The Dennis Wheatley Novels Discussion Thread

Silhouette ManSilhouette Man The last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,644MI6 Agent
edited January 2022 in Off Topic Chat
dennis_wheatly.jpg

After a search I've discovered that there is no specific thread dedicated to the novels, non-fiction and autobiography of the writer Dennis Wheatley so I thought it would be a good idea to create one for members here to give their views on this author of spy novels, war novels, occult fiction and much more.

So this is the place to discuss the late great Dennis Wheatley. :) -{

Who'd like to get the ball rolling or should I say the skull? :D
"The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).

Comments

  • Silhouette ManSilhouette Man The last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,644MI6 Agent
    Well to get things going then...

    I've just ordered Dennis Wheatley's Saturdays with Bricks (1961) which I've been trying to track down for a while at a reasonable price. I got it for £23 from AbeBooks.
    "The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
  • CoolHandBondCoolHandBond Mactan IslandPosts: 6,030MI6 Agent
    I always found him a bit heavy going to be honest. His books used to be a slow but steady seller during my bookselling days. Some of the covers were pretty good and Uncharted Seas was made into a 1968 movie The Lost Continent which is always worth a look.

    Saturdays With Bricks is a new one on me I don't ever remember having that one in stock - you learn something new every day :D
    I hope you enjoy your new purchase sounds a reasonable price for it's rarity.
    Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    I'll be up front and say that I've never read any of his books, have seen the films of them though.
    As a kid we used to have a book case in the front hallway, and I remember many of his books
    on display. I loved the old covers of the paperbacks.
    For years I thought they were my father's, only years later did I discover they were my Mother's
    She was a big fan. :D
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • Silhouette ManSilhouette Man The last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,644MI6 Agent
    edited March 2016
    I always found him a bit heavy going to be honest. His books used to be a slow but steady seller during my bookselling days. Some of the covers were pretty good and Uncharted Seas was made into a 1968 movie The Lost Continent which is always worth a look.

    Saturdays With Bricks is a new one on me I don't ever remember having that one in stock - you learn something new every day :D
    I hope you enjoy your new purchase sounds a reasonable price for it's rarity.

    Yes, it's rare in that it was never published in a paperback edition and so the first edition or hardback editions are consequently worth a lot nowadays. I'd agree that it is a lesser-known Wheatley title. I've been collecting his books for a few years now and there was at least one Wheatley novel in my late father's bookcase too. Here's a picture of the dust jacket of Saturdays with Bricks:

    068-01.jpg

    And here's a You Tube British Pathe short film on Wheatley presumably issued to promote Saturday with Bricks:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxaV8m78HSI
    "The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
  • CoolHandBondCoolHandBond Mactan IslandPosts: 6,030MI6 Agent
    Thank you for the cover pic, SM. That definitely confirms that this never adorned my shelves in my 40 year career as a bookseller!
    Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
  • Charmed & DangerousCharmed & Dangerous Posts: 7,358MI6 Agent
    I'll be up front and say that I've never read any of his books, have seen the films of them though.

    I've seen The Devil Rides Out (starring two of the greatest Bond alumni :007) ) but haven't read any of the novels either.

    SM, do you recommend them? I love Stephen King, Peter Straub and a couple of other horror novelists, which is the best Wheatley to start with?
    "How was your lamb?" "Skewered. One sympathises."
  • Sir MilesSir Miles The Wrong Side Of The WardrobePosts: 26,416Chief of Staff
    I read The Devil Rides Out many years ago - though it was superb, was very disappointed with the film though.
    YNWA 97
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 36,053Chief of Staff
    I agree that the book is better than the film, but the film's still very good on its own terms.

    In the book, the Duc de Richleau is an old man in his 70s or so (hence the presence of the younger sidekicks to get the girls, punch the bad guys etc) but Christopher Lee was only about 45 when the film was made. Years later, he often expressed that he would love to do a remake now that he was in the correct age bracket as well as taking advantage of more modern SFX (one of the film's weak points).
  • stagstag Posts: 2,083MI6 Agent
    I must admit to never having heard of him. Although I can't remember I must have see the 'Devil Rides Out' film though as Hammer horror flicks were on regularly in the '70s (anyone remember 'Friday night is horror night?' Half ten after the news?)
  • Silhouette ManSilhouette Man The last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,644MI6 Agent
    stag wrote:
    I must admit to never having heard of him. Although I can't remember I must have see the 'Devil Rides Out' film though as Hammer horror flicks were on regularly in the '70s (anyone remember 'Friday night is horror night?' Half ten after the news?)

    Shock, horror! Surely not, stag! :D
    "The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 36,053Chief of Staff
    stag wrote:
    I must admit to never having heard of him. Although I can't remember I must have see the 'Devil Rides Out' film though as Hammer horror flicks were on regularly in the '70s (anyone remember 'Friday night is horror night?' Half ten after the news?)

    Yes, I remember that with great affection!
    I'm surprised you've never heard of him, though, stag. You never went into a book shop in the 70s and saw covers like

    AA_OLD_MAN.jpg

    AA_OLD_MAN_10.jpg

    ?
  • CoolHandBondCoolHandBond Mactan IslandPosts: 6,030MI6 Agent
    stag wrote:
    I must admit to never having heard of him. Although I can't remember I must have see the 'Devil Rides Out' film though as Hammer horror flicks were on regularly in the '70s (anyone remember 'Friday night is horror night?' Half ten after the news?)

    I remember the BBC Saturday night horror doubles - lots of great Universal horror films like Bride Of Frankenstein and House Of Dracula.
    Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
  • stagstag Posts: 2,083MI6 Agent
    Barbel wrote:
    stag wrote:
    I must admit to never having heard of him. Although I can't remember I must have see the 'Devil Rides Out' film though as Hammer horror flicks were on regularly in the '70s (anyone remember 'Friday night is horror night?' Half ten after the news?)

    Yes, I remember that with great affection!
    I'm surprised you've never heard of him, though, stag. You never went into a book shop in the 70s and saw covers like

    AA_OLD_MAN.jpg

    AA_OLD_MAN_10.jpg

    ?

    The first & only time time I ever went into a bookshop during the 1970s was to buy a copy of Moriarty's prior to joining the police.
  • stagstag Posts: 2,083MI6 Agent
    stag wrote:
    I must admit to never having heard of him. Although I can't remember I must have see the 'Devil Rides Out' film though as Hammer horror flicks were on regularly in the '70s (anyone remember 'Friday night is horror night?' Half ten after the news?)

    I remember the BBC Saturday night horror doubles - lots of great Universal horror films like Bride Of Frankenstein and House Of Dracula.

    I used to love those old horror films. Boris Karloff, Bella Lugosi, Lon Chaney etc.
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 36,053Chief of Staff
    I still do- that's why my son signed up here years ago as Son Of Barbel, and my wife is Bride Of Barbel, and we live in the House Of Barbel...
  • Charmed & DangerousCharmed & Dangerous Posts: 7,358MI6 Agent
    Me too - I've rewatched all the Universal studios monsters films dozens of times (almost as many as Bond :D ).

    It also introduced me to some other fantastic movies among those Saturday night horror double bills - particularly all the brilliant Val Lewton (and to some extent, Jacques Tourneur) horror films, like Cat People, Curse of the Cat People, the Seventh Victim etc... As well as Tourneur's all time classic Night of the Demon (1957).
    "How was your lamb?" "Skewered. One sympathises."
  • CoolHandBondCoolHandBond Mactan IslandPosts: 6,030MI6 Agent
    Night Of The Demon - what a fabulous movie!

    Dead Of Night (1945) and The Uninvited (1944) were two really superb movies too.
    Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
  • Charmed & DangerousCharmed & Dangerous Posts: 7,358MI6 Agent
    Night Of The Demon - what a fabulous movie!

    Dead Of Night (1945) and The Uninvited (1944) were two really superb movies too.

    {[] yes! I love both those too!
    "How was your lamb?" "Skewered. One sympathises."
  • 007Downunder007Downunder Hobart, Australia Posts: 373MI6 Agent
    I really enjoyed the Roger Brook series. A spy story set in Napoleonic France. My dad was a big fan.
    Anthony
  • stagstag Posts: 2,083MI6 Agent
    I'm going to be on the lookout for his books from now on.
  • Silhouette ManSilhouette Man The last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,644MI6 Agent
    stag wrote:
    I'm going to be on the lookout for his books from now on.

    Yes, I buy them up when I see them. :) -{
    "The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
  • Danvers NettlefoldDanvers Nettlefold Posts: 20MI6 Agent
    Any thread about Mr Wheatley in this forum would seem incomplete without some mention of his series of novels chronicling the adventures of wartime secret agent Gregory Sallust, surely one of 007's closest antecedents?
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 36,053Chief of Staff
    Hello, Danvers Nettlefold (great name, btw), and welcome to AJB. You'll find an interesting thread with much mention of Mr Wheatley and his creation Gregory Sallust at https://www.ajb007.co.uk/topic/35481/sax-rohmers-influence-on-ian-fleming/
  • Danvers NettlefoldDanvers Nettlefold Posts: 20MI6 Agent
    Many thanks, sir.

    It always seemed to me that the Richard Burton character in Where Eagles Dare owed a good deal to Mr Sallust, with his penchant for infiltrating the Nazi High Command.

    Apparently, during the '60s at the height of Bondmania, there was talk of a Sallust TV series. A worthy addition to the ITC stable, perhaps, alongside The Saint, Danger Man, etc.
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 36,053Chief of Staff
    It always seemed to me that the Richard Burton character in Where Eagles Dare owed a good deal to Mr Sallust, with his penchant for infiltrating the Nazi High Command.

    I hadn't thought of that, but you're right.
  • Silhouette ManSilhouette Man The last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,644MI6 Agent
    Any thread about Mr Wheatley in this forum would seem incomplete without some mention of his series of novels chronicling the adventures of wartime secret agent Gregory Sallust, surely one of 007's closest antecedents?

    It's funny you should mention that just now as our esteemed member spynovelfan (spy author Jeremy Duns) wrote a lengthy article on the connections between Dennis Wheatley's Gregory Sallust and Ian Fleming's James Bond back in 2010. See the link below:

    http://www.spywise.net/pdfs/wheatley.pdf

    And only just today I learned that Jeremy Duns has a new book out, greatly expanding on his research on just this subject:

    https://www.jeremy-duns.com/blog/2019/5/18/introducingaspyisborn?fbclid=IwAR1Pjp04mh267xH4dj39_gfqaog_vupz71Im5n7x47Hds-xJAsWnMAyPCh4

    I've just bought a copy.

    So it seems that the revival of this thread has been timely indeed! :) -{
    "The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 36,053Chief of Staff
    Now that I want to read. Thanks for the heads-up, Silhouette Man!
  • Silhouette ManSilhouette Man The last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,644MI6 Agent
    Barbel wrote:
    Now that I want to read. Thanks for the heads-up, Silhouette Man!

    Me too! My pleasure! I only saw Jeremy's post on Facebook this evening but it was posted yesterday. :)
    "The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
  • Danvers NettlefoldDanvers Nettlefold Posts: 20MI6 Agent
    Thankyou very much for this. Was aware of Jeremy’s article but not the new book.

    I’d known about the Sallust-Bond connection since the early ‘70s when, as a youngster, I first read Wheatley’s spy novels before moving on (or up, as some would say) to Fleming.

    The audio serial Filthy ’47 contains an oblique reference to the as-yet uncreated 007, and also namechecks Sallust. Wish we could also have shoehorned in a mention of Sallust’s M figure, the delightfully named Sir Pellinore Gwaine-Cust, said to have had "an eye for a horse and a pretty woman, and an infinite capacity for vintage port."
  • Silhouette ManSilhouette Man The last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,644MI6 Agent
    edited January 2022

    A Scary Encounter With Dennis Wheatley's Book Collection:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hL4N0uu3nRY

    "The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
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