"IN DEFENSE OF CHRISTOPHER LEE"

ron byrd wrote:

Didn't do Chris Lee any great favors by making him virtually dialogue-less in the Dracula movies. He's too good an actor to have him just stand there and snarl.

Greetings

I agree. He IS too good an actor to be wasted. A tremendous actor. (Usher is holding a sword to my neck as I type this)...OUCH! Not so hard!

In Dracula (Horror of Dracula) he was actually given some very good lines , inspired by Bram Stoker "I am Dracula. Welcome to my house." But the second half of the film, he becomes silent and monsterous. Merely appearing in the shadows he became a force of nature...a silent threat. A beast.

Dracula, Prince of Darkness had Chis Lee with even more lines, but alas, Christopher complained about the dialouge as being 'terrible' so the Count returned after 10 years without his distinctive voice.

Dracula Has Risen From the Grave found Drac all chatty again. "There is a girl....bring her to me!" and "Get that THING out of my sight! Throw it away!" ( refering to the large golden cross that blocked his front door)

Taste the Blood of Dracula had the Count instructing the children of his unwitting ressurectors. " Alice ...." and "Now" were most of the one word orders he gave.

Scars of Dracula found the Count mostly silent but the film was filled with so much depravity and torture, that audiences didn't seem to mind.

Christopher Lee was by this time a horror superstar and parodied himself (and his Dracula image) many times in films like, 'One More Time' 'The Magic Christian' and in a few odd Italian Comedies.

Usher wants me to add (ouch) that he's fluent in 12 languages.

Dracula AD 1972 had the Count speaking the most lines since his first appearance. "YOU demand? I have returned to destroy the house of Van Helsing, the old through the young, you and your line have been chosen to serve me in that purpose!" It also returned Peter Cushing to the series and put the two ancient enemies face to face once again inthe 20th century.

Satanic Rites of Dracula (which by the way HAS fallen into Public Domain because of distributors refusal to pick up the film for many years) is also set in the 20th century and has Christopher Lee speaking as Dracula and speaking as Dracula disguising his voice! "Van Helsing....the body of your granddaughter will never be corrupted ."

Christopher Lee even managed to slip in a line from Bram Stoker...which must have made him VERY HAPPY. "My revenge has spread over centuries, and has JUST BEGUN!"

This was of course the last time Christopher Lee played the role. John Forbes Robertson replaced him in the final Hammer Dracula film, The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires.

Christopher Lee's Dracula was a fierce monster who would break you in two over his knee. He was a much more solid 'hands on' presence where Lugosi's Vampire King would seduce you....dreamlike...and control you with the power of his will. Lugosi's Dracula was also more mystical ..transmutating his body into a bat, wolf, or even vapor. Lee's Vampire King was not granted those powers by Hammer. But what he lacked in the mystic, he made up for in presence. Tall...commanding....easily the most dangerous Dracula ever presented on film.

Rest in Peace
Prof. Griffin