Revolt of the Zombies
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''Revolt of the Zombies'' is a 1936 American horror film directed by
Victor Halperin Victor Hugo Halperin (August 24, 1895 in Chicago, Illinois – May 17, 1983 in Bentonville, Arkansas) was an American stage actor, stage director, film director, producer, and writer. The majority of his works involved romance and horror. His ...
, produced by Edward Halperin, and stars
Dean Jagger Dean Jagger (November 7, 1903 – February 5, 1991) was an American film, stage, and television actor who won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Henry King's ''Twelve O'Clock High'' (1949). Early life Dean Jeffrie ...
and Dorothy Stone. One of the earliest
zombie film A zombie film is a film genre. Zombies are fictional creatures usually portrayed as reanimated corpses or virally infected human beings. They are commonly portrayed as cannibalistic in nature. While zombie films generally fall into the horror ...
s, it was initially conceived as a loose
sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...
to the director's moderately successful '' White Zombie'' (1932) but, due to a lawsuit, was unable to promote itself as such. Although uncredited,
Bela Lugosi Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó (; October 20, 1882 – August 16, 1956), known professionally as Bela Lugosi (; ), was a Hungarian and American actor best remembered for portraying Count Dracula in the 1931 horror classic ''Dracula'', Ygor in ''S ...
's eyes appear in ''Revolt'' whenever zombifying-powers are used; it is the same image of Lugosi's eyes used in ''White''. When compared with Halperin's previous work, ''Revolt'' is generally regarded as a disappointment.


Plot

On the Franco-Austrian Frontier during
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, an Oriental priest, chaplain of a French colonial regiment, is condemned to life imprisonment because he possesses the power to turn men into
zombie A zombie ( Haitian French: , ht, zonbi) is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. Zombies are most commonly found in horror and fantasy genre works. The term comes from Haitian folklore, in w ...
s. In his prison cell, the priest prepares to burn a parchment containing the location of the secret formula. Gen. Mazovia (Roy D'Arcy) kills the priest and takes the partially burned parchment. After the war, an expedition of representatives from the Allied countries with colonial interests are sent to
Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...
to find and destroy forever the so-called "Secret of the Zombies". The group includes General Mazovia; a student of dead languages, Armand Louque (
Dean Jagger Dean Jagger (November 7, 1903 – February 5, 1991) was an American film, stage, and television actor who won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Henry King's ''Twelve O'Clock High'' (1949). Early life Dean Jeffrie ...
); Englishman Clifford Grayson (Robert Noland); General Duval (George Cleveland); and his daughter Claire (Dorothy Stone). Armand falls in love with Claire, who accepts his proposal of marriage to spite Clifford, whom she really loves. Later, when Claire runs to Cliff for comfort following an accident, Armand breaks the engagement, leaving her free to marry Cliff. Further accidents caused by Mazovia result in the natives refusing to work, forcing the expedition to return to Phnom Penh. Armand finds a clue which he had overlooked before and returns to
Angkor Angkor ( km, អង្គរ , 'Capital city'), also known as Yasodharapura ( km, យសោធរបុរៈ; sa, यशोधरपुर),Headly, Robert K.; Chhor, Kylin; Lim, Lam Kheng; Kheang, Lim Hak; Chun, Chen. 1977. ''Cambodian-Engl ...
against orders. After viewing an ancient ceremony at a temple, Armand follows one of the servants of a high priest out of the temple, through a swamp, to a mysterious bronze doorway. When the servant leaves, Armand goes through the door to a room paneled in bronze, with an idol holding a gong. He accidentally strikes the gong, and a panel in the wall opens, revealing a small metal tablet. He translates the inscription and realizes that it is the secret for which they have all been looking. He alone now has the power to make zombies out of people, and begins with a practice run on his servant before using his zombie powers in an attempt to coerce the fickle Claire in the movie's climax.


Cast

* Dorothy Stone as Claire Duval *
Dean Jagger Dean Jagger (November 7, 1903 – February 5, 1991) was an American film, stage, and television actor who won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Henry King's ''Twelve O'Clock High'' (1949). Early life Dean Jeffrie ...
as Armand Louque * Roy D'Arcy as Gen. Mazovia * Robert Noland as Clifford Grayson *
George Cleveland George Alan Cleveland (September 17, 1885 – July 15, 1957) was a Canadian film actor. He appeared in more than 180 films between 1930 and 1954. Career Cleveland was born in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada. His first appearance on the stage ...
as Gen. Duval * E. Alyn Warren as Dr. Trevissant *
Carl Stockdale Carl Stockdale also known as Carlton Stockdale (February 19, 1874 – March 15, 1953) was one of the longest-working Hollywood veteran actors, with a career dating from the early 1910s. He also made the difficult transition from silent fi ...
as Ignacio / Max MacDonald * William Crowell as Priest Tsiang * Teru Shimada as Buna * Adolph Milar as Gen. von Schelling * Sana Rayya as Dancer


Production

On September 3, 1935,
Louella Parsons Louella Parsons (born Louella Rose Oettinger; August 6, 1881 – December 9, 1972) was an American movie columnist and a screenwriter. She was retained by William Randolph Hearst because she had championed Hearst's mistress Marion Davies and s ...
reported that
Bela Lugosi Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó (; October 20, 1882 – August 16, 1956), known professionally as Bela Lugosi (; ), was a Hungarian and American actor best remembered for portraying Count Dracula in the 1931 horror classic ''Dracula'', Ygor in ''S ...
was to star in ''The Revolt of the Zombie''. By November, trades papers announced that brothers Victor and Edward Halperin would create a sequel to '' White Zombie'' that would be produced by Academy Pictures with no mention of Lugosi. A camera crew was sent to
Angkor Angkor ( km, អង្គរ , 'Capital city'), also known as Yasodharapura ( km, យសោធរបុរៈ; sa, यशोधरपुर),Headly, Robert K.; Chhor, Kylin; Lim, Lam Kheng; Kheang, Lim Hak; Chun, Chen. 1977. ''Cambodian-Engl ...
,
Indochina Mainland Southeast Asia, also known as the Indochinese Peninsula or Indochina, is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the west an ...
to film background shots. Production was behind schedule in January 1936 with no script complete while the Halperins planned on filming in February. The film only commenced production on March 9 with the shoot completed later in the month. In May, however, the Halperins encountered legal troubles in the form of a suit from Amusement Securities Corporation, a financer of ''White Zombie''. Amusement Securities alleged that its contract for the earlier film gave it the exclusive right to use the word "zombie" in motion picture titles. Amusement Securities sent letters to theaters who planned to showcase ''Revolt'', warning them not to screen. As the premiere approached, Judge Waservogel of the
New York State Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the trial-level court of general jurisdiction in the New York State Unified Court System. (Its Appellate Division is also the highest intermediate appellate court.) It is vested with unlimited civ ...
ruled that screenings could take place until a judgement in the suit was reached, and appointed attorney Henry Hoffman to referee the case. On June 27, Hoffman issued an opinion in favor of the plaintiffs, awarding Amusement Securities $11,500 in damages and legal fees and prohibiting the Halperins from promoting ''Revolt'' as a sequel to ''White Zombie''.


Release

The film is in the
public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired, ...
.


Reception

Writing in ''The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia'', academic
Peter Dendle Peter Dendle is a professor of English at Penn State Mont Alto, teaching classes on folklore, 20th and 21st century representations of the Middle Ages, Old and Middle English (language and literature), and the monstrous (in film, folklore, and s ...
called it "an uninvolving follow-up to ''White Zombie'' that could not have been saved by Bela Lugosi." Glenn Kay, author of '' Zombie Movies: The Ultimate Guide'', said, "There's no experimentation here, only dull composition and flatly lit shots of yakking characters in by-the-numbers plot."


References


External links

* * * {{Victor Halperin 1936 horror films 1936 films American zombie films American independent films American black-and-white films Films set in Cambodia World War I films set in the European theatre Films directed by Victor Halperin 1930s English-language films 1930s American films