Tag Archives: Terence Fisher

Andrée Melly – Rest in Peace

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Andree Melly - RIPFor fans of Hammer Films, especially The Brides of Dracula (1960), you knew the stunning beauty that was Andrée Melly, who appeared as one of the brides. This was her only Hammer film, but she also appeared in another Terence Fisher film, The Horror of It All (1964), alongside Pat Boone and Dennis Price. But one couldn’t watch Brides and not be enamored with her, along with Marie Devereux as the other bride (who we also recently lost last December). Seeing them transformed from young school girls to fanged creatures of the night, they once again showed why Hammer Films are still be watched and remembered with so much fondness today.

Melly passed away on January 31st, at the age of 87. She will be missed but always remembered for her brief film career. Our thoughts go out to her friends and family.

Book Review: Hammer Complete

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Hammer CompleteHammer Complete: The Films, the Personal, the Company
Published by McFarland, 2018. 992 pages.
By Howard Maxford

Wow.

It’s really hard to be not excited when a book comes out on one of your favorite studios that is just a few pages shy of a 1000! Sure, some of you that ask, “do we really need another book on Hammer Films?” Well if it is as massive and thorough as this one, then that would be a definite yes! I have been waiting on this book to come out since McFarland announced it well over a year ago, but had no idea how colossal of a tome this would be. Maxford states in his introduction that it has taken over 15 years to complete this and it looks like it.

I’ve been reading and researching and learning about Hammer Studios and the people behind it for somewhere around three decades, but there is always still more to learn. That was proven once again as I started browsing through this before I read some little tidbits that I didn’t know about. Such as that Jimmy Hanley, who played the friendly bartender in The Lost Continent (1968), is actually the father of Jenny Hanley, who appeared in Scars of Dracula (1970)! Sure, it’s just a little bit of trivia, but that is a sign of a good reference book.

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