Christopher Lee Dracula Death and Resurrection

Christopher Lee’s Dracula first appears on screen atop a staircase in Dracula/Horror of Dracula (1958). He’s never resurrected and his origin is not known, but we know he is the embodiment of evil.

In the chapter The Traits and Practice of Vampirism in Montague Summers’ The Vampire: His Kith and Kin (re-printed 1960, University Books), Summers postulates that “all suicides might after death becomes vampires; and this was easily extended to those who met with any violent or sudden death”. Summers further cites that the traditional way of killing a vampire —a stake through the heart, stemmed from the English practice up to the time of King George IV, to bury the bodies of suicides at cross-roads with a stake driven through the body in order to keep the ghost from wandering abroad. Upon commenting on the “ethereal form” of the vampire he ruminates upon three hypotheses to be considered:

Does the body of the Vampire actually dematerialize and then re-integrate outside the grave?

Or, is another body built up by the Vampire quite independently of the body which remains behind in the grave?

Thirdly, does the spirit of the Vampire withdraw ectoplasmic material from his own body, which enables him to form more permanent corporeity by drawing yet further material from his victims?

Having recently watched all seven of the Christopher Lee Hammer Dracula films, I’m almost inclined to say that the Hammer writers were familiar with Summers’ writing on Vampirism, except we never really see the traditional pounding of a stake through the heart (like in Universal’s Dracula or a modern update with Carl Kolchak leaving waste to Janos Skorzeny) although there are some creative variations on the tried-and-true remedy for vampire elimination.  Beginning with Dracula/Horror of Dracula (1958), I’m going to look at each of the films and see how the dread Count is killed and subsequently resurrected in the sequels.

In HOD, Van Helsing (Peter Cushing) uses a Christian cross to pin Count Dracula into the purifying rays of sunlight.  Dracula melts away and crumbles into dust.  The dust blows aways. Dracula dies through DEATH BY SUNLIGHT (I).

In the sequel Dracula, Prince of Darkness (1966), a follower resurrects Dracula through hydration of his dust with the blood of a freshly slaughtered victim.  Dracula is RESURRECTION BY BLOOD (I). Clip Blood Awakening.

Later, the Count is trapped on an icey moat with running water, and slips into the frozen grave. Dracula ceases due to DEATH BY FLOWING WATER (I). In Dracula has Risen from the Grave (1968), the Count is discovered in ice, much like the Monster in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943), and resurrected by a trickle of blood to the mouth. RESURRECTION BY BLOOD (II).

He is killed falling and being skewered on a cross as a priest prays. Dracula dies for the first time through IMPALEMENT (I).

The next film Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970) begins where DHRFTG left off, with Dracula squirming on a cross, but we see him die, desiccate and turn into a pile of dried blood, which is quickly purloined by the father of the brat (actor Roy Kinnear) in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971). Dracula’s blood ends up in a vial.

Later, Dracula’s blood is reconstituted in fresh human blood and drank by a wacko who dies and….

halfway into the movie…. turns into Dracula. RESURRECTION BY BLOOD (III).

Dracula dies, oddly, surrounded by crosses and falls to his death on an altar. DEATH BY CROSS (I).  In the next film Scars of Dracula (1970) Dracula is reconstitued by the regurgitated blood of the world’s largest vampire bat, and is wounded by being impaled by an iron rod, struck by lightning and burned to death. RESURRECTION BY BLOOD (IV) and DEATH BY FIRE (I). Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972) is fun in having two Dracula death scenes.  In the opening prologue Van Helsing (Peter Cushing) battles Dracula on a runaway coach and Dracula ends up impailed on a wagon-wheel and crumbles to dust. DEATH BY IMPALEMENT (II).

As Roger Ebert once pointed out, Hammer’s Dracula ended up a few times in glass vials. DAD1972 was no exception, but we know where this is headed….

A blood ritual involving the charming Caroline Munro’s breasts, Dracula’s remains and the removal of an old wagon wheel spoke result in RESURRECTION BY BLOOD (V).

Dracula is killed once more by Van Helsing who unleashes all hell on the Count, including a knife to the chest, holy water, impalement on a stake, and the strategic thrusts of a shovel. Dracula succumbs through DEATH BY IMPALEMENT (III).

Finally, in The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1974) the Count just appears in a mist (Van Helsing describes him as “rising like the Phoenix” and returning through reincarnation) and dies impaled on a spiney Hawthorn bush with a final fence rung to the heart by Van Helsing (Peter Cushing). DEATH BY IMPALEMENT (IV).

Finally Tally:

Death

• 4 Impalements (twice in Dracula AD 1972)
• 1 Fire
• 1 Sunlight
• 1 Flowing Water
• 1 Death by Cross

Resurrections

• 5 Blood Rituals
• 2 Dracula wasn’t resurrected

Christopher Lee as Fu Manchu (Part 3)

Two separate Fu Manchu films? Naaah —Just different names for the same production. The U.K. and U.S. title was The Blood of Fu Manchu (1969), while the Spanish tilte was Fu Manchu y el beso de la muerte (Fu Manchu and the Kiss of Death). To add confusion, the U.S. TV release was titled Against All Odds. Here, I am reviewing a restored and gorgeous European print and Blue Underground DVD release of the first of the Jess Franco Fu Manchu films.

I must admit I am only an occassional fan of Spanish director Jesús “Jess” Franco (1930-2013), much prefering his early entries into the horror genre, including The Awful Dr. Orlof (1962), The Sadistic Baron Von Klaus (1962), which is fairly graphic even by today’s values, Dr. Orloff’s Monster (1964), The Diabolical Dr. Z (1965), and Count Dracula (1970), starring Christopher Lee. I haven’t (yet) seen Vampyros Lesbos (1971) and Venus in Furs  (1969), considered by some to be his greater achievements in film making.  I’ve dabbled in some of his 80’s films and quickly lost interest, although Oasis of the Zombies (1982) still escapes me.

I do believe him to be a true auteur (or schreiber [from the Yiddish for writer], if you accept David Kipen’s view that the writer is actually the author of the film) as his films do have a distinct feel and he has honed his craft.  One might be able to identify the last two Christopher Lee Fu Manchu films as having Franco DNA just by watching them. I’m gonna piss off every Jess Franco fan in the land and compare him to Edward D. Wood, Jr., not for the sake of drawing similarities in making bad films, but because they wrote and directed most of their films and they both followed a vision. Like Wood and some of Franco’s contemporaries (Bava, Argento, Ossorio, Romero), Franco has an ardent following as exemplified by unusual film making honored on various blogs HERE and HERE and others celebrating his career.

This all brings us to The Blood of Fu Manchu (1969). I think it is the weakest film of the lot, primarily because there’s too many characters buzzing around and the Franco-Harry Alan Tower’s screenplay lacks coherency. Actually, Tim Lucas from the VideoWatchdog penned an essay Exit Fu Manchu (BU DVD liner notes) that notes that the story is vaguely reminiscent of the first Fu Manchu novel The Zayat Kiss. Oh, and the score. It is horrid bad.

Franco and long-time cinematographer Manuel Merino are also a bit trigger happy with the use of zoom perspectives, which comes across as being amateurish. Still, the film is colorful and the change in location shooting from Ireland and Hong Kong to Spain and Brazil helps. I still think the film is a lot of fun and worth a peek, especially the Blue Underground pressing. It’s not nearly as bad as Christopher Lee may have led you to believe: “The series had really run down by this one….”

In TBOFM, Fu Manchu (Lee, of course) is hunkered down in the jungle with his daughter (Tsai Chin) and henchmen in what appears to be an Aztec lost city.  There they use snakes to consecrate a “kiss of death” upon 10 gorgeous women who are set to spread a global plague by kissing everyone.  Nayland Smith (this time played by Richard Green) and associate Dr. Petrie (Howard Marion-Crawford, looking old) return, searching for an antidote for the deadly snake toxin.  There’s also some double-crossing and too many characters to follow. Why is there an archaeologist in the story? Along the way a few guest stars appear including Shirley Eaton (Goldfinger, 1964) as “Black Widow”. I could do a linear regression fit in the overlap of Fu Manchu – Bond film talents.  Be sure to watch the special feature “The Rise of Fu Manchu” on the BU DVD, where Shirley Eaton claims producer Harry Alan Towers heisted uncontracted footage of Eaton from Franco’s film Rio 70 (1969) for use in TBOFM.

In the end, we see yet another explosion and Fu Manchu exclaims:

The world shall hear from me again….

Christopher Lee as Fu Manchu (Part 2)

Christopher Lee’s third Fu Manchu outting features colorful photography, no doubt aided by the vibrant Eastmancolor stock, with location shooting in Ireland and Hong Kong, with interior shots at both the Shaw Brothers and Ardmore Studios.  The Vengeance of Fu Manchu (1967) retains the talents of Douglas Wilmer (Nayland Smith) Tsai Chin (Lin Tang), and Howard Marion-Crawford (Dr. Petrie). Director Don Sharp moved on and this film was helmed by English director Jeremy Summers (The Saint TV Series, 1962-1969).  Harry Alan Towers also produced and very loosely adapted the screenplay from the second to last Sax Rohmer novel Re-Enter Fu Manchu (1957).

I like the story in this one.  Here we have Fu Manchu waging vengeance against old time advisary Nayland Smith and conjuring up a plan that involves creating surgically altered drones as replicants of heads-of-police in the nations of the world.  Interpol is introduced and there is a bit of intrigue added with agents from Scotland Yard, the FBI and the Sûreté investigating Fu Manchu shenanigans. Unfortunately, the duplication concept was better executed by director Byron Haskin in a memorable Outer Limits Episode The Hundred Days of the Dragon (September 23, 1963).  The main problem with this film is nothing really happens and seeing Fu Manchu blown up at the end (for the third time) has become tiresome.  Why not have Fu Manchu escape in a balloon (or anything), or as Christopher Lee pointed out use the original Sax Rohmer stories [endings]?

An amazing pre-CGI accomplishment: This man becomes an Englishman in a seamless transformation.

Still, TVOFM is a lot of fun. The international cast helps. Horst Frank (seen in The Head, 1959) is a poor man’s Klaus Kinski, but he’s good as a criminal world representative and in this film he’s dressed like he should be in a Sergio Leone western. Lee and Chin are terrific together.  Tsai Chin ((周采芹) (b. 1936) is a fascinating talent with contributions in acting, directing, teaching, music, stage and writing, with a career spanning five decades.  She appeared in two Bond films (most recently Casino Royale, 2006), Memoirs of a Geisha (2005), The Joy Luck Club (1993), in Michael Antonioni’s Blow-Up (1966), and recently in an episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2014). Her recording the Ding Dong Song (1959) was also a No. 1 hit in Hong Kong.

Here, Fu Manchu reveals the undoing of Nayland Smith to Ronny Moss (Horst Frank).

TVOFM is worth a look especially if you have seen the first two films.  I doubt the movie would stand on its own as it assumes you are familiar with the characters.  My print came from a WB Archive Collection DVD. The print looks and sounds fine.  Portions of this film may be dubbed or looped. I noticed in some scenes a bit of lip action not synched with the dialogue.

This is the one Fu Manchu film I am certain that I had never seen. I don’t think it got air play in the 70’s and 80’s and it may have been one stored away in the WB vaults.  Up next I’ll take a look at the Jess Franco entries and the last two films in Lee’s Fu Manchu repertoire.

8mm Footage – Bray Studios

Terrific home movie footage during making of Dracula Prince of Darkness, with Christopher Lee and friends commenting.

http://youtu.be/TOH9ltlxUQQ

RIP Sir Christopher Lee

The last of the horror icons has passed and he has left us with an exhaustive and artistically diverse legacy of film portrayals, punctuated with unforgetable villains, and important contributions to literature, history and being better people.  RIP Sir Christopher Lee.

Castle of the Living Dead (1964)

Somehow, while growing up feasting on everything from Browning to Bava I missed this Italian-French horror gem featuring Christopher Lee as the mysterious Count Drago, and Donald Sutherland, in his first role, where he plays an old hag and a Napoleonic officer.  Apparently Sutherland also plays a third role (see TCM article), but I can’t spot it. The film reviewed here is a crappy copy duped from a VHS tape derived from a usually dependable vender at the Cinema Wasteland show. I am certain there are far superior prints out there.

Lee plays the villain who welcomes a traveling troupe of gypsy circus performers to his castle.  Lee’s henchman is the sadistic Sandro, played with gusto by Mirko Valentin.  The performers include the beautiful Laura (Gaia Germani, Hercules in the Haunted World, 1961), the greedy Bruno (Jacques Stany), the giant mute Gianni (Ennio Antonelli), Eric the love interest (Phillippe Leroy), the harlequin Dart (Luciano Pigozzi), and a dwarf (I can’t find his name anywhere).

As far as 1960’s Euro-horror go, The Castle of the Living Dead (1964), holds its own due to an unusal story with Lee rendering “animals” in stasis with an elixir, interesting on-location photography (at a botanical garden?), fluid camera work, a decent cast, and tight direction by Warren Kiefer, Luciano Ricci and Brit Michael Reeves (Witchfinder General, 1968), who is usually credited with directing the final sequences of the film.  Lee is especially in good form as Drago.  However, at times his delivery reminded me of his Count Dooku presence in the crappy Star Wars prequels.  The towering Lee has such a tremendous presence in this film, and with his top hat he’s perhaps 7-foot tall and looks like a sardonic Abe Lincoln!

The evil Drago describes the origin of his potion. For this scene Lee dipped a flower into liquid nitrogen and it crumbles as he flicks his finger at it.

Count Drago in top hat with Donald Sutherland as Sergeant Paul.

My one quibble about the film might be the direction of Donald Sutherland.  He’s fine as the old hag, but comes across as forcing the comedic lines as Sgt. Paul.  His dialogue with Lee also comes across as being awkward. “I urge you sir… Get those gypsies packing…”

The Castle of the Living Dead offers unusual set designs by production designer Carlo Gentili.  These include a witch’s den, Drago’s hall with mounted birds and animals, a laboratory, and a few other surprises.

The menacing Sandro towers like the Frankenstein monster.

The Castle of the Living dead was photographed by Fellini and Visconti cinematographer Aldo Tonti (Nights of Cabiria, 1957).  The film is a joy to watch, with weird camera angles and sculptures of dragons and other mythological creatures.  Few horror films so eloquently used on site locations as The Castle of the Living Dead.  Pull this one out for Halloween!

TCM FILM ARTICLE

 TRAILER

http://youtu.be/CoOqNxPAu0k

 

 

 

 

Dracula (Region 2 HD Blu-ray)

Titles look different? The new DVD + Blu-ray Dracula (1958) 3-disc set from Hammer and Lionsgate is finally available. My copy arrived from Amazon UK this past week. The set is LOADED with extras that will take some time for me to get through, so this is a mini-review. I have not yet watched the Blu-ray disc.

DVD 1 includes the 2007 British Film Institute restoration and the 2012 Hammer restoration, which includes some of the “lost” Japanese reels footage, which includes the legendary “Face Claw” sequence during Dracula’s disintegration, and Dracula’s erotic seduction of Mina, also derived from the Japanese print.

Even more exciting, the surving Japanese reels 6-9 are included on the Disc 2 supplements. Be sure to watch these as you will notice that Hammer has not completely restored the 2012 print to include all of the Japanese footage (thanks Mike).

These reels were badly beat up, but select scenes were polished up and included in the 2012 restoration. Here’s a screen capture from the original (scratched) Japanese reels showing Dracula’s seduction of Mina:

The DVD also includes other features, including:

• The original shooting script (PDF).
• An Essay “First Blood – Hammer’s Dracula Begins” (Colorful PDF with nice images).
• A new documentary “Dracula Reborn” (Highly recommended).
• A documentary about the film’s 2007 and 2012 restorations and discussion on the Japanese Reels.
• A documentary on the British censoring of the film.
• LOADs of rare production stills and other images.
• Other features that I haven’t gotten to.

The film looks superb and I can’t wait to see this on Blu-ray. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Dual Mono audio on the DVD seems also to be an improvement from the American Warner Home Video disc from 2002.

Plenty to watch the next few days!

Artwork by Michael Tanaka (1999).

Christopher Lee Metal Christmas

Sir Christopher Lee is one amazing dude.

Available Here:

A Heavy Metal Christmas – Single by Christopher Lee

Loudwire Article

My 12 Favorite Christopher Lee Performances

I’m still in awe that Christopher Lee turned 90 and is still very much active in film and life.  His career is extraordinary.  Along with Bela Lugosi, Peter Cushing, Peter Lorre, Bogie, Toshiro Mifune and a hand-full of others he is my all-time favorite actor.   Most people of course equate Lee to the villainous roles, where he is masterful, but there are plenty of other performances worth remembering.  Here is my random list of 12 favorite Christopher Lee performances.

• As artist Georges Seurat, in John Huston’s Moulin Rouge (1952). Lee has a small uncredited role, but when he’s there he commands the scene. This film is Jose Ferrer’s vehicle all the way as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Lee is good as an aristocrat!  Trivia: Peter Cushing also appears in this film!
• As book seller Monsieur Labisse in Hugo (2011).  Lee nearly stole the show.
• As Saruman in The Lord of the Rings films.  
• As Count Dooku in the crappy new Star Wars films.  I generally hated these films, but Lee stood out as a Sith Lord.
• As Dracula (esp. in Horror of Dracula, 1958). Lee’s defining role.  He was ominous as a 6’5 vampire.
• As Francisco Scaramanga in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974).  I wish he could’ve been pitted vs. Connery.  Along with Robert Shaw as Grant (From Russia with Love), Lee is my favorite Bond villain.
• As an aging Sherlock Holmes in Incident at Victoria Falls (1992).  I also like him in Billy Wilder’s The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970), as Sherlock’s brother Mycroft.
• As Lord Summerisle in The Wicker Man (1973).  Lee has remarked on several occasions that he liked this role. It shows.  I also like him in Horror Hotel as an satanic professor.
• As Duc de Richleau in The Devil Rides Out (1968).  Lee plays the sympathetic part rather than the villain!
• As Prof. Alexander Saxton in Horror Express (1972). Lee and Cushing were wonderful together.  This was the last great pairing of the two (of the later films).
• As the nefarious Dr. Fu Manchu (esp. The Face of Fu Manchu, 1965).  I might like Lee a tad bit more than Karloff as Fu Manchu.
• As Gregor the lion tamer in Psycho-Circus (1966).  This film is under-rated.  Lee totally carries the flick as an evil lion tamer with a hidden past.
• As Rasputin: The Mad Monk (1966).  Probably Lee’s most unbridled performance.

Ooops, that’s 13.  I could go on about Lee forever.  What a career.

Happy 90th Christopher Lee