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King of the Zombies
- Genre: Zombie
- Release Year: 1941
- Director: Abel Ferrara
- Writer: Edmond Kelso
- Running Time: 67min
- Rating: NR
- Reviewed by: UncleDrax on Sun 7 Oct 07
Official Blurb:
Zombies stagger around on a tropical island, the creations of a mad doctor who hopes to use them in World War II as the ultimate fighting machines for a foreign regime.
Review:
Ok.. this is probably one of the few Oscar nominated Zombie flicks you'll see.. There are a few more.. but they are pretty uncommon as a rule.
Lost and flying in a storm, Mac the dashing hero (Dick Purcell), Jeff the dashing heroes manservant (Mantan Moreland), and Bill(the hardheaded friend of the dashing hero (John Archer), low on gas decide to make an emergency landing on a small Caribbean Island... which they only know exists because they picked up a strange radio signal from it. After 'landing' the plane in the island's graveyard, the three move on to find a strangely European mansion among the dense jungle.
There they are greeted by the owner of the island, a German Doctor named Miklos Sangre (Henry Victor), his niece Barbara (Joan Woodbury), his comatose-but-walkin wife Alyce (Patricia Stacey), and Dr. Sangre's almost-dead-himself-manservant Momba (Leigh Whipper).
Being the good German National of the era, he offers Mac and Bill a comfy room upstairs, and sends Jeff to the basement to board, then excuses himself until the stereotypical dinner is served. Mac and Bill take this time to chat about the missing Admiral Arthur Wainwright ( Guy Usher ).
Meanwhile, the real action is happening with Jeff in the basement. There he meets co-servants Samantha (Marguerite Whitten), the maid who is also from the United States, and the suspiciously crazy old-woman native cook Tahama (Madame Sul-Te-Wan). During conversation, Samantha bonds with Jeff in a way, and explains that he shouldn't clap his hands or "the zombies will git cha". Low and Behold, hands are clapped and a group of zombies come out from the back, Dead as dead can be. Understandable Jeff is quite unsettled by this turn of events dashs up stairs to inform his friends... of course they don't believe him however..
IS Jeff just seeing things!?
WILL our interipid heroes be TURNED into ZOMBIES?!
CAN Doctor Sangre successfully radio US Secrets to WW2 GERMANY!?
and just WHO is the KING OF THE ZOMBIES?!
WATCH AND FIND OUT!
OK.. drive in show is over...lets get to business.
First thing is you gotta remember the time reference that this movie was filmed. First off, it's 1941.. Europe is busy fighting Nazi Germany, but the US doesn't officially enter the war until late in the year. The plot of this movie leads as to what the good Doktor is up to for real. He is never actually called a Nazi agent, but the radio transmission in the beginning is in German, he's secretive about his operations, he obviously looks down upon Jeff, and he has Zombies. I mean how much more innuendo can you have that this guy is a Nazi Spy?
That's not the thing that struck me the most of this movie. It was Mantan Moreland, who played Jeff. For those that may not know, Mantan is a black comedic actor of the era. He's done a ton of films and made it to some TV shows as well. He's pretty funny in a three-stooges sort of way. But the whole movie gives me this stink of underlying racial crap towards Jeff's character in general. Which is a shame.. but like I said, you have to keep in mind the time that it was made. It's not bad, Jeff isn't maltreated and nothing is really vocalized about it, just you can tell the character is sort of secondary even though he's really the main character.
The plot, sets, and acting themselves were pretty par. No one stood out as being 'he's awesome' but equally nothing really made me groan in anguish.
The zombie action of this film is pretty rudimentary. They are Voodoo made living dead servants. Don't expect any flesh eating, just some cake eating.
The Good and the Bad
The Good:
- Mantan Moreland is a pretty good actor, and he's good at a certain type of humor that was popular then. If you like 40s-50s comedy, check this out.
- Voodoo Zombies.. which are out of favor in todays films.
The Bad:
- The social/racial attitudes are that of the period.
- Could use more Zombie.
Rating:
- Genre Feel: 4
- Acting: 3
- Effects: 3
- Production Quality: 4
Final Scoring:
3.5 Zombie Heads of a possible
5 Zombie Heads
Personal Recommendation: Check it out when you get some time, but don't bother putting it at the top of your list or spending more then a few bucks for it.
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