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The Devil Rides Out: Wickedly funny and painfully honest stories from Paul O’Grady

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It isn’t cowardice, though Lee’s eyes are filled with terror. It is timing. He knows it is up to him to live to fight another day. Dennis Yates Wheatley (8 January 1897 – 10 November 1977) [Born: Dennis Yeats Wheatley] was an English author. His prolific output of stylish thrillers and occult novels made him one of the world's best-selling authors in the 1950s and 1960s. Instead of the repetition of the Sussamma Ritual, Marie Lou instead invokes an angelic being, one of the ‘Lords of Light’ who intervenes to defeat Mocata. De Richleau et al then find themselves transported beyond the physical world, until they are floating above their own unconscious bodies, still lying within the pentacle in the library of Cardinal’s Folly.

The film script includes so many memorable lines memorably delivered — Christopher Lee, in particular, often using short … pauses … between … words … for … added … dramatic … effect. Here are some of my favourites: Christopher Lee often said in later years, how he would like to reprise his role which was one of his favourites and his praise remained effusive, ‘It was a magnificent film, done in the best Hammer tradition.’ Wheatley was very pleased with Lee’s performance saying, ‘Christopher took the part of the Duke de Richleau and played the role magnificently.’ He sent Lee a first edition of the book with the inscription, ‘Thank you for all you’ve done to get this film made and also for your performance as the Duke de Richleau.’ Hammer slams at the righteous combatants with the very best special effects they had to offer at the time, from giant spiders to disembodied spirits, but it is really sold by the camerawork and the horses. Lee is marvelous, keeping himself sane as all the world around him is spinning into the abyss. Everyone around him is weaker than he is and more easily drawn into the Mocata’s workings. The weakest link is Richard Eaton (Paul Eddington), the skeptical member of the reinforcements. Lee keeps him in line by admiring the fearlessness that comes from ignorance and admitting that he is too scared to work alone. One of the reasons ‘The Devil Rides’ was not adapted for screen for more than 30 years was because of how taboo the subject matter of Devil worship was in England in all that time. Even by the film’s release in 1968, certain elements of the story were still considered controversial and either omitted or substantially toned down. Two weeks before his death in November 1977, Wheatley received conditional absolution from his old friend Cyril ‘Bobby’ Eastaugh, the Bishop of Peterborough.Christopher Lee as the Duke de Richleau — an utterly inspired piece of casting. It seems that Wheatley and Lee knew each other well, that Lee shared Wheatley’s interest in the Occult and that Wheatley had pressed for Lee to be cast in the role of the duke. Lee himself was not keen on playing the Mocata role, it seems: “I told Hammer, ‘Look, enough of the villainy for the time being, let us try something different and let me be on the side of the angels for once.'” Casting Charles Gray — smooth, suave, debonair — as Mocata was also an excellent decision, a deliberate move away from the repulsive Mocata of the book. The oddest piece of casting is perhaps that of the opera singer Leon Greene as Rex; he has the chiselled good looks and the action-man physique but it was decided that his voice needed to be dubbed. Wheatley’s Sabbat of saturnalian depravity appears onscreen as little more than a rave, its participants remaining clothed at all times and doing little more than eating and drinking. (Although, admittedly, some of them are drinking the blood of a sacrificial goat – and animal which, funnily enough, does not appear in the novel.) His first book, Three Inquisitive People, was not immediately published; but his first published novel, The Forbidden Territory, was an immediate success when published in 1933, being reprinted seven times in seven weeks. The text is littered with all manner of references to satanic practices and daft myth and legend relating to the dark arts, to the point that it just becomes very, very silly. How much bunk the author must have waded through to end up with such a mish-mash of nonsense I can only imagine, but he must have been overwhelmed because he certainly wasn't discerning in the final cut. The effect is an overload that renders any reasonable suspension of belief impossible. The ending of the book is much stranger. Apart from the Monastery in Greece in place of the house in Berkshire, the general premise is the same. Mocata has abducted Fleur and is planning on sacrificing her, and the heroes race to rescue the child.

Although the ritual is used in the book, Wheatley didn’t write the words, so Lee consulted the British Museum who directed him to the Grimoire of Armadel, a book of ceremonial magic from the 1600s. Lee chose eight words from the Operation of Uriel Seraphim, a spell used to trap the Devil in a bottle, ‘Uriel Seraphim Io Potesta, Zati Zata Galatim Galata.’ Chistopher Lee as the Duke de Richleau Heaven and Hell are only symbolical of growth to Light or disintegration to Darkness,” de Richleau explains. “There is no such person as the Devil, but there are vast numbers of Earthbound spirits, Elementals, and Evil Intelligences of the Outer Circle floating in our midst. But anyone who accepts Satanic baptism does exactly the reverse. They willfully destroy the barrier of astral Light which is our natural protection and offer themselves as a medium through which the powers of Darkness may operate on mankind.” The duke uses some interesting analogies to explain magic to Rex, Richard, and Marie Lou. And they are good points.In the film, the Duke is given the Christian name ‘Nicholas’ whereas, in Wheatley’s novels, his full name was ‘Jean Armand Duplessis’ before he inherited the tile of Duke de Richleau. Hinds next contracted Richard Matheson, whom he had met when he bought the rights to his novel, I am Legendin 1957. A respected science fiction and horror writer, Matheson had just completed the script for Hammer’s Fanatic(Silvio Narizzano, 1965). He already had a body of film work behind him having adapted his own novel, The Shrinking Man (1956), written scripts for The Twilight Zone (1959-2020) and Star Trek(1966-) and completed several Poe adaptations for American International Pictures. The film adaptation is one of Hammer’s best movies. It’s my personal favorite Hammer film but I probably can’t separate the love I had for the book since I secretly read it at seven. Although Wheatley was also pleased with it and Christopher Lee said in interviews that it was one of his favorite onscreen performances. That could be because he was the anti-villain rather than the villain. The Devil Rides Out was directed by the legendary Terence Fisher, who made The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), Dracula(1958), The Hound of the Baskervilles(1959) and The Mummy. I do not propose to discuss with you the rights and wrongs of practising the magic art. I will confine myself to saying that I am a practitioner of some experience. Mocata, modest as ever A group of very self-righteous, incredibly rich people swan around in a desperate race against time to stop some Satanists doing - well, it's never entirely clear what - while taking frequent breaks to sample the finer things in life, lecture each other condescendingly, patronise women and complain about the bourgeois, poor, socialists... Maybe those pesky Satanists intended to vote for Jeremy Corbyn? The hysterical tone of the ultra-privileged heroes comes straight out of Tory central casting. Oh, did I mention the racism? This is a very racist book. I know this is a book from the 30s, but I'm genuinely surprised Wheatley was on our side during the war. Quite a few lines in here suggest at least a passing regard for the Nazis. He probably just didn't feel they were from good enough families.

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