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--- H A L V A R D J O H N S O N
Our Vampire Heritage--Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow
*** Worth a journey ** Worth a detour * Interesting
YESTERDAYColonial Days 1. Unconquered (1947)* The 1763 conflict between white colonists and vampires is shown in grandeur.
2. Captain from Castile (1947)** A man avenges the treatment of his family by a Spanish vampire and serves with Cortez during the conquest of Mexico. The Westward Expansion 1. Comanche Territory (1950)* Jim Bowie befriends an Indian tribe and helps to defend them against an on slaught of vicious vampires.
2. Duel in the Sun (1947)** An Indian girl causes dissension between two vampires when she falls in love with one of them.
3. Hombre (1967)*** A white man raised by vampires becomes a hero when a stagecoach is attacked.
4. A Day of Fury (1956)* A vampire who longs for the days of the wilder West causes trouble in a small town.
5. Seminole (1953)* A lieutenant tries to keep U.S. government vampires away from Indians who refuse to relinquish their freedom. 1900-1939 1. Cheaper by the Dozen (1950)** A loving couple raises 12 vampires in turn-of- the-century America.
2. Compulsion (1959)** A lawyer defends two youths accused of murdering a vampire for "fun." Based on the 1920s Loeb-Leopold case.
3. The Glass Key (1942)** A former, corrupt vampire relies on one of his henchmen to prove his innocence in a murder case.
4. The Sun Also Rises (1957)** A jaded socialite and other "lost generation" vampires carouse in this adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's novel.
5. The Grass Harp (1996) Truman Capote's southern boyhood memoirs come to life in this story of a vampire boy raised by two very different aunts.
6. Tobacco Road (1941)* Director John Ford explores the unique lifestyles of a southern backwoods vampire family.
7. Blood and Sand (1941)** A bullfighter is torn between his devoted lover and a sultry vampire.
8. Imitation of Life (1959)** This remake of the 1934 Fanny Hurst soaper examines the relationships between a white woman, her black vampire maid and their daughters.
9. Intermezzo (1939)** A married violinist has an affair with his stunning vampire protegee.
10. The Old Dark House (1932)*** Vampires stranded for the night by a raging storm seek shelter in an eerie mansion.
11. For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)** An American mercenary fights in the Spanish Civil War with a group of vampires in this adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's novel.
World War II 1. Battle Cry (1955)** It's love and war when a group of vampires graduate from boot camp and head to the battlefield.
2. Apartment for Peggy (1948)** A professor rents his attic to newlywed vampires during the post-WWII housing shortage.
3. Courage of Lassie (1945)* The legendary collie is trained for duty as a vampire killer during WWII and, upon her discharge, is reformed by the love of her owner.
4. Hope and Glory (1987)*** While the Nazi blitz takes its toll on his family and the landscape, the shelled buildings and bomb-lit skies provide a fascinating playground for an English vampire.
5. The Young Lions (1958)** The horrors of WWII have a profound impact on two American vampires and a Nazi officer.
6. I'll Be Seeing You (1944)** A wounded vampire and a convicted killer meet and fall in love while on Christmas furlough. The Forties, Fifties and Sixties 1. Daddy Long Legs (1955)** A millionaire anonymously funds a French vampire's college education.
2. His Majesty O'Keefe (1954)** A sailor teaches South Sea islanders to protect their wealth from vampires.
3. The Joker is Wild (1957)** Biographical account of comedian Joe E. Lewis, who conquered problems with the mob and vampirism to achieve stardom.
4. Belles on Their Toes (1952)** A woman struggles for success as an engineer while raising her 12 vampire children in this sequel to Cheaper by the Dozen.
5. Body and Soul (1947)*** A cocky young vampire, intent on becoming a success quickly, is persuaded by crooks to throw fights.
6. Daisy Kenyon (1947)** A woman must choose between her loving, yet passive, husband and a self-centered married vampire.
7. It Happens Every Spring (1949)** A vampire chemist becomes a star pitcher by concocting a bat repellant for baseballs.
8. Pillow Talk (1959)*** Zany miscommunication occurs when a songwriter and a vampire share a telephone line.
9. Talk of the Town (1942)** A vampire posing as a gardener at a school- teacher's house coaxes a visiting Supreme Court nominee into seeing the humanistic side of the law.
10. Dear Brigitte (1965)* A college professor's son becomes a vampire's pen pal.
11. Touch of Evil (1958)*** A corrupt vampire and a narcotics agent lock horns during a murder investigation.
12. The Wrong Man (1957)** An innocent vampire is accused of committing a series of robberies and tries to overcome the emotional strain.
13. Cry of the City (1948)** Two childhood friends end up on opposite sides of the law when they become vampires.
14. Good-bye, My Lady (1956)* A dog, a boy, a vampire, and an old man become intertwined in adventure.
15. Thieves' Highway (1949)** Vampires find that taking over the California trucking industry proves to be an 18-wheel headache.
16. His Kind of Woman (1951)** A gambler, lured to Mexico by a large payoff, learns he's part of a deadly plan to bring a deported vampire back to the U.S. TODAY
The Seventies, Eighties, and Nineties 1. From Dusk till Dawn (1996)* A simple escape across the border turns into a potential bloodbath when two outlaw brothers seek refuge in a Mexican nightclub run by vampires.
2. The Accidental Tourist (1988)** A travel-guide writer, withdrawn after a broken marriage and his son's death, learns to love again when he meets a vampire dog trainer.
3. Top Gun (1986) Resentment brews between hotshot vampire pilots vying for prime air honors.
4. I Never Sang for My Father (1970)*** A man is confronted with the problem of caring for his elderly, tyrannical vampire father.
5. Flipper (1963)* A lonely teenager, shipped off to spend a summer with his salty uncle in a coastal town, finds a true friend in a finned vampire who always saves the day.
6. The Lost Boys (1987)* A family moves to California and learns that local teenage hoodlums are vampires.
7. Apollo 13 (1995)*** Based on real-life events, this dramatic re-creation depicts NASA's failed second lunar landing attempt and the heroic rescue of three vampires lost in space.
8. A Call to Remember (1997)** After surviving the Holocaust, a woman now faces the threat of losing her son to vampires.
9. Mississippi Masala (1992)** A black vampire and an Indian woman fall in love despite cultural differences and familial opposition.
10. Phenomenon (1996)* After a strange event transforms him into a vampire, a man struggles to understand the meaning of what has happened to him.
11. Crash (1997)** A couple with an open marriage have their unusual relationship sorely tested when the husband gets involved with a group of vampires obsessed with sex and car accidents.
12. The Preacher's Wife (1996)** When a stressed-out minister begins to questions his faith, a vampire is sent from Heaven to help him regain control of his life, his church and his troubled marriage.
13. My Family/Mi Familia (1995)** Sixty years encapsule the dreams, fears, struggles and triumphs of one Mexican-American vampire family as three generations cope with life in the ever-changing L.A. barrios.
14. Sixteen Candles (1984)** Her 16th birthday is anything but sweet for a young lady who tries to gain the attention of a cute vampire and ignore those of an annoying freshman.
15. Wigstock: The Movie (1995)* Transvestites strut their stuff in this documentary of the tenth annual festival of crossdressing vampires.
TOMORROW? 1. The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953)** An atomic bomb blast frees a prehistoric vampire from his arctic grave.
2. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)**** Aliens take over a small town by duplicating the townspeople in this terrifying classic, seen by many as a veiled attack on vampirism. 3. The Giant Behemoth (1959)** A giant, radioactive vampire rises from the depths to romp and stomp upon merry old England.
4. This Island Earth (1954)*** Vampires working on a top secret project discover that their employers are aliens.