The Walking Dead (1936) **

 

The Walking Dead (1936), yes, is one of those "Karloff was framed, imprisoned, and supposed to be six feet under, returning to get even" horror films of the 30's that I find irresistible. Whether in a Universal Pictures or Warner Bros film, Karloff is often an imperfect but not altogether evil person who happens across those (or one) willing to sacrifice him to save themselves (or himself). Sometimes Karloff is a scientist who makes serious mistakes that send him to The Chair, other times, he's just in the wrong place at the wrong time. This film was directed by Michael Curtiz (I wrote a review for this back in early October of 2013: Walking Dead ) when he was still in the middle of a B-movie period before he became a well-to-do and very demanding prestige A-picture studio filmmaker. Edmund Gwenn is in this, as a scientist closely resembling Frankenstein without the madness, using a machine that resurrects Karloff's down-on-his-luck ex-con, framed for murdering a judge who convicted a mafioso and was killed by his associates in the mob. Karloff, I think, was so underrated as an actor who could depict a pitiful unfortunate and garner great sympathy. I think, despite how this film won't necessarily ever usher in serious acclaim, Karloff  had such an opportunity to play a character that isn't just some monster or brute. Yes, he kills, but this victim Karloff portrays is driven by this impulse that ultimately does destroy him. While Gwenn's Dr. Beaumont and his daughter, Nancy (Marguerite Churchill; her next film after this was Universal's "Dracula's Daughter") tend to Karloff's John Ellman, recovering from his death experience and resurrection, including memory issues and physical limitations, Nancy's fiance (Warren Hull) gets jealous of his lack of time with her. Speaking of Nancy and Hull's Jimmy, they happened to see the judge and his assassin after the murder, knowing that Ellman was innocent. And driven by a seeming supernatural impulse (as Beaumont considers), Ellman eyes the mobsters who set him up. 

I always enjoyed the mix of science fiction and mob movie. This seems to even have spirituality to it, which feels almost unexpected. As if science brought Karloff back but fate has met up with those behind all sorts of criminality. It's like, no matter how these crooks in suits with their fine liquor and life of luxury try to escape death (Karloff doesn't even touch them most of the time), they fall right into!

I'll also include my 2007 review from November 1st (I can see that I like to watch this film after Octobers, too):

A recently released ex-con, John Ellman(Boris Karloff)is framed by a gangster crime syndicate, with corrupt ties to the city, for the murder of a judge who sentenced one of their key powerful members to a harsh prison sentence without a possibility of parole. There was a couple at the crime scene who know it wasn't Ellman behind the heinous crime..Nancy(the lovely Marguerite Churchill)and her scientist boyfriend Jimmy(Warren Hull). Nancy, in fear for their lives, keeps Jimmy from admitting Ellman's innocence, until the guilt of hiding such a fact that would keep a man from frying in the electric chair burdens her to seek assistance from the scientific genius they work for..Dr. Evan Beaumont(Edmund Gwenn). Beaumont has an insatiable desire to understand what awaits after death, and when their pleas for Ellman's attorney, Mr. Nolan(Ricardo Cortez)..who is the very ring-leader pulling the strings of the syndicate..to halt Ellman's meeting with the electric chair fail, the good scientist might just get his wish. Through advanced new experimental scientific medical techniques, Beaumont is able to revive Ellman's fried carcass back to life..Ellman has a spot on his brain that has affected memory, yet he seems somehow to know the identities of those responsible for his condition. It's as if some supernatural guiding force leads him to each individual one at a time with every member meeting a grim end.

Karloff presents quite a gentle, humbled soul creating quite a sympathetic performance. The fact that he never actually lays a hand on any of the crooked racketeers..the very idea that their own guilt actually(along with a possible divine master plan from God??)causes their deaths, in a sense..only adds texture to the story, I felt. Quite a philosophical horror tale..you can see Michael Curtiz's Warner Bros. style emerging. My favorite scene is the "piano" meeting where Ellman comes face to face with those who sent him to the chair as he plays a soft ballad..Karloff's teary eyes blazing a stare of hatred that pours into his piano playing is powerful. My favorite horror film from Curtiz's early Warner Bros. career;quite underrated, I believe. I think you see the craftsman Curtiz would soon become(..if the signs weren't present with his color Atwill/Wray efforts, "Mystery of the Wax Museum" & "Dr. X").