A flurry of movie reviews for this week's Throwback Thursday! Not one, not two, not three, but FOUR! Four movie reviews! Ah ha haaa! (thunder crashes) All these movies feature a common actor, Christopher Lee. Youngsters might know him as Count Dooku from Star Wars and Saruman from the Lord of the Rings movies, but he was also Dracula in the Hammer Horror films, and Fu Manchu, as well as Scaramanga in one of the Bond movies. No matter how you recall Christopher Lee, he's certainly earned his place in horror movie legend.
The Devil Rides Out (1968, the Devil's Bride) is the story of Nicholas Duc de Richlieu, who reunites with his friend Rex van Ryn to honor a fallen comrade. Unfortunately, as Nicholas and Rex soon discover, their deceased friend's son Simon has failed to show up for the reunion. Visiting Simon at his home, they discover he is in the midst of meeting with 12 new acquaintances. Nicholas and Rex are temporarily invited into Simon's home, where Duc de Richlieu discovers that his friend Simon has fallen in with a cult of Satan-Worshippers.
This was a rare turn for Lee as the hero, where he plays Duc de Richlieu, who has some experience at dealing with black magic. Lee and his buddy try to save their friend and another woman, new converts to Satanism, from fully joining the cult. Along the way, all hell breaks loose, and you know how I love it when that happens! There's a lot of cool effects in this movie, a coherent story line, and a lot of drama. I've seen it several times, so it certainly passes the rewatchability test. I caught this one on Turner Classic Movies, which has a bunch of Christopher Lee movies, so if you want to see it, you should totally break into the TCM vault, grab a beer, and just enjoy! Wait, no, that's a horrible idea, and I don't even think they have an actual vault you can break into, plus, where are you going to find a beer that deep underground? Uh, if the TCM movie vault is underground, that is.
Horror Hotel (1960, City of the Dead) is about a town called Whitewood, where a young college student named Nan Barlow goes to research Witchcraft for a paper for her college Professor, Alan Driscoll. The college student arrives at a hotel called the Raven's Inn, and soon begins her research. Supposedly, a young woman named Elizabeth Selwyn was burned as a witch in the town right on the spot where the Raven's Inn now stands. Soon Nan begins to suspect that the influence of witchcraft in the town of Whitewood, isn't quite as far in the distant past as she would have hoped...
Christopher Lee plays Professor Driscoll, and though this movie is entirely in black and white, it actually wasn't bad. There's this strange grey mist that hangs over the entire town that's both an awesome special effect and makes everything look even more gray than the black and white scenery. There was a comparison to Psycho made because the main protagonist (Spoiler Alert, Nan) is killed halfway through the movie, but there's no shower scene or anything else resembling the events in Psycho. The black and white was kind of a turn-off for me, as were the heavy religious themes, so I probably won't watch this one again. This movie, like all the other ones I am reviewing tonight, were shown on TCM if you want to watch them.
Face of Fu Manchu (1965) is about the evil Fu Manchu, a Chinese Mysticist, who has been captured by Nayland Smith, a Detective with Scotland Yard. Fu Manchu is marched out and beheaded, by order of the Chinese Emperor, right in front of Nayland Smith. Which makes it difficult for Smith a few months later, when a research chemist goes missing, and Smith thinks Fu Manchu is somehow up to his old tricks, even after death.
Christopher Lee plays Fu Manchu, in the first of five movies about the Chinese villain. This is my first time seeing any of the Fu Manchu movies (I've just not been curious to see them before), and luckily I managed to catch the first one first. After seeing Bad Day at Black Rock (1955) a few nights ago, I'm honestly getting a bit tired of seeing people going around karate-chopping folks on the neck and having them drop over dead. I'm not sure I'm going to want to watch this movie again, but I might want to catch the other four at some point.
Rasputin, The Mad Monk (1966) is about Rasputin, the historical figure who got close to some russian Czar and was rumored to be very hard to kill. This movie begins with his early life as a Christian Monk, through his night-life as an infamous bar patron, where he out-drinks a Doctor and then dances the night away with a russian Czarina's lady-in-waiting.
I'm not fond of movies about historical figures, mostly because they are bound to the known facts about that person's life, and can usually take very few liberties. This movie is probably not very historically accurate, but I am no expert on Rasputin's life, so what do I know? Christopher Lee plays Rasputin, cavorting about with a long flowing beard and offering his commanding presence to the Mad Monk's mystique. I wouldn't watch this one again, if only because I knew how it ended even before the movie started.
Well, I've done it! I've caught up to where I should be for this month, and managed to honor the great Christopher Lee in the process! What a guy, and such a talented actor. Is it any wonder that I've heard that the guy who wrote the James Bond novels (was that Albert R. Broccoli? I don't even know), actually based James Bond off of Christopher Lee? I don't know if that's accurate, but I read it on the Internet, so it must be true. That's all for Throwback Thursday, and I'm switching back to Netflix to review a couple more movies this weekend.
In other TV news, FBI and Magnum PI aren't bad. I've been watching them for a few weeks now, and honestly I'm a little enchanted with Higgins on Magnum PI, and Missy Peregrym from FBI. I remember seeing Missy in some gymnastics movie with Jeff Bridges a few years back, and Higgins' arms are pretty much buffer than my own. Sad but true. :-/ Oh well, they're both fun to look at, and the writing isn't bad on either series. Catch you guys next time!
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