The Devil Ship Pirates

In the beginning, SCL's dark features made many filmmakers scratch their heads. 'To dark and to foreign-looking' was their somewhat daft conclusion. As 'not enough Brittish' he got to play lots of exotic characters. Captain Robeles in the Devil Ship Pirates from 1963 is one of them.

"CLOSE THE GUN PORTS!!!!"

This pirateflick is a Hammer production. Mostly associated with horror, this seems to be a bit of an odd one in their wardrobe. Nevertheless it is quite neatly put togehter. Basic plot is: Spanish ship gets badly damaged in the great battle with the Armada in 1588. The crue manages to get the ship close to land to get it repaired. Pirates (as they now are) are terrorising the nearby village. Captain Robeles - a.k.a SCL - is the chief crook and a really bad apple.

"You will have to kill me first!" "-As you wish!"

I enjoy watching this for a couple of reasons (other than Lee of course): The plot is not bad at all. With today's eyes it is a bit difficult to tell how it looked in the 60's when those pirate-flicks was legio. But I find the scenery quite acceptable as well. True, Lee plays his character with the subtelty of a Russian Tiger-tank, but I actually don't mind. It is a film on pirates, not a Bergman drama.

The other reason is actually, that they have contracted lots of the classic Hammer Studio's actors in this film. Well known faces from DPoD, Rasputin, DHRFTG and so on is on this set. Nice!

Besides that, I really enjoy the clothes. Red becomes him.

The Devil Ship Pirates was made just after The whip and the Body, and the Hitchcock production Sign of Satan.

Additional note: Obviously, Hammer Studios built the full- seized galleon on a steel structure that was placed under water. But it was important not to overload one side or the other, or it would tip over. Which it apparently did.

"The cables leading to the lights went into the water, and when the cables went, the lights went into the water and the electricians went with them", Sir Lee comments in The Films of Christopher Lee. "By sheer chance I managed to hold on to the rail and stay on the ship. I considered this a very valid reason for the captain not to desert the sinking ship", he comments.

"I had a pretty tough fight on the deck (...) and was bleeding all over the place."

Poor Chris.

Beyond Mombasa

The film Beyond Mombasa was released in 1956 – the year before Curse of Frankenstein and international breakthrough. It is one of the first where Sir Lee has a proper role, he writes himself in Films of Christopher Lee.

He is a white hunter, Gil Rossi. He and the main character, Matt Campbell, is competing over the same woman, and at the same time leaves for the African jungle to discover an old mine. Matt Cambpell suspects the mine to contain uranium.

I thoroughly enjoy Lee in theese early roles. While he later on sometimes seems a bit constrained in his acting, this is a role of a womanizer and a charmer. He always does those types very easygoing and believable.

I can't help but find it utterly strange that he did not play roles like Casanova at a young age and made his breakthrough in that genre - but instead ended up in the horrorbox.

He always points out that he was too tall. Maybe that is it. I just find it very odd indeed. I don't think the filmindustry really realised his full potential at this time. Perhaps it never did, until he made his "comeback" if one might say so, after the millenium.

Crimson? Green!

Haven't been able to find a proper clip of Lee in the Crimson Pirate with Burt Lancaster from 1952-53. But here is a fanmade clip. Unfortunately the quality is totally crappy. But keep a lookout for the man in green, right in the beginning. And here are som stills,. Kind of handsome, don't you think. Thank you, Star Warped!

"Burt Lancaster helped me a great deal as far as screen sword fighting was concerned: told me when and how one paused, so that it wasn't just flurry movement. Real swordfighting would be so fast and so much flurry of blades that the audience would never pick anything up. (...) Certainly, as far as a subsequent film of mine The Three Musketeers was concerned, it's extremely dangerous because they were real swords (...)"

In French… Le Corsaire Rouge.

They were not divided

They were not divided (1950) came after Penny and the Pownall Case. Lee is more of a background character here, you see him delivering a few lines now and then, otherwise he is seen in the group of men. You get quite a good look at young Lee at 1:10:30 and 1:23:14. It was shot on location in Germany. A dangerous mission. Lee was close to get seriously hurt a few times.
And you can see a very young "Q" in one of the parts.

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.

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....

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.