<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: REQUIRED READING FOR ALL CHRIS LEE FANS, SCHOLARS!
Review: Once again Jonathan Rigby demonstrates his place as one of England's premier experts on horror films. Hot on the heels of his excellent and recommended ENGLISH GOTHIC comes this new book, a complete listing of horror icon Christopher Lee's film and TV work, current up to 2001. The book even lists Lee's upcoming work in the new STAR WARS and LORD OF THE RINGS movies. Rigby is a talented writer and has made excellent use of rare primary and secondary materials, including a new interview with Lee and viewings of some of Lee's rarest work. Not only is the information updated and complete--Rigby has also unearthed many rare stills, behind the scenes shots, and even some personal photos. A lot of the illustrations are nothing short of breathtaking. CHRISTOPHER LEE is an excellent book. It is not quite perfect, which is why I couldn't give it five stars. Perhaps by necessity, the book is "listy" and seems to pay as much attention to Lee's minor and/or uninteresting films as the major classics. Some of Rigby's evaluations I simply can't endorse, such as his wild overpraise of THE RETURN OF CAPTAIN INVINCIBLE, while elsewhere he disses one of my favorite Lee flicks, DRACULA AD 1972 (I still insist this film is vastly more entertaining than all the other Hammer-Lee Dracs except the first one--call me crazy, but a cult IS developing about this one!). And Rigby's attack on the ground-breaking work of Raymond McNally and Radu Florescu's IN SEARCH OF DRACULA (Rigby calls their landmark findings regarding the connection between Vlad the Impaler and Bram Stoker "hopelessly flimsy")betrays his membership in that revisionist cult of Dracula fans that has totally blown out of proportion certain needed correctives to M and F's work. C'mon, Jon, Stoker got the name and much of the details of Vlad's life right! There IS a legitimate connection between Vlad and Stoker's Count!..... But these are very minor complaints, matters of opinion, really. The biggest problem--and it's not really that bad--is that since this is an authorized book, there are no negative critical comments directed at Lee or his performances. Obviously this is probably impossible in a work approved by the subject, but while Rigby often points out substandard work on Lee's resume, he never puts the blame on Lee for agreeing to work in such claptrap. By the same token, hindsight shows us that Lee goofed by turning down lucrative work in HALLOWEEN, SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE, and various popular US TV shows over the years. Of course Chris couldn't know that at the time--but when instead he did things like BEAR ISLAND and CARAVANS instead, one has to wonder what Lee was thinking! But I don't want to carp too much. 95% or more of Rigby's CHRISTOPHER LEE is excellent, thoughtful, lavishly illustrated stuff. It is certainly a must-read for all fans of the actor and horror films in general.
Rating:
Summary: REQUIRED READING FOR ALL CHRIS LEE FANS, SCHOLARS!
Review: Once again Jonathan Rigby demonstrates his place as one of England's premier experts on horror films. Hot on the heels of his excellent and recommended ENGLISH GOTHIC comes this new book, a complete listing of horror icon Christopher Lee's film and TV work, current up to 2001. The book even lists Lee's upcoming work in the new STAR WARS and LORD OF THE RINGS movies. Rigby is a talented writer and has made excellent use of rare primary and secondary materials, including a new interview with Lee and viewings of some of Lee's rarest work. Not only is the information updated and complete--Rigby has also unearthed many rare stills, behind the scenes shots, and even some personal photos. A lot of the illustrations are nothing short of breathtaking. CHRISTOPHER LEE is an excellent book. It is not quite perfect, which is why I couldn't give it five stars. Perhaps by necessity, the book is "listy" and seems to pay as much attention to Lee's minor and/or uninteresting films as the major classics. Some of Rigby's evaluations I simply can't endorse, such as his wild overpraise of THE RETURN OF CAPTAIN INVINCIBLE, while elsewhere he disses one of my favorite Lee flicks, DRACULA AD 1972 (I still insist this film is vastly more entertaining than all the other Hammer-Lee Dracs except the first one--call me crazy, but a cult IS developing about this one!). And Rigby's attack on the ground-breaking work of Raymond McNally and Radu Florescu's IN SEARCH OF DRACULA (Rigby calls their landmark findings regarding the connection between Vlad the Impaler and Bram Stoker "hopelessly flimsy")betrays his membership in that revisionist cult of Dracula fans that has totally blown out of proportion certain needed correctives to M and F's work. C'mon, Jon, Stoker got the name and much of the details of Vlad's life right! There IS a legitimate connection between Vlad and Stoker's Count!..... But these are very minor complaints, matters of opinion, really. The biggest problem--and it's not really that bad--is that since this is an authorized book, there are no negative critical comments directed at Lee or his performances. Obviously this is probably impossible in a work approved by the subject, but while Rigby often points out substandard work on Lee's resume, he never puts the blame on Lee for agreeing to work in such claptrap. By the same token, hindsight shows us that Lee goofed by turning down lucrative work in HALLOWEEN, SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE, and various popular US TV shows over the years. Of course Chris couldn't know that at the time--but when instead he did things like BEAR ISLAND and CARAVANS instead, one has to wonder what Lee was thinking! But I don't want to carp too much. 95% or more of Rigby's CHRISTOPHER LEE is excellent, thoughtful, lavishly illustrated stuff. It is certainly a must-read for all fans of the actor and horror films in general.
<< 1 >>
| 
