number 2, the director said ‘I suppose I should tell you
what this is about, but I haven’t a clue, so he went to see Patrick McGoohan and asked him
what is was all about, only to be told, ‘I’ve no idea.’ He was off his head.”
“I was born in Finsbury Park Empire, while Lord Arthur Saville’s Crime was being performed
on stage.
“I’m just pleased they were doing that play, the other one was Dry Rot.
“I used to be a Shakespearian actor - at RADA I won lots of awards – then I made a film called
Victim, playing a villain and I’ve been a villain ever since – as my wife will tell you.
“Life is living, not working – and being nasty to directors you don’t like.”
All flyers, progress reports and correspondence from the Festival are sent to people who register, or who have attended previous Festivals.
Unfortunately over time contact can be lost with some previous attendees as they may have moved. The Festival Committee encourage
the distribution of these Progress Reports to anyone who would be interested. So if you are aware of any of your friends who would be
interested then pass them a copy or email them a link, and persuade them to come along.
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Martin Stephens
We were delighted to welcome three “Children of the Damned” to this year’s Festival.
It was difficult to believe that it had been fifty
years since they first put on blonde wigs and
menacing stares to scare the living daylights out
of a generation.
Martin Stephens, who played the leader of the
weird youngsters in the 1962 classic Village of
The Damned gave a fascinating insight into the
world of a child actor, interviewed by Mike
Simpson.
Recalling meeting the author of the original novel,
The Midwich Cuckoos, Martin said:
“John Wyndham came onto the set rather
nervously – he didn’t know what the end result
was going to be like.
“But he sent me a Christmas present, a white
transistor radio and a signed copy of the book,
along with a personal letter of thanks.
“He said that he was really nervous when they
were making his book into a film, but was so
happy with the result and my part in it.
“I have treasured that letter till today.”
Martin started working early, advertising knitting patterns when he was two.
“Mum was very much into the work ethic,” he continued. “My older twin sisters did modelling
and appeared on the London stage, so some acting and agents got to know me.”
“Then a part came up in The Divided Heart - I was under five and I used to swing on the boom
microphone.” “Charles Crichton was the director, but after that role the phone didn’t ring for
another three years, when Charles Crichton needed another naughty boy.
“He put me in his film Law and Disorder, with Robert Morley and the phone didn’t stop ringing
after that. “I had no acting training except from my Mum – she loved theatre and the whole
business. “Within the family we kept it very low key, it was a job of work.
“Years later I was the second Oliver on the London stage, I did that for eight months and Mum
came to collect me at the end of each performance – but one evening she arrived early and
stood in the wings with the stage director.” “I had 10 to 15 curtain calls and he said to Mum, ‘He
couldn’t care less, could he?’ 1500 people were applauding, but to me it was just a job of work.”
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“When I auditioned for Village of the Damned I understood the story - I had read the whole
thing and Mum had explained it to me.
“One thing that attracted me was that a 10-year-old child with that amount of power. Three
weeks before the start of shooting, my Dad died. Now I can see it in my performance, something
subdued. It gave another depth to the performance. I think that it gave the impetus to me being
cast in my next film, The Innocents - that was a very demanding part. “Village of the Damned
was good preparation for that, but The Innocents was on a whole level higher – more
psychological, more ambiguous.
“Jack Clayton was an exceptional director – I worked with probably 15 different directors and he
was the cream of the cream. “The patience he had! He had pretty much an open budget on that
film, I never felt rushed.
“He would give me a lot of explanations, except one time – the scene where I say to Deborah
Kerr, ‘Kiss me goodnight,’ then I give her a long, lingering kiss which was deeply shocking. That
was the only scene where Jack told me exactly what to do – you can’t explain the undertones of
that to an 11-year-old boy. “The film premiered when I was 12 and in a phone call from the
studio I was told I couldn’t come as it was an X-certificate. I sneaked in when I was 15 and over
the years have seen it many times, each time seeing extra layers.
“By the age of 13 I was at boarding school in Ramsgate and I’d officially finished acting, but was
offered a part in The Battle of the Villa Fiorita, with Olivia Hussey, filmed in Italy.
“It was her first film and she went on to star in Romeo and Juliet. The director was Delmer
Daves, who’d made a lot of westerns. “He was very good with horses, but kids…he saw I had a
good rapport with Olivia and he directed her through me. II had to leave school for a whole term,
but the deal was that I’d have a private tutor.”
Martin’s final film, Hammer’s The Witches, released in 1966, required him to do only two weeks
work.
“I was allowed out of school to do that, but I was starting my A-levels, that’s why it was just a
small role.”
Martin then decided to concentrate on his schooling and set about the seven years of hard study
to become an architect, subsequently working mostly on the restoration of listed buildings –
mostly houses. “A labour of love,” he said.
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Teri and Lesley Scoble
Twin sisters Teri and Lesley Scoble, two more “Children of the Damned”, joined Martin on stage .
It was quite a
reunion, with Teri
immediately saying to
Martin: “I didn’t
realise you were in
Oliver, I was in The
Miracle Worker
across the road, we
used to look out the
window and throw
sweets at the boys in
Oliver, do you
remember that?
Martin: “I DO!”
Lesley: “We used to
meet Martin’s sisters
at auditions.”
Teri: “They were blonde and glamorous and we’d go, ‘Oh no!’ ”
Lesley: “Village of the Damned was filmed around this time of year (October) and it was cold
and wet so we had to have our wellies on. Teri: “I remember the wigs being scratchy. Lesley and
I had a widow’s peak, which had to be shaved every time.” Martin: “Originally I was asked if I
would have my hair dyed and I refused, so they had to get wigs.”
Lesley: “With our training at stage school, it was drilled into us not to speak until we were spoken
to and not to ask for photos or autographs. “But I asked George Sanders and at the end of the
day he gave me an autographed photo. Martin: “George Sanders was fine, but a very troubled
man, even as a child I knew that, but he was very kind. “I used to play chess with him and beat
him. I was a good chess player.”
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Martin admitted that he still occasionally is recognised as the boy from Village of the Damned,
how about the twins? Teri: “Not without the blonde wigs. But there’s a big fan base and they find
you on Facebook, itys extraordinary.”
Lesley: “We’re still in touch with Malcolm Knight, one of the boys in the film.
“We tried to get all back together about nine years ago and the director Wolf Rilla flew in – the
village hadn’t changed, it was a very special day. “Wolf Rilla died soon after that, he was a very
charismatic director and still a very attractive man.” Martin: “He never thought it would become a
cult movie. He’d become a hotel owner in the South of France.”
The twins recalled another cult film they made together, She Didn’t say No, set in Ireland, but
filmed in England. Teri: “I’ve incredible memories of filming in Falmouth.” Lesley: “It was so warm
that we went for midnight swims. It was a wonderful two weeks, but every scene we shot in
Falmouth was cut.”
They also appeared, as Siamese twins, in David Lynch’s classic The Elephant Man.
Teri: “He was gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous, so kind, so gentlemanly.” Lesley: “I asked him why
he was making it in black and white, not colour and he said he thought it would be more
grotesque and unrealistic in colour.
Teri: “We were on a night shoot and had been in the studios since six in the morning for makeup, it wasn’t as complex as the Elephant man’s but we were in it for ten hours.
“I love my sister, but we had to walk about Velcro-ed together all day and finally, |I thought I can’t
stand it any longer and I split, with a noisy ripping of Velcro. Very satisfying.”
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Mary Maude
Asked about her exotic looks by
interviewer Adrian James, Mary mused:
“My mother was quite an exotic, beautiful
woman with jet black hair, but as English
as can be.
“I was born in Hampshire, but travelled
around a lot – my father was in the army
– living in France for a number of years,
then Cyprus, coming back to England
when I was 11.
“I went to ballet school and the BBC used
to come along to choose people for their
5.00 pm Sunday afternoon serials of the
classics.
“I wanted to be a ballet dancer from 11 to
16 – when I was the same height as I am
now, so thought, why be in the back row
of the corps de ballet.
“The BBC had a pool of young danceractors who may be right in some of these
series.
“My first professional step when I left ballet
school I decided I was going to be an actor,
so went to Corona, with Janina Faye, the
Scobles, Richard O’Sullivan, it was just all part of our daily lives.
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“I did a few long-running TV series, Freewheelwers Was a sort of junior Avengers, I was in
Crossroads as Sandy’s girlfriend – he wasn’t in a wheelchair at that stage. “I loved
Freewheelers, using a machine gun, being on a nuclear submarine, jumping out of a helicopter,
things they don’t let you do now, it was wonderful.
“I did Freewheelers for about 18 months then did my first film, in Spain, La Residencia. I went
to an interview in London, there were several of us there, the director and his assistants, we just
auditioned and read several bits, then I got a call a few days later, to go within a week.”
“I went to Madrid and was told I was to play a very big role – the Spanish girl who was to play the
part had walked out the day before. It was set in a school for girls that people wanted rid of. Llilli
Palmer played the head teacher who ruled with a rod of iron. I was the head girl and she had a
son was playerd by John Moulder Brown. Lilli Palmer was wonderful, she kept herself to herself
– we were of different generations, but she gave me a lift once. We were in her own car with her
own chauffeur and she offered me a piece of chocolate, saying she only had two pieces a day that was how she kept thin.”
“As the film progressed people started to die –there were actually elements of Silence of the
Lambs. I am one of the major suspects, but ultimately I’m the last to die, I had my hands cut off
– my first time on screen. The poor boy was trying to make the perfect woman from parts.”
“It was a Spanish attempt to get into the international market, to go global – it was a huge
success in South America. They thought nothing of doing four days on set, then change and do
it all over again.
“It took six months as opposed to six weeks.
Everybody spoke their own languages,
everything was dubbed. “I learned Spanish
while I was there. ““I got more Spanish than
Spanish the Spanish. But in one scene I had
to whip a girl and said, ‘You just don’t do that
in England.’ It was more a thriller than in the
horror genre, no zombies, no vampires, it was
about what went on in this girls school.”
Mary recalled making Crucible of Terror
”It was filmed on location in Cornwall for a
couple of weeks, then at Shepperton. It was
supposed to be summer, but filmed this time
of year (October) so the beach scenes were
done very quickly.
“Ronald Lacey was already a successful
actor, as was James Bolan, Ronald sent
everybody up.
“Mike Raven had a very high opinion of
himself - he was on record as being a devil
worshipper. “He dressed in black all the time
– not somebody you wanted to sit with at
dinner, but his wife was quite a nice person.”
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“I then made another cult movie in Spain, I could have done a lot of Spanish movies. When
people ask me now what I used to do, I say ‘I used to be a Spanish film star.’ Jose Larraz, he
was quite famous for very good photography, it was quite an interesting script. But when I got to
Spain it was incredibly amateurish.”
“Entitled Uncertain Death, it was supposed to take place in India, but was shot in Barcelona. I’ve
forgotten the plot, I think it was set in the 1930s, I can remember big sets in marble, leaves
blowing through them, I can’t remember what the story was, I’ve never seen it. Somewhere I’ve
still got the script, perhaps I should read it.
“It was shot in six to seven weeks, just after Crucible of Terror, then I did Scorpio with Burt
Lancaster. “We were in the hotel at Watergate the night Watergate happened. I was there for
only one scene, with Burt Lancaster, and Alain Delon, the most beautiful man in the world.
“I was in the producer’s office on day two when Burt Lancaster arrived in a rush. The producer’s
secretary introduced us, ‘Mr Lancaster, this is Mary Maude,’ he said, ‘I can’t stop, I’m on TV,’ and
he rushed into the other room to be interviewed –this great big film star, thinking ‘I’m on TV!’ I
thought he’d be blasé!
“Alain Delon was lovely. We were rehearsing one scene when the director Michael Winner said,
‘OK put in the stand-in for Mr Delon.’ Somebody said, ‘Where’s Mary’s?’ Michael Winner replied,
‘She’s not got one, she’s not famous enough.’
“It was a week or ten days in America for one scene. “I was in four features with Harry Andrews,
I was his daughter in Man at the Top, his young wife in The Four Feathers, - he’s very old, I’m
young and beautiful, but the director said my character should be very pleased when I thought it
should be the other way around. “I told Harry Andrews, ‘Next time I’ll play your mother.’
“Man at the Top, was the only Hammer film I did, it was spin off of TV series with Kenneth
Haigh. “In 1970s I turned down quite a lot of things like commercials, but started doing theatre
really late - when I was in to my early mid thirties. I loved it at times, but it never had the
excitement or fun that filming had. People were incredibly nice in TV and films. In theatre after
you’d done it for six weeks, everybody vied for position on stage – the director was long gone.
“In Norman J Warren’s Terror I didn’t have that much to do over two or three night shoots.
“I did Angels and lots of other TV but it was nothing like movies. The last TV series I did was
Bread in 1991, which was great fun. I did one episode then they
wrote me in for the rest of the series. But I already had another
career, which happened inadvertently. I was working for research
on The Economist, while still acting. Gradually at The Economist,
I built up a whole tem – mostly actors - who are very good at
research – they do it when they preparing for a historic drama,
finding out what they didn’t know before, it’s a big skill.”
“By the time I was doing Bread, I found I was at my desk at the
Economist thinking about the play I was doing at night. And my
other career was much more lucrative, I travelled a lot, to the
States for two or three days, European capitals for 24 hours, I
just thought that would be better. – I now have my own research
company with 10 people.”
Any regrets? “I’d have liked bigger parts.”
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The Venue
The Festival returns to the Manchester Conference Centre on Sackville Street in
Manchester. A purpose built conference centre and hotel.
The hotel has indicated that the following
prices will apply during the festival.
£60 B&B per room, per night, for 3 nights
£75 B&B per room, per night, for 2 nights
These rates are valid up to 1st September after that the Hotel may alter these.
The Hotel has 117 bedrooms and it is expected that these will book up quickly.
Advance payment is not required and cancellation is possible up to 2 weeks before the festival.
You are advised to book as soon as possible.
For more details check out the Centre’s website
Alternative accommodation
Manchester city centre is a short walk from the venue, and there are numerous hotels, offering
cheap rooms. Further information can be found from the Visit Manchester Website .
Over 20 Years of Film Fandom A Tribute to .... The
Festival of Fantastic Films
Book by George Houston & George Gaddi
The price of the book will be £25
Please send your cheque with your name, and address to:
Keith Mather
8 Farndon Road,
Reddish,
Stockport
SK5 6LY
Please include an email address to confirm receipt.
If you want to reserve a copy and collect it at the 24th
Festival of Fantastic Films a non-refundable deposit of £10
is required. The balance will be due on collection.
If you require the book to be posted then this can be
arranged. (P&P extra)
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Only 26 Left
When they’re gone,
They’re gone
The Festival is brought to you by the following people
Tony Edwards
Membership,
Finance,
Publications
Gil Lane-Young
Tony Meadows
Guests
Films
Venue
Films
Keith Mather
Steve Green
Operations
Delta Award
Logistics
Bad Jokes
Ramsey Campbell
President
Auctioneer
Shouting
Independent Films
….and just in case you were curious, they are all open to bribery.
Contact Us:
For more information on the membership email: Tony Edwards: [email protected]
For more information on the Guests/Films email: Gil Lane-Young: [email protected]
To suggest stories for publication, letters or comments email: [email protected]
See you there, and bring a friend you know they’ll enjoy it too.
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