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"In my early teens, I went with groups of friends to go and see certain films. If we saw the logo of Hammer films
we knew it was going to be a very special picture . . . a surprising experience, usually - and shocking . . ."
- - Martin Scorsese

Hammer Studios made entertaining films. Not all of their films were classics, or even great films. But they were, and still are, entertaining. And I think one of the main reasons for this was that Hammer always had the great fortune of having talented people working for them. Whether they were actors in front of the camera, directors calling “Action”, or the makeup men trying to figure out how they are suppose to make the next effect work, these were people devoted to their craft and did their best. And sometimes, their best was incredible.

Let’s start off with who was behind the cameras. The directors were always on a tight schedule, and a very low budget. No time for multiple takes or fancy set up. But they still manage to come up with some great movies. People like Don Sharp, John Hough, Freddie Francis, Roy Ward Baker, Seth Holt, Jimmy Sangster, John Gilling, and of course Terrence Fisher.

Besides the director, there were also the stage and set designers, production designers, prop and makeup people, costumes and so on. These people were working with hardly any money, and very little time to work their magic. But for the most part, they did just that. Set designers like Bernard Robinson. Even when using the same sets over and over again, had a wonderful ability to still change it enough around to make it look like it was suppose to. Makeup men like Phil Leaky and Roy Ashton. Creating their makeup designs out of whatever they could find, and having no money, no time, and most of the time, not even any space to work in.

Then there’s the music department. When you seen the Hammer Studios logo, you knew what you were in for. And one of those things was the music. Whether it was James Bernard or Philip Martel, they brought even more life to the films that Hammer was creating.

And last but not least, the faces that are even more familiar with Hammer. Of course, the two standouts are Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. You can’t think of Hammer without having one of those gruesome twosomes in there somewhere. I’m sure if you were to come up with a short list of your favorite Hammer films, Lee and / or Cushing would probably be in some of them, if not most. But it wasn’t just Cushing and Lee that put Hammer up to the high standards of entertainment. There were other names like Andrew Keir, John Carson, Andrea Morel, Ralph Bates, Herbert Lom, or Michael Gough. And who could forget about Michael Ripper, who face was almost synonymous with a Hammer film.

And how could you talk about Hammer films without mentioning the lovely ladies. This was yet another thing that Hammer was famous for. They always had beautiful women that were in peril, or even causing it sometimes. Names like Ingrid Pitt, Veronica Carlson, Caroline Munro, Martine Beswick (sp?), and many more filled Hammer films with these beautiful women.

I think my main point was that even though Hammer was really more in the business to make money instead of making quality films, the people that they had working for them made sure that what they were turning out were quality features. So no matter what they limitations were, they always had one thing going for them…they were entertaining.