Horror Express

Horror Express, made in 1971-72, was recieved with great reviews from the Brittish press, in which Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee stars together. It was made the years just before The Wicker Man, The Three Musketeers and TMWTGG. It is, in short, a story of strange murders on a train crossing Siberia, set in pre-revolutionary Russia.

It marks a great break, I think, from the by then very diluted Dracula-series. I've always loved this side of Lee, playing the seemingly ordinary man getting into trouble. It is kind of amuzing. Cushing: "Miss Jones, I should need your assistance." "Yes, well, at your age, I am not surprised." Cushing: "With an autopsy!!"

"I won't say it's a horror comic - it's hardly the word - but entertaining and amuzing adventure. Peter and I play a couple of intrepid British explorers who are great rivals in the scientific sense. They strike sparks off each other."

CL himself in The Films of Christopher Lee.

I only have one major objection. "Moscow says..." No. In those times, St.Peterburg said. But never mind. Lee
looks great in that moustache!

A blessing for sore ears

 Actually, no comment needed.

Here should have been a good title

Lee writes in Tall, Dark and Gruesome, that Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965) was made during a time when he was immensly unhappy with his life and his filmcareer. He lived in Switzerland at the moment. He had just made Sign of Satan with Hitchcock, but not much seemed to be going his way.

"I brooded savagely. I tried to write, and found myself producing an account of an execution with a guillotine. I walked miles. The snowy slopes seemed to jeer at me - I didn't dare ski in case I broke something and should be unfit for work if it was suddenly offered."

Dr Terror's House of Horrors is a film wich is arranged like the classic medieval Decamerone-stories. This time people doesn't gather in a house, though, but on a train. They have their fortunes told by a Tarot-reader. There are five stories in this film, this is the Christopher Lee segment.

But what's with that ludicrous title?!

Spooky Isles

One month ago today, Sir Christopher Lee turned 90. This text is a birthday tribute to him, on the site Spooky Isles. Worth a reading!

Sir Lee on Hitchcock Hour

This episode of Alfred Hitchcock hour: The Sign of Satan was filmed and broadcasted 1964 in US. It took until 1968 before it was aired in Great Britain. Lee got some pretty good reviews. Sunday Mail wrote: "Most gripping episode in the series so far. Christopher Lee was horribly superb." Glascow Evening Times: "Lee, of course, was the logical choice for a story about a horror movie actor, having captured the market."

I myself think it's OK, but sometimes it feels as Lee is restricted in his action because of the expectations on him. As always he is at his best when he is allowed outside of the "horror-acting". Well worth a look though - it is a legendary series with a legendary actor!

OMG

Vienna Filmball 2011. Listen to that voice. And the crowds cheering! Wow.

Well... maybe not that handsome...

Beautiful and chilling fanmade video this. One reviewer wrote "Christopher Lee looked like a road accident". I think it is bloody lucky that they had to invent a new make-up. Yes, it is a bit overdone. But... it is gruesome... and wahhhh... the creatures' chest is heaving!

Here is the dramatic revealing scene as it appeares in the film, Curse of Frankenstein (1957).

One step beyond

 All three parts of One Step Beyond - The Sorcerer

Part1

 

 Part 2

 

Part 3

 

I, monster

Lee thinks this is one of his best performances ever. I must say, that the character Paul Allen in Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll really isn't that far behind this. (Personally, I think that film is even better.) Here Lee playes Mr. Marlow at a very low key. I have never seen him that constrained before.

There are som really great scenes: The first time he shoots himself with the dangerous drug. Out comes a nutty person, slightly wacky, and as if he was high on something. Wonderful to watch! I, monster, takes 80 minutes. I would have preferred it longer!

And certainly no crappy transformations. This is much better done.

What to wear

This is funstuff! Vintage clothes of Sir Lee's. Why not?

A bit more on Sherlock Holmes

Ok, so I have admitted that Christopher Lee playing Sherlock Holmes is not my first choise. His most memorable contribution to the Holmes-genre is probably not as Holmes, but as the brother of Sherlock Holmes - Mycroft.

The private life of Sherlock Holmes (1970) has inspried the creators (Steven Moffat, Mark Gatiss) of modern BBC:s Sherlock to a great extent. In the 70's film, Lee plays Mycroft with an animosity towards the brother that had never been done before.

Mark Gatiss, who plays Mycroft in BBC:s modern and widely successful adaption of the stories of Sherlock Holmes, tells us here that his portrayal is inspired directly by Lee's interpretation of the character. 

And everyone who has seen Gatiss act, and watches the clip below, understands precisely why and how. Steven Moffat claims to have seen this film "about thirty or forty times". Even idols have idols, appartently...

Fantribute

A tribute to Christopher Lee. Nice.

Two faces of Dr. Jekyll

I really love Lee in this film - he plays the scoundrel Paul Allen with a grace that is a pure joy to watch. A great plot (of course), great performances and intelligent dialogue (sorry to say, not all Hammer productions could provide with that).

Thankfully, we don't have to see crappy made Jekyll/Hyde transformations. That worried me a bit, but Terence Fisher left that out. The result is wonderful! Watch it and enjoy Lee at his best! :-)

SCL's own comments are: "This was a script by Wolf Mankowitz, a very good writer, and the part of Paul was written for me. A cad, sponger, dwindler. The man who lives off women, and doesn't pay gambling debts. A rake. I think it was one of the best performances I've given." 

Can't do anything but agree.

"One disagreeable thing that happened to me was that I had to lie still at the end of the film, supposedly dead, with a python crawling across my face and neck. The snake was quite unperturbed."

Corridors of Mirrors

This clip contains stills and music from the first film Christopher Lee ever appeared in. Including it on the blog just for the fun of it.

Count Dracula 1970

This is how Dracula should have looked like, all the time! At least according to Abraham Stoker. Black robe, silk hat. Heavy moustache.

I have seen most of the Hammer Horror Dracula-movies, but they make me quite sad, to be honest. At least the later ones. Horror of Dracula is of course an exception. Dracula has Risen from the Grave is OK as well. That was the first Dracula I ever saw and I was scared to death!

Count Dracula 1970, on the other hand, was at least an attempt at including some of the original great scenes from the book, for example Harker's and Dracula's conversation in front of the fire, the bag with a child brought back to the castle (I have never seen that in any other film before, perhaps in Bram Stokers Dracula from 1992?).

Anyway, in this film, Lee's Dracula is not that whitefaced, blackandcrimson-cloaked redmouthed devil, but more true to Stoker: The man that goes to London to disappear in the crowd, rather than standing out from it.

It is still sensual in the "kissing"scenes. How could it not be??

According to Lee himself the film is only "a shadow of what it should have been." There were great difficulties at the set as well. The director and Christopher Lee apparently had some great difficulties in agreeing. In the film featurette that follows with the film above, Lee is referred to as cold and distant. "The problem with Christopher at that time was that he wanted to be a Shakespearian actor, and he is not, " Jess Franco says.

I do agree that some things in this film is peculiar. But in many ways it is better than the 1958 version.  In my humble opinion.

Airport 77

One thing I never understood was, why Lee's characters had to die all the time. I was sorely disappointed in that when I saw this film. Why bother then to see the rest of it, was my reaction. But... it is a disaster movie, and by no means a disastrous movie. Lee did all stunts himself, and for that Sir Lee was awarded the Stuntmen's Union belt buckle. The underwater scenes were shot at Universal.

"In a way, this was more valuable to me than almost anything else I've ever done. Wonderful special effects (...) all principal roles cast with fine professional actors and actresses (...) My first picture with Jack Lemmon (...)"

This is the "door-scene".

Sherlock Holmes and the deadly Necklace

Christopher Lee is not very happy about this film from 1962. 

"What I found most unacceptable was the fact that, without my knowledge or permission, my voice was dubbed in English by another actor. The results were disastrous."

Hm, yes, as a Sherlock Holmes-fan, Christopher Lee has never been Holmes to me. Neither have Basil Rathbone, mind you. I am still intoxicated by the intepretations of Jeremy Brett of the 80's series of Granada.

When you watch this clip, it is strange to see Christopher Lee's beautiful face (but with a terrible mockup nose to make him more 'Sherlock-like' - quite unnecessary in my opinion) but with another mans voice. With some sort of strange american accent! What a sacrilege!

Anyway, one has to bear in mind that this was Sherlock Holmes before Brett came along and spiced him up. I think this older version of Holmes is a bit stuffy, to be honest.

This is just one year before Christopher Lee did The Whip and the Body. That is so strange. Very different films, very, very, very different roles...

Behind the scenes of Dracula Prince of Darkness

Remarkable! I found this on You Tube while looking for something entirely different. This is a four-five minutes long film on behind the scenes of Dracula Prince of Darkness. Although this blog is not very into Dracula, I is impossible not to share this. Lee and Stirbling are commenting on what is shown. Wow. Cool.

Rasputin the Mad Monk

Lee had me believing for a long time that Rasputin (ext. link) was tall and handsome. Many people seem to think, still, that Rasputin was indeed tall. That was not the case at all. He was short and quite ugly. Above all, the real Grigory Yefimovich had pale blue eyes, and not at all those warm brown ones.

Nevertheless, however totally unhistoric this tale is, the film Rasputin the Mad Monk (1966) has a very nice atmosphere to it. I have travelled to Russia many times, since Russia interests me greatly, and while many Western films do not comprehend any of what it portrays (Dr Zhivago, yuck!), this film it is different. (Go to this blogpost to watch it.)

It is a bit ironic, that it would be low-budget Hammer of all companies, to capture such a thing. In parts it is a bit silly, but just a bit. The costumes and scenes are quite remarkable, and suspense is there. It contains all the forbidden subjects of that time, mutilation, fights, alcohol and SEX.

Lee is mezmerising in the role of Rasputin. He makes the starets (Rasputin was no monk, mind you) very believable. Voice like a thunder and a portrayal of a man who is rapidly giving in to his own vices. And that is actually what happened. One of Lee's best performances, and for me, I love it for nostalgic reasons! The death scene is harrowing!  

An additional note is worth mentioning. Sir Lee met with the killers in his childhood. And he met Maria Rasputina, Grigory Yefimovichs daughter. She commented that he he captured his expression. I dared not ask her what she ment by that, Lee comments in Films of Christopher Lee. One of these clips shows stills throughout the film, with the dramatic film music. Wonderful!!

Under that, an excerpt from The Many Faces of Christopher Lee, where he shows a picture of him and Maria Rasputina.

Hilarious!

One more of the singing things! This performance act (quite unbelievable I have to say) is from The Return of Captain Invincible. There are a couple of You Tube versions of this clip, but one of them has been played a quarter of a million times. You can understand why.

Brace your self, this is f***ing great! ROFLMAO! What a wonderful man!

Mr. Kiss kiss bang bang

Here is an other scene of lovemaking ... 

Sorry, but to use a gun in this context seems extremely kinky. 

Epic Epicness

Don't really need to comment on this one. Just listen! (Yeah, it does exist in four different versions. Italian, French, German and English.) Be blown away.

The Musketeers

The Three Musketeers is probably the first movie I ever saw, starring Lee. Could have been about 10.

One of the best fighting scenes is, however from the sequel, The Four Musketeers. It is so damn good. Nowadays they all fly around and run on walls. These two man quite simply fences for their lives! Michael York and Lee meet in this absolute brilliant fencing scene. And there are no stunt doubles in this one, as Christopher Lee seldom has had that. (Sorry, can't upload it from You Tube for some reason, you'll have to go via the link.)

Another scene from The Four Musketeers, which shows Lee's great sense of humor. Rochefort is to be executed. After tedious procedures of loading the muskets, the soldiers miss him when they shot.
 The guard screems: "Rrreeelllooooaddd!!" And Lee just raises his eyebrow. "Why bother? I may die of old age!" A wonderful example of his ability to deliver lines with a dry exactness which makes it so fabulous.

However, this clip below is from The Three Musketeers, the fist encounter between Rochefort and D'Artagnan. "Unless is it a cheese with legs?"

One step beyond

One step beyond was a tv-show, aired in USA from 1959-61. Here Lee he plays a German who is convinced he has committed murder by beeing at two places at the same time. Again, you can watch this entire show on You Tube. One step beyond - Sorcerer. This is a shortened version. I quite like the portrait of a haunted man. It has been digitally enhanced, it is said. Farfetched, according to Lee. I've seen worse.
All three parts can be seen here.

Kissing or not kissing?

Great fun excerpt from the film Innocents in Paris, 1953. Seven intertwined comic stories on British tourists coming to Paris. Lee plays Lieutenant Witlock. Cultural crash, I presume? You can find the entire movie at You Tube. But shhhh....

The man with the Golden Gun

Now this was one of the easiest films with Christopher Lee to come across when I grew up. I never was a fan of 007, but rapidly became one. I really loved Lee in this film.

It has flaws. Roger Moore never was my favourite, the women get to play ghastly roles, at least Britt Ekland. But Lee saves the day. He is über-cool in his white tropical suit, sun-tan and golden ... device.

When I saw this film (rental VHS in those days) I remembered thinking that Christopher Lee seemed to have a great sense of humour. It must have been a relief to get out of that Hammer Horror sequel curse.

He got great many good reviews, which is pleasing to read nowadays, since he actually *is* the entire movie. One magazine wrote: "For Scaramanga, the villain of the title, is played by Christopher Lee, lacking Draculas fangs but keeping that 'haunted' look (...) which probably make him more popular with female filmgoers than Bond himself."

We know it is true.

Lee comments: "In the books he was merely a straightforward thug. I tried to make him charming in the film - interesting. A perfect example of how you can play a part and make it more interesting than in the book. The weakest part of the film was the death of Scaramanga."

Penny and the Pownall Case

I haven't seen this film, just some clips from You Tube. This is Christopher Lee, not even 30 years of age. The film Penny and the Pownall Case was released in 1948. Lee plays a cartoonist, Jonathan Blair, involved in an organisation saving German war criminals. If I've gotten it right.

Lee himself apparently thinks he was "dreadful" in the film because of the lack of instructions from the director. I think it is wonderful to see him this young, not at all typecasted or any hint of later villains to come. When watching theese short clips I find it really strange that he never got to play first lover. Very handsome. 2 min into the clip.

"I remember I was shot, in the story, and as I'd seen people shot in the War (...) I put an expression of slight surprise on my face and slowly sank to the floor with great dignity (...). Everybody on the set collapsed, convulsed with laughter. They thought it was the funniest thing they'd ever seen (...). When I saw it on the screen, I remember cringing."

Two years later he did They were not divided. Lee appears 2min into clip.

The Whip and the Body

Ouch! That must hurt! The movie The whip and The Body by Mario Bava was concidered so dangerous to the public mind that it was cut to pieces before it was released in the US, under the title What!.

It never made a hit there, which is understandable since it destroyed the whole film. Lee says in the book on his films: "One reviewer asked Why? I don't blame him."

Containing quite an amount of S&M sex, it is quite unfathomable that it was released in 1963! And this is possibly one of the best films Lee have made. It should be in his record as one of the milestones. If you are to buy just one film of him, this is it!

Lee's own comments on the film in the book The Films of Christopher Lee: "This was photographed and directed by Mario Bava and looked absolutely superb. A sort of psycho thriller. (...) I played a character [Kurt Menliff, that is] who returns from the dead and who ends up as a hallucination in the mind of the girl played by Daliah Lavi, who is absolutely beautiful in this picture. We had some very torrid love scenes..."

An absolute favourite of mine

Lee is seemingly improvising this performance. Totally relaxed, he shows off all his talents. Presence, voice, charm. Not to mention how he moves across the stage. A golden piece of film! And he recites The Raven, too... 

This is actually part of a film, (El Umbracle, 1970) but you wouldn't believe it. It is filmed in a very modern way, moving camera, circulating around him. Not to mention the singing in French. It is beautiful!

 

Ghost Rider

The accent is a bit off, but Johnny Cash most definitely has a competitor in this one. Christopher Lee sings Ghost Rider. The mountains are shivering.