50's Horror Double Feature

THE VAMPIRE-1957 -No one seems to like this “modern vampire story” but it’s ok for me. Dr. Paul Beecher (stage actor John Beal), is a kindly dedicated family MD who’s cheery daughter accidentally slips him some pills that turn him into an ugly blood craving monster. At night he terrorizes his patients and worries about harming his nurse (Coleen Gray) and daughter (Lydia Reed, later on TV‘s THE REAL McCOYS). A police lieutenant (THE THING’s Kenneth Tobey) tries to track the monster down. Meanwhile Beecher’s doctor/friend (Dabbs Greer) tries to figure out the scientific end. His assistant Henry (John Abbott) is a weird analytical genius who hates sunlight, (“Dull knife. I cannot work with a dull knife”) Paul Brinegar is Willy the coroner who says to Tobey‘s character: “Guess you haven’t had any excitement since Abe Hibbel axed his mother in law”.



THE RETURN OF DRACULA-1958-This low budget vampire tale has a lot of atmosphere but is kind of ruined by Francis Lederer’s sub par performance as the legendary count. Dracula escapes his homeland and takes the place of Bellac, an Eastern European artist on his way to live with his American cousins in California. The daughter Rachel (Norma Eberhardt) comes under his spell but no one seems to think that his strange ways are unusual. He keeps his coffin in a cave on the outskirts of town (actually the famous Bronson Canyon) and when he first is shown rising there’s a lot of smoke and it’s in slow motion!

Drac’s first victim is a sick blind girl who later becomes un-dead. When she has a stake driven in her a fast scene of blood spurting out of her body is in color! Drac even turns himself into a big dog to kill an investigator. Fortunately her boyfriend (Ray Stricklyn) suspects trouble. There’s a weird Halloween party before the climax where The Count is bloodily impaled in a mine shaft.

RETURN isn’t a bad movie at all but Lederer doesn’t make a good Dracula. He’s too beady eyed. He seems to be trying to capture a Lugosi type essence but fails and sometimes sounds like he’s doing a Peter Lorre imitation.

Director Paul Landres worked mostly in TV but his occasional film ventures included THE VAMPIRE (see above), THE FLAME BARRIER, GO! JOHNNY GO! and the made for TV anthology series that starred Boris Karloff, known collectively as THE VEIL.

Gerald Fried’s musical score helps a lot. Also with Gage Clarke Jimmy Baird and William Fawcett. Strangely there is a character named Dr. Paul Beecher; also the name of John Beal’s character in THE VAMPIRE!

"Tis better to be silent and thought a fool then to speak and
remove all doubt"-Honest Abe Lincoln

Thanks for reading!