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THE CHRISTOPHER LEE FILMOGRAPHY
by Tom Johnson and Mark A. Miller
McFarland and Co, April 2004
480 pages
$55.00
ISBN: 0786412771


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

He appeared as an extra in Olivier' masterpiece HAMLET (1948) and 36 years later had a leading role in another classic, albeit one designed for drive-ins: HOWLING II . . . YOUR SISTER IS A WEREWOLF.

Like all great British actors, Christopher Lee only cared about the work. (It is said that when John Gielgud died there was a note on his night table that read "Tomorrow: Look For Work.")

It seems as if Lee never had to look for work. This exhaustive filmography covers all of his 155 movies in which his huge frame and gaunt looks led him to portray every major monster of movie myth. While he did some interesting Frankenstein spin-offs, his Dracula work was truly outstanding and while I am partial to Basil Rathbone's Hollywood portrayal, Lee's Sherlock Holmes made some strong contributions to the never-ending accretion of interpretations of what might be the mystery world's most boring personage.

Johnson and Miller committed themselves to a monumental task -- covering, in some detail, every one of Lee's film appearances with full credits of cast and crew, production background information, a critical analysis of the film and comments taken from a lengthy interview they conducted with Lee. Many of the entries are illustrated with scenes from the film and all have the proper release date, studio, running time and filming location.

Lee's comments are quite valuable and little attempt is made to apologize for making rather outlandish movies. He is quite matter of fact about what went on during the filming and in many cases offers fascinating insights as to how he got involved in the production.

Masked by the exploitative nature of most of his films is the talent of a first-class actor. He played a role in more ways than one, for if Christopher Lee hadn't existed, the people who make movies would have had to invent him -- or perhaps create him from dead actors' body parts.

Reviewed by Rudy Franchi, June 2004

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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