From 1948 until his death last
year at age 93, Christopher Lee (1922-2015) spent nearly seven decades as the
very towering embodiment of the term “working actor,” from bit parts to
supporting actor to star attraction to distinctive voice player, leaving an
indelible mark. Turner Classic Movies has selected him as Star of the Month and
designated Mondays throughout October to bedazzle fans with his many faces
across the decades, screening more than three-dozen theatrical features
starting in early afternoons and throughout evening primetime. Of course, there
are – as there must be – generous helpings of Count Dracula (October 24), Fu
Manchu (tonight) and horror opuses galore throughout the mix, but the more
deeply curious can also encounter Lee in a sprinkling of war stories, domestic
dramas, period adventures, murder mysteries, pirate yarns and more to be found
in the four weeks remaining through Halloween night. [Keep track by scouting
out today and subsequent Monday lineups here: http://www.tcm.com/schedule/&91;. Among the more bizarre offerings on view this
evening (more precisely, Tuesday at 3:15 AM EDT/12:15 AM PDT) is Scream
and Scream Again (1970), which not only delivers Lee together with
frequent co-star Peter Cushing but also fellow genre icon Vincent Price in what
its ad tagline promised as “triple distilled horror…as powerful as a vat of
boiling acid!” Twilight Time resident historian Julie Kirgo pegs it as “kind of
a horror movie, kind of an espionage film, and in some sense a piece of science
fiction,” while Guide for the Film
Fanatic author Danny Peary considered it “fascinating.” Set in a future
totalitarian-state Britain, with a few short glimpses of an unnamed European
dictatorship pulling the strings of some common conspiracy, the various plot
strands that all tie together in time for the finale involve: Price as a mad
scientist devoted to the creation of “synthetic” superhumans (derived from
amputation and appropriation of multiple body parts, as an unfortunately hospitalized
jogger will discover through the course of the film); Cushing as a political
leader who proves too principled to a ruthless party colleague who has mastered
a death-grip technique; and Lee as a cool, stately British intelligence
higher-up with suspect ties to both governments, along with the investigation
into some rather unsettling, blood-drained “vampire murders.” This chaotic
curiosity doesn’t always compute, but Price’s unhinged surgeon, Lee’s steely,
secretive bureaucrat and the occasional blood-stoked shock image provide a
tenuous spine compensating for the disjointed structure. For chills with a
literary touch, Lee and Cushing are perfectly partnered in Hammer Films’
Technicolor® remake of Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959),
airing October 31 at 11:30 PM EDT/8:30 PM PDT, with Cushing as a cunning and wiry
Sherlock Holmes and Lee as endangered family heir – and in a memorable scene
not drawn from Doyle, arachnophobe – Sir Henry Baskerville, a dandyish potential
victim role which Lee saw as a nice makeup-light relief following recent
portrayals of Dracula and Kharis the Mummy. TT’s hi-def Blu-rays of Scream
and Scream Again and The Hound of the Baskervilles, both
sporting expert commentaries and documentary featurettes to enhance the 1080p
hi-def viewing experience, empower you to make TCM’s October Star of the Month
the star of any day you please. Watch for more Christopher Lee to join the TT Blu-ray library next year.