CHRISTOPHER LEE

A review archive of the films of CHRISTOPHER LEE

Born Christopher Frank Cardanalli Lee, May 15,1922, in London, England.

As of 2012, Lee played in more Horror / Thriller / Suspense movies than anyone alive or dead.

Lee's break-out movie was Hammer Films' THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN.

As Hammer re-made the various Universal Monsters, Lee re-invented the creatures, changing them from slow moving, caricatures into dynamic, living evil. He changed Lugosi's famous Count from Old World seduction to blood thirsty passion. Lee's Count Dracula was sexually urgent in a way that has yet to be duplicated (though Frank Langella came close in his version of Dracula [1979] and wooed many a wishful victim. Langella, like Cushing, also went on to play Sherlock Holmes).

Lee's Mummy, unlike Boris Karloff or Bela Lugosi, was quick to move, attack, and descend on his hapless victims.

Adversely, his cowering, sympathetic portrayal of the Frankenstien creature as a shuddering, frightened creature who attacks out of fear, split from the style that Karloff invented and many others imitated. As with all of his characterizations, Lee's was uniquely his own. He broke all the Universal Monster molds for Hammer Films.

His best remembered roles are for Dracula (a role he even played in comedies like THE MAGIC CHRISTIAN starring Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr and ONE MORE TIME starring Peter Lawford and Sammy Davis Jr.) and Dr. Fu Manchu.

From 1948 to 2012, Lee acted in 287 various productions. Two of his works were released posthumously.

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HORROR HOTEL aka City Of The Dead - 1960 Hammer Films / Various distributors

DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE - 1968 USA Release: Feb. 6, 1969 Hammer Films / Warner Bros. Rating: USA: G

TASTE THE BLOOD OF DRACULA - 1970 UK Release: May 7, 1970 USA Release: June 7, 1970 Hammer Films / Warner Bros. Rating: USA: N/A

THE WICKER MAN - 1973 USA Release: AUG! 7, 1974 British Lion Films Rated: USA: R

END OF THE WORLD - 1977 USA Release: Oct. 12, 1977 Charles Band Productions, The Irwin Yablans Company Ratings: USA: PG

GREMLINS 2: THE NEW BATCH - 1990 USA Release: June 15, 1990 Paramount Pictures Rated: USA: PG

SLEEPY HOLLOW - 1999 USA Release: Nov. 19, 1999 Mandalay / Paramount Pictures Rated: Argentina: 13 / Australia: MA / Belgium: KT / Chile: 14 / Finland: K-16 / France: -12 / Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland: 16 / Hong Kong: IIB / New Zealand: M / Norway, Sweden, UK: 15 / Portugal: M/16 / Singapore: PG / USA: PG-13

Tim Burton's CORPSE BRIDE - 2005 USA Release: Sept. 23, 2005 Warner Bros. Rating: Canada: G / UK: PG / USA: PG

ALICE IN WONDERLAND - 2010 USA Release: March 5, 2010 Walt Disney Pictures, Roth Films, The Zanuck Company, Team Todd Rating: Argentina: Atp / Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Singapore, UK, USA: PG / Canada, Japan: G / Finland: K-11 / Hong Kong: IIA / Netherlands: 9 / Norway: 11 / Portugal: M/12 / South Africa: 10M / South Korea: All / Switzerland: 7

Copyright 2012 E.C.McMullen Jr.

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