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A birthday salute to the late icon, spotlighting some of my favorite horror roles he took on this side of The Count!
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A birthday salute to the late icon, spotlighting some of my favorite horror roles he took on this side of The Count!
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Nice read. Christopher Lee was I guess you could say, the British version of Lon Chaney Jr. although Lee never did play a Werewolf. I want to mention one other movie that I would like add to the list, which would be, The Face of Fu Manchu (1965) -
I love this topic!
And you instantly hit on my #1: Wicker Man! I'm American but I moved to London to work for a few years nearly 25 years ago, and one rainy weekend day, I watched "The Wicker Man" on TV without having any idea what it was, or what it was about, or about the pagan/celtic history of the region, and only a cursory knowledge of the Roman occupation of Britain. If I knew anything going in, I knew Edward Woodward from the American TV show "The Equalizer," and Britt Ekland as a model, and Christopher Lee as Hammer's Dracula. And I was completely blown away. It's one of my top 50 films of all time, for sure.
To add a second Christopher Lee film to this list, I would nominate "Horror Express." (Although I would also add that I thought his Fu Manchu movies were surprisingly better than I expected as well.)Comment
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I was tempted by the Fu Manchu and Hammer pirate films he did, but they are skirting "horror" designation.
I saw The Wicker Man on a cable station about 30 years ago, and pretty much only knew what you did. Equalizer, model, Dracula, oh and Ingrid Pitt! But I too was blown away. Some may question it's place in a horror list too, but it's perhaps the scariest film on this list. Oh and Horror Express (which is also great) made my list!I love this topic!
And you instantly hit on my #1: Wicker Man! I'm American but I moved to London to work for a few years nearly 25 years ago, and one rainy weekend day, I watched "The Wicker Man" on TV without having any idea what it was, or what it was about, or about the pagan/celtic history of the region, and only a cursory knowledge of the Roman occupation of Britain. If I knew anything going in, I knew Edward Woodward from the American TV show "The Equalizer," and Britt Ekland as a model, and Christopher Lee as Hammer's Dracula. And I was completely blown away. It's one of my top 50 films of all time, for sure.
To add a second Christopher Lee film to this list, I would nominate "Horror Express." (Although I would also add that I thought his Fu Manchu movies were surprisingly better than I expected as well.)Comment
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A great list, most of which I've seen and so agree with your ranking, including some of my favorite horror films. Quite pleased to see The Devil Rides Out, one of Hammer's best IMO. And Lee's Kharis, truly menacing and second only to Imhotep amongst mummies.
Hammer's budgets really hampered films like The Gorgon and The Devil Rides Out. And, The Gorgon's script is too tentative to really succeed. But it's the casts that make these films work--Lee included.
Now--how about Price!? Chris, I didn't resurrect the Phibes appreciation thread this year....WANTED: Dick Grayson SI trousers; gray AJ Mustang horse; vintage RC Batman (Bruce Wayne) head; minty Wolfman tights; mint Black Knight sword; minty Launcelot boots; Lion Rock (pale) Dracula & Mummy heads; Lion Rock Franky squared boots; Wayne Foundation blue furniture; Flash Gordon/Ming (10") unbroken holsters; CHiPs gloved arms; POTA T2 tan body; CTVT/vintage Friar Tuck robes, BBP TZ Burgess Meredith glasses.Comment
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It's notable to me that 'The Devil Rides Out' is always listed among the best Hammer horror films, and is regularly shown on TCM, to me impliedly confirming that view. But it's just not to my personal taste, maybe because I feel like Christopher Lee is playing a professorial role that was conceived for Peter Cushing? But I am in a very small minority on, clearly.
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I would definitely agree, and would add that the second factor was color. As a child of the 1970s, I associated classic monster movies with B&W. At very best, I remember circa 1980 when I had to beg my mon to take me to a local 7 Eleven to ask for free 3D glasses so I could watch a special 3D showing of "Creature from the Black Lagoon" on local Channel 20.
Contrast that with my memory of later seeing the Hammer films in color and being totally blown away. Obviously, as time went on, the Hammer horror sequels became lower and lower budget. But my 'desert island' Hammer horror film would be the very last ever Dracula sequel featuring Christopher Lee: "The Satanic Rites of Dracula." Dracula in the 'modern' London of 50+ years ago as a James Bond villain masterminding a world-destroying plague plot, with the British security services after him.
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