Une fille... pour le diable

Occult novelist John Verney (veteran American star Richard Widmark) has his hands full. He has to keep safe the daughter (Nastassja Kinski) of an associate (Denholm Elliott). You see, eighteen years ago Elliott made an unholy pact, and now the girl is intended for use in something depraved by heretic priest Father Michael Raynor (Sir Christopher Lee).

At the time, this was the final theatrical horror film for Britains' renowned Hammer Studios. It was actually pretty successful, but the studio was simply too much in debt to completely reap the benefits. Based on the novel by Dennis Wheatley, it's a commendably low-key, restrained film, with occasional moments of violence / gore as well as cheesiness. As directed by Peter Sykes, the film has the potential to bore some members of the audience, but it's generally got enough interesting material in it to make it palatable.

The cast provides the principal value. Widmark at first seems really out of place, but he does a solid job. Lee delivers what is one of his all-time best villainous performances for Hammer. The supporting cast is pretty eclectic: Honor Blackman, Michael Goodliffe, Eva Maria Meineke, Anthony Valentine, Derek Francis, Frances de la Tour, etc. However, many eyes will be on Kinski, in one of her earliest roles; she does convey an essential naivety and innocence, and the audience will automatically be on her side. Those who are interested should note that she has a controversial few seconds' worth of full frontal nudity near the end.

Although not on the level of another Wheatley shocker ("The Devil Rides Out") produced by Hammer, this does show its viewers a fairly good time, operating with its approach of subtlety. One problem, however, is the ending, which is over too quickly, and robs us of real satisfaction.

All things considered, Hammer could easily have signed off with a much worse horror film. This, at least, is generally compelling.

Seven out of 10.

The reputation of Hammer’s last horror film has always been fairly maligned (for a variety of reasons) but, when I finally watched it – via a pan-and-scan PAL VHS – some years back, I recall being reasonably impressed by it. Somewhat perversely, I chose it to end my month-long tribute to the recently deceased Richard Widmark – given that he was notoriously cantankerous throughout the film’s shooting and would subsequently single it out as the one regret of his 44 year-long film career!

Re-acquainting myself with TO THE DEVIL A DAUGHTER by way of the Anchor Bay R1 DVD, I was pleased to discover that my initial reaction to it remained pretty much intact – though, obviously, I no longer felt that initial shock to some of its more intense and bizarre sequences. Anyway, the film was a companion piece to Hammer’s previous Dennis Wheatley adaptation – THE DEVIL RIDES OUT (1967) – in which Christopher Lee had atypically played the hero; however, the author wasn’t as enthused this time around – since his novel was considerably bowdlerized in the transition – and declined the company further access to his works (they had previously acquired the rights to yet another of Wheatley’s occult tales, “The Satanist”)! Lee co-stars in this one as well – but, here, he reverts to his favored (on-screen) element i.e. The Dark Side: his character of Father Michael is actually among the most believably sinister he ever played (going about his diabolic business with a thoroughly calm demeanor and, often, a chilling smile on his lips!). As for Widmark, I’m glad he was sensible enough to understand that, whatever his personal feelings (the Hollywood star clearly seemed to consider the material beneath him), he still owed the public a good performance – and there’s no denying the fact that his no-nonsense occult novelist emerges as a most fitting opponent to Lee.

The convoluted plot involves the rebirth of the demon Astaroth in human form – its vessel being a nubile girl (played by the luscious Nastassja Kinski), brought up in seclusion as a nun! Lee is a priest who has been excommunicated for challenging the belief that Man depends on the ‘presence’ of God to guide him through life – contending that Man is perfectly capable of making his own Destiny (with a little help from the Forces of Darkness). Aiding him in his scheme is veteran Michael Goodliffe, the wonderful Denholm Elliott is featured as Kinski’s recanting wimpish father, and Derek Francis as the Church official who has barred Lee from service. In Widmark’s corner are his husband-and-wife agents, played by Honor Blackman and Anthony Valentine – both of whom eventually find themselves on the receiving end of Lee’s evil powers.

Among the film’s notable sequences: the unnatural birth of the demon child (displaying a harrowing intensity quite uncommon to Hammer’s usual output), the two scenes depicting the monstrous appearance of the baby itself (one in which it slobbers all over 17-year old Kinski’s bloodied naked body Lee slams as “obscene” in the accompanying documentary!), the would-be depraved rite/orgy (presented as a nightmare in the vein of the not-too-dissimilar ROSEMARY’S BABY [1968]) and, of course, the much-debated climax (nowhere near as godawful as many seem to think, the scriptwriters having at least put an extra effort into coming up with a mystical explanation for the denouement, but the rushed execution of it is decidedly limp!). In essence, then, this is not at all a bad send-off for Hammer Films – and, easily, among their better offerings of the decade (incidentally, I’ve just acquired the obscure Sci-Fi/Western hybrid MOON ZERO TWO [1969] from this legendary brand, which promises to be fairly goofy)…

To get to Anchor Bay’s DVD edition, the one quibble I have with it concerns the ‘processed’ quality of the sound effects (background noise, gunshots) in a couple of sequences. Whilst serving as a moving valediction to a bygone era, the 24-minute featurette is a great account of the nerve-racking making of the film (with its last-minute revisions to the script, problems securing a director, and Widmark’s temper-tantrums). Apart from over-hyped trailer, extensive poster/still gallery and detailed biographies for both Widmark and Lee, one is able to access a hilarious Easter Egg from the “Extras” menu – an excerpt from an interview with leading Hammer Films stunt-man Eddie Powell, wherein he discusses his multi-purpose duties on this particular title (which included doubling for Lee in a scene requiring his character to appear in the nude!).

To the Devil a Daughter (1976)

*** (out of 4)

At a book signing, occult novelist John Verney (Richard Widmark) is asked by a father (Denholm Elliott) to track down his daughter Catherine Nastassja Kinski). At first John thinks that the father is mixed up with the occult but it turns out that a Catholic priest (Christopher Lee) is wanting to use the girl in order to become Astaroth.

TO THE DEVIL A DAUGHTER would turn out to be Hammer's final movie (for a time) and it was a notorious flop that pretty much ruined the studio. I first watched this movie around a decade ago and I really thought it was bad. I thought it was a poor imitation of ROSEMARY'S BABY and that it was trying to cash in on countless Satanic films that were popular throughout the decade. There were elements to it that I liked so that's the reason I decided to revisit the film and this second time around I must admit that it worked on me.

With that being said, it's easy to see why so many people have such mixed reactions to the picture. Some call it a stellar horror film while others see it as a botched effort for the studio to try and do something serious. I think all of the elements are here for a classic film but it does fall a bit short of that. Having said that, there are still a lot of very good elements here including the fact that it's a very good looking film that manages to hold your attention throughout.

The Satanic elements have been done countless times before and there's not too many new things here but I think the film succeeds because of the atmosphere and the slow-burn pacing. It's funny but the first time I watched the picture I attacked it for its pacing but this second viewing had it working a lot better and I'm guessing it was because I was expecting it. I thought the film was rather brave at being slow-paced because by 1976 people were expecting things a lot faster so to have a film that takes its time was unique.

I also thought that the performances were wonderful with Widmark, Lee, Kinski and Elliott delivering extremely work. I thought Widmark did a really good job playing the type of tough guy that he was known for. Kinksi also deserves a lot of credit for her performance and Elliott steals the picture every time he's on the screen. Many people attack the ending, although experts in the field will tell you that the happenings would be destroyed so easily. That's fine but I think for the film it needed something a bit better.

TO THE DEVIL A DAUGHTER is a film that stirs a lot of debate and I can understand why as I've both hated it and grew to enjoy it.

*POSSIBLE SPOILERS*

Father Michael Rayner (CHRISTOPHER LEE) was ex-communicated from the Church of England for attempting to bring a personification of the devil to Earth. Twenty years on and Rayner has settled in Germany with his devil-worshiping followers under the facade of the "Children of the Lord" cult. Rayner sends his godchild Catherine Beddows (NASTASSJA KINSKI) to England to join her father Henry Beddows (DENHOLM ELLIOT) for her 18th-birthday. Rayner intends to fulfil his old ambition and rebaptise Catherine into the service of evil. Henry who was forced into the cult's evil-doings because his wife was a member of the cult attempts to recant and places his daughter in the care of occult novelist Jim Verney (RICHARD WIDMARK) who must confront and destroy Rayner before he succeeds in making the devil walk the Earth in the form of an innocent girl.

TO THE DEVIL A DAUGHTER was Hammer's final horror film and the company's second attempt to bring one of Dennis Wheatley's occult novels to the screen. Wheatley was overjoyed by the company's filming of his novel THE DEVIL RIDES OUT (1968), but was apparently less pleased with Hammer's version of his popular TO THE DEVIL A DAUGHTER novel which Hammer had considered adapting for the screen as early as 1963. The film took a very respectable £13, 375 on it's opening week at the Odeon Leicester Square and it reached number three in the London Film Charts. On it's general release the film's takings were estimated at about £200,000.

Yet despite this success, Hammer's plans to film Wheatley's THE SATANIST were sadly scrapped. Thus continued Hammer's trip into oblivion which came to a head with an ill-advised remake of Alfred Hitchcock's THE LADY VANISHES in 1979.

TO THE DEVIL A DAUGHTER is a most enjoyable film. The script may be a little confused but the gore scenes are suitably erotic (more so than in most other Hammer films) and it benefits from good production values and an exemplary cast. Lee is excellent as the disgraced priest, a complete contrast to his portrayal of the Duc De' Richeleau in THE DEVIL RIDES OUT, while Richard Widmark shines as the hero. His performance is up to the standard of the Hammer heroes portrayed by Peter Cushing and Andre Morell even though his character only conflicts with Lee's once. The direction of Peter Sykes is good even if his other feature film credits like STEPTOE AND SON RIDE AGAIN (1973) may cause some initial doubts. Hammer purists consider this to be the company's worst film. It is more graphic than the earlier Hammer horrors and more or less ignores all the traditions of the company's earlier films, which makes it all the more better.

An American occult novelist (Richard Widmark) battles to save the soul of a young nun (Nastassja Kinski) from a group of Satanists, led by an excommunicated priest (Christopher Lee), who plan on using her as the representative of the Devil on Earth.

As a White Zombie fan, I was thrilled to hear the Latin of the excommunication scene and finally know where one of their best songs took its clips from. That alone makes the movie satisfying (though it hardly carries the entire film).

Despite being a Hammer film and featuring Christopher Lee, the film does not seem well-liked by many people. IMDb rates it below a 6 and Rotten Tomatoes has it holding a 17% approval rating. I feel obligated to defend it, if even just a little bit. I mean, wow, what a truly creepy and disturbing birthing ritual -- the blood, the bondage, Lee's diabolical grin... Oh, and that other ritual...

I would say this film is a winner, despite the harsh criticism people seem to have for it. Some parts are a bit slow or bland, but the overall story is interesting and the imagery is fascinating. A lot of work was put into this one.