The Walking Dead (1936)

December 12, 2024 2:29 PM

[TRAILER] Down-on-his-luck John Ellman (Boris Karloff) is framed for a judge's murder. After he's convicted and sentenced to death, witnesses come forth and prove his innocence. But it was too late for a stay to be granted and Ellman is executed. A doctor (Edmund Gwenn, aka Santa in Miracle on 34th Street) uses an experimental procedure to restore him to life, though the full outcome is not as expected.

Also starring Ricardo Cortez, Marguerite Churchill, Warren Hull, Barton MacLane, Henry O'Neill, Joe King, Addison Richards, Paul Harvey, Robert Strange, Joe Sawyer, Eddie Acuff, Kenneth Harlan, Miki Morita, Ruth Robinson, George Beranger, Wade Boteler, Frank Darien, Edward Gargan, Crauford Kent, Milton Kibbee, William H. O'Brien, Paul Panzer, Leo White.

Directed by Michael Curtiz. Screenplay by Ewart Adamson, Peter Milne, Robert Andrews, Lillie Hayward. Story by Ewart Adamson, Joseph Fields. Produced by Jack L. Warner for Warner Bros./First National. Cinematography by Hal Mohr. Edited by Tommy Pratt. Music by Bernhard Kaun.

56% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

Available in its entirety on Internet Archive. JustWatch listing.

posted by DirtyOldTown (1 comment total)

This sounds like it would be Frankenstein all over again, particularly with Karloff on board. It's different enough anyway. Karloff is in erudite gentleman mode, as a pianist wrongly convicted of crime, then made the fall guy for another murder upon release.

The weirdest moment for me in watching this was the sudden realization that the reason the not-quite-a-mad-scientist-but-not-100%-ethical Dr. Beaumont seemed familiar was because he was Edmund Gwenn, aka Santa from Miracle on 34th Street.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:17 AM on December 16, 2024