Do you remember when you became a fan of Mr. Lee?
Do you remember what movie it was that had caught your eye of this fabulous actor?
Would you like to share your experience?
For me it was way back when I first saw The Hound of the Baskervilles. Back then I was very fond of Mr. Cushing, and Mr. Lee was an added bonus, so tall, dark, and handsome
Depending on your way of thinking, I was given the ultimate introduction in film to Mr. Lee.
When I was a little tyke, my Dad used to buy 20 minute, silent 8mm versions of all the old horror films and one of them was the HORROR OF DRACULA. It terrified me to no end of course but the 20 minutes included all of Lee's big scenes in the film.
Just as well I couldn't hear James Bernard's pulse-pounding music and Lee's hideous snarls at that tender age!
A few years later, my Dad would take me and my brother to an big old movie house (late 60's/early 70's) where they would show three old horror/sf films in a row every Saturday afternoon for 50 cents a pop.
And that's where I first got to see HORROR OF DRACULA and many other Hammer/Amicus/Toho pictures with sound.
Great Memories indeed!
Beeing Swedish I was introduced to Mr Lee from "Mio in the Land of Far Away" on television at a very young age (he was dubbed). Then one late night I saw Horror of Dracula of course on tv as well and on that way it's been ever since and here I am 19 years of age moderating HIS website and have learned to know his daughter.
The earliest memory I have of seeing Mr. Lee on film was of watching Horror Hotel on a saturday night 'creature feature' program as child. Of course, I didn't know that was Christopher Lee -- I didn't even know the name of the film, I just called it the "movie with the witches that burn when they see a cross."
Sometime after that, my father took me to the movies. Our film of choice? Dracula has Risen from the Grave, of course! To say that that film hjad an impact on us would be an understatement. To this day, I'm surprised that my poor mother survived with her sanity intact. What with me running around the house with a towel tied 'round my neck trying to scare everyone; and my father, staring at my mother and saying (with his Spanish accent) "Na-oo mai ray-vench ees complee!"
Around that time, I found a copy of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine, and learned the identity of that extraordinary actor. I've been a fan. . . and a rather odd fellow. . . every since.
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When I was a little tyke, my Dad used to buy 20 minute, silent 8mm versions of all the old horror films and one of them was the HORROR OF DRACULA
I remember us having 15-minute super-8 reels of HOD and COF that came with a floppy plastic record that ones was supposed to synchronize with the film in order to have sound. Of course, we never managed to get it right and the sound/dialog was always a second or two before or after the action. Kinda Hammer by way of Toho!
The first time I watched a movie With Christopher Lee was about 20 years ago.
I think I was around 10 years old.
It was during a very hot summer and The Wicker Man played on Dutch TV.
Normally I would be send to bed at that hour, but because it was so hot outside I was allowed to stay up watching TV
Everyone was sitting outside while I watched The Wicker Man.
I didn't understood the movie, but I loved the atmosphere of this whole movie.
Didn't knew who Christopher Lee was at that time of course but never forgot his name or the movie title.
Later when I was in my teens I became interested in the Horror genre and saw To The Devil A Daughter.
This was another movie that impressed me with again a great performance by Mr Lee.
After that I started to try to collect his movies.
Which wasn't an easy task. They were hardly available in the local video stores.
My only available source was the BBC or a (horror/cult) video shop in Amsterdam.
Luckily we have credit cards and online internet stores now.
DRACULA - PRINCE OF DARKNESS was my very first Christopher Lee film, over thirty years ago. I thought he was the greatest Dracula ever. I saw the picture a number of years later and was shocked to discover the Count had no dialogue. I had been so blown away by his performance the first time, it never dawned on me that he hadn't spoken a word.
Doug
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I remember us having 15-minute super-8 reels of HOD and COF that came with a floppy plastic record that ones was supposed to synchronize with the film in order to have sound. Of course, we never managed to get it right and the sound/dialog was always a second or two before or after the action. Kinda Hammer by way of Toho!
Alfonso:
You just reminded me that my Dad also got ahold of one of those 8mm versions with the little floppy record a few years after he got the silent version and it too would never fail to synch up no matter how many times we ran it!
Thanks for the Hammer-nam flashback!
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Alfonso:
You just reminded me that my Dad also got ahold of one of those 8mm versions with the little floppy record a few years after he got the silent version and it too would never fail to synch up no matter how many times we ran it!
Thanks for the Hammer-nam flashback!
I and a friend of mine would get hold of the 'reverse' switch on the projector and replay the scene where Peter Cushing's Van Helsing slaps Gerda the maid to shock her out of her hysteria over and over:
SMACK! "Now, what happened?"
SMACK! "Now, what happened?"
SMACK! "Now, what happened?"
SMACK! "Now, what happened?"
SMACK! "Now, what happened?"
Needless to say, my father wasn't amused.:1devil:
i think i was 7 and i saw Price of Darkness on tv. Wow a color dracula film. Actually maybe my first color horror film other than the Godzilla films i had seen. Anyway it was nothing like the films i had seen from the 30s and 50s. Anyway around tht time i was watching the Sat morning Creature Features and my mom bought me a british book by Octupuss publishing called Horror movies. I couldnt put it down. I couldnt believe how many films i had to see and how many other times this tall english guy had played Dracula. As i read on i found he was in so many horror films playing so many monsters i has to see them all. I would look in the tv guides to see if any horror films i read in the book were on tv. (usually not) As i got older i would check out mom and pop video stores to find any of these films by this Hammer company the book spoke so much about. With the internet, cable tv and stores like suncoast we have come along way and so has my collection.I actually got a premium cable bpackage way back when because cable was the only way to see horror films . Unless you were up up at 4 AM!!
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because cable was the only way to see horror films . Unless you were up up at 4 AM!!
I negotiated with my mother. I agreed to take a long nap in the afternoon. That way, I was allowed to stay up past 11:00 pm. That's how I managed to see DPOD, DHRFTG (again), and Frankenstein Must be Destroyed. :rolleyes:
I think it actually was The Three Musketeers, but the first time I really NOTICED Lee was a during a late nights show of Dracula Has Risen From the Grave.
I was 12, me and my best friend had planned to see the film, since her parents were out that night. But she fell ill, and I nagged my older brother to see it with me, since I was too scared to watch it by my self.
After about 30 minutes (I doubt it was even that long) I was scared out of my senses. That start with the girl falling out of the church bell.... whaaa!!!!
When the priest had gotten about half way up the mountin to castle Dracula, I couldn't stand it any longer. I had to admit to my brother. Eight years older, he just looked at me and said "Well, it wasn't so good anyway."
I didn't agree. At all.
Since then, I am a total fan.
This is a hard one for me. I was born in `71, and grew up in some of Mr. Lee's most productive years. I vividly remember seeing "Arabian Adventure" in the theatres. I must have been about 8. I haven't seen it since, and don't remember much about it, but I DO remember that unbelievable presence and how much it fascinated me. I know I must have seen The Three and Four Muskateers on TV, I was too young too have seen them in the theatre. Finally, I think seeing "The Man With the Golden Gun" on TV cemented it. I LOVED this guy !! He had to be the greatest bad guy EVER !! He was a HUGE influence on my formative years. The roles he took made me interested in the books that these films were based on, and probably made me read more than I would have. I owe him so much. I can honestly say I've been a lifelong fan !! Jeez, I sound like a kid....
"Poor Devil", also starring Sammy Davis Jr., and Adam West. All the actors were fine, really. But it was such a bit of light-weight drivel. And to think that was my introduction to Christopher Lee!
Vandevere