Christopher Lee dramatically stars as Rasputin in Hammer's superb period piece. Anchor Bay US R0 DVD.
The Film
In 1965, Hammer were recovering from a brief slump thanks to the sucess of She
(1965), an 11 picture deal signed with Seven-Arts ensured
bigger budgets for their next productions. Meanwhile, Amicus studios
were gaining pace and starting to compete with the established studio.
Hammer responded by shooting a pair of double-bills back to back on
their Bray Studio sets. With Christopher Lee back from filming in
Europe, they re-introduced Dracula for Dracula: Prince of Darkness, and kept most of the same cast for Rasputin: The Mad Monk. To go with these two, they shot two quick B-pictures, The Reptile and Plague of the Zombies. Hammer's
Rasputin story is mostly fictional; although
Tony Hinds initally wrote a historically accurate script, the studio was threatened
with legal action by the real Prince Yusupov who had been involved in
the killing of Rasputin. Hinds was forced to rewrite most of the
script, even getting every page initialled by the Prince who
incidentally died only a year later.
The
story opens in rural Tsarist Russia; a landlord's wife lies on her
deathbed. Rasputin (Christopher Lee) bursts onto the scene and heals
the woman - taking the fever into his hands. Taking his reward in wine,
he has himself a party, and elopes with the landlord's daughter, much
to her fianceé's annoyance. The villagers attack Rasputin in a
barn as he tries to molest the girl, but he flees. Forced out of the
monestary where he was based, Rasputin heads for St. Petersburg and
enters a drinking competition with Dr. Zargo. Meanwhile, a quartet of
the Russian elite (Sonia, Ivan, Vanessa and Peter) are tiring of a ball
and decide to go slumming, ending up at the same bar Rasputin is
in. Dancing to celebrate his victory in the drinking contest,
Rasputin mistakenly thinks that Sonia (Barbara Shelley) is laughing at his dancing and
orders her to come and apologise to him. Rasputin moves himself into
Zargo's house and the next morning Sonia arrives as though summoned. Discovering that she is
the Tsarina's lady-in-waiting, Rasputin seduces and hypnotises her, ordering
her to injure the Tsar's child. With the child ill, Rasputin is called
to the royal court and immediately makes an impression, healing the
sick boy. Impressed, the Tsarina moves him and Zargo into a larger
house and begins to consult him for advice; but tiring of Sonia,
Rasputin kicks her out and orders her to kill herself. Shocked, Zargo
meets with Ivan (Francis Matthews) and Peter to discuss ways of ending
Rasputin's reign of terror. Peter discovers his sister Sonia dead, and
tries to kill Rasputin, but is attacked by the Monk and scarred by
acid. Ivan and Zargo come up with a plot to kill Rasputin once and for
all...
Although not Hammer's
usual horror story, the Rasputin script is very strong. The legal
action meant that the script presents a mostly fictionalised retelling
of the story, and was further cut down at the script stage by the
British
censors who took out a number of gory sequences - fortunately,
the film flows along very quickly and there is barely a dead moment in
the whole story. Unlike the Dracula films, Christopher Lee is in almost every scene and his stand-out performance as Rasputin makes the whole film; with a
lesser actor the picture would certainly not have been as good. Only the ending seems rather poor - a lengthy fight scene at the end of the film was inexplicably cut by the studio and like Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966), the ending is very sudden.
Production
is very strong. Don Sharp gives a good directoral turn, although not
using as many elaborate camera angles as Freddie Francis did, his
camerawork is much more distinctive than Terence Fisher's often very
plain shooting, and Rasputin has some interesting angles and close-ups. The sets are redressed from Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966) and look very impressive. Don Banks gives a relatively typical Hammer score that builds up the film.
Not a typical Hammer Horror film, Rasputin: The Mad Monk
is still very interesting. Christopher Lee steals the show with one of
his best performances for the company. The enforced fictionalisation
means the film has no real historical interest, but is an entertaining
watch and Hammer fans should enjoy it - no less scary today than most
of the actual horror pictures from the studio.
In Brief
Anyone famous in it?
Christopher Lee - Hammer Horror mainstay, and recently starred in Lord of the Rings and Star Wars. Francis Matthews - appeared in Hammer's early horror sucess Revenge of Frankenstein (1958).
Has a general appeal, certainly for fans of Hammer and Christopher Lee, some historical interest as well.
Good soundtrack?
Standard Hammer orchestral score.
The DVD
Visuals
Original Aspect Ratio - 2.10:1 widescreen. Anamorphically enhanced. Colour.
The disc is strong visually, good colours, minimal print damage is
evident. There are some red digital speckles that appear on the black borders at the edge of the image in a few scenes. Note: The cheap widescreen lenses used on this film mean that the edges
of the picture are slightly distorted throughout, this dates from the
original print and is not a problem with the disc.
Audio
English language mono sound and French language mono dub. English language audio commentary.
No problems with the audio.
Subtitles
None
Run-time
Feature: 1hr 31m 33s
Extras
The disc includes:
The original theatrical trailer - letterboxed. Contains spoilers. (2m 42)
Two US TV spots (20 and 60 seconds) , these are full-screen and black and white. Advertising this film along with The Reptile they offer cinema goers a free 'Rasputin Beard' as they enter the cinema. (0m 23s + 1m 01s)
The Christopher Lee episode
of 'World of Hammer'. This was a 1980 documentary series, narrated by
Oliver Reed, about Hammer studios. Running to 20 minutes, this provides
some interesting clips of Lee, but no interviews and little detail
about his career. English. (24m 55s)
Audio commentary from cast members Christopher Lee, Francis
Matthews, Barbara Shelley and Suzan Farmer. A very informative
commentary. Lee has a lot of background about the real Rasputin, and
the others impart a lot of information about the making of the film and
about Hammer studios in general. A highly recommended listen.
Availabity
The ABUS disc is now only available in a dual-pack with The Devil Rides Out (1968). [this may be out of print now]
Region
Region 1 (North America) - NTSC
Other regions?
German R2 DVD with audio commentary plus interview. New Optimum UK DVD, part of the Ultimate Hammer Collection, includes a similar print, but with only the theatrical trailer for extra features. Optimum UK (left) ABUS (right)
If the US disc is unavailable, the German disc is recommended as it includes the very good audio commentary.
Cuts?
The film is believed to be fully uncut.
Summary
A very watchable, although partly fictionalised version of the Rasputin story - a classic Hammer production.
Great looking presentation of the film - very minor digital flaws. Superb audio commentary.
All text in this review written by Timothy Young - July 2005/25th March 2006.
Text from this review not to be used without authorization.
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