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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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