Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
devilish good Christopher LEE in okay horror film, April 26, 2003
British film studio HAMMER's penultimate movie and their last horror flick while not a masterpiece does in my view not deserve its bad reputation among horror buffs. The plot may not be too original but it is still enjoyable viewing.
The story revolves around a writer of occult novels (Richard WIDMARK), who is asked by a fearstriken man to look after his daughter, a nun, who visits her father in London. A group of satanists, led by Christopher LEE, hunt her, because they need her for an evil ritual...
It goes without saying that Christopher LEE is absolutely great as devil worshipping priest with telepatic powers. He is not the only though to deliver a powerhouse performance. I particularly liked Denholm ELLIOTT, as the girl's father. The scene, where he sits half insane of fear in a chair in the centre of a pentagram gave me the creeps!
I also liked the demon embryo - nice special effects. Other points of interest are the good use of nice London locations, an excellent score and brief full frontal nudity provided by the young Nastassja KINSKI, who was very popular in Germany at the time. Christopher LEE's character also drops his clothes during a wild devil worshipping orgy, but it is quite obvious that he was bodydoubled in this scene.
However the plot is far from original, a bit slowmoving and the conclusion not very satisfying.
Picture quality is very good. The DVD also features excellent extra features. There is an highly interesting 24 minute documentary TO THE DEVIL...THE DEATH OF HAMMER. There is quite a lot of information about the film in this brief documentary - it concerns the author of the novel on which the movie is based (Dennis WHEATLEY also wrote the book THE DEVIL RIDES OUT, which HAMMER turned into a successful film), difficulties with the script, WIDMARK's dissatisfaction with the film in which he starred (he called the movie a "mickey mouse production"), and the original ending (which was dropped, because it resembled SCARS OF DRACULA). Interviewees include among others Christopher LEE, director Peter SYKES and producer Roy SKEGGS. Indispensable for HAMMER fans!
Also included is the film's trailer, extensive biographies on LEE and WIDMARK and an excellent still gallery, featuring promotional photos, behind the scenes pictures and British, German, French and Spain poster art and video tape cover art.
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27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
"Cult" classic finally arrives on DVD, October 10, 2003
I missed this film when it first came out in the 70's As a huge Hammer fan, I wasn't aware of the decline in the quality of their films until I was much older and could view them a bit more critically. I did finally see this in a second run house and thought, despite its obvious flaws, that it was a fine addition to the Hammer canon. I was a bit surprised when I purchased it on DVD how well the film has held up. Despite an editing job at the conclusion that can only be charitably be described as butchery and a script whose quality faded like a print left in the sun too long, To The Devil A Daughter is still pretty powerful stuff. It's considerable more violent (with nudity)when compared to Terry Fisher's classic adaption of Dennis Wheatly's novel The Devil Rides Out. Wheatly was the source for Daughter as well and the use of Lee in the role as the sinister fallen priest creates a bit of continuity between the two films (although Lee was, surprisingly, the hero of Rides Out). The print is pretty good (an improvement over Dracula Prince of Darkness another Anchor Bay release where the negative was clearly faded and the transfer appeared "jittery"). The extras including a no holds bar documentary featuring director Peter Sykes, producer Roy Skeggs, the two main screenwriters, actors Christopher Lee, Honor Blackman and David Anthony. All are surprisingly candid about the film's shortcomings. Lee knew Wheatly and so is able to provide interesting insight to the project. The script's uneven tone is the result of it passing through at least three different writers. The tales the actors share of Widmark's tantrums (calling the film a "Mickey Mouse production"; storming off the set when he discovers the Director of photography doesn't use key lights; deliberately knocking over the wind machine and telling them they needed one from Hollywood to do the job; coming into the studio commisary to demand his day's pay from producer Roy Skeggs), the last minute rewrites and the badly reshot/edited ending (which allows the film to end with a whimper and not the promised bang) are all intereting. While the film made loads of money (Hammer was playing catch up. They had been passed by with the release of The Exorcist, Rosemary's Baby and The Omen), none of it went to Hammer as they didn't finance the production. The studio went down like the Titanic after colliding with the economic realities of the 70's. The film looks stylist; director Peter Sykes does an admirable job and his director of photographer (who also worked on Catch 22)gives the film a bigger budget look that it really had. Sykes directs with a visual flair and imagination lacking from almost everything that Hammer produced during this time. While Ken Russell, Peter Collinson (Straight on Till Morning, The Italian Job)and others were approached for the job, it's doubtful they could have done a better job given the circumstances. It's the uneven content of the script that ultimately undoes much of the impact of Sykes' direction and the actor's performances. With new script pages coming in the day before (or day of)shooting, the script's quality is wildly uneven. Sykes manages to do a decent job of making it hang together. What would have been more interesting would have been to cast against type; have Lee play the occult novelist and American actor Richard Widmark play the villan. To The Devil a Daughter is last shout for help from a grand sinking ship. It's a minor classic that lacks much of what made Hammer great in the 50's but still has enough imagination to make it a contender.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Golden - Well, OK, Silver - Oldie, January 6, 2004
For anyone who loves horror movies and has a robust sense of nostalgia, there is a certain warm and cosy feeling that creeps upon one on seeing that something is a Hammer Film Production. And here is one of the more durable products of that late lamented outfit. Nastassja Kinski, who would go on to become one of the iconic faces of 80s cinema in movies like "Tess", "Paris, Texas" and "Cat People" is Catherine who has been carefully raised by the sinister and ambiguously named Children of Our Lord sect in Germany to be rebaptised as a personification of the God Ashtaroth. Her dad Henry Beddoes (Denholm Elliott) is signed up to the conspiracy but loses his nerve and seeks help from a writer of supernatural horror fiction John Verney (Richard Widmark). So the movie is a conflict between the effective if rather out of is depth Verney and Chief Baddie Michael Rayner (Christopher Lee - who else?). It isn't exactly terrifying. The climax is something of an anticlimax and there are misjudged touches such as the rather silly and not very frightening demom baby Catherine dreams about. But it's enormous fun. It looks great. Widmark and Lee are value for money. Kinski of course is gorgeous if a bit too passive to be very much else. And the show is completely stolen by Elliot. Cinema history is full of people - folk like Gary Cooper, Gregory Peck, Bruce Willis, Russell Crowe - who were ever so good at depicting strong heroic types. But if it's weakness you want, Elliott really has no rival and his portrayal here of a weak man in a constant state of spineless abject fear is a brilliant illustration of that fact. Some much needed humour is supplied by splendid little cameos, most notably by Frances de la Tour as a zealous Salvation Army group leader and Brian Wilde as a pedantic old lady of a librarian. A minor classic. Definitely minor. But definitely classic.
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