Cinema Revisited: Dead Men Walk (1943)

Directed by Sam Newfield. Cast: George Zucco, Mary Carlisle, Dwight Frye, Ned Young, Fern Emmett, Robert Strange Hal Price, Sam Flint. Released April 12, 1943. 64 minutes

This outrageous low budget horror quickie features George Zucco in a dual role as a kindly doctor and his satanic twin brother. The doctor secretly kills his brother and destroys the sibling's satanic literature. Brother turns out to be a vampire who rises from the grave each night. He is assisted by a loyal servant (the perfectly-cast Dwight Frye) as he sets out to avenge his death and destroy anyone and everything that his doctor brother holds dear, including his niece (Mary Carlisle).

"Dead Men Walk" was made for the poverty row studio Producer's Releasing Corporation (PRC) to be shown in neighborhood theaters and on double-bill programs. However, within their own parameters, the B movies made for these low budget studios had a charm all their own. "Dead Men Walk" is an excellent example.

This movie's director, Sam Newfield, was hardly a cinematic stylist, but he did direct over 200 movies and TV shows during his nearly 40 year career, mostly for low budget studios. Thus, his ability to get a lot out of a little was his specialty. He uses whatever available sets and locations (some of it was shot at lead actor George Zucco's house!) and with no special effects budget, he manages to convey the dual role Zucco is playing with dark lighting and careful editing.

The horror is effective and scary, because the pace is slow-but-methodical, darkly creeping along with studio background music accenting scenes, such as the vampire's fade out into nothingness and the wild fight between the two brothers at the climax.

"Dead Men Walk" also has some significance for being Mary Carlisle's last movie. She left acting for marriage after shooting on this movie concluded in 1942 (the movie was not released until 1943), but lived until the age of 104, dying in 2014. Fern Emmett channels Margaret Hamilton as the creeped out town gossip, and cameos by silent movie comedians Jimmy Aubrey, Al St. John, and Milburn Morante are fun to spot. Zucco and Dwight Frye certainly add necessary authenticity. Frye died the year this movie was released, but lived long enough to also appear in "Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man" at Universal, which was filmed shortly after this one.

Shot in only six days, "Dead Men Walk" is the quintessential B-level quickie production that proliferated in Hollywood during the 1940s. Taken at its own status, the film holds up nicely and is recommended for any Halloween horror movie marathon.