Us middle aged blokes can get a bit nostalgic about our youth sometimes.  Well here is the perfect opportunity to do just that and settle down in front of the plasma thingy on the wall and enjoy some classic movies from the good old days of Hammer Productions.

The Scarlet Blade and The Brigand of Kandahar are both out now on DVD for the first time.  As soon as I sat down to watch the first one I was engulfed in that wonderful old world of dodgy studio sets and fantastic old buildings.  They were in fact filmed at Bray Studios in the mid 60′s in the days when Hammer owned the studios and used them exclusively.  As the opening sequence rolled, I remembered vividly every tree that the actors rode past on horseback.  I half expected to see a werewolf or possibly Dracula himself lurking in the shadows but alas no.

Set during the English Civil War, a villainous anti-royalist, Colonel Judd, played by Lionel Jeffries hunts down Edward Beverley aka The Scarlet Blade.  This dashing Robin Hood character is helping Royalist Rebels to escape Oliver Cromwell’s vicious enforcers whilst falling head over heals for Judd’s daughter Clare.  Meanwhile Captain Sylvester, Judd’s right hand man, is  playing the two sides off against one another in an attempt to win the affections of Clare for himself.  Oliver Reed puts in a fantastic performance as Sylvester and the wonderfully uncomplicated plot makes this movie a joy to watch.

Reed also stars in The Brigand of Kandahar.  This time he’s a rebel Bengali tribesman Eli Khan and leads his band of warriors against the colonial enemy in 1880′s British India.  He is joined by Robert Case (Ronald Lewis), a mixed race lieutenant who is unjustly discharged from the British Army.  When they capture a foreign journalist, Case recounts his story of trumped up charges, racism and bigotry.  During an attack by the British, Case is brutally shot and the journalist returns home determined to report the truth.  Again this movie is fantastic in it’s simplicity and at just under 80 minutes (as is The Scarlet Blade) is the perfect way to waste a Sunday afternoon.

I was saddened to hear about the wonderful Down House at Bray Studios where Hammer filmed so many of their classic movies.  It’s subject to a planning application by it’s current owner, Neville Hendricks, to turn it into a housing estate.  The application has been postponed and a new submission has to be made however it is possible that this piece of history is about to be destroyed.  Olly Reed will be turning in his grave.  Apparently several television and film companies have applied recently to shoot at the studios and have been told there is no availability despite the buildings being empty.

Sign up to the face book page below to help save the studios and if you can, lodge your objections with the planning department for the area as well.  Many more classic films are waiting to be shot at this fantastic location.

http://www.facebook.com/groups/savebraystudios/