Old Dracula [Vampira (1974)] - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - October 30, 1975

It might have been Halloween, but this retitled 'comedy' served some of 1975's Thanksgiving turkey early that year. I do remember seeing this on the big screen, at the Alameda Southshore Twin, and finding it a painfully unfunny chore to sit through.

The blistering racial insensitivity (i.e. racism) of the central conceit, having a blood transfusion change Countess Dracula from white to black and thus 'forcing' Count Dracula to try and figure out a way to 'fix' her, went over my head. But I do remember my shocked reaction to seeing David Niven in blackface.

Although director Clive Donner would go on to helm the underrated made-for-television gem Spectre (1977), a failed pilot for Gene Roddenberry, he would also make two more dubious and disastrous big screen comedies. 1980's The Nude Bomb and 1981's Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen. Ouch.