Thursday, September 14, 2017

RASPUTIN THE MAD MONK 1963 (TCM VIEWING)

Don Sharp directed this interesting Hammer film starring Christopher Lee.

This has always been considered an odd film for Hammer to tackle, but it's not too bad. I hadn't seen this film for years since I owned the VHS, and, of course, it's not available on DVD or Blu-ray here in the USA.

Lee stars as Raputin, a lowly monk who quickly rises to power in the Russian hierarchy to become a very powerful figure. After he cures an very sick and fevered woman in a small tavern he seduces another young woman, gets into a fight, chops off a man's hand and disappears.

Rasputin falls in love with a beautiful woman named Sonia (Barbara Shelley) and immediately puts her under his total control. Slowly thru mind control he works his way to power and a few people see that he must be stopped before others die.

Lee is perfect as Grigori Rasputin and he tackles the role with great energy. There has always been a lot of criticism of this film because it doesn't pay attention to the Russian politics of the day, but it really matters not. This is, after all, a movie, and yep it's a lot of fiction, but that is how it should be.

The rest of the cast includes Richard Pasco, Francis Matthews, Suzan Farmer and Josh Ackland. I am still waiting for this to come to Blu-ray in the USA.

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