Rate Carradine's Draculas

This message has been deleted by an administrator

This message has been deleted by an administrator

This message has been deleted by an administrator

i dunno, i can't count "Nocturna' though cause i haven't seen it. but according to
my book by Tom Weaver. he had fun making it. which is a nice thought even if the film is utter rubbish i'm sure.

I would agree with some that Carradine's Dracula as done in HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN and HOUSE OF DRACULA was more Kentucky colonel than Transylvanian bloodsucker. Not scary but interesting, especially to hear others say they prefer Carradine to Lugosi. He never had the opportunity to do the role in a serious starring feature, so I think that comparisons between the two are fruitless. I prefer his performance in HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, though his screen time was greater in HOUSE OF DRACULA. It was as Dracula that I first took notice of Carradine, a role he played in five features and at least two TV shows. He would cite BILLY THE KID VERSUS DRACULA as his worst film, and his curious decision to wildly overplay the part does nothing to overcome the silliness. It seemed as if he were mocking the audience with an uncharacteristically weak performance, but the film didn't deserve it. In 1967, he journeyed to Mexico to do five features and one short, for the same producer that made Boris Karloff's quartet of Hispanics one year later, Luis Enrique Vergara. Unlike the Karloff series, none of the Carradines were ever dubbed into English, so my version of LAS VAMPIRAS, featuring him as Dracula, I had to watch in Spanish without subtitles. For the most part, he plays the role in a broad fashion, sporting fangs for the first time, kept caged by the female vampires battling the masked wrestler Mil Mascaras. NOCTURNA at least was advertised as a comedy, and his geriatric Dracula has some good moments, but no opportunities for great acting. He gets to use his famous stage line on screen- "If I'm alive, what am I doing here? But on the other hand, if I'm dead, why do I have to wee-wee?" And as he plucks a pair of dentures out of a glass, he laments that "I don't even have my own fangs anymore." NOCTURNA is cheap and crude, but he did have a good time making it. It was on April 25 1977 that the final episode of MCCLOUD was broadcast, "McCloud Meets Dracula," where he plays a real vampire, Loren Belasco, posing as an actor famous for playing screen vampires. Using clips from the two 40's features, it was a nice tribute to Carradine, at a time in his life when few roles were being written for him. The first time he played Dracula on television was in a 1956 episode of MATINEE THEATRE, a Stoker adaptation that apparently no longer exists, broadcast shortly after the death of Bela Lugosi.

I must make one minor correction to my previous comment. Carradine does not actually play Dracula in the Mexican LAS VAMPIRAS, but since it's never been dubbed or even subtitled in English, only those who have seen it would find out. Reference sources will continue to list it as a Dracula film. So far, the only Mexican title of Carradine's that has been subtitled is JEKYLL AND HYDE:PACT WITH THE DEVIL (PACTO DIABOLICO), and his role is smaller due to the dual nature of the character.

"I take pleasure in great beauty" - James Bond

1967's AUTOPSIA DE UN FANTASMA is now available in subtitles! This is by far Carradine's most intriguing Mexican title, as it also features Cameron Mitchell and (in his final role) Basil Rathbone.

"I take pleasure in great beauty" - James Bond

If memory serves, Carradine is quoted as saying that he felt that this movie hastened Rathbone's death. Apparently in the movie, Rathbone imitates a pop singer with a wig and guitar and jumping around comedically, and Carradine felt this did Rathbone no good healthwise whatsoever.