#christopher lee

"Well, well, look who's here.

You’ve just opened one of those cans thats full of springy snakes lmao 🐍 🎉

I’d have to give The Devil Rides Out as my all time favorite Christopher Lee film just because it checks basically all the boxes. Campy? He’s not playing a villain for once? Insane practical effects? It has everything. He crashes a party to which he’s not invited, steals drinks, snoops around, then punches people on the way out. And thats like, the first scene of the film. Can’t recommend it enough. The Return of Captain Invincible also ranks very high, it’s so much fun to watch him finally get some good comedic roles (plus it’s a musical).

I haven’t seen everything he’s been in, and I likely never will, but I’ve seen a lot! I’ve watched entire films because he’s in a single scene. For me, his filmography breaks down into some pretty clear eras. It’s not a totally comprehensive list (just look at his filmography on Wikipedia) but any of these is worth a watch:

-Young and (usually) Menacing

Penny and the Pownall Case, Alias John Preston, The Vise Season 1, Eposode 3: The Column (TV), One Step Beyond Season 3, Episode 31: The Sorcerer (TV)

-Hammer Horror/Terence Fisher etc

The Hound of the Baskervilles, Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors, The Skull, Dracula, Dracula A.D. 1972, Night of the Big Heat

-Stop Casting Me as Dracula

The Devil Rides Out, Horror Express, Nothing But the Night, The Wicker Man, The Three Musketeers, The Four Musketeers

-Late 70s/80s Comedic Roles

Return From Witch Mountain, House of the Long Shadows, The Return of Captain Invincible, 1941, Poor Devil (TV), Saturday Night Live (TV)

-Blockbusters

You’ve seen em all probably XD notable appearances in Sleepy Hollow, Hugo, Corpse Bride, etc

So yeah the springy snakes are out of the can and all over the place now, and this looks like a lot but it’s really a few drops in the bucket of decades of work of varying degrees of watchability lol. Let me try to narrow this list down to an approachable rec list:

Penny and the Pownall Case - While this one may be difficult to track down, it’s worth watching if you can. It’s not very long and Sir Lee had all kinds of colorful things to say about the production. It’s basically his first featured role and it’s quite an experience getting to watch him being so young and already being cast as the Tall Handsome Guy who turns out to be Very Mean

The Hound of the Baskervilles - One of the very few romantic lead roles he ever played

The Devil Rides Out - Perfect film to me lol

Horror Express - To be honest, this one ranks way higher than The Devil Rides Out on the wtf is going on scale. I don’t even want to say anything about it. If you haven’t seen it, maybe watch this one first out of this whole list

The Wicker Man - Sir Lee considered this his best role, and took the role without accepting payment because the film was so low budget

House of the Long Shadows - I know I’m trying to keep the actual rec list fairly short, but this film is such a good time. Incredible cast and lots of fun twists and turns, although it does take a bit of time to get going in the beginning.

The Return of Captain Invincible - This whole movie is fun, but it cumulates in one of my favorite moments of Sir Lee’s whole career - the last song in the film. I watched the clip of the song on YouTube as a kid and was SO baffled that Count Dooku was behaving Like That. I honestly think that song can be blamed (at least in part) for me wanting to track down this man’s whole filmography.

Lastly, I want to recommend watching the episode of SNL that he hosted. You can tell he’s having a wonderful time and it’s so heartwarming. BONUS the musical guest is Meat Loaf, so thats fun.