Rasputin: The Mad Monk *** (1966, Christopher Lee, Barbara Shelley, Richard Pasco, Francis Matthews, Renée Asherson, Dinsdale Landen, Suzan Farmer, Joss Ackland) – Classic Movie Review 2889

Director Don Sharp’s colourful and entertaining 1966 Hammer Films studios horror movie Rasputin: The Mad Monk finds Christopher Lee going bananas as the sinister mad monk Grigori Rasputin, who uses his hypnotic powers and sexuality to gain control of Russia’s royal family.

The screenplay by Anthony Hinds (billed as John Elder) is pretty daft and wilfully historically inaccurate, but Lee is extremely effective, playing in one of his career highlights, and makes the film worthwhile, along with the support cast and the interestingly lurid subject matter.

Also in the cast are Barbara Shelley as Sonia, Richard Pasco as Dr Boris Zargo, Francis Matthews as Ivan Kesnikoff, Renée Asherson as the Tsarina, Dinsdale Landen as Peter, Suzan Farmer as Vanessa, Derek Francis as Innkeeper, Robert Duncan as Tsarvitch, Alan Tilvern as Patron, John Welsh as The Abbot, John Bailey as The Physician and Joss Ackland as The Bishop.

Rasputin: The Mad Monk is directed by Don Sharp, runs 92 minutes, is made by Hammer Films and Seven Arts, is released by Warner-Pathe, is written by Anthony Hinds (billed as John Elder), is shot in widescreen and DeLuxe colour by Michael Reed, is produced by Anthony Nelson-Keys, is scored by Don Banks and is designed by Bernard Robinson.

Lee, Shelley and Pasco also star in The Gorgon (1964).

Rasputin: The Mad Monk is a remake of the 1932 MGM film Rasputin and the Empress, the only film to star all three Barrymores, John Barrymore, Ethel Barrymore and Lionel Barrymore, a movie that got the studio into legal difficulties as the real Prince Youssoupoff (or Feliks Yusupov) and his wife Princess Irina Romanoff Youssoupoff were still alive and successfully sued for libel over portraying the Princess as a mistress and, later, a rape victim of Rasputin.

After MGM lost both cases, studios regularly add ‘This motion picture is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental’ to the credits. However, Hammer Films released Rasputin: The Mad Monk with this unusual disclaimer: ‘This is an entertainment, not a documentary. No attempt has been made at historical accuracy… all the characters and incidents may be regarded as fictitious.’

Rasputin: The Mad Monk was filmed back-to-back with Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966), using many of the same actors and sets. Matthews and Farmer play siblings here and a married couple in Dracula: Prince of Darkness.

As a boy, Lee met the assassins of Rasputin (Prince Yusupoff and Dmitri Pavlovich). He also met Rasputin’s daughter, Maria, in 1976. She told him he had her father’s facial expression.

Francis Matthews (Ivan), Renée Asherson (Tsarina) and Richard Pasco (Dr Zargo) all died in 2014 and Christopher Lee in 2015. Suzan Farmer died on 17 September 2017, aged 75. Barbara Shelley (born as Barbara T Kowin on 13 February 1932) died on 4 January 2021.

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© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2889

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