film

Better Off Undead: Uncle Was a Vampire

Following the success of 1958’s DRACULA [aka HORROR OF DRACULA] and his being recognized as the Count Dracula for audiences worldwide, Christopher Lee almost immediately followed up his second appearance in a Hammer Studios’ movie (and the first as Dracula) with a surprise turn in a comedic role. In 1959, he starred in the Italian-made TEMPI DURI PER I VAMPIRI (“Hard Times for A Vampire”). Also known as UNCLE WAS A VAMPIRE, the film — primarily a vehicle for comedic actor Renato Rascel — is one of the first (but not the last) of Lee’s having fun with the role he made famous. It is also the first of many Italian film productions with which he would be involved in his career. Is it silly? Yes. Does imposing 6′ 5″ Lee play the straight-man to Rascel’s 5′ 2″ diminuitive, loveable clown? Yes. Is it funny? Ocassionally. Is it a horror movie? No. Nor was it ever really meant to be.

NOT YOUR GRANDFATHER’S DRACULA
Christopher Lee and Renato Rascel
A 6′ 5″ Christopher Lee with his nephew, 5′ 2″ Renato Rascel in UNCLE WAS A VAMPIRE (1959).

Not wanting to taint the serious nature of Bram Stoker’s legendary creation by playing him for laughs,* Lee insisted that the vampire not be referred to as Dracula in UNCLE WAS A VAMPIRE. Instead, Lee plays Baron Roderico da Frankurten, uncle to Rascel’s Baron Osvaldo Lambertenghi. Seems Osvaldo was forced to sell his castle to pay debts, and now working at a bellhop at his former home — now a hotel — he receives a steamer trunk from a long-lost uncle and a letter that his uncle will arrive that night, at midnight. Inside the trunk? Baron Roderico da Frankfurten’s coffin. And inside that? The baron himself, a 400-year-old vampire that had his castle — believed abandoned — slated for demolition (to build a nuclear power plant!).

It isn’t long before Roderico is revealed to be a vampire (it seems he keeps a diary) and sinks his fangs into Osvaldo — hoping to pass along his curse.  We learn that a vampire’s bite can temporarily curse a human with a thirst for blood, as Osvaldo begins nocturnal activity that involves fangs of his own, a cape, and a marathon series of attacks on the hotel’s female guests (42!) [though surprisingly not including the character of Carla (Sylva Koscina), a girl in love with a teen idol — leading to the question: is a teen idol more hypnotic than a vampire?].

To their playboy boyfriends’ shock and consternation, two of the young women (played by Kai Fischer and Susanne Loret) behave differently, covering their throats, acting as if nothing strange has happened. Victims of a fumbling novice vampire, they are nonetheless mesmerized by him. And Osvaldo? His curse? His job? His unrequited love for a young gardener named Lillana (played by Antje Geerk)? His loyalty to his uncle? His wanting to reclaim his ancestral home? The slapstick? It becomes too much for the aristocrat turned bellhop.

UNCLE WAS A VAMPIRE lobby card
UNCLE WAS A VAMPIRE lobby card.

Becoming human again at daylight, Osvaldo eventually agrees to join the hotel owners and guests who are determined to save their women by finding and then staking the vampire. Only problem: unbeknownest to them, the vampire they are hunting is Osvaldo.

Christopher Lee shows Fangs in UNCLE WAS A VAMPIRE (1959)
Get the point? Christopher Lee shows his fangs in UNCLE WAS A VAMPIRE (1959)

Comedy ensues. And Christopher Lee plays it straight. Though his own English is dubbed** (with a disconcerting echo), he is arguably the only reason for any modern audience to watch the movie. Deadpan delivery. No hamming it up for the camera. No smiles. Of course, there’s some levity: first, when Roderico shows off his fangs. Then, when he confronts the townsfolk about their superstitions, telling them that Osvaldo is “no more a vampire than I am!” Lee’s timing is spot-on, and though his very presence can be menacing, one gets the impression that Lee was actually enjoying himself.

LESS-THAN SOPHISTICATED SATIRE

UNCLE WAS A VAMPIRE is not a genre parody or spoof like the first well-recognized monster comedy ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN (1948). Instead, UNCLE is more of a satire — not so much satirizing the horror genre as a whole, but taking its tropes and then, intentionally or not, exploring themes of male/female relationships and a crumbling aristocracy vs. the middle class. Man and woman. Old and young. Rich and poor. Undead and alive.

Osvaldo, groomed to take the place of Roderico, just can’t get the knack of being a vampire, despite puckish enthusiasm. And being hunted is no fun. He learns from Roderico’s book that a woman’s kiss will free him from the curse. So it’s a good thing that Osvaldo loves the gardener; as their relationship grows, so do the chances of him being freed from the curse. He ultimately is cured, and the conclusion of the movie finds Osvaldo wrapping everything up (in Italian, oddly enough, and not dubbed English like the rest of the film). He stands above the steamer trunk, presumablty occupied by his uncle, when Christoper Lee walks past, arm and arm with the playboys’ girlfriends.

LEE GETS THE GIRL(S)

For once, Christopher Lee’s vampire truly gets the girl(s)! No need to bury one outside of the castle (DRACULA) or get revenge on an enemy by trying to turn his daughter into a vampire (1968’s DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE). No need to be the boogeyman. Instead, Lee’s Roderico closes out the film by curiously walking away from his nephew without a word, each of the playboys’ girlfriends at his side.

The movie ends wth Osvaldo noting comedically that some people are “better off undead.”

It seems Roderico certainly is. And the charismatic Christopher Lee — barely in the film except for a few memorable moments — makes it look cool. He’s a ladies’ man. And a new life awaits him with a young woman on each arm.

 

*Lee did his best to differentiate Roderico from Dracula, but a curious carryover from the movie is his red-lined cape — worn for the first time here — showing up in future Dracula films for Hammer. Lee played Dracula for Hammer a total of seven times, often in capes with the red lining. In UNCLE WAS A VAMPIRE, Rascel, too, wears the red-lined cape, albeit a smaller size.

**The dubbed version is what’s currently available streaming on Tubi.

music, musings

The Jam: Packed with Mod Flavor

With the death of drummer Rick Buckler, chances of the mod revival powerhouse that was The Jam ever getting back together have gone from unlikely to never.  Front man, guitarist, singer, and songwriter Paul Weller — along with Buckler and bassist / singer, songwriter Bruce Foxton — crafted some of the catchiest pop songs of the punk / post-punk / new wave era. But Weller consciously chose to disband The Jam in 1982. Sadly, Buckler and Foxton seemed to want a reunion, but as Buckler would put it in a 2017 interview, “I think Paul came up with all sorts of funny ideas about how it would make the band mean something if we split it up.”

Formed in Surrey, England in 1972, The Jam released their first single, “In the City,” in 1977. It reached #40 on the UK Singles chart and was the start of an incredible streak. Their next 17 singles would chart in the UK. Among them, 1980’s “Going Underground,” would be their first number one. They would have three more: “Start!” “Town Called Malice,” and “Beat Surrender.” When The Jam disbanded, their first fifteen singles were re-released. All placed within the top 100.

While not as shocking like contemporaries The Sex Pistols, angry as The Clash, or gloomy like Joy Division (with whom they shared a stage on a 1979 airing of “Something Else”), The Jam were just as culturally relevant as those bands; they were at the forefront of a mod revival, and among the only artists of that period with a punk pedigree that still possesed pure power pop sensibilities.

Beneath “Start!” there’s a Paul McCartney-esque bass-line. In the rhythmic beat and trilling organ of “Town Called Malice,” one can clearly hear Mowtown. And on covers of The Beatles’ “And Your Bird Can Sing,” The Who’s “So Sad About Us,” and The Kinks’ “David Watts,” there’s tribute to the mods that inspired them.

Tailored suits. Two-toned brogues. A Rickenbacker guitar covered in comic art. The Jam were at the center of a mod revival. Beat music with the energy of punk. Melody. Harmony. Politics. Fashion. Rock and roll. Rhythm and blues. Undeniably catchy and undeniably cool. The Jam’s influence on indie music has been cited by artists like Oasis, Blur, and The Strokes. Any discussion of mod culture of the twentieth century must include them. The mod style did not stop with the end of the 1960s. It merely evolved.

Weller would go on to form the less influential and all but forgotten Style Council upon The Jam’s breakup in 1982. He vowed that The Jam would never reunite. It’s “against everything we stand for,” said Weller in a 2015 interview with The Daily Mirror.

With Buckler’s death, it looks ike he was right.

By Christopher Davis