Dead Men Walk
| Dead Men Walk | |
|---|---|
 Film poster for Dead Men Walk | |
| Directed by | Sam Newfield |
| Produced by | Sigmund Neufeld |
| Written by | Fred Myton |
| Starring |
Dwight Frye George Zucco Mary Carlisle Nedrick Young Forrest Taylor |
| Music by | Leo Erdody |
| Cinematography | Jack Greenhalgh |
| Edited by | Holbrook N. Todd |
| Distributed by | Producers Releasing Corporation |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 64 min |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Dead Men Walk is a 64-minute, 1943, United States, black-and-white horror film produced by Sigmund Neufeld for Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC). It is an original story and screenplay by Fred Myton, starring George Zucco, Mary Carlisle, Nedrick Young and Dwight Frye, directed by Sam Newfield. It was originally distributed by PRC and reissued in the USA in 1948 by Madison Pictures Inc..
Plot Summary
The story involves a kindly small-town physician Doctor Lloyd Clayton (George Zucco), who has secretly murdered his twin brother Elwyn, because of Elwyn's deep involvement in satanic occult practices. Only Elwyn's hunchback assistant Zolarr (Dwight Frye) suspects the good doctor of doing away with his master and confronts him on this matter, but the doctor maintains that he only acted in self-defense when his brother had become a danger to society. Meanwhile, because Elwyn has gone far with his study of the dark arts before his demise, he returns to life as an evil supernatural being who begins murdering the villagers by draining them of their blood. The doctor and his beautiful young niece, Gayle Clayton (Mary Carlisle), and her fiance, soon discover that Elwyn still lives, and are in peril of their lives for this knowledge. Dr. Clayton realizes the only way he can help his niece now is to again kill Elwyn, and plans to conquer him with fire. Clayton, unfortunately, becomes also trapped in the resulting conflagration and, like Elwyn and Zolarr, perishes in the flames of Elwyn's accursed library.
Cast
- George Zucco as Dr. Lloyd Clayton / Dr. Elwyn Clayton
- Mary Carlisle as Gayle Clayton
- Nedrick Young as Dr. David Bentley
- Dwight Frye as Zolarr
- Fern Emmett as Kate
- Robert Strange as Wilkins (Harper in credits)
- Hal Price as Sheriff Losen
- Sam Flint as Minister
Production and Critical reception
The film was shot in 6 days. It was the final film of Mary Carlisle.[1] She made the film shortly after getting married.[2]
It was one of the last film appearances of Dwight Frye.[3]
As of November 2016, the film scored 4.7/10 on the Internet Movie Database and 10% on Rotten Tomatoes.
See also
References
- ↑ Internet Movie Database Trivia
- ↑ DRAMA: Montgomery Handed Plum Roles at 20th Schallert, Edwin. Los Angeles Times (1923-Current File) [Los Angeles, Calif] 10 Sep 1942: 18.
- ↑ DWIGHT FRYE DIES; CHARACTER ACTOR: Former Stage Performer Here, Seen in Many Film Thrillers Since 1930, Stricken at 44 New York Times (1923-Current file) [New York, N.Y] 12 Nov 1943: 22
External links
- Dead Men Walk at the American Film Institute Catalog
- Dead Men Walk at the Internet Movie Database
- Dead Men Walk is available for free download at the Internet Archive
- Dead Men Walk at AllMovie