''Dead Men Walk'' is a 1943 American horror film produced by

Sigmund Neufeld Sigmund Neufeld (May 3, 1896 – March 21, 1979) was an American B movie producer. He spent many years at Poverty Row studio Producers Releasing Corporation where he mainly produced films directed by his brother Sam Newfield. When PRC was taken o ...

for

Producers Releasing Corporation Producers Releasing Corporation was the smallest and least prestigious of the Hollywood film studios of the 1940s. It was considered a prime example of what was called "Poverty Row": a low-rent stretch of Gower Street in Hollywood where shoest ...

(PRC). It is an original story and screenplay by

Fred Myton Fred Myton (November 15, 1885 – June 6, 1955) was an American screenwriter. He wrote 168 films between 1916 and 1952, mostly low-budget "B" pictures for Poverty Row studios and independent producers. He wrote many films for Producers Re ...

, starring George Zucco,

Mary Carlisle Mary Carlisle (born Gwendolyn Witter; February 3, 1914 – August 1, 2018) was an American actress, singer, and dancer, best known for her roles as a wholesome ingénue in numerous 1930s musical-comedy films. She starred in more than 60 Holly ...

Nedrick Young Nedrick Young (March 23, 1914 – September 16, 1968), also known by the pseudonym Nathan E. Douglas, was an American actor and screenwriter often blacklisted during the 1950s and 1960s for refusing to confirm or deny membership of the Comm ...

, and

Dwight Frye Dwight Iliff Frye (born Fry; February 22, 1899 – November 7, 1943) was an American character actor of stage and screen. He is best known for his portrayals of neurotic, murderous villains in several classic Universal horror films, such as R ...

, directed by Sam Newfield. It was originally distributed by PRC and reissued in the US in 1948 by Madison Pictures, Inc.

Plot

The story involves a kindly small-town physician Doctor Lloyd Clayton, who has secretly murdered his twin brother Elwyn, because of Elwyn's deep involvement in satanic occult practices. Only Elwyn's hunchback assistant Zolarr suspects the good doctor of doing away with his master and confronts him, but the doctor maintains that he only acted in self-defense when his brother had become a danger to society. Meanwhile, because Elwyn had 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, and her fiancé Dr. David Bentley, soon discover that Elwyn is still alive, and are in peril for this knowledge. Dr. Clayton realizes the only way he can help his niece is to kill Elwyn again, and plans to destroy him with fire. Clayton becomes trapped in the resulting conflagration, and along with Elwyn and Zolarr perishes in the flames of Elwyn's accursed library.

Cast

* George Zucco as Dr. Lloyd Clayton / Dr. Elwyn Clayton *

as Gayle Clayton *

as Dr. David Bentley *

as Zolarr *

Fern Emmett Fern Emmett (March 22, 1896 – September 3, 1946) was an American film actress. She appeared in 212 films between 1930 and 1946. Emmett's film debut came with Universal in a two-reel production in 1914. Personal life Emmett was married to ...

as Kate * Robert Strange as Wilkins (Harper in credits) *

Hal Price Harry Franklin "Hal" Price (June 24, 1886 – April 15, 1964) was an American film and stage actor. He appeared in more than 260 films between 1930 and 1952. He is the father of character actress and comedian Lu Leonard. On stage, Price ...

as Sheriff Losen *

Sam Flint Sam Flint (born Samuel A. Ethridge; October 19, 1882 – October 17, 1980) was an American actor. Flint appeared in more than 230 films, often as a "judge, lawyer, military officer, senator, sheriff, chief of police, or doctor." Flint was ...

as Minister

Production

The film was shot in six days. It was the final film of Mary Carlisle. She made the film shortly after getting married. It was one of the last film appearances of Dwight Frye.

Critical reception

As of November 2016, the film scored 4.7/10 on the

Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

and 10% on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

References

External links