The Hellfire Club

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anthony p The trawl of Peter Cushing films continues in this 1960 example of British cinema. In reality it is a poor, Hammeresque horror being laughable. Basically a character called Jason returns to his rightful ancestral home to reclaim his family title but some evil cousin Thomas has beat him to it. Peter Cushing has a small, guest role as wait for it not a doctor or scientist but a lawyer. The Hellfire Club of the title is some eighteenth century club for the rich and corrupt of society who Thomas belongs. It reminded me of the Bullingdon Club at Oxford University that modern day Conservative politicians once were members! Indeed Thomas has a striking resemblance to (2015) Chancellor, George Osborne! Continuing the theme of modern day lookalikes Jason looks like a dashing Colin Firth. The film is extremely dated and boring. Rated 1.5/5 Stars •  Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Produced and directed by Robert S. Baker and Monty Berman (who would both go on to work on TV series The Saint and Jason King respectively) and written by Jimmy Sangster and Leon Griffiths. This is a suspenseful adventure film which started life as a horror film, until Baker and Berman changed their minds, and opted to do something a bit more heroic, closer in tone to what the recent Robin Hood TV series had been like, it was a wise decision, and it's an exciting film. As a child, Jason (Keith Michell) fled his family home after witnessing his father Lord Netherden (Andrew Faulds) fraternising with women in a secret club known as The Hellfire Club, and the Lord tried to kill him and his wife (Jean Lodge). Jason as an adult works in a European Circus, and wants to reclaim his birthright, but his cousin Thomas (Peter Arne) has assumed the title, and lawyer Merryweather (Peter Cushing) doesn't think Jason has a chance, but Jason goes undercover at Netherden Hall, posing as a stableboy, and is able to work his way into Thomas' inner circle, but it's not long before Thomas works out who Jason really is, and Jason calls upon his old circus chums to try and reclaim the title to the heirdom. It's a good heroic film with some good swashbuckling set pieces, Michell is best known for playing Henry VIII on TV and film, and he puts in a brilliant performance here, doing his own stunts when called for, and being able to have fun too. This is another kind of film you don't get these days, the heroic swashbuckler, it's about time films like this were made again, as they make for great, compelling viewing. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/05/23 Full Review Audience Member This movie isn't well made, the characters aren't interesting, the plot isn't well developed, it's boring, and I didn't care for it. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 01/22/23 Full Review Read all reviews

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