Best film of 1960 - horror

In the 1960s, if things were getting scary, there was no more reliable man in a crisis than Peter Cushing. And, if vampires were your problem (especially sexy vampires) who better to send for than Peter...sorry, Professor van Helsing?

The Brides of Dracula, released in 1960, is something of a Hammer Horror rarity, in that it doesn't feature Christopher Lee as the fearsome undead Count. (Depending on who you listen to, Lee fled this one in fear of typecasting...or the frighteningly low fee on offer).

In 21st century terms, the fanged-fatales Cushing faced seem a little tame, but who could resist a Dracula who "turns a girls' school into a Chamber of Horrors"?

Christopher Lee was otherwise occupied in 1960, tempting his unsuspecting female student (Venetia Stevenson) to make an ill-advised visit to Massachusetts, where she will experience the thrills and the chills of witchcraft today!

That other master of schlock horror of the sixties, Vincent Price, was under the direction of Roger Corman for a classic of the genre:

But why tremble over a mere poster...why not shiver and shake at the terrifying trailer?

The screen's "foremost delineator of the Draculean"??!!


Fans of JohnWyndham novels, might remember Village of the Damned, based on Wyndham's sci-fi horror, The Midwich Cuckoos. Let's face is, few things are as scary as evil sprogs...

And they all grew up to be Tefal scientists!

That's about it for memorable horror films in 1960...oh, almost forgot. There was this one, too...

Bath time, anybody?

Sean Connery - the real James Bond.

'Who's the best James Bond?' This was a question never asked in the 1960s. There was only one James Bond, and his name was Sean Connery.
Aficionados of Ian Fleming's books were initially up-in-arms about the casting of a body-building former milkman (and a Scot, at that) as the quintessential suave, ruthless English spy - Commander James Bond.

Yesh, Moneypenny, that's me in the middle in the white trunks.

What Connery brought to the role, which silenced the critics (or drowned their objections under a tidal wave of acclaim) was a rugged masculinity, which few of his British peers were able to match (then or since).

As Mick Jagger would do in popular music, Connery in the role of Bond was able to feed both male and female fantasies.

                            "Live dangerously with the superbly resourceful James Bond"
Man or woman - who could resist an invitation like that?

Connery made five Bond films in the sixties:  Dr No (1962), From Russia with Love (1963), Goldfinger (1964), Thunderball (1965), You Only Live Twice (1967).  After that came a four year gap before his "final" (not quite) appearance as 007 in 1971's Diamonds are Forever. 

A quick online survey shows that the issue of the best ever Bond film, leans heavily towards Goldfinger (though my vote would go to From Russia with Love).  Where do you stand? (That's what the "comments" box is for!)

Since Daniel Craig took on the role, bringing a certain fallibility and even human vulnerability to Bond, the franchise seems to have been revivified. For those who were around in the sixties, however, the question 'Who was the best James Bond?' is probably as easy to answer as it ever was.