King of the Zombies (1941)

I like Black Panther, but I didn't like this movie.

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

A mysterious island, a mysterious doctor living in a mysterious old house with mysterious people. Three men in a plane crash land on this island and the mystery thickens. Dark, forbidding and ominous. And everyone in the cast of this dark tale plays it straight, except for Mantan Moreland.Often classified as a horror film, Mantan Moreland puts on a bravura performance, turning this dark and forbidding tale into pure satire. Yes, he is relegated to the scared of everything role just like Stepin Fetchit. This is 1941, after all. And this a low budget, cheesy production. But his comedic talents are brilliant and make this film worth watching which, if he were not in the film, would be a forgotten throwaway.I tend to like very old films, and this is a real antique. But age alone does not make it good. There was a good deal of trash produced in the old days, just like today. But when you have a gem like this, it is worth preserving and watching repeatedly after a suitable time. And I believe you can download this from the Internet Archive since it appears to have fallen into the public domain. Very funny and great fun. I give it an 8.

So says Mantan Moreland, the companion and valet to Dick Purell when spooky island doctor Henry Victor allegedly casts a spell on him and makes him say over and over what sounds like I hamma somby. Is Moreland faking it or has he really become one of those soulless monsters who roam the earth under their masters orders.The master in this case is Henry Victor who reminds me of a slightly younger Lionel Atwill or George Zucco. He's pretty spooky, keeping a wife under a spell and has her niece (Joan Woodbury) standing by her. Purcell is overshadowed by Moreland whose character is definitely stereotypically cowardly and subservient but far more interesting. Moreland provides a much needed balance in the limited amount of horror which gets pretty spooky during a zombie ceremony. Madame Sun Was Ten adds her typical zest as the Voodoo priestess while Margarite Written is an amusingly sexy black maid in Victor's house who makes an excellent foil for Moreland. An above-average poverty row second feature, this is consistently entertaining and pretty well made considering the obviously low budget and familiar sets from other Monogram thrillers. Fast moving at just over an hour, this never bores and while there are few surprises, how is all wrapped up is actually quite neat.

Well, I do declare! Thems were different days back then. Two US air force guys and their valet Jeff are forced to crash on an island in the West Indies, and find themselves staying at a strange house with an even stranger Germanic doctor, his out-of-it wife, and her niece. At first they are welcomed in the house, but gradually they realise that all isn't right. For one thing, Jeff, being black, is assigned to kitchen duties with the rest of the staff and encounters zombies. Also, there seems to be another pilot being held there for reasons unknown. Our three heroes do a bit of investigating (involving secret passageways, something that always makes me enjoy a film more), but we know what happens when folk investigate where they shouldn't, right? Before you know it our heroes are getting turned into zombies (including a hilarious scene where Jeff is turned. "Move aside boys, I'm one of the gang now.") It's all down to pilot Mac to help his mates, kick voodoo arse, sort out the Bosch and be back home for eggs and bacon. Oh yeah!Although the Lordy Lordy antics seem a bit weird with all us folks living in the future, I thought Jeff's character was brilliant. He gets all the best lines and makes to the two white leads seem like two well clothed store dummies. The zombies themselves are pretty good too, although not as creepy as those in White Zombie, they do their fair bit of shuffling around, which is always good. This is a better than average zombie film with plenty of laughs, voodoo nonsense, and some World War 2 leanings.

You might want to dismiss this as a low budget horror film, but you would be wrong on two counts.First, the film garnered an Oscar nomination for it's music.It also features the famous Mantan Moreland who, when he wasn't sniffing after the lovely Marguerite Whitten, was engaging in the oft criticized stereotypical behavior that he was famous for.The presence of Moreland changes this from a zombie horror film to a zombie comedy.The rest of the film, which included Admiral Arthur Wainwright (Guy Usher) was just what you would expect from the 40's.