Dead Men Walk

Dead Men Walk
Film poster for Dead Men Walk
Directed bySam Newfield
Written byFred Myton
Produced bySigmund Neufeld
StarringDwight Frye
George Zucco
Mary Carlisle
Nedrick Young
Forrest Taylor
CinematographyJack Greenhalgh
Edited byHolbrook N. Todd
Music byLeo Erdody
Distributed byProducers Releasing Corporation
Release date
  • February 10, 1943 (1943-02-10)
Running time
64 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Dead Men Walk is a 1943 American horror film produced by Sigmund Neufeld for Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC). It is an original story and screenplay by Fred Myton, starring George Zucco, Mary Carlisle, Nedrick Young, and Dwight Frye, directed by Sam Newfield. It was originally distributed by PRC and reissued in the US in 1948 by Madison Pictures, Inc.

Plot

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The story involves a kindly small-town physician Doctor Lloyd Clayton, who has secretly murdered his twin brother Elwyn, because of Elwyn's deep involvement in satanic occult practices. Only Elwyn's hunchback assistant Zolarr suspects the good doctor of doing away with his master and confronts him, but the doctor maintains that he only acted in self-defense when his brother had become a danger to society.

Meanwhile, because Elwyn had gone far with his study of the dark arts before his demise, he returns to life as an evil supernatural being who begins murdering the villagers by draining them of their blood. The doctor and his beautiful young niece, Gayle Clayton, and her fiancé Dr. David Bentley, soon discover that Elwyn is still alive, and are in peril for this knowledge.

Dr. Clayton realizes the only way he can help his niece is to kill Elwyn again, and plans to destroy him with fire. Clayton becomes trapped in the resulting conflagration, and along with Elwyn and Zolarr perishes in the flames of Elwyn's accursed library.

Cast

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Production

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The film was shot in six days. It was the final film of Mary Carlisle.[1] She made the film shortly after getting married.[2]

It was one of the last film appearances of Dwight Frye.[3]

Critical reception

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As of November 2016, the film scored 4.7/10 on the Internet Movie Database and 10% on Rotten Tomatoes.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Internet Movie Database Trivia
  2. ^ Schallert, Edwin (Sep 10, 1942). "DRAMA: Montgomery Handed Plum Roles at 20th". Los Angeles Times. p. 18.
  3. ^ "DWIGHT FRYE DIES; CHARACTER ACTOR: Former Stage Performer Here, Seen in Many Film Thrillers Since 1930, Stricken at 44". New York Times. Nov 12, 1943. p. 22.
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