BY HANK REINEKE
Paging through a dog-eared magazine in a doctor’s waiting
room, I happened across a checklist of the American
Film Institute’s 100 Greatest Films. With a combination of surprise and disappointment, I was made aware that
I’d only caught about fifty-percent of the films listed. Of the remaining 50% there were about half,
assuming the proper mood, that I would be interested in seeing sometime. The remaining twenty-five percent were, to be
perfectly honest, films too far out of the scope of personal interest. Regardless, I convinced myself that if I can
hold on long enough to manage a pension… Well, perhaps there remained a possibility
of catching up on a few of those titles as well.
Regardless, it was soul-searching time. While I have been issued an AARP card, I’m
not a bona fide senior citizen yet. So why, I asked myself in painful
self-reflection, have I not seen half of the one hundred greatest American
films ever produced, yet have somehow managed to sit through Billy the Kid vs. Dracula at least a
dozen times. Now that I think of it,
I’ve sadly probably sat through this cinematic train wreck a dozen more times
than even that calculation.
It goes without saying that John Carradine’s turn as
Transylvania’s crown Prince of Darkness in Universal’s House of Frankenstein and House
of Dracula was not nearly as iconic as Bela Lugosi’s. Carradine’s Dracula was certainly less menacingly
foreign in his manner and accent. His was a more gentlemanly vampire,
soft-spoken, elegantly dressed with top hat, cravat and walking stick. Though the “Immortal Count†had visibly aged
since Carradine’s 1944 appropriation of the role, his sartorial style would not
change a great deal when Billy the Kid
vs. Dracula was unleashed in 1966. There
were a few changes. While the top hat
and cape remained in place, the well-manicured moustache he sported in the
Universal films has been replaced with a drooping “Snidely Whiplash†soup
strainer. Hanging from the pointed chin of
Carradine’s triangular noggin sat a Salvador Dali-style goatee.
It was the same character in name only. In the 1940s, Carradine’s Dracula was an otherworldly
figure, distinguished and mysterious. In
this William Beaudine cult film he’s cast as more of a lecherous, carpet
bagging lunatic with obvious bedroom eyes for the sweet and sassy Betty Bentley
(Melinda Plowman). And while we’re on
the subject of eyes; if Lugosi’s eyes were mesmerizing and hypnotic and Christopher
Lee’s bloodshot and primal, Carradine’s are just… Well, plain goofy. Stretching his eye sockets to ridiculous parameters,
Carradine’s sclera and pupils resemble a pair of bulging ping pong balls. The result is a gaze neither mesmerizing nor
terrifying, but merely ridiculous. He bears
the facial expression of man who witnessed in amazement as someone swallowed an
enormous sandwich from the Carnegie Deli in a single bite.
“There are
pictures I wish I hadn’t done,†Carradine would confess to interviewers on more
than one occasion. Usually citing Billy the Kid vs. Dracula as one of
these films, the actor routinely excused his signing on to such disasters since
an aging actor still needed to work to pay the bills. Though the actor’s reflection is both
gracious and understandable, a grain of salt is necessary to digest his belief
that, “I started turning down the bad [roles following Billy the Kid vs. Dracula]. My conscience took over and I’d say I won’t read lines and vomit at the
same time.†If this was true, then 1966
would have marked the demarcation line between the good, the bad, and the ugly
of Carradine’s prodigious filmography. But if this is the case, then how does one
explain Carradine’s presence in such delicious post-1966 cinematic trash as The Astro Zombies, House of the Black Death, Satan’s
Cheerleaders, and Vampire Hookers
– not to mention the four exploitative quickies he made in Mexico City in 1968? This, sadly, is to list only a few of his mid-to-late
career titles. One must also graciously
choose to ignore most of his walk-on work from 1970 through 1988.
There’s no point in describing the film’s ridiculous
storyline in any detail. In the final
tally, Billy the Kid vs. Dracula is
neither a very good horror film nor a serviceable western. That’s not to say that the film is not
entertaining. It’s just not entertaining
in any commendable way. Director William
Beaudine – famously referred to as “One Shot Beaudine†due to his economic,
time-crunched shooting schedules – had been kicking around Hollywood’s second
and third tier studios since near the beginning of the silent era. His specialties were second features - mostly
westerns and mysteries - but he wasn’t opposed to taking on any film project if
it helped to keep him employed.
Though not considered a “horror†film director by any
measure, Beaudine would nonetheless helm two Bowery Boy comedies that brushed
against the supernatural: Spook Busters (Monogram,
1946) and Ghosts on the Loose
(Monogram, 1943). He would also work
with Bela Lugosi on two “Poverty Row†horrors for Sam Katzman: The Ape Man (1943) and Voodoo Man (1944). In fact Carradine was cast in the latter film
- a vintage horror film guilty pleasure if there ever was one - though the
actor sadly relegated to a small supporting role with little dialogue. He and Beaudine would work together again. On this occasion the Shakespearian-trained Carradine
managed top-billing status in the mad scientist flick The Face of Marble (Hollywood Pictures Corp., 1946).
Time-tested vampire tropes are pretty much honored and
utilized in Carl Hittleman’s script for Billy
the Kid vs. Dracula. Unless, of
course, these folkloric blends might interfere with Beaudine’s frantic shooting
schedule. One crew member suggested that
that Beaudine managed to shoot Billy the
Kid vs. Dracula in all of five days, though Beaudine insisted he shot both
that film and its companion film Jesse James
vs. Frankenstein’s Daughter in sixteen days total. In any event, this is the one vampire film
that is unusual as it takes place almost entirely in the light of day. If a night scene had to be included as a
dramatic necessity, nightfall is usually suggested – and not too convincingly -
by setting a blue filter over the lens. The film’s shortfalls weren’t lost on Carradine. Once speaking of his career in film,
Carradine opined, “I have worked in a dozen of the greatest, and I have worked
in a dozen of the worst… I only regret Billy
the Kid vs. Dracula.â€
As mentioned above, Embassy Pictures originally issued Billy the Kid vs. Dracula as a
co-feature with the studio’s equally ridiculous western-horror Jesse James vs. Frankenstein’s Daughter. Not to be a pedant, but even the title of
this second feature is a misfire. Actress
Narda Onyx’s mad scientist is not Frankenstein’s daughter at all, she actually portrays
the good doctor’s granddaughter. She apparently moved the family’s
monster-creating business from Vienna, Austria, to some unnamed hamlet in the
American west since the lightning on the plains “is better.†Yes, this mention of Jesse James vs. Frankenstein’s Daughter, the bottom of the original
twin-bill, is tacitly and selfishly inserted here as a not-so-subtle plea to
Kino to resurrect this gem from public domain oblivion and give it the proper
Blu-ray treatment. The only truly
official release of the film, to my knowledge, was when it was issued on VHS as
part of MGM’s “Midnite Movies†series. It’s time for this monster monstrosity to be resurrected as well.
The Kino Lorber Studio Classics Blu-Ray edition of Billy the Kid vs. Dracula is offered
here in its original color presentation in an aspect ratio of 1:85:1 and with
removable English sub-titles. Supplements include an entertaining audio commentary by Australian film
historians Lee Gambin and John Harrison, both of whom have written extensively
on horror subjects for a variety of publications. The set also includes eight chapter
selections and original theatrical trailers for such other Kino Lorber titles as
the Astro-Zombies, Black Sabbath, The
Premature Burial, The Black Sleep, and House of the Long Shadows.
CLICK HERE TO ORDER FROM AMAZON