DB7

Amazon Synopsis: When the relatively unknown Hammer Films released "The Curse of Frankenstein" in 1957 it unexpectedly struck gold. The reactions of a lynch mob of critics brought the audiences flooding into the cinemas and the film ultimately recovered its modest production budget thirty times over and launched an international 'brand' that would become a part of the British way of life. Originally formed in 1934 and previously known for quickie melodramas, police thrillers and monochrome sci-fi features, Hammer was quick to capitalise on the film's success. By 1979, when the studio ceased production, Hammer's trademark combination of gore and decolletage had in dozens of Frankenstein, Dracula and vampire movies that would continue to be a staple of late-night television for years to come.

Hammer was a very British success story. A family business, it operated from the improbable setting of a Berkshire country house, employed largely British casts and catered to the long-established British taste for grand guignol that teetered on the edge of self-parody. But its production values were high by the standards of the time and the genre and in addition to establishing the careers of its regular stars like Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee it gave a surprisingly large number of British actors and directors their first break and film-makers including Scorsese, Spielberg and Tarantino have all acknowledges its influence on their work. The author has interviewed many of the surviving actors and other employees most of whom recollect their times at Hammer with amusement and affection.

ChristineCB

I haven't seen this one on the library shelves, but I'm wondering if you've an opinion about the quality of the following three books:

Kinsey's HAMMER: THE BRAY STUDIO YEARS

Meikle's HISTORY OF HORROR RISE & FALL OF HAMMER

Hutchings' HAMMER & BEYOND HISTORY OF BRITISH HORROR

I'm going to pick up one of them but, often with such works, if one disappoints me, I end up losing interest and a desire to do further 'research' reading (mostly because I ain't doing real research for a purpose)!

smudge

I read the Denis Meikle ages ago and can recommend it.

I've not yet waded through Wayne's BRAY YEARS completely, but he maintains a very high standard in the part work from which it is derived THE HOUSE THAT HAMMER BUILT, so I'd say yes again.

Both authors maintain a good working relationship with Dick Klemensen and his LSoH magazine, the definitive Hammer publication, so that is a major recommendation.

A good general work is Jonathan Rigby's ENGLISH GOTHIC, which I often dip into for invaluable pieces of reference.

Smudge

Welcome to my house. Enter freely, and of your own will...

Dr Amicus

All three are worth your time - but for very different reasons.

Meikle's is, IMHO, the best single volume history of Hammer. There are a few errors (I understand) but nothing particularly struck me. It's a good overview of Hammer's whole history, and manages a decent mix of production history and analysis - although tending towards the former. And it's very readable.

Kinsey's book is fantastic - but only covers the Bray years (up to The Mummy's Shroud). Enormously detailed, especially some really useful material on the BBFC, but it's strictly chronological narrative means that Film A is in production, Film B is in Production, Film A has a run in with the Censor, Film B has production problems, Film C is started, Film A is re-edited.... Not as easy a read as the Meikle, but for depth it's unrivalled - and is a bit stronger on analysis of the films. I haven't read his follow up yet, but it is high on my wants list.

Huchings' book is mistitled - basically it's an update of David Pirie's A Heritage of Horror (very highly recommended if you can find a copy - still the most important and referenced work in the field) with added psychoanalytical theory. It can be hard work in places, and I have serious disagreements in many places with him, but if you have a background in film theory it's worth a look. I have to say, Hutchings' later books (on Terence Fisher and Dracula) are rather better, especially the latter.

The Meikle is expensive and the Hutchings out of print - the Kinsey might be the one to go for (or, if you can get a decently priced copy, the Meikle if you don't want to be overwhelmed by the detail).

ChristineCB

Thanks for all of these. My worst habit in non-fiction reading is starting The Wrong Book First, where the Wrong Book is so boring or dull that it drains my interest on the subject and destroys my willingness to read a second book.

These reviews and recommendations give me better ideas of which book to start with and, if I do find one of these book less fulfilling, I can mollify myself by thinking, "Oh well, there's always another book to read..."

So, thanks for all of these excellent notes.

Lord Brett

I got Wayne Kinsey's second book (the Elstree Years) as I saw happened to see it at the National Media Museum bookshop and was bowled over by it - the best book on Hammer I've ever read. I'll be putting The Bray Years on my Christmas list!

Dr Amicus

Resurrecting this thread, Frankenstein like, after so long as I've just finished reading A Thing of Unspeakable Horror.

Hmmmm... It's certainly a fun read - sometimes very funny - and McKay actually seems to like the films (unlike some Hammer book writers!), but it has more than its fair share of problems:

Too many errors: Some of these are typos (confusing George Cukor with Adolph Zukor, The Bridge OVER The River Kwai...), but some are just stupid - eg, Oliver Reed's first film was Curse of the Werewolf (not even his first Hammer), Freddie Francis was a future Oscar winner when he directed Hammer films and won for Elephant Man (he had won for Sons and Lovers in 1960 - and would again for Glory).

Far too much jumping around chronolgically - and then saying 'but more of that later' or a variant of it.

He seems to have read some of the main books on the studio - and still misses the point too often. Eg - he argues that The Curse of Frankenstein was a happy accident rather than (a) emerging from the success of Quatermass via audience research and (b) typically for Hammer used a recognisable, exploitable name.

If you can live with these, then it's not too bad. As I said, it's a very easy read and occasionally made me laugh out loud. He does tie in the films to developments in the wider world, most of the horror films are covered (there are a few absences, and some, such as Twins of Evil, are skimmed over far too quickly) . Rather bizarrely, this might be the first substantial (ish) book on British horror which only briefly mentions Pirie's A Heritage of Horror!

It also has the advantage of being cheap - £7 or so in paperback from Amazon - especially compared with say Meikle's book. As an entertaining introduction to the topic it just about passes muster - if you want more detail (and accuracy) there are better options available, and if you are reasonably well read on Hammer than this can be safely left on the shelf.

Dr. Schreck

I have neither seen nor read that one yet, I have to say. For reference, I normally have a look at Hammer Films by Johnson & Del Veccio, which is excellent. Meikle's great for his accuracy on accountance, but I always wondered why he bothered to write it, as he seems to dislike most of Hammer's output (apart from stuff like The Lost Continent - ugh!). Kinsey's books are great, I like them a lot, and they always leave one hungry for more - which is a good thing, in fact. ;)

"I swore then that they would never be rid of me!"

Lord Brett

Dr, can you recommend any books on German films? I've got the superb Hallo - Heir Spricht Edgar Wallace and wondered if there was anything else in the same league covering popular German films.

Dr. Schreck

There were others on the Wallace movies as well, Der Hexer, der Zinker und andere Mörder by Christos Tses, and Die Edgar Wallace-Filme by Florian Pauer. They all have their qualities - and weaknesses. However, any special theme you're looking for? The publisher of Kramp's Wallace book just announced another one by the same writer on ... Jerry Cotton: Ein Fall für das FBI

"I swore then that they would never be rid of me!"

batman

I bet there won't be an English version of that one.

"Daddy, why haven't you got any marbles? Did you lose them?"

Lord Brett

If it's as well-illustrated as the Wallace book it'll be worth the money anyway. I think it's from the same publisher, so the signs are good.

HIPPIEDAVE

A thing of unspeakable Horror, I thought was another Tony Blair comment

Chris Fluffy

Coming late to this party, I'd say the best way to read about Hammer would be to get hold of a full set of Klemensen's Little Shoppe Of Horrors fanzine (now being "reprinted" on CD in PDF format), because most of the Hammer books tend to quote this primary source material. It's also worth looking out for the House Of Hammer comic magazine.

I enjoyed Kinsey's books a great deal (though the nerdy diversions into areas of his medical professional expertise should have been edited out). The Kinsey books are wonderfully illustrated and, while offering few surprises and perhaps hurrying through the 1940s, tell the story well. Kinsey is particularly strong in presenting documentation of Hammer's dealings with the BBFC. These are almost worth a book alone and provide an infuriating insight into the BBFC's prejudices and astonishing arrogance.

Kinsey's "Hammer Films: A Life In Pictures" is also an essential purchase for Hammer fans.

Meikle's book was a disappointment. While comprehensive when it was published, it's heavily padded with lists and suffers from three writing flaws. First and foremost (as mentioned by an earlier poster) you'd swear he doesn't like Hammer at all. Secondly, he is prone to vulgar attempts at highbrow criticism with 5 too many uses of "mise en scene". Thirdly, his writing is almost soap opera in that he tries to end each section on a negatively dramatic note. The way he tells it, Hammer spent the best part of 20 years struggling from crisis to crisis.

The Johnson & Del Veccio book is a solid catalogue but is marred by typos making the data unreliable. All the same, it does the best of the three in presenting Hammer's earliest output.

McKay's book seems like a rush job. I didn't buy it but skimmed sections in store and wasn't impressed at all. If you want a lightweight but colourful and well laid out overview, go for Marcus Hearn's The Hammer Story.

m35541

I agree with these comments - to read Meikle Hammer was in decline from about 1960. It's a well written book but comes across as being so negative (this i understand is not his intention). It's also got far too much hindsight in it. One of his problems is i think he's just concentrated on their horror output where there was a decline in both quantity and quality from about 1961-65 but they were making a lot of non-horror stuff at this time including the various Diabolique imitations and numerous matinee costume dramas (their bigger budgeted films such as She and One Million Years BC, as well as ambituous projects like Moon Zero Two all came well after 1960). He writes about the financial crisis of the early 1970's as if it was inevitable 10 years earlier.

I've also read his book on Vincent Price and the same thing comes across. Price seems to be on a permanent downer the whole time. Meikle also toys with the idea of being salacious but fails to deliver - he throws out insinuations that Price was bisexual without any evidence to support it. He's also very Manchean is his reviews of Price's films. they're either fantastic or abysmal; nothing in-between (where in reality a lot of them were). He devotes a whole page or so to saying how terrible The Oblong Box was - its not particularly good but hardly anywhere near the worst film any of the participants ever made.

Meikle clearly likes writing about the genre (and must love it - else why write several books about it and have been present on set at some of the films) but he comes across as being so downbeat its unbelievable.

Again agree - both books are very good and full of detail. What they miss is Kinsey's view of things. He doesn't give his own opinion and leaves conflicting viewpoints on issues as conflicting viewpoints. This is very similar to LSOH which covers the making of most Hammer films by a succession of interviews with little editorial content or attempt to correct incorrect opinions (except via these interviews).

I did exactly the same and came to the same opinion that compared to the Kinsey and Meikle books, this was superficial and not worth having.