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Greetings, and welcome to VIEWING THE CLASSICS. Here you'll find capsule reviews of vintage movies from the early days of cinema through the 1970s, with a special emphasis on sci-fi, horror, and mystery movies. Be sure to check out the Pages links, where you can find a Film Index of all my reviews, links to the reviews organized by cast members, directors, and other contributors, and links to my reviews of the films of talented young director Joshua Kennedy.

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Saturday, March 30, 2013

Billy The Kid Vs. Dracula (1966)

Starring John Carradine, Chuck Courtney, Melinda Plowman, Virginia Christine, Harry Carey, Jr.
Directed by William Beaudine
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

Dracula masquerades as the uncle of a beautiful ranch owner to get close to her, but her foreman, the legendary Billy The Kid, grows suspicious.

The first of a double feature of horror films made by director Beaudine, set in the old west, (the other one was Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter), this is definitely not a highlight in John Carradine's career.  Carradine, a fine actor with excellent diction and a distinguished voice, alternated between roles in prestige productions like The Grapes Of Wrath and The Ten Commandments, and low budget sci-fi and horror films like The Unearthly and The Cosmic Man, but I would be lying if I didn't say I enjoyed his genre films better.  Still, it's somewhat beneath the actor to bring forth the googly-eyed stares and comical snarling for this role.  Nonetheless, it's part of this film's goofy charm, which also includes Dracula's bat form wearing a miniature version of the top hat Carradine wears.

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