The Devil Rides Out (Duke de Richleau)

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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. 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. After rescuing Simon from his Satanic baptism, de Richleau and Rex take him straight to the home of the Eatons. In the book, the Duke insists that they find a sanctuary where they can keep Simon safe until the morning. (Even in the film we know that Mocata’s powers are only fully effective during the hours of darkness.) Hammer’s special effects budget was so low that they used an asthmatic horse with one lung, to carry the Angel of Death. Lee often spoke of how he would like to remake the film, using modern technology. Rigby, Jonathan (2000). English Gothic: A Century of Horror Cinema. Reynolds & Hearn Ltd. ISBN 978-0-7864-4699-5.

Instead of the repetition of the Sussamma Ritual, Marie Lou instead invokes an angelic being, one of the ‘Lords of Light’ who intervenes to defeat Mocata. De Richleau et al then find themselves transported beyond the physical world, until they are floating above their own unconscious bodies, still lying within the pentacle in the library of Cardinal’s Folly. Dennis Wheatley: A Letter to Posterity". BBC Four (bbc.co.uk/bbcfour). 2005. Archived from the original on 8 January 2006 . Retrieved 3 November 2013.

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So in a sense he managed to time his own literary demise rather well, as it coincided with just such a sea change in the mid-seventies, which witnessed the beginning of a steady decline in the sales of his novels. A new breed of, shall we say, more socially aware and diplomatic writers was emerging, and the world of debutantes' balls, stiff upper lips and adherence to duty, which had managed to hang on through two world wars, was finally let go of. Clearly, the risk of the Sussamma Ritual was very real indeed, and in speaking it de Richleau has torn apart the fabric of space and time. Upon waking, the protagonists wonder if they have experienced some kind of shared dream. The implication seems to be that, during their pursuit of Mocata across Europe, the five main characters were, in fact, astrally projected versions of themselves. Fortunately, they succeeded and were successfully returned to their physical bodies. The Eunuch of Stamboul [Swithin Destime] (Espionage, July 1935) – filmed in 1936 as Secret of Stamboul

An omnibus of three stylish occult tales, by the author known as the Prince of the Thriller Writers 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.’ The good guys did make some stupid moves: Rex drove me mad with his stupid decisions about Tanith at the inn. Duh. At the very least consult with the duke instead of falling asleep in the woods! Leaving Fleur unprotected makes me question their intelligence as well. Simon choosing to go against his friends despite the logic of their decision. And poor Richard, having to go a whole day without his drinks and meat…Heaven and Hell are only symbolical of growth to Light or disintegration to Darkness,” de Richleau explains. “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.” 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. He also refers to the Tibetan monks that have achieved such a high degree of enlightenment that they can prolong their lives at will.

A battle ensues between the forces of Light and Darkness to get Simon and Tanith to (or more importantly away from) the Sabbat whilst the planetary alignments are still in place. How could you not be scared? And how could you not be seduced? This was real and dangerous and happening in all the best places. The opening scene, where we see the Duke’s look of relief as Rex lands his private plane, accomplishes several things at once. It casts the Duke as a concerned father figure, anxious for his friend and elevates us immediately into Wheatley’s rarefied world of private planes and luxury products. As such, the film is a favourite with classic car enthusiasts and includes a red 1928 Lancia Lambda, a 1927 Bentley 3 Litre Vanden Plas and a 1929 Invicta 3 Litre, amongst other beauties. The 1928 Lancia Lambda 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:Each chapter is well written & makes ones heart race. Two part of the novel which I want to highlight here are 'The Sabbat' & 'Within The Pentacle'. Both resonate with suspense & horror beyond words.....the most grotesque form of terror possible.....the scariest part of it is that, such things do take place & that is marrow chilling enough which is escalated with the authors excellent narrating skills. From the two chapters mentioned above...the one that made my blood run cold was 'The Sabbat' especially the image of 'The Goat Of Mendes' that was described to perfection by the author. A serialised version appeared, begun in The Daily Mail in 1934. The book was made into a film by Hammer Film Productions in 1968. There is also an abridged, young adult version "retold" by Alison Sage for the "Fleshcreepers" series (1987). It turned out to be something substantially more than a good read. It totally changed my way of thinking and opened my eyes to so many other possibilities that I had never even heard of, as this type of fiction was in very limited supply, as unfortunately it still is. 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. The movie was renamed The Devil’s Bride in America because Hammer figured The Devil Rides Outsounded like a western movie. The screenplay was written by Richard Matheson who wrote the 1954 novel I Am Legend that spawned Last Man on Earthwith Vincent Price, Omega Man with Charlston Heston and I Am Legendwith Will Smith, as well as screenplays for the films House of Usher (1960), The Pit and the Pendulum (1961), and The Raven(1963). Matheson was the guy who booked William Shatner on a flight with gremlins on The Twilight Zone episode “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” and then ripped him in half for the Star Trek episode “The Enemy Within” (1966). The film was scored menacingly and beautifully by James Bernard. The movie stays as close to the book as was possible, which is why it works so well.