by Mark Brown

There have been many volumes that have dealt with the history of Hammer films and their illustrious male stars, but until now none have truly done justice to the bevy of voluptuous scream queens who were an essential ingredient in the recipe that made their films so great. At last this lovely tome puts matters to rights and gives these gorgeous women their due through a panoply of previously unseen archive photographs and candid biographies.

After a brief introduction that throws light upon Hammer’s publicity and marketing techniques, which largely involved getting as many pictures of their latest starlet in every publication that would print them, the book proceeds to treat the reader to a dazzling array of publicity photographs from Hammer’s archives featuring the magnificent ladies who starred in their films in all their glory. The pictures are each accompanied by a detailed and informative biography which includes Hammer filmography and charmingly personal anecdotes, some of which are amusing, others rather poignant. Perhaps because Hammer chose their female stars for looks rather than talent many of them had very brief careers in film with a few notable exceptions which include Ingrid Pitt, Joanna Lumley, Nastassja Kinski, Stephanie Beacham, Raquel Welch and the incomparable Ursula Andress – “The world’s most beautiful woman” as described in Hammer’s enthusiastic publicity for the fantasy epic She (1965).

Some of the photographs are a little dated in their execution compared with today’s techniques and expectations, but what we are presented with here is raw beauty and glamour before digital and surgical enhancement became the rage, and each of these wondrous women exudes a sensual allure that surpasses the medium they have been captured with.

Packed from cover to cover with ravishing photographs of almost every female star who graced a Hammer film, this sumptuous volume is not only a great companion to Marcus Hearn & Alan Barnes’ excellent The Hammer Story, it is also a fascinating examination in its own right of the lives and careers of some of the most beautiful women to ever grace celluloid. A must have for fans of Hammer films and a recommended volume to all cinephiles and connoisseurs of fine crumpet.