Room for One More (1952)

Is this a movie or an ad for the Boy Scouts?

Intro.

They say laughter is the best medicine, so last week while I was down with a stomach bug and could finally crash on the couch, I decided to watch a premier film showing on TCM called Room for One More.  I don't think it's a well known film, but it has a good story, a lot of heart and the adorable chemistry of real life husband and wife Cary Grant and Betsy Drake.  Did you know they starred in two films together?  I didn't!

Overview

Anna Rose (Betsy Drake) is a happily married mother of three and a heart the size of Texas - she is the woman in the neighborhood who can't pass a stray dog or cat without taking them home with her.  So when her women's group tours an orphanage, she considers adopting one of the older children, who have a much harder time getting adopted than babies.  She convinces her stressed but tolerant husband George (Cary Grant) to let a troubled girl, Jane (Iris Mann), stay for two weeks.  The family needs a lot of love and understanding (spearheaded by Anna) to help Jane feel secure in her new home and pretty soon she becomes a part of the family.  Alright stretched pretty thin, the Rose family accepts another orphan - a little boy with a very bad attitude named Jimmy (Clifford Tatum Jr.), which may stem from his always being teased for the large braces he wears on his legs.  George is the one to lead the crusade to have Jimmy welcomed in their home.  It takes a great deal of patience, second chances and even a vote by the kids as to who can stay.  The film follows the growing family (even the bunny is pregnant), and especially Jane and Jimmy, as they adjust to their new home.    

Highlights

Okay, I'll start with the obvious.  Cary Grant and Betsy Drake are adorable together.  They make a great couple and have a natural back and forth banter.  I like how you can tell when two people get along and it shows through in the acting - think Tracy and Hepburn or Bogart and Bacall.  I loved how Cary Grant turns from the protesting father frustrated by trying to make ends meet into an accepting, all-around good Dad.  He's the one who makes the decision to let Jane stay and he's also the one who goes out looking for Jimmy when he goes off on a ten mile hike in the middle of winter to get his Eagle Scout award.  He's also pretty entertaining as the put-upon husband who just wants an evening alone with his wife (which, of course, he spends the whole movie trying to get).  And Betsy plays the kind of mom every kid wants to have, full of warmth and wisdom.

Speaking of kids, the children really do steal the show.  Jane's transformation from angry adolescent to glowing and gracious young lady is remarkable, but it isn't overnight and she can't do it alone.  Jimmy's transformation is harder because he's had different kinds of troubles, notably his leg braces.  But his final achievement of becoming an Eagle Scout is really a great moment both for him and for his parents, George and Anna.  As he says at the end, he's had a leg up on the rest of the guys trying to make it to the Eagle Scout award, because he was able to choose his parents.  That's where the heart of the film lies - the choices we make about our lives and our happiness and how much love we have to give.


Review
Room for One More is what they mean by old-fashioned feel good movies.  You can't help but smile while watching the antics and even some of the drama faced by this family.  I also learned that it was based on a memoir.  While I didn't find it as funny as another popular growing-family type of film, Yours, Mine and Ours (the version with Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda), it more than makes up for it with heart.  I'd recommend it to anyone with a bit of a sappy side like me and to any Cary Grant fans who haven't seen it yet - it's maybe not his best or most memorable, but still worth seeing for his role with Betsy Drake!*

*The other film they made together was Every Girl Should Be Married (1948).  Not sure how I feel about the title....     

**Love seeing Cary Grant playing a father?  I have to absolutely recommend Father Goose - it's fabulous!  Definitely one of his funniest (and most un-Cary-Grant-ish of roles).

Now, Voyager (1942)

Intro.

Now, Voyager is one of those movies I've heard referenced but never had a chance to see.  It seems to come up any time Bette Davis is mentioned and also happens to pop up in questions on the game Scene It: Turner Classic Movies Edition.  It was on a few nights ago and I recorded it on a whim.  Last night I had some time to myself and took a break from my November writing to watch.  What a fascinating film!

Overview

Charlotte Vale (Bette Davis) is the spinster aunt in the very wealthy, very prominent Vale family of Boston.  She lives with her aging mother, Mrs. Vale (Gladys Cooper), who had two sons and then much later in life had Charlotte.  As the film opens, nervous and emotionally battered Charlotte is met at home by her sister in law, Lisa (Ilka Chase), and a famous psychiatrist, Dr. Jaquith (Claude Rains).  After meeting her controlling mother, they meet agitated Charlotte, and Dr. Jaquith talks to her up in her room for some privacy.  Charlotte is in the middle of a nervous breakdown and goes with Dr. Jaquith to his country sanitorium for some rest and therapy.  She makes remarkable progress, even losing some weight and realizing that she doesn't need glasses (she was just hiding behind them).  She gains enough confidence to go out and try something, so Dr. Jaquith books her on a cruise to South America.  On the first shore trip, Charlotte shares a cab with the only other single passenger, dashing Jerry Durrance (Paul Henreid).  As they spend the afternoon together, Charlotte discovers that Jerry is married and has two little girls.  Although initially disappointed, Charlotte and Jerry wind up forming a close friendship which, with the help of a car accident that forces them to spend the night in a cabin together, blossoms into romance.  But Jerry can't get a divorce from his controlling (and also ailing) wife and Charlotte must go back home to face her mother again.  Charlotte asserts her independence from her mother at last, but their final fight ends with her mother dying from a heart attack.  Racked with guilt, Charlotte goes back to the sanitarium, where she befriends a twelve-year old girl (Tina) who is exactly how Charlotte was at that age (right down to the mother problems).  Charlotte becomes her caregiver and invites her to live with Charlotte in Boston, in a home where she will be wanted and respected.  The fact that the girl is Jerry's youngest daughter is what makes this seemingly happy ending very dark and very complicated.

Highlights

There is good reason why this film is considered Bette Davis' tour de force.  She is incredible as Charlotte, both strong and vulnerable, coming into her own while still holding onto that troubled self-consciousness.  Her transformation and wonderful presence really make this film.  What's so remarkable is her subtlety as she plays this role.  She makes Charlotte more than the conventional "basket-case" heiress who makes a breakthrough.  We can see that she is still vulnerable under that sarcasm while on the tour of South America and while taking care of Tina, she is also taking care of herself.

Also stand-outs in their performances are Paul Henreid and Claude Rains.  Rains was reportedly not going to do the picture initially, but after his part was built up, he took it and did a marevellous job.  I wasn't sure at first how believable he'd be as a psychiatrist (maybe I have him stuck in my head as Capt. Renault), but he does a great job and is really fun to watch.  Paul Henreid is equally good as Jerry, making his character both lovable and easy to hate.  He makes Jerry a round, dynamic character instead of playing him off as the trapped husband.  I especially enjoyed Tina, played by Janis Wilson, who can be a real scene stealer.

I have a few random points I'd like to bring up here, so forgive the disjointedness here.  First is that the ending caught me by surprise.  Not to give anything away, it was much more realistic and sad than I had expected.  You won't find all that Hollywood feel-good stuff here and don't expect wedding bells.  But it is still a triumph - an assertion of Charlotte coming into her own and being happy with her life.  Also pleasantly surprising was seeing Mary Wickes make an appearance as Mrs. Vale's nurse.  Can't place her?  She's been in everything from Higher and Higher to White Christmas to the more recent Sister Act.  She adds a great touch of comedy to the picture and I always love seeing her.  Finally, one bit of Hollywood trivia - Now, Voyager ran late in filming, and Paul Henreid literally finished his shooting on the film one night and bright and early the next day was on the set for that other 1942 gem, Casablanca.   

Now, Voyager is a film about finding yourself and accepting happiness, even if it does not come in the dream you were expecting.  It is deep, poignant and timeless in its portrayals of family duties and personal responsibilities.  The title refers to a line from Whitman, which Dr. Jaquith gives to Charlotte as she embarks for South America.  It goes: "The untold want by life and land ne'er granted, /
Now, voyager sail thou forth to seek and find."  What a fitting line for Charlotte's journey towards her own self-discovery.

Review

I really enjoyed this movie, even though I wasn't so sure I would at first.  The rich characters and fine acting create a story worth seeing that transcends 1942.  I could go on about Now, Voyager, but the last line of the film really captures the essence of the whole film.  Charlotte looks out the window and says, "Oh Jerry, don't let's ask for the moon; we have the stars."

Ride Lonesome (1959)

Wait, are you sure I haven't seen this film before?

Intro.

November was going to be my month dedicated to Westerns, though with my time constraints lately, it's quickly into a grab-bag sort of month.  However, I've loved Westerns for many years, and there's something that still attracts me to the myth of the American frontier.  I should clarify though, that I watch mostly older Westerns from the pre-spaghetti Western era.  That may change as I try to find Westerns I have not previously seen to review on this site, so keep checking as I explore more wide open spaces, cowboys, cattle barons, train robberies and all that the West will allow you to dream.

Overview

Ride Lonesome opens with our hero, bounty hunter Ben Brigade (Randolph Scott) riding alone in the rocky desert of the West.  He tracks down criminal Billy John (James Best) and manages to outbluff Billy's help and then arrests him.  They get to a way station for the stage only to find that the guy who runs it is off trying to catch his runaway horses.  His wife is left at the station, and she's pretty handy with a shotgun.  So are the two guys waiting at the station with her - Sam Boone (Pernell Roberts) and Whit (James Coburn).  They've also been tracking Billy John because the state has offered amnesty to anyone who brings him in, and the two guys want a clean start in life.  They decide to throw in with Brigade without saying why, but motives don't really matter when the stage station is attacked by Indians.  The group have no choice but to push on to Santa Cruz, including Mrs. Carrie Lane (Karen Steele).  But Brigade takes them the long way, knowing that taking longer will give Billy John's brother a chance to catch up with them.  As we learn, that showdown with brother Frank is what Brigade's really after, and his plan for revenge (and the reason behind it) is shocking.

Highlights
I tried to describe this movie the other day and realized that both what I liked and what I didn't like was one in the same - Ride Lonesome feels like every Western you've seen left out in the sun too long.  It's boiled down to the essential core.  I mean, you can't find a story that is used so often in Westerns - that of a man wronged and seeking revenge.  What also struck me was the plight of Sam and Whit, who want a chance to start their lives over.  That's the legend of the West as a place to start over, to build something on new land.  So although the film feels predictable and very similar to so many other stories, what it does best is cut right to the core.  No frills, and you won't find a single unnecessary word of dialogue.

The introduction to the film on TCM mentioned how well the camera captured the small characters against the massive wilderness from distance shots.  I agree it's beautiful camerawork, but that idea of man vs. nature on a size scale can be traced way back in Western history.  John Ford is famous for doing just that in most of his Westerns.  So I'm not sure if they meant it was original or if it was following in the tradition, but either way it is very well orchestrated.

Finally, the characters were pretty standard as far as Westerns go, but Randolph Scott was very good in his role.  I haven't seen him in many films, but I know he was famous for his Westerns and I'm glad this was the one I watched.  He really carries the film.  I have to say, I really loved that Carrie not only wielded a shotgun, but didn't shy away from using it.  And yes, Pernell Roberts is in this, just before his days as the eldest Cartwright son on Bonanza.  He's great too and actually delivers some of the best lines in the film, including one about how it took him and Whit a whole week till they found out what that word 'amnesty' meant.  He also echoes the Ringo Kid from Stagecoach (1939) when he says "there are some things a man just can't ride around."
 
I could probably sit here all day and draw parallels between Ride Lonesome and any number of other Westerns like Stagecoach.  What's interesting though is that this is one of the earliest in the string of anti-Westerns.  Although it embodies much of the classic Hollywood Western (think John Ford), it starts turning towards the anti-hero and takes an unflinching look at morality.  It isn't about justice; it's about vengeance.     

Review and Recommendation
Ride Lonesome is very much your typical, all-around Western.  It features great scenery and a good performance by Randolph Scott, but it's also very typical.  I'd say if you've never seen a Western or knew anything about the genre, this film would be great to add to your short list of films to see.

Executive Suite (1954)

A slice of 50's Americana, complete with little league baseball and the world of high finance business.

Intro.

I'm taking a break from my November writing challenge to update this blog.  I had watched Executive Suite awhile back, and want to write about while it's still fresh in my mind.  November was supposed to be dedicated to Westerns, and it will be, but for now I'm focusing just on what I have time to watch and review.  At a modest 104 minutes, the film promised to be tight and easy to follow.  Plus it featured June Allyson and William Holden, so of course I had to watch.

Overview

Executive Suite focuses on the lives and struggles of half a dozen Board members trying to find a replacement when their chair and CEO of Tredway Corporation, Avery Bullard, drops dead on the sidewalk outside.  We get a good sense of characters from the beginning, when each is called in for a six o'clock conference with the CEO, and then one by one as they find out what has happened.  George Caswell (Louis Calhern) witnesses the death first and immediately calls his stock broker.  He is then at risk to lose his shirt when the quarterly sales reports are released at the same time, which causes the stock to rise, not fall as he had predicted.  The woman in love with Avery, Julia Tredway (Barbara Stanwyck), is crushed by his death, even contemplating suicide, despite the fact that he never had time for her when he was alive.  Perhaps the most touching response is that of his friend and Vice President of Design and Engineering, McDonald "Don" Walling (William Holden).  Don still holds Avery's original ideas - that of expanding and growing, that the company should be dedicated to progress and making furniture in which they could all take pride, not just something fast and cheap to make a quick profit.  Unfortunately, the main candidate to take over as CEO, Loren Shaw (Fredric March), is an accountant who is only interested in dollars and cents, not about the workers' integrity.  A corporate battle erupts, filled with power plays and unofficial meetings.  Finally Don puts his name in for president and comes head to head with Shaw at the final Board meeting.

Highlights

I loved how this film opened.  The camera shot from Avery's point of view, moving with him, seeing the reaction of people to "his" presence.  In this sense, the audience becomes Avery, making him not only a great man of power, but in a sense, the everyman (and woman).  It ends, of course, when he dies in the first five minutes, but it's a powerful enough opening and an interesting one.  I can't think of any other film which featured that as the opening sequence.  It ties in nicely to the narration just before which says that those people way up in the executive suites of all those skyscrapers aren't high and above temptation. 

The acting was very good in this film.  I particularly loved June Allyson, who didn't just fall into the dutiful wife role - she's the one telling her husband Don what to do, even suggesting that he take the position.  She's also a great mother, stepping in to play catch with their son when Don has to go off on meetings.  I really liked watching their dynamic - Holden and Allyson - as they portrayed a typical American couple of the fifties.  But what really impressed me was Barbara Stanwyck, who is her usual dynamic self.  I loved seeing her and William Holden reunite in this film, and although their scene alone together is too short, it is still one of the best in the whole picture.

I'm not sure what exactly to write about Executive Suite.  It was a well constructed film, pretty easy to follow and an interesting look at the culture's view of business in the 1950s.  Holden's characteristic cynicism is rampant throughout the process, that is right up until his final speech about saving the company and saving themselves (against a lovely stained-glass window too - should we call him St. Don?).  It's a cry against big business and manufacturing - against disrespecting the factory workers and saving their jobs, their livelihoods, their self-respect.  It reminded me in part of some of the 1930s films with respect to the rage against factory labor and bosses not caring about the "little people" who worked behind the scenes.  It's important that Don then gets the vote, because he is introduced not in on office suite, but down in the factory, working alongside the others to test a new molding process.  Don comes to represent the best intentions of the building and progress boom of the forties and fifties - build it bigger, faster, better.  Improve the world through business.  But Don is rare amongst his peers, giving us an awful feeling of encroaching corruption.  Had this movie been made in in the 1960s or later, I'm sure Don would have become president only to lose his own self-respect, to neglect his family and even worse, to become himself just as awful as the people he once hated.  It says a lot about the culture that none of this addressed, that it ends instead on a positive note.  I left the movie feeling empty, wondering how long would Don be able to hold onto his ideals of progress.  It almost broke my heart that he won; but at the end he is still the family man at heart and I hope he remained that way. 

Review and Recommendation
I liked this movie.  It's not one of my favorites and I'm not sure I'll watch it again for awhile, but it still poses some interesting questions and I think is a great piece of Hollywood history.  I recommend it for history buffs studying the 1950s and those interested in the presentation of business in American film. 

P.S. I should mention that the film lost me about halfway through with a lot of complications around Calhoun's character's work with the stock market.  He arranged for a short sell, but didn't have the stock so he was going to go broke when the stock price rose.  Anyway, I used to work for a financial publisher, and I had some trouble following at first.  Then I realized we weren't really supposed to understand - these were the tycoons talking, those who didn't care about the common people on the ground floor or in the audience.  They literally don't "speak our language".  It's a brilliant contrast to straight-shooting Holden. 

November Madness

November is one of my favorite months of the year - leaves changing to beautiful colors, the air getting nice and cool, the promise of all kinds of delicious treats at Thanksgiving.  But it also brings a challenge for writers everywhere with a contest called "National Novel Writing Month" or NaNo for short.  The challenge is simple - write 50,000 words during the month of November.  (Check out the NaNo site here!)

I love writing just as much as I love old movies, so I am currently taking part in this madness.  My life is quickly being consumed by an ever-growing word count.  Sadly this leaves little time for movie watching, let alone writing blog posts.  So, this is what I propose - every time I hit a certain goal in my word count, I am going to reward myself with movies.  Sounds great, right?  First up is 10,000 words.  I'm almost there, so hopefully a new post will appear here soon!

Please keep checking this blog - I won't be posting as regularly, but I'll still be here.  Happy November!

House of Wax (1953)

Further proof that my uneasiness in wax museums is completely justified.

Intro.

I definitely went through classic movie phases even as a kid.  There was a period where all I wanted to watch were musicals and then came old horror films.  My favorite horror film was the original House of Wax, starring my favorite horror movie actor, Vincent Price.  I can remember going to the local video store and making a beeline straight to the Classics section and asking my mom to rent it again and again.  I hadn't seen the movie in something close to twelve years, and was delighted that it was featured on TCM this Halloween.   

Overview

Vincent Price stars as Prof. Henry Jarrod, a gifted sculptor of wax figures.  His museum, studio and home are all in one building, and the small space, while filled with well-crafted figures from history, fails to draw in as many crowds as other wax museums which feature scenes of torture and horrors.  His partner Matthew Burke (Roy Roberts) wants a return on his investment, and losing his patience, sets fire to the museum.  Jarrod cannot bear to part with his "children" as he calls his wax figures, and many believe he dies in the fire with them.  In the aftermath, we see a strange, misshapen man in a black cape appear in Burke's room and kill him, hanging him in the elevator shaft.  It's a ghastly crime, and only made worse when the scene is revealed in a brand new wax museum specializing in the macabre and recent headlines in crime.  Running this new museum is Jarrod, who is now wheelchair bound and without fine motor control in his hands.  His apprentices now carve his figures under his guidance, and he is determined to recreate all of his best pieces.  One of the couples visiting his grand opening are Sue Allen (Phyllis Kirk) and Scott Andrews (Paul Picerni).  Sue's dear friend Cathy (Carolyn Jones) was recently murdered, and Sue had walked in on the murder - the same man in black who killed Burke.  Once at the museum, Sue can't help but notice the similarity between the figure of Joan of Arc and Cathy.  Every line of Cathy's face is there, right down to her only having one ear pierced.  Jarrod explains that he often uses photographs from the newspaper as models for his work, but Sue isn't convinced.  Scott begins working for Jarrod as well, and begins work on a new Marie Antoinette, using Sue's face as a model.  But of course this creepy film gets even spookier when Sue goes into the museum one night alone to get another close-up view of Joan of Arc (seriously, how does she think that's a good idea?).  Of course she discovers that Joan actually is Cathy, and Jarrod and his other assistants decide to make her a permanent fixture of the museum.  Can Scott and the police save her?  And just who is it among them that's been killing people across the city?

Highlights

I love Vincent Price.  In any horror film, he adds a certain level of creepiness.  Not only is his voice pitch perfect for any horror film (in fact his is also the voice you hear in "Thriller"), but he is also a  remarkable actor.  It's so easy to forget how good of an actor he really was when you watch films designed to showcase other things (like the novelty of 3D effects).  But he's always a great actor to watch and to learn from*, and I think part of the reason I was so drawn to this film was because of his work.  He is so easy to admire and empathize with from the beginning, then we see his change after the fire and the loss of his world.  It's as much about his loss of sanity as it is about Sue's own descent into what she fears is madness.  She just has to know if it's really Cathy beneath that layer of wax.  It's a good thing she does question it too, for her story starts the police investigating into Jarrod's life.

House of Wax was a remake of an early horror film from the 1930s, but was remade at this particular time in Hollywood for two reasons.  One, it would make a great showpiece shot in color and second it could be made into 3D to attract movie audiences.  Theaters were losing business in the 50s with the widespread ownership of television, so many sensational tactics began deployment in the film industry.  3D effects were one of those ideas, and did bring viewers in to see films like House of Wax.  While I have not seen the film in 3D, I can attest to the brilliance of color in the movie, with particular attention paid to the details of the wax figurines.  It's very well shot and composed, with a good eye for color.  It is also very amusing to see which shots were constructed solely for the purpose of coming right at the camera for that 3D effect.  The hawker outside Jarrod's new museum is the most out of place, having no effect on the plot and interacting directly with the audience with his paddle-board.  It's an amusing reminder of the fad and a reminder of what was once on the cutting edge of Hollywood.    

There were a few things I didn't particularly like in the film on this viewing, particularly the supporting characters.  It's most apparent with Cathy, but several of them are a bit stereotyped and almost corny, as is the bad pun which ends the film.  Still, I have to admit that the novelty of wax museums and the drawing power of Vincent Price makes this an enjoyable film.  It's still one of my favorite horror films, although I may still be biased towards my childhood favorites.  And the scene where Jarrod's true face is revealed (arg, I can't really make this spoiler-free) still makes me gasp.  That's what always terrified me as a child and today it still gives me the creeps.

Before I sign off, one quick funny story.  As I began to write this post, I looked up House of Wax on IMDb, because I knew that Jarrod's assistant Igor had looked really familiar.  Turns out it was a very early appearance by Charles Bronson, who was listed in the credits as Charles Buchinsky.  I just told my friend who had also watched with me, and we both said in tandem "I knew he looked familiar!"

Review and Recommendation
Although a bit stereotyped and somewhat predictable, House of Wax is still a very enjoyable film and an example of new techniques tried in the 1950s.  A wonderful vehicle for Vincent Price (and probably one of his best performances), I definitely recommend it to anyone who wants a more tame horror film.  What a great way to wrap up my month of horror films!

*I've seen Vincent Price in only two non-horror films, one of which was His Kind of Woman.  Now, you talk about an acting range - I almost didn't recognize him because he was so funny!  Of course, his voice was unmistakable.  :-)          

The Walking Dead (1936)

Boris Karloff as a zombie.  Or no, he's not a zombie.  Or maybe he is.  We really aren't sure.

Intro.

As Halloween approached, I realized that I had reviewed a Bela Lugosi film, but not a Boris Karloff one.  Recently my friend Catherine has been lending me copies of the comic book series The Walking Dead, so I took it as no coincidence when I saw the listing on TCM for a film by the same name.  I decided to watch and realized that it was unlike any monster movie I had expected.

Overview

The Walking Dead begins with the conviction of a man associated with a group of high-society racketeers.  Although everyone thinks he'll be acquitted, the judge sentences him to ten years without parole.  His partners, still outside the law, decide to hire a hitman to kill the judge.  Meanwhile, John Ellman (Boris Karloff) has just come out of prison after serving his time and gets a job from a detective to shadow the judge, who is suspected of adultery.  Things take an unexpected turn when the hitman kills the judge and leaves him in Ellman's car.  The only two witnesses are Nancy (Marguerite Churchill) and Jimmy (Warren Hull), but the hitman threatens to kill them if they utter one word about it.  Ellman discovers the judge's body (and it's the same judge who sentenced Ellman years ago), and is arrested for the murder.  One of the racketeers, Nolan (Ricardo Cortez), is a lawyer and defends Ellman at trial.  And by defends, I mean, makes certain that Ellman is convicted and sentenced to the electric chair.  So right at the eleventh hour, Jimmy and Nancy come forward to try and save Ellman's life, confiding in their boss, the scientist Dr. Evan Beaumont (Edmund Gwenn).  Nolan intercepts the call and purposefully delays getting a stay of execution.  The governor's phone call finally comes to the jail at midnight, just seconds after Ellman is electrocuted.  He's declared dead, but Dr. Beaumont insists on collecting his body instead of sending him to the morgue.  Conveniently, Beaumont happens to have all the equipment needed to hook up Ellman's body and jolt it back to life.  It's never been done before, but he and Nancy and Jimmy succeed at bringing Ellman back from the dead.  It isn't all happy endings though, as Ellman comes back with no memory and no ability to walk or talk or anything.  With a lot of work, he is finally able to walk (though he seriously walks like Romero's zombies) and slowly regains both memory and speech, aided by his love of the piano.  Dr. Beaumont hosts a concert for Ellman, with the purpose of showing off his amazing scientific achievement.  The police also arrange for all of the racketeers to arrive, to judge their reactions to seeing Ellman alive.  Sure enough, Ellman somehow knows exactly who was responsible for his death, and goes after each man in the nights afterwards.  He confronts each one with the question "Why did you have me killed?" and one by one each man dies, though not all by Ellman's hands.  On his last night with Beaumont, Ellman sneaks out to the cemetery.  But he's followed by Nancy, who is concerned for his safety, and she in turn is followed by the racketeers.  It all comes to an end in the cemetery where Ellman dies and this time stays dead, keeping his knowledge of the afterlife a secret.

Highlights

I have to admit, this film took me by surprise.  I expected it to be a typical B-horror film from the 30's with plenty of women screaming and creepy monsters lurking about.  Instead, I found it to be a psychologically thrilling film that really has a lot going for it.  Boris Karloff, first of all, is amazing.  I know he's often cast as Frankenstein and you can't really look at him without imaging bolts coming out of his neck, but as a wrongfully accused musician, I found myself feeling very empathetic towards him.  It's heartbreaking to watch the delays that occur during his execution - if only those prison guards had answered the phone sooner instead of talking!  Equally fascinating is how after they brought him back, he wasn't just magically okay.  We see the long process of recovery and rejoice when he finds a piano and can remember how to play.   

Though the movie doesn't dig too deeply into the subconscious, or stay too long on deeper topics, there are a few mentioned that deserve to be reviewed.  My primary example is Dr. Evan's growing fascination with what Ellman witnessed during the time when he was dead.  He keeps after him, even as Ellman lies dying in the caretaker's cottage of the cemetery.  Ultimately he is left without more of an answer than just the words "after the shock, I felt peace."  I also appreciated the fact that Nancy was an equal in standing with Jimmy as a worker in Beaumont's lab - not a secretary or a nurse, but a scientist.  Nancy is my favorite character in this film because she's also the one who pushes Jimmy into finally stepping forward and afterward nurses Ellman back to health and refuses to slack on her obligation to him.  I should also add (while I'm thinking of it) that the title is a nice play on the "Dead Man Walking" term used in prisons for men on death row.  Ellman is literally a dead man walking who then becomes the walking dead.  Or can he really be called the walking dead? 

One of the questions that I kept asking myself was whether or not Ellman could be considered a zombie.  After he is brought back to life, he gains control over his mental capacity and doesn't go around eating people (although that part of the zombie culture wouldn't arrive until much later).  Basically, he is in control of himself and not subject to the wills of other forces, so how can he be a zombie?  Well, it is said several times that he seems possessed by a supernatural force, and has become an instrument of some otherworldly power.  How he can now sense those responsible for his death is beyond comprehension, unless he learned it while he was dead.  In fact, Boris Karloff's facial expressions are outstanding in this regard - he can switch from calm and complacent to manically furious in moments.  In the scenes where he confronts the men who framed him, he seems like he really is possessed, and as each man meets his death, we see a close up of Boris Karloff looking like he's coming out of a trance and looking in horror at what's happened.  Perhaps that is why he then goes to the cemetery, a place where he feels he belongs.  While Ellman may not be a traditional zombie, one thing is for certain.  He does embody the fear of our own death, which is at the heart of many zombie films**.  But with his return to life, he also holds that fear at bay until people like Beaumont insist on getting answers and insight into that one thing for which we have no hard evidence - what happens after we die?  Truly, we each have our faiths and beliefs, but could we really resist asking someone who has been there and returned?  It's an interesting situation and one I was not expecting from a horror film.

Review and Recommendation

I highly recommend The Walking Dead not just to zombie-enthusiasts, but to everyone.  Great acting by Karloff and some great camerawork (love the work with those shadows!) make for a good movie, and the added moral questions makes it even more enjoyable.  Definitely not a film to pass over!

**I just finished the second volume of The Walking Dead comic book series by Rick Grimes, and in the back there is an epilogue by Simon Pegg.  Pegg writes that zombies embody our fears of death and our fears that we are little more than animals running on sheer impulse.  It's a great write-up and also a great series - you should check them out!