Title: King of Zombies
Year of Release: 1941
Director: Jean Yarbrough
Length: 68 mins
Starring: Dick Purcell, Joan Woodberry, Mantan Moreland, Henry Victor, John Archer
This B-movie starts off with three men in a cargo plane en route to Puerto Rico attempting a crash landing on a secluded island in the middle of the ocean because they got lost. Even in the 1940s, that premise must be considered questionable. Anyway, plane safely crashed in a graveyard (how’s your luck?) the three men, all remarkably unharmed and unshaken despite their ordeal, set about finding a way out of their predicament. Within about 15 seconds they stumble upon a creepy old mansion owned by a Dr. Miklos Sangre (Victor) and his rather subdued wife. Remarkably, he isn’t the least bit surprised to see them and doesn’t bother asking too many questions. At this point, one of the three, a servant (yes, it’s problematic) by the name of Jeff (Moreland) implores the group to leave. But of course everybody ignores him and sends him off to the servant’s quarters where he soon starts making friends. He also meets some zombies. But don’t worry, these are the more traditional kind of ‘reanimated corpse used for cheap labour’ variety of living dead so they aren’t into chasing people around and eating brains. Not at first, anyway.
Meanwhile, the trio (now reduced to a duo) guess something might be amiss with the spooky old mansion, but ignore any misgivings and whip the brandy out instead. As you do. When Jeff tries to warn them about the zombies they ridicule him, mainly on account of his skin colour, you feel. Stupid white people. Jeff actually turns out to be right. Plus, he also has all the best lines (“Did I hear anything? No. Just the sound of my heart trying to jump out of my chest!”). When the group eventually pluck up the courage to go exploring, one of them contracts ‘jungle fever’ and ends up dead and buried. But not for long, obvs. They then find Dr. Sangre conducting a voodoo ritual in the cellar with a veritable army of the undead. Given that this film was released in the middle of World War Two, it wouldn’t feel complete without some war references, and it soon transpires that not only is Dr. Sangre a madman up to his nuts in zombies and black magic, but he’s a gosh darn spy as well! Could he BE any more evil? That said, though there are a few hints throughout the movie, the film makers are extremely careful not to explicitly say the doctor is German. Instead, the plot refers to him as “A secret agent for a European government” and encourages the audience to draw their own conclusions, which they inevitably do.
King of Zombies supposedly started out as a straight horror film, but when the Bob Hope vehicle The Ghost Breakers (1940) became a big hit for Paramount, changes were made, which included replacing the original director with Yarbrough, who was more known for his comedies. He would go on to direct such genre staples as House of Horrors (1946), The Creeper (1948) and Lost in Alaska (1952) with legendary comedy duo Abbot and Costello. King of Zombies is one of the very few horror movies to be nominated for an Academy Award for best music (Music Score of a Dramatic Picture). The composer Edward Kay worked on over 340 films from the 1930s into the 1960s, and was actually nominated for Academy Awards on multiple occasions but never won. In 1943, it was followed by a sequel (of sorts) called Revenge of the Zombies that featured two of the original cast members. Mantan Moreland reprised his role as Jeff and Madame Sul-Te-Wan was cast as Mammy Beulah, the housekeeper.
In a contemporary review, website Basement Rejects, notes: “Like a lot of the films at a time, most of the movie relies on xenophobia and the strangeness of different cultures. This is combined with a number of jokes surrounding the Black valet who is the only one who completely believes in the zombies that are ‘haunting’ the island.” 100 Misspent Hours were much less complementary in saying: “What we’ve got here is an agonizingly unfunny, racist horror comedy with no redeeming features beyond its extreme brevity and the rare witty one-line.”
My personal opinion is somewhere in between. Despite the sometimes questionable cultural references, King of Zombies is actually a pretty decent comedy horror. The dialogue is sharp and witty, and the pacing moves things along quickly. There aren’t many dull moments. Perhaps best of all, like many movies of the era, it’s a fast watch and readily available to watch for free online.
Trivia Corner
The role of Dr. Victor Sangre was originally meant for genre heavyweight Bela Lugosi. When he became unavailable, negotiations ensued to obtain Peter Lorre for the part, but a deal could not be reached. Veteran character actor Henry Victor, who was born in England but grew up in Germany was signed just in time. Sadly, he died from a brain tumour in March 1945 at the age of 52.
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