British actor Christopher Lee, immortalized for his performances as Bram Stoker's iconic vampire in the Hammer Studios "Dracula" franchise plays an obscure European actor, Karl Jorla. who winds up in Hollywood on the set of a motion picture about Satan worship fears for his life because one of his closest friends has been strangled in his homeland. A Hollywood producer (Myron Healey) got his hands on some reels of a horror movie featuring him. The opening sequence of Lee rising from a cement grave is pretty spooky, enhanced somewhat by the atmospheric black & white photography. During the standard-issue Hollywood debut, Jorla is terrified by the publicity and the photographers snapping photos of him. He warns the incredulous producer that Satan's henchmen will track him down to Tinsel Town and kill him. Police protection on the studio lot proves worthless as Jorla is almost stabbed to death by a worshiper. He insists he will always be on the set the next day and then scrambles off the studio lot and loses anybody shadowing him, so the producers are in a real tizzy. Suffice to say, nothing good comes Jorla's way. A good performance in a Bela Lugosi type role is the primary strength of this episode.
Review of The Sign of Satan
