''The Vampire's Ghost'' is a 1945 American

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...

directed by

Lesley Selander Lesley Selander (May 26, 1900 – December 5, 1979) was an American film director of Western (genre), Westerns and adventure film, adventure movies. His career as director, spanning 127 feature films and dozens of TV episodes, lasted from 1936 to ...

, written by

Leigh Brackett Leigh Douglass Brackett (December 7, 1915 – March 24, 1978) was an American author and screenwriter. Nicknamed "the Queen of space opera, Space Opera", she was one of the most prominent female writers during the Golden Age of Science Fiction. ...

and John K. Butler, and starring

John Abbott Sir John Joseph Caldwell Abbott (March 12, 1821 – October 30, 1893) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the third prime minister of Canada from 1891 to 1892. He held office as the leader of the Conservative Party. Abbo ...

, Charles Gordon, Peggy Stewart,

Grant Withers Granville Gustavus Withers (January 17, 1905 – March 27, 1959), known professionally as Grant Withers, was an American film actor. He began working in motion pictures during the last years of the silent era. Withers moved into sound films, ...

Emmett Vogan Charles Emmett Vogan (September 27, 1893 – October 6, 1969) was an American actor with almost 500 film appearances from 1934 to 1954, making him, along with Bess Flowers, one of the most prolific film actors of all time. In 1913, Vogan ...

and Adele Mara. The film was released on May 21, 1945, by

Republic Pictures Republic Pictures is currently an acquisition-only label owned by Paramount Pictures. Its history dates back to Republic Pictures Corporation, an American film studio that originally operated from 1935 to 1967, based in Los Angeles, California ...

Plot

Roy Hendrick ( Charles Gordon) returns to the village of Bakunda after a short absence to find that there has been a series of strange murders where each victim was bitten on the neck and drained of blood. The local Natives are certain it is the work of a vampire, but Roy, his girlfriend Julie Vance ( Peggy Stewart) and her father Thomas Vance (

) who runs a local plantation do not believe in such superstitious nonsense. They go to see Webb Fallon (

), a newcomer to the area who runs a nightclub and knows a lot about the occult and the local voodoo customs. It is soon apparent that Fallon is indeed a vampire. A native stabs him with a silver tipped spear, and at this point Fallon tells Roy the truth about himself, making Roy his slave with the curse of the undead. Roy must do his bidding and can not tell anyone the truth about Fallon. Fallon kills Lisa ( Adele Mara), a dancer in his club and a troublesome sea Captain named Barrett (

Roy Barcroft Roy Barcroft (born Howard Harold Ravenscroft; September 7, 1902 – November 28, 1969) was an American character actor famous for playing villains in B-Westerns and other genres. From 1937 to 1957, he appeared in more than 300 films for Republi ...

). Hendrick is helpless to stop him until the local Priest gives him the strength to conquer Fallon's hold on him. Fallon, realizing that everyone is on to him now, takes Julie to a nearby Temple of Death where he plans to make her his eternal vampire bride. The heroes race to Temple, stop Fallon in the nick of time and burn the vampire's body in the temple.

Cast

as Webb Fallon *Charles Gordon as Roy Hendrick * Peggy Stewart as Julie Vance *

as Father Gilchrist *

as Thomas Vance * Adele Mara as Lisa *

as Capt. Jim Barrett *Martin Wilkins as Simon Peter *Frank Jaquet as The Doctor *

Jimmy Aubrey Jimmy Aubrey (23 October 1887 – 2 September 1983) was an English actor who worked with both Charlie Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy, having gone with Fred Karno's theatrical company to America in 1908. However he left to start on his own in va ...

as The Bum * Louise Franklin as Caba

Production

The film was an early screen credit for

. Her former agent, Hugh King, had gone to work at Republic as a story editor and got Brackett a job on it as writer. Brackett later recalled, "they were doing this horror film. They decided to cash in on the Universal monster school, and I had been doing science fiction, and to them it all looked the same — "bug-eyed monsters." It made no difference." Shortly afterwards Brackett was hired by

Howard Hawks Howard Winchester Hawks (May 30, 1896December 26, 1977) was an American film director, Film producer, producer, and screenwriter of the Classical Hollywood cinema, classic Hollywood era. Critic Leonard Maltin called him "the greatest American ...

to write ''

The Big Sleep ''The Big Sleep'' (1939) is a hardboiled crime novel by American-British writer Raymond Chandler, the first to feature the detective Philip Marlowe. It has been adapted for film twice, in 1946 and again in 1978. The story is set in Los A ...

''. Filming started in October 1944. Brackett later said she worked three weeks on the script with another writer. "They shot the film in ten days and that was two days over schedule (laughing). They fired the cameraman after the second day because he was taking too much time. But uh, it was not the greatest film ever made."

Reception

The success of this and '' The Phantom Speaks'' encouraged Republic to make another two horror films, '' Valley of the Zombies'' and '' The Catman of Paris''.

References

External links

* *
''The Vampire's Ghost''
at BFI
Review of film
at ''Variety'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Vampires Ghost 1945 films American supernatural horror films Films with screenplays by Leigh Brackett Films directed by Lesley Selander American vampire films Films based on short fiction Republic Pictures films 1945 horror films American black-and-white films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films English-language horror films