Terence Fisher Master of Gothic Cinema by Tony Dalton Book Review
Terence Fisher Master of Gothic Cinema by Tony Dalton Book Review
The Authorised Biography of the Revered Hammer Horror Director
From The Curse of Frankenstein to The Horror of Dracula, The Phantom of the Opera to The Mummy, and The Curse of the Werewolf to The Devil Rides Out, Terence Fisher was Hammer’s acclaimed Gothic specialist, and is celebrated across the globe for directing many of the greatest horror movies of all time.
Fisher began his career in 1933 as ‘the oldest clapper boy in the business,’ aged 29, and went on to become an editor on a variety of classic British features. In 1948 he directed his first picture for Rank and then found that he was more comfortable directing for independent companies, where he worked on films in a variety of genres. During this period Terry honed his skills so that when Hammer offered him his first job as director, The Last Page (1952), he had already established a style and a reputation. However, it wasn’t until Hammer allowed him the chance to direct The Curse of Frankenstein in 1957, that he discovered his true forte in horror and with it – and a host of other classic films that followed – Fisher indelibly stamped his unique talents on the horror film genre that continues, in large part because of Terry’s Hammer classics, to be so influential and popular today.
TERENCE FISHER: Master of Gothic Cinema is the result of five years of research and writing by renowned author Tony Dalton, a long-time friend of Terence Fisher and his family. This fully authorised biography includes an introduction written by Fisher’s daughter Micky Harding.
When I agreed to review this book I had neglected to make a note of the number of pages so when it turned up in my post imagine the surprise I had when I discovered that it weighed in at an impressive five-hundred-and-four pages. That’s a lot of pages to read through and critique so it came as a relief to discover that every page of author Tony Dalton’s book is crammed to the hilt with humourous anecdotes and behind-the-scenes detail that will endear this authorised biography to the many fans of the director’s film work.
It’s so crammed full of detail that it’s fair to say that you get plenty of bang for your buck. It’s hard to imagine that there will ever be a more definitive book on Terence Fisher than this. Covering everything from the man’s childhood through to his beginnings in the film industry to his subsequent directing work for the infamous Hammer Films there’s everything you think you need to know about Fisher and more!
