The Devil Rides Out (Duke de Richleau)

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These negotiations went on from 1963 until 1967 because, even though Stainer-Hutchins was willing to sell his interest, he wanted to work on the special effects. The problem with that, according to Carreras, was that they wanted more money than the budget allowed and weren’t particularly very good. I know that Christopher Lee always used to say that he'd be very sympathetic to the idea of a re-make, and reprising his role as the Duke de Richleau. He thought he was perhaps a little young for the role in 1968, and also that modern special effects could do better justice to the pentagram scene. Now, alas, he'd be too old for any de Richleau adaptation other than "Dangerous Inheritance". Personally, I wasn't even searching for truths at this stage but after having read the book the seeds were definitely sown!!! I'm still looking!!!!

According to the Harry Potter stories, Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, earned his reputation as a great wizard due, in part, to his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel. I think most DW fans will know the story of TDRO but the brief synopsis is that Simon Aaron (or Aron as it is in this book) becomes ensnared into a satanic group. The Duke and Rex Van Ryn with help from Richard Eaton and Marie Lou try to retrieve him and Tanith (Rex's new found love) from a fate worse than death. Dennis Wheatley's hero the Duke de Richleau might represent England, Queen and country, with his stiff upper lip, and celebration of the British Empire, but his knowledge of Eastern magic seems impressive. He explains:

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Matheson uses the esoteric information from the book with a light hand. Like all good horror, suspense is maintained by hinting at the enormity of the problems they face, and the Duke, played with authority by Lee, espouses enough occult information to create a sense of authenticity. Although Lee was a lot younger than the Duke, his aristocratic bearing gives him a gravitas that fits perfectly with the character.

Beyond general evil and Devil worship, it’s not entirely clear what Mocata’s goal is in the film – and the reason for this alteration in the story is quite a heartbreaking one. In the novel, it is revealed that if Mocata can practise the ritual to Saturn in conjunction with Mars with someone who was born in a certain year at the hour of the conjunction, the whereabouts of ‘the Talisman of Set’ will be revealed to him. Anyway, sort of despite all that and sort of because of it, I had a lot of fun with this. The first half at least. It's not a long book, but it's twice as long as it needs to be. I haven't seen it, but I suspect the Hammer film adaptation may be the best way to sample it. That has Christopher Lee as the Duke and that guy who played Blofeld as the villain. Which, to be honest, is exactly how I imagined them both from the book anyway. And it's only an hour and a half. Duc de Richleau turns down the lights by conducting counter-magic. He plans the rescue of Simon’s soul like a general readies his troops for battle. He measures off a perfect circle of seven feet and marks it in chalk and draws a five-rayed star with geometrical accuracy, otherwise the pentacle could be dangerous. On the rim of the inner circle he writes the exorcism “ In nomina Pa + tris et Fi + lii et Spiritus + Sancti! + El + Elohym + Sother + Emmanuel + Sabaoth + Agia + Tetragammaton + Agyos + Otheos + Ischiros + along with other ancient symbols including “Cabbalistic signs taken from the Sephirotic Tree; Kether, Binah, Ceburah, Hod, Malchut,” the Eye of Horus and ancient Aryan script. Heaven and Hell are only symbolical of growth to Light or disintegration to Darkness. 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.” He was, therefore, cast as the Duke de Richleau and relishing the opportunity, read all the de Richleau books in preparation.

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Given the title of this novel, and the fact that the antagonists in the plot are Satanists, it seems incongruous that Wheatley puts into the Duke's mouth the claim, "There is no such person as the devil..." (Chapter 7). But that makes sense given the worldview he's taking here as his premise. Satan, of course, is a creature of God, a fallen angel who's rebelled against his Maker; he's not God's co-eternal and co-equal opponent. But Wheatley is consciously basing his picture of reality here, as laid out in great detail in Chapter 3, on the schema of Zoroastrian dualism (which he explicitly refers to there) with its co-eternal and co-equal powers of Good and Evil, Light and Darkness, perpetually warring for control of the universe and mankind. (With some writers of supernatural fiction, this would simply be a literary conceit, but Wheatley apparently actually believed in something like this.) All of his research --which was quite considerable-- into occultism and primitive/ancient religion is interpreted in that light, and all religions (including Christianity) are re-interpreted and homogenized into harmonious expressions of that idea. The goal of all "true" religions of "the Right Hand Path," supposedly (as he also states explicitly) is progress towards "perfection" through successive reincarnations. Not surprisingly, to paint this picture (through the Duke's lectures at various places in the book, which can have an info-dumpy quality), he misinterprets and garbles factual and historical material in significant ways, sometimes makes outright factual errors, and at times makes use of spurious or intellectually discredited sources. I did a lot of eye-rolling during this read, in quite a few places. He also treats astrology, palmistry (in which another character is conveniently but improbably well-versed) and numerology as legitimate sciences to be taken seriously --which I don't. To me, the rather long numerology lesson was particularly eye-glazing. Dennis Yeats Wheatley (8 January 1897 – 10 November 1977) was a British writer whose prolific output of thrillers and occult novels made him one of the world's best-selling authors from the 1930s through to the 1960s. [1] His Gregory Sallust series was one of the main inspirations for Ian Fleming's James Bond stories. [2] Early life [ edit ] He wrote adventure stories, with many books in a series of linked works. His plots covered the French Revolution (Roger Brook Series), Satanism (Duc de Richleau), World War II (Gregory Sallust) and espionage (Julian Day). In the thirties, he conceived a series of whodunit mysteries, pres 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. Unlike other Hammer films, The Devil Rides Out has little sexual or violent content. [8] The film's tone is more serious than many other Hammer titles. [9]

To locate the talisman he needs the unwilling assistance of Simon Aaron and hypnotises him into becoming a satanist.She looks forward the upcoming Satanic festival as ‘an extraordinary experience.’ As she argues: ‘by surrendering myself I shall only suffer or enjoy, as most other women do, under slightly different circumstances at some period of their life.’ Although The Devil Rides Out is perhaps not as lurid as previous Hammer films, it still retains a richness of colour and Grant become one of Hammer’s most prolific cinematographers until his untimely death in 1972. 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. 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.