Typically lurid Hammer pre-production artwork for The Hands of the Ripper (1971)
Sunday morning at the 20th Festival of Fantastic Films began with a screening of what would later be announced as the winner of the Independent Film Award, Kirk (read a review here) and this was followed by Wayne Kinsey, making a fine attempt at Hungarian, who introduced Peter Sasdy prior to a screening of The Hands of the Ripper (1971)
Early Years
Born in Budapest in 1935, Sasdy escaped Hungary as a student in 1956 after the uprising. Settling in England, he graduated from the University of Bristol and applied to work at the BBC, but was ineligible as he wasn't a British citizen. Taking a job in a coffee house, making espresso, cappuccino, and even Horlicks (though didn't didn't understand that strange British beverage), he eventually completed a directors course at the BBC and was accepted at Lew Grade's ABC Television as a trainee, starting out on the Epilogue (a program that closed weekend broadcasts) with David Sheppard, the England cricketer and future Right Reverend Lord Sheppard, Bishop of Liverpool.
By 1958, he was directing the UK's first hospital soap "Emergency Ward 10" and the previous day's guest John Carson was one of the first actors he had the pleasure of working with (read a report of John Carson's Q&A here). Eventually he created 39 episodes of this long-running series, which broadcast twice weekly from 1957 to 1967. He graduated from there to episodes of "Probation Officer" (1959–60) and "Ghost Squad", which was a crime series that ran between 1961 and 1964, and afforded Sasdy his first opportunity to work with a "real" 35mm film camera.
Peter Sasdy's first encounter with the macabre came with this 1968 TV series and while this is generally credited as being a Hammer Production through Anthony Hinds, he recalled that by the time the series was set up, Hammer was no longer involved. It was his first time working at a proper film studio - the series was shot at the MGM British Studios in Borehamwood, Herfordshire – and an opportunity to work with executive producer Joan Harrison, co-author of several Hitchcock's films, including Rebecca (1940).
The following year, Sasdy directed the BBC classic serial "The Spoils of Poynton", based on Henry James' novel and was working on the edit in St Anne's Court, Soho, close by Hammer House in Wardour Street, when he was called to meet with Aida Young and James Carreras, having been recommended by Joan Harrison. They discussed working on a Dracula feature with the young director, who was barely able to contain his excitement at the prospect of moving from the small- to the big screen.
On reading the script, and full of the arrogance of youth, Sasdy felt that it lacked personality, and introduced the idea of centering the story on three Victorian businessmen, to both give the story resonance for a British audience, and uncover the hypocrisy of Victorian society. Sasdy treasures a review by Dilys Powell, doyen of British film writers, who gave the film a good notice in The Sunday Times. Sasdy still believes that revealing what went on behind closed Victorian doors carried weight with an audience whose grandparents lived through those times, a theory borne out in the fact that was the last Dracula film to receive anything like decent reviews.
Discussing Christopher Lee's disenchantment with the role and his lack of screen time in the film, Sasdy recalled that in the early stages of the production, there was a chance that Lee would not appear at all for contractual reasons but he felt that, having already changed the "recipe of the goulash," by concentrating on the three Victorian gents, that it was important that Lee be there for the sake of consistency. He took Lee to lunch and explained how important he felt his presence was and, after a few rounds of slivovitz, Lee agreed. While no increase was allowed in the budget to guarantee his appearance, certain concessions were made to keep the actor happy.
Wayne Kinsey commented that after the initial two Terence Fisher-directed Dracula films, some of the scenes between the Count and his female victims felt a little mechanical except, that is, in Taste the Blood of Dracula, in particular the scene with Isla Blair. Sasdy recalled a couple of things he did to help Lee's performance. He took him to a place off Harley Street to have special lenses made to redden his eyes, and then asked Lee to use his physical presence and these lenses to introduce a stillness to the character and act less to make Dracula more menacing.
Remembering Ralph Bates, who made his film debut here, he recalled that Bates was extremely nervous and couldn't get his lines out effectively, so Sasdy asked everyone to leave at 4pm and worked with Bates until 9pm reading all the parts of the other actors and ensuring he got his sight lines and readings correct. These scenes were edited into the finished film and no one could tell the difference - both of them remembered this experience, and Bates often said it stayed with him throughout his career.
In questions from the audience, a query was made regarding the actors and their on-set shenanigans during the brothel scene (following John Carson's comments the previous day), Sasdy commented on the time-pressure a director faces, saying "I don't giggle when I look at my watch", but did say it was difficult to keep a straight face in the presence of Roy Kinnear. He also recalled, as had Carson, that Highgate Cemetery was a very effective location, "Very spooky, you don't need any effects… One of the best locations for a Hammer movie."
Sasdy read a piece in The Times, by Hungarian writer Gabriel Ronay (author of the bestseller The Truth About Dracula, 1971), and took the idea to James Carreras before lunch one day. Carreras said "If you can get me a poster together after lunch, I have a meeting with Rank this afternoon." Following the meeting, Carreras sent out his #2, Brian Lawrence who asked "Can you start six weeks from Monday?" Quoting from Sasdy's DVD commentary, Wayne Kinsey reminded the director that James Carreras thought that he and fellow Hungarian, producer Alexander Paal, would work well together if they didn't kill each other first. Sasdy remembered that Paal wanted to push things in a more exploitative direction with more nudity, which Sasdy did not feel was necessary. On the casting of Pitt, he said that it was his decision, "But the position I was put in was very difficult."
Sasdy recalled that was now a trusted member of the Hammer family and was left alone to do his job (very different from when he worked in the US), speaking of the excellent cast, he was told that his first choices would never appear for Hammer but, because he had worked with many of the actors on BBC classic series, he pushed for the people he wanted and was successful. He also brought in costume designer Raymond Hughes and art director Philip Harrison, who had worked with him on his last two BBC pieces and were extremely happy to work on the big screen for less than established film crew wages, but more than they earned at the BBC. Sasdy would recommend Phil Harrison for later work on, among others, Never Say Never Again (1983), Mississippi Burning (1988) and Timecop (1994). He also recalled that they re-used sets from Anne of a Thousand Days (1969) to help the production overcome its limited budget and he fondly recalled cinematographer Ken Talbot who he had worked with on "Journey to the Unknown" (they would collaborate on four further films, until Talbot's retirement after I Don't Want to be Born/The Devil Within Her in 1975).
Quizzed on the rumor that Ingrid Pitt had once pushed him into the sea to show her displeasure at being re-dubbed, Sasdy said there was no truth to the story, but that she was unhappy at having her voice replaced, following up with a smile and the quip "There was no physical activity between us of any kind."
Sasdy's personal favorite film, and one whose success he largely credits to Angharad Rees, who was outstanding in the lead role. The script called for a "little porcelain figure" but she brought more to the part and was very well balanced with the experience of Eric Porter, who helped her with her self-confidence and acted as a mediator between director and actress to ensure her performance was perfect. Sasdy again resisted greater nudity in the film and, as with Taste the Blood…, managed to utilize existing sets, this time from Billy Wilder's The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970), which he said "just happened to be there". However, one blow was the fact that they were refused permission to use the Whispering Gallery at St Paul's Cathedral for the climax, so he dressed some of the extras as tourists, took stills and used those as front projection plates.
Sasdy was called by his former "Emergency Ward 10" collaborator Christopher Morahan, who was by then head of plays at the BBC and asked to direct this science-meets-the-supernatural masterpiece. The BBC had decided that rather than try and compete with a big movie, they would create a scary 90 minute original drama for broadcast on Christmas Day (traditionally the UK's biggest for ratings).
Sasdy takes the credit for bringing Nigel Kneale on board, and explained that working with Kneale could be a challenge, as he had so many ideas that they needed to be filtered to be understood by ordinary human beings. Sasdy worked closely with Kneale at his home in Barnes ("As his dear wife was making the tea.") and went through the script word by word to simplify the story. Knowing that this was playing on Christmas Day and couldn't be bloody, they came up with the concept of a room in an old Victorian house that is able to record and play back the screams of the people who died there.
Sasdy was again able to pull off his perfect cast - a good thing, as he had no second choices - and Michael Bryant and Jane Asher were duly hired.
This was the first and (if you discount Hammer co-production To the Devil… a Daughter) only film produced by Charlemagne Productions, a collaboration between Christopher Lee and Hammer's Anthony Nelson-Keys and Lee part financed the film himself. Sasdy was director for hire and had no input on the script.
He described Lee's co-star Peter Cushing as a "Gentle human being," who would apologize to a fly as it passed by. Calling him "An extraordinary human being," he recalled the time they were both in Paris for a film festival and Cushing's child-like, innocent glee at seeing the city for the first time.
A member of the audience asked what it was like working with Diana Dors and Keith Barron and Sasdy responded that he had nothing but admiration for Dors, a hard working, professional, ordinary girl, who was willing to do multiple takes in difficult circumstances, a "Wonderful, professional actress," who was nothing like he imagined she would be prior to the production. He described Barron as a "Nice guy, very professional… One of the backbones of British television" who lives close by him in the Hampton Court area.
"Hammer House of Horror" (1980)
Sasdy was not involved in the business background of Hammer's post-bankruptcy TV series, but did share that the production time on each episode was too short, with only 10 days preparation and shooting time per show.
One audience member questioned whether he liked to be involved in the editing stage, to which he replied "Try to keep me out of the cutting room!" and elaborated that in the US, the bosses tried to keep him away, saying "Every producer can hardly wait for the last day's shoot. And then they want to shoot me." While he has enormous trust in the editors, he loves to be involved in this process, as well as soundtrack recording, post-sync dubbing, print, and grading, and he would go voluntarily to Technicolor's Denham laboratory to oversee the latter.
Asked who inspired him and whether he had every met Hungarian director Egdar G Ulmer, Sasdy answered briefly "Alexander Korda" to the first question, and "No" to the second.
Quizzed about his collaboration with wife, choreographer and actress Mia Nadasi (who was present in the audience), Sasdy recalled that she appeared in the "Hammer House of Horror" episode "Visitor from the Grave", and was choreographer on Countess Dracula and I Don't Want to Be Born/The Devil Within Her and that Mia was six-and-a-half-months pregnant with their first child, during the production of Countess Dracula.
Asked about working with Harry Alan Towers (who produced the 1991 pastiche Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady directed by Sasdy), he said that he had not been paid and indicated there were three others in the audience who had similar experiences (including John Hough, who directed three films for Towers, including 1988's Howling IV: The Original Nightmare). He described the making the Sherlock Holmes movie as "Not very pleasant." and Mia added that she acted in the film and that the other actors were threatening to strike due to lack of payment, which put her in a very difficult position as the wife of the director.
Graciously accepting an award for his achievements in film, Peter Sasdy exited these stage, ending another highly enjoyable hour at the Festival of Fantastic Films.
Peter Sasdy at the 20th Festival of Fantastic Films 2009 (© Gareth Walters).
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