The final guest at The 20th Festival of Fantastic Films 2009, again introduced by Wayne Kinsey, has probably the most varied career of the all, from Second Unit work and Direction on "The Avengers" in the late 60s, through Hammer's Twins of Evil (1971), Disney's Escape to… and Return from Witch Mountain (1975 and '78), Howling IV: The Original Nightmare (1988) for Harry Alan Towers, and a trilogy of Barbara Cartland adaptations, to a "Special Thanks" credit on Quentin Tarantino's Grindhouse: Death Proof (2007), eclectic doesn't begin to cover the career of John Hough.
Early Years
Sporting a cockney brogue to this day, Hough (pronounced "Huff" rather than "How" as I had always thought) was born in London in 1941 and entered the business at the bottom, working in the sound department at Merton Park Studios in South London as a "trainee, come tea-maker, come floor sweeper". His first task at Merton Park involved crouching inside the shower with a microphone and a naked Barbara Windsor, the busty babe from the Carry On… films, at which point he decided that this was a job he liked. Mr Hough recalls this as being for Sidney J Furie's The Leather Boys (1964), but it was more likely for The Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre production Death Trap (1962), directed by John Llewellyn Moxey, one of close to 50 Edgar Wallace productions filmed at the studios between 1960 and 1965.
As a trainee he was paid "existence money" as part of his four-year apprenticeship, which provided just enough to get by, but he worked his way up the ranks to the position of Third Assistant Director and Location Manager. It was in this role that he received his break, having scouted out a location for a country house, when the director had a nervous breakdown and failed to show up to the shoot. Hough took over and was now a fully fledged director (unfortunately it wasn't stated on which film this took place).
"The Avengers" (1968–9) and Wolfshead (1969)
Having left Merton Park, he moved on to Elstree Studios and Pinewood where he was employed 52 weeks a year and had the opportunity to work with Hitchcock and David Lean among others and watch them at work. Hough worked for several years as a Second Unit Director – shooting "the stuff where you never saw the actors" - on the ATV and ITC series "The Baron" (1966–7), "The Champions" (1968–9) and "The Avengers" (1968–9), before landing the Director slot on four episodes of the latter (including two of the best entries and one of the worst).
During this time he was approached to direct Wolfshead: The Legend of Robin Hood (1969), starring David Warbeck (who would also appear in Twins of Evil two years later). The film was funded by British expatriates working for NASA in the USA, who wanted to make an "Olde English" film. Unfortunately the NASA money ran out while they were still filming in Wales, so producer Bill Anderson bet all the remaining money on a horse at Doncaster races. Thankfully the horse won and they were able to complete the film.
With no real plans for distributing the movie, they sold it to Hammer as a TV pilot (the finished piece runs around 56 minutes) and the studio presumably still owns it, though it's only available as a 1981 VHS release from Video Gems, under the title The Legend of Young Robin Hood.
Having had a successful relationship with David Warbeck on Wolfshead, Hough wanted to work with him again on Twins of Evil. John reminisced about Warbeck's possible shot at the James Bond role and the fact that the flamboyant actor was cast and Hough hired to direct (he doesn't recall which film, but my guess is The Man With the Golden Gun, 1974) following Roger Moore's salary dispute with Cubby Broccoli. Before contracts could be signed however, Moore relented and the world was robbed of a gay James Bond – though Hough was unaware of Warbeck's sexual orientation until much later.
Hough was called "out of the blue" to direct Twins of Evil (he recalls it as being after The Legend of Hell House [1973] and Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry [1974], but this seems unlikely) and remembers the Collinson twins (who were already cast) as being very much as they were in the film, Mary very sweet and gentle and Madeleine very forceful. Talking about Kathleen Byron, who died in January 2009 and plays Katy Weil in Twins, he said that she was a "superb" award-winning actress who had played Sister Ruth in Black Narcissus (1947), but over a short period of time disappeared off the radar and that Bette Davis, with whom Hough worked on Return from Witch Mountain (1978) and The Watcher in the Woods (1980), said the same thing happened to her after winning four Oscars. Davis fought back however, taking out an ad in Variety in 1962, which can be paraphrased as "Out of work Hollywood actress seeks employment" from which she received offers that kept her busy for years.
Twins was the first film on which Peter Cushing worked after the death of his wife, and Hough recalled that Cushing looked forward to seeing her again in the hereafter. He described him as a superb artist who was always word perfect and the two later worked together on Biggles (1986) and an episode of the short-lived TV series "The Zoo Gang" (1974), which he described as "one of the lesser events" in his career.
Hough was also responsible for casting Damien Thomas, and was drawn to his look: "He was handsome, but there was something in his eyes that made you suspect he was dangerous and evil." He also described him as a good artist with great training (he appeared in Julius Ceaser in 1970 opposite John Geilgud and Charlton Heston) and that it was a shame he never played Dracula.
Prompted by Wayne Kinsey to recall the aborted plans for Hammer to film the Warren Publications comic book, Hough said he went to Los Angeles, signed a deal and cast Barbara Leigh in the title role. He persuaded her to dress as Vampirella for a dinner meeting with Michael Carreras, but when they went to pick up the Hammer chairman, they discovered that he had talked another actress into doing the same thing. Apparently dinner was a little awkward.
In another incident, Hough arranged for Leigh to dress in the Vampirella outfit on the day the deal was to be closed, enter the boardroom of co-producers AIP and run the length of the conference table. This was a success and they signed the contract, only to discover that AIP had stipulated that Hammer had to sign a big name like Paul Newman to co-star and as a result the project died. Against Hough's advice, Barbara Leigh had already sold her home on the promise of a six picture deal and was heart broken.
Hammer After the Fall
Hough directed three episodes of the TV series "Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense" in 1985–6, alternating with Peter Sasdy. The two directors shared one crew and Hough feels that their attention was divided, making it hard to do good work. All of the TV series he worked on were shot on 35mm film, and Hough will always stand up for shooting on film versus video.
Hough made bids to purchase Hammer Films on two different occasions. In one incident, working with Hollywood producer Ken Hyman (The Stranglers of Bombay, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, The Hill, The Dirty Dozen), the deal was at the handshake stage, but unfortunately Hyman was a hard-talking businessman who ignored Hough's request that they look after Hammer executives Roy Skeggs and Brian Lawrence after the deal was finalized. As the champagne cork was being pulled, Lawrence told the duo that they were both out after the purchase and they refused to sign.
On the second occasion Roy Skeggs had again agreed a deal but got lost in heavy fog and didn't show up to sign, also failing to appear on a subsequent occasion. Hough planned to keep the studio largely the same, as it was such a recognized brand and DVD was then just around the corner with all the lucrative licensing that entailed.
Hough worked with Davis on two occasions and the role in The Watcher called for her character to appear both as an older lady and her younger self aged 30-35. Davis insisted playing both parts and flew in her hairdresser and make-up lady to do a screen test. Hough, though amazed at the transformation, did not think she looked believable and asked everyone to leave the screening room except the formidable actress. When he gave his opinion, she laughed and said "You're Goddamn fucking right!" She appreciated straight talk and the two remained firm friends for many years, Hough recalled that at one Hollywood party they attended together, Davis told stories for over two hours, holding the attention of the whole room.
Hough described Towers as a "fly-by-night character of dubious repute." but an educated raconteur and, despite the fact he didn't pay his crew, it was often worth the trip just to hear him tell tall tales. Their first collaboration was on a version of Treasure Island (1972) with Orson Welles as Long John Silver and Towers did a deal to have a replica galleon, docked at The Tower of London, sail to the filming location in Spain. A week before shooting was due to begin, Hough saw on the news that the Lutine Bell at Lloyd's of London had been rung to mark the sinking of the ship. They managed to locate another replica in Majorca, but in the meantime Hough had to make do with a mast stuck in the sand behind a dune. Despite their financial problems, Hough had a lot of time for Towers (who died in July 2009) and forgave his disappearing at night with the accountant and various other foibles.
Prompted by Kinsey to discuss other challenges he had encountered over the years, Hough named Roger Moore on the set of "The Saint" TV series. Hough was impressed with Moore's performance in The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970) and, feeling he could get more out of the actor, pushed him for a fourth take in a scene, which the actor refused to do. Hough, young as he was, also refused to continue, quietly confident that he was going to be fired but refusing to bow to the actors demands. Eventually Moore relented and offered to do another take, but Hough said "No, you'll do as many as it takes to get it right." They eventually did 12 and Moore never forgave him.
Later, in questions from the audience, Hough also mentioned that working with actors who had been directors themselves was very difficult, mentioning Welles, John Cassavetes (Brass Target, 1978; Incubus, 1981), and Patrick McGoohan (Brass Target), but saying that 96% of the people he's worked with have been great. Further prompted on Patrick McGoohan, he described him as an intelligent actor who had very particular ideas about his roles, that were sometimes at odds with the director and, while he did have a period of drinking during which he "lost the plot" slightly, he was far from the crazy man some people have described.
The Legend of Hell House (1973)
This is Hough's personal favorite of all his work, and he's proud of the fact that the majority of the effects were done in-camera. In one scene Pamela Franklin enters a room and sees a body moving on a bed under a sheet, but when she removes the sheet the bed is empty. Hough refused to give away the secret, but did say that the scene was shot without edits, using a wide angle lens giving the special effects men nowhere to hide.
Tarantino gives a "Special Thanks" credit to Hough in the credits of Death Proof and Hough is very happy to have become a cult director's cult director, saying that whenever anything is showing on a TV set in a Tarantino film that they are usually his films. He recently met with Tarantino in London and the younger director said he'd been impressed with an interview Hough had given regarding Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry, in which he explained that there was no under-cranking (to make the vehicles appear faster) and no optical effects. Tarantino used this as a blueprint for Death Proof, shooting in the same California locations and replicating many of the stunts.
I was happy to be able to ask a question that's bothered me for years regarding the extremely nihilistic ending of Dirty Mary and Hough confirmed that this was not in the script and that he'd "paid the price for it ever since." He decided to kill the characters at the end, but never told 20th Century Fox he was doing so ("In those days I never asked anybody anything.") thus killing off any chance of a Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry 2. In later conversation he said that he felt that the three characters in the car should pay for the mayhem they'd caused in the previous 90 minutes.
Asked about his most recent movie, the director commented that he had not yet discussed any of his disasters and that he has always had a financial stake in the films he's made, including Bad Karma which was a spectacular failure. Set in Boston but filmed in Ireland, the production was beset with problems, including the fact that Producer Mark L Lester (The Funhouse, Class of 1984) insisted on nudity after production had started, which stars Patsy Kensit (Lethal Weapon 2) and Amy Huberman (UK TV series "The Clinic") refused to do, leading to another crew and director being called in later to shoot nude scenes with body doubles (Huberman successfully sued The People newspaper in the UK for publishing nude shots and claiming they were of her).
He also mentioned another film that he invested in heavily (presumably 1998's Something to Believe In) in which, tired of explosions and decapitations, he wanted to explore themes of love and faith. Unfortunately this too turned out to be a huge flop.
Currently wrapping up post production on his son Paul's directorial debut The Human Race (2010), Hough remains a busy man and we look forward to seeing what the next generation brings to the screen.
John Hough at the 20th Festival of Fantastic Films 2009 (© Gareth Walters).
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