THE VAMPIRE - Gerald Fried - "Turn Off That Stupid Record" (1957)

You don't normally hear a lot about the 1957 feature "The Vampire" and I'm not quite sure why that is, because it's a good little movie and quite entertaining. They try some different angles on the vampire theme, and it's a good twist where the good guy and the bad guy are the same guy!! 

 

Dabbs Greer on the right, as Dr. Will Beaumont has one of the most recognizable faces you'd probably never lay a name to, having been in hundreds of TV shows from "Gomer Pyle" to "Lizzie McGuire," and movies until passing away just last year!!! James Griffith in the shades, was a musician turned actor whose face you've seen if you have ever seen any TV westerns, here, he plays the very weird Henry Winston. Being the consummate musician James went on to be a member of the Spike Jones Orchestra. 

 If the Doc's daughter Betsy looks even vaguely familiar to you, it's because right after this movie she was in 44 episodes or about 6 years worth of the TV series "The Real McCoys" as daughter Hassie McCoy! 

 

Collen Gray is absolutely fantastic as the ever caring Nurse Carol Butler and went on to also be in "Leech Woman" and "Phantom Planet" and stayed active for many years, on TV shows like "77 Sunset Strip" and "Mr. Ed"!! 

 

Mauritz Hugo as Joe the sick waiter had a commanding career that spanned from Kit Carson To Commander Cody. In 1943 he was in "The Batman" and "Revenge Of The Zombies" and he worked way into the 70's having recurring roles on every TV show imaginable before passing away in 1974! 

 

John Beal as the good doctor had a very distinguished career going all the way back to 1933, mostly TV and movie dramas with this film being pretty much his solo horror effort, although he had been in "The Cat And The Canary" back in 1939 with Bob Hope, and went on to play in 9 episodes of the horror soap opera, "Dark Shadows" as Judge Vail! To round out the cast, Paul Brinegar was "Rivero" in the classic "How To Make A Monster" and finish it off with the immense talents of Kennth Tobey and Herb Vigran(It would take me all night to write these guys credits!), and this is one powerhouse package! 

 

So you can start to see, with a line up of talent like that, just why this might be a film worth really checking out! It is a good one for any lovers of the genre, and the cast is a seemingly endless array of genius! 

 

We've written about the amazing composer Gerald Fried here before because of his work on "The Return Of Dracula," so you can check out the archives for more data on him. Just let it be known, history would have been different without him, he actually contributed that much, and what he contributes here is cool and swings when it needs too!