Currently showing on Sky Arts (after its UK premiere at London's Frightfest back in August), here we have a very well put together biographical documentary on one of the world's most famous film stars, and one whom horror film fans hold in a special place in their hearts.
Hosted by Lee "himself" (actually a marionette voiced quite convincingly by Peter Serafinowicz) we are led through the man's entire life, touching on his wartime exploits, his early years treading the boards and getting bit parts in movies, to his success at Hammer and beyond.
With any Christopher Lee documentary there's always the question of how much of the running time should be devoted to his horror films (and especially his portrayal of Dracula). Writer-director Jon Spira manages a very good balancing act here, with a potted history of Lee's start at Hammer, his move to Europe in the early 1960s, and then his return to the UK. Aside from trailers, the only actual footage from a Dracula movie is SCARS OF DRACULA, presumably because that property is owned by Studio Canal and most of the others by Warners. It's enough though, and allows a decent amount of time to be devoted to Lee's subsequent 1970s Hollywood career, as well as his later starring roles in JINNAH, LORD OF THE RINGS, and the STAR WARS franchise and beyond. They even manage to fit in his Fu Manchu films and working with Jess Franco, meaning my only personal quibble would be omission of his involvement with Richard Lester's Musketeers movies, but you can't have everything.
The film includes contributions from film directors Joe Dante, John Landis and Peter Jackson, producer Paul Maslansky, actors Caroline Munro and Harriet Walter (Lee's niece) and biographer Jonathan Rigby. Rather than a superficial puff piece (as they used to be called) THE LIFE AND DEATHS OF CHRISTOPHER LEE comes across as a meticulously researched, well thought through piece of work that provides a fitting testament to an extremely talented man. Here's the trailer:
THE LIFE AND DEATHS OF CHRISTOPHER LEE premiered on Sky Arts on 24th October 2024
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