One of the best films i have seen

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Some good ideas in this Republic programmer, but the mix never really gels. A sort-of vampire, Fallon (Abbot), runs a seedy saloon in darkest Africa. Natives in the area keep turning up dead, partially drained of blood. Meanwhile, Fallon has other-worldly designs on delectable Julie (Stewart) if only he can get past her boyfriend Roy (Gordon) and hulking priest Father Gilchrist (Withers). Oddly, there's a hint of regret in Fallon's evil side that suggests a conflict in his divided make-up. Abbott can bug his eyes with the best, but there's nothing scary about his Fallon. Nor is he shown engaged in creepy depredations. Instead, his attacks are only implied in anonymous shadow. As a result, he's more like a unimposing lost soul trying to navigate two worlds. Thus the movie's fear factor is near zero. Neither is there much suspense to grab onto. Instead, the story simply unfolds in erratic fashion. Then too, that backdrop mountain painting that director Selander's camera emphasizes certainly doesn't help. Plus, poor lead actor Gordon tries, but is simply inept, driving a hole through much of the 59-minutes. (I agree- he does look like Buster Crabbe, maybe the best thing about his presence.) However, after that wild acrobatic dance, I'm on my way to see if Adele Mara's native girl left any female descendants.All in all it looks like Republic was trying to cut in on Universal's horror film monopoly. Except Universal was either lucky enough or good enough to get top-notch production crews for Dracula (1931) and Frankenstein (1931), to name two. The Vampire's Ghost gets a plus for trying to be different. Trouble is, it just doesn't come off.

This is a shocker from Republic Studio's with John Abbott as the undead blood sucker. Abbott gives a bit of a different slant to his vampire. His Webb Fallon is not truly a monster and his attitude of melancholy resignation about his existence speaks volume's of the sadness of his unnatural immortally. The arrival of Julie Vance played by Peggy Stewart gives Fallon hope that he can relieve his loneliness by making her his companion in eternity.Republic specialized in western's and serials. John Wayne was their top star. However, when WWII started studio executives noticed that some of the other smaller studio's were making a nice profit with horror and chiller films so a few few were added to the production schedule. Lesley Selander was director of B-westerns and a pro at staying with the budget and staying on schedule but had little experience with the horror gender. Abbott was a stage trained actor with a dour look and a crisp, clear voice and while he couldn't convey physical menace he could project a sinister quality. Vampire's Ghost being set in Africa is a different kind of locale for this kind of a tale and the vampire is not bound by some of the traditional movie clichés such as moving about in the daylight which adds to the interest. It does moves a little slowly and has a bit too much talk to be a really frightening horror film. Not much FX either. But a solid cast helps it along and it's an entertaining way to spend an hour.

Vampire's Ghost, The (1945) *** (out of 4) Unique version of a vampire tale from Republic has been forgotten over the years due to its rarity but this here certainly needs to find a new crowd. A 400-year-old vampire (John Abbott) living in Africa sets his sight on a new girl but the voodoo locals and her boyfriend try to stop him. A very intelligent script by Leigh Brackett makes this head and shoulders more original than the Dracula films being delivered by Universal and Columbia. The film throws in all sorts of new ideas surrounding the legend of vampires and that's what makes this film so interesting even if it does drag a bit at 59-minutes. Abbott is wonderful in his role and his strange look is all the more fitting. Nice atmosphere and a terrific mood help overcome the low budget.

While the title hadn't struck me as being familiar when I read Michael Elliott's positive review here, I later found out that it was in fact listed - albeit meriting only a single sentence! - in "Horror Films", a compendium of the genre written by Alan Frank and which basically served as my introduction to many horror classics as a child.As Michael has said, the script (co-written by Leigh Brackett, future collaborator of the great Howard Hawks) is unusually literate for a low-budget horror film of the Forties, suggesting that its main influence may have been the Val Lewton horror cycle being made contemporaneously at RKO; though it never quite achieves their level of quality, it was a very pleasant surprise and it ought to be better known and, more importantly, seen (alas, given its virtually non-existent reputation and the fact that it's a Republic production, whose catalogue has recently been acquired by Paramount, its official release on DVD anytime soon seems a highly unlikely prospect...though I would love to be proved wrong).Anyway, the combination of vampirism and voodoo is an intriguing one - though we don't really see much of either. The largely unknown cast responds remarkably well to the fanciful proceedings (which offer some new and interesting variations on the standard vampire lore) - but it's John Abbott as Fallon, the world-weary and rather sympathetic bloodsucker who obviously steals the show. The film features a number of effective sequences during its brief (a mere 59 minutes!) but thoroughly engaging running time: a booby-trap shotgun is fired and the bullet goes right through Abbott (shades of SON OF Dracula [1943]) and lodges itself in the arm of one of the natives; only the vampire's clothes are reflected in a mirror (an effect borrowed from Universal's Invisible Man films) and when he looks at it, the mirror shatters of its own accord; the vampire attacks which mainly rely on Abbott's uneasy glare for their impact; the climax set in an ancient temple.Looking at Lesley Selander's busy filmography (but whose work I had never seen before now), I'm left with the assumption that he was one of the innumerable unassuming journeyman directors who specialized in B-movies and Westerns in particular (at least 6 of his films are called "Fort Something Or Other"!); as a matter of fact, he inserts the obligatory poker game, followed by a bar-room brawl, even in THE VAMPIRE'S GHOST - having made Abbott the unlikely proprietor of a tavern (albeit using this identity merely as a cover for his true and sinister self). Still, given my enthusiastic reaction to the latter, I'm willing to give his FORT ALGIERS (1953; which has been available for some time at my local DVD outlet, without generating much interest to me personally) a chance - even if I'm pretty sure it won't be anywhere near as satisfying...