There's a endearing quality to a lot of the old Hammer double features, the ones typically made in tandem to save costs and so they could be screened together. So in this case it's not a surprise that a lot of the cast members and several sets are clearly the same as those in Dracula: Prince of Darkness. But watching them back to back decades after their intended release format it's more of a trivia point than a real flaw, and noting all the recurring scenery is lots of fun. The writers play it fast and loose with the facts in this vaguely historical thriller in which Christopher Lee dons a beard and drinks his way to the top of Russia's social ladder. As he sates his less than pious ambitions it's very obvious this is not an educational film, but that should be pretty apparent from the title alone.
This is a feature made in the 1960s so of course they have to cover all the expected Russian stereotypes. People spend lots of time partying and drinking each other under the table, and there are plenty of big hats and people dancing, often in a paralytic state. They all speak with English accents as well, it's just that kind of film. Elsewhere the set designs are fairly low key with a few taverns and indoor locales rather than any big St. Petersburg landscapes or expensive establishing shots. They put just enough snowy backdrops behind the windows and throw in a few street signs in Cyrillic lettering to give it the impression of being shot somewhere other than London.
To get things off to a flying start the eponymous holy man arrives on the scene at a rural inn to down a few bottles of wine. But his mood for partying is spoiled when he finds that the bar is a sombre place because the owner's wife has fallen ill. Wasting no time at all he uses the power of his healing hands alone to cure her, and then he proceeds to drink the place dry in celebration. It's clear that Hammer wanted to add their own style of sex and violence in right out of the gate, and so Rasputin ends the night by attempting to woo the owner's daughter. Her boyfriend isn't too happy about this but his attempt at intervening doesn't go his way when they fight inside a tool filled barn. It's all fun and games until someone loses a hand.
The overall tone is like this for most of the story, with some vague attempts to heal people or help the Russian royal family ending with excess and violence. He quickly becomes less worried about helping and more interested in all the wine and womanising. His passions are aided by the fact that his power is not limited to just taking away sickness. Soon it's revealed that his abilities extend to mental manipulation works in a similarly efficient manner. There's a lot of hypnotism as Grigori worms his way into the ruling family's favour, despite protestation from his new assistant Boris (Richard Pasco) a disgraced doctor being pressured into helping. The ladies begin to fall under his wild man magnetism whether they like it or not, and soon there are a lot of people who want to be rid of him.
The main reason this is all so entertaining is the main star himself, who just seems to be having a good time. He's always making demands and plotting in between all the eating and drinking. The church officials did seem to think that his miracles couldn't be sent from anywhere but hell, so why should he not push the boat out. As things spiral out of control there's a lot of maniacal laughter and a few good speeches about the kinds of favours to be gained from the Tsars. As well as more dancing and boozing of course. His overbearing personality and the way he belittles everyone by referring to them as 'little Sonia' or 'little Peter' is always engaging while never being sympathetic. His fancy threads improve with time but his manners are always terrible.
In terms of the look of the character it's a little heavy on the make-up which can seem like a caricature, but his more serious moments have enough intensity to pull it off. Regular faces like Barbara Shelley and Francis Matthews are also good as the socialites he's trying to exploit, and in general this is a classic cast Hammer even if Michael Ripper is absent. As a chiller to be watched alongside their third Dracula outing things are never quite as atmospheric as you might be expecting, but there are still some striking moments. A shadowy revenge sequence in an acid filled laboratory stands out as being particularly moody, and the infamous assassination ending is also very effective.
It deviates considerable from the real events but it's not as if the rest of the film was trying to be accurate to begin with. The 1990s HBO version with Alan Rickman would be my go-to choice if you're looking for something that at least tries to be a mixture of factual costume drama and historical myth making. Hammer fans will want to stick with the familiar, but they do make an interesting double feature of another kind entirely. Ultimately this one is just a fun debauchery filled piece of entertainment. It certainly holds up as one of the best in the back catalogue and one of Christopher Lee's character's in a long line of memorable turns.
4/5
