King of the Zombies (1941) User Reviews

Mantan Moreland was great!

[stevehaynie · 6/10 · 27 August 2004]

Mantan Moreland really shines in this movie. He was a great character actor, and he had a LOT of screen time in King Of The Zombies. He wasn't a supporting character in King Of The Zombies; his part was equal among the main players and his name shared equal billing in the opening credits.

Forget what others say about racial stereotyping and enjoy his performance. The man worked with what he was given and took it to as much of a polished performance as possible. Blame Hollywood, not the actor, if you don't like his performance. His takes and reactions were superb. Smiley Burnette and Lou Costello did the same thing in "scary" situations, but Mantan Moreland had a flair for the comedy take that set him apart. He really was great on screen.

King Of The Zombies itself is not the best for a mystery/adventure movie from the time period, but it has the right feel for the time period if you like old movies. All the right elements are there for a fun movie. Why it doesn't really work better is a mystery. Don't expect too much and you will have a good time watching this one.

Mantan Moreland is a hoot

[pam-lunn · 5/10 · 1 August 2005]

This little gem of a movie is actually better than it should be considering it is a Monogram picture with a low budget and unfortunate racial stereotypes which were typical for the early 1940's.

Mantan Moreland is the star of this picture. He was a great comedic actor who was stereotyped into playing the dimwitted servant in most of his movies, but he really shines in this picture. I laughed out loud when he tells his boss that he had been "zombiefied". Every scene he is in he steals. This picture was billed as a horror movie, but it is actually a comedy. There is nothing remotely scary about the plot, which involves a German doctor who has taken over an island and is turning the natives into zombies while trying to get classified secrets from a captured American admiral through the use of hypnosis. I really enjoyed this movie despite the cheap sets, silly plot and racial stereotypes. If you want a good laugh on a Saturday afternoon, then pop some popcorn and sit back and enjoy Mantan Moreland. He more than makes up for this movie's deficiencies.

Move Over Boys I'm One Of The Gang Now

[sol1218 · 6/10 · 11 April 2004]

****SPOILERS**** Campy movie from Monogram Pictures about zombies on the loose on some uncharted Caribbean island. With the head honcho Dr. Sangre, Henry Victor, of the Isle trying to use the power of Black Magic through the chanting of Island High Priestess Tahama, Madam Sul-Te-Wan. In order for him to get the brain of the captured US Admiral Wainwright, Guy User, transferred by the miracle of "Transmigration" to his niece's Barbara Winslow, Joan Woodbury, skull. This is Dr. Sangre plan to get valuable military information, from Wainwright, about the fortifications of the Panama Canal Zone.

The movie "King of the Zombies" was made as a comedy but for some strange reason was nominated for an Academy Award as best musical score for a dramatic picture? HOW ABOUT THAT! Dr. Sangre obviously in league with his fatherland Nazi Germany even though the country is never mentioned in the film? Maybe the makers of "King of the Zombies" were afraid that if Hitler ever saw the movie and how it portrayed his Aryan Supermen he would get so mad he'd order his Luftwaffa to bomb Hollywood.

Dr. Sangre who learned from the natives, mostly from High priestess Tahama, of the island how to "Zombify" people and use them in service to the Third Reich seemed unable to "Zombify" one of his subjects Jefferson "Jeff" Jackson, Mantan Moreland. Jefferson in fact turned out to be the hero of the movie and saved the day for the good guys by getting the ball, as well as his eyes, rolling. In him getting his two naive and unsuspecting friends who crashed on the island with him Mac & Bill, Dick Puncell & John Archer, to see what was really going on with Dr. Sangre and his evil experiments.

Getting the zombies to revolt against Dr. Sangre, probably because of the bland and salt-free food that he served them, the doctor trying to get the info from the admiral via his niece's brain, dressed up looking like Dracula with a weird wooden Halloween mask, ends up being chased by the zombies into a pit where he gets a giant hot foot. In a last and desperate attempt Dr. Sangre tries to shoot the rebellious dead walkers not knowing, or forgetting for a moment, that you can't kill someone who's already dead!

A Terrific film!

[[e-mail] · 15 July 2003]

This film (along with "Dr. X" & "Night Monster") rank as my all-time fave Top Three! (I own over 1k films)!

Why? That "Master of Scared-Reaction Comedy", Mantan Moreland takes an (other-wise) dull film & adds a lot of "zip" into it! I think this was his finest role! He does MUCH to improve a cast who's acting (especially the two "heros") is as "wooden" as the zombies themselves!

My favorite line is when the "hero" & Mantan are walking through a dark secret passage, holding a torch. Voodoo drums begin to sound. "What's that?", says the Hero. "I dunno", answers Mantan, "...but it ain't GENE KRUPA!". A scream!

This film WILL offend the "Politically Correct" as "degrading Negro stereotypes", but these people have to realise that Morelan was a Comic GENIUS who also played these "scared reaction" comedy roles for BLACK directors, and the Black Movie-Going Community of the 30's and 40's.

You MUST SEE this film, if only for Mantan's marvellous comedy!

"Mr. Bill, them is the joyfulest words I ever heard."

[utgard14 · 5/10 · 30 January 2017]

Horror comedy from Monogram starring Mantan Moreland and a couple of forgettable bores. I'm not a big fan of Moreland but I'll admit he outshines these two guys by a country mile. It's basically an old dark house film with the three men stranded in said house on an island with a mad scientist (Henry Victor in a role originally meant for Bela Lugosi).

There's a lot of stuff about voodoo and zombies, which is just an excuse to let Moreland do his bug-eyed double-takes and "afraid of spooks" routine. This is the part of Moreland's comedy shtick that I have never enjoyed. And it's not because of the offensive racial element of it, but rather because I'm not enamored with comedians who rely heavily on goofy facial expressions for laughs. I've voiced the same complaints about the likes of Red Skelton and Huntz Hall. But there is a part of Moreland's act I do like and that's when he falls back into his vaudeville routine of having a snappy back and forth with another actor. We see a bit of that here when he shares scenes with the maid (played by Marguerite Whitten). Those scenes were my favorite parts of the movie.

Anyway, the horror isn't all it's teased to be as there's an espionage plot that's a lot less interesting. It was 1941, after all. It's not a great movie but it's not terrible by Poverty Row standards. It moves along quickly enough, which helps. But the entire film rests on Moreland's shoulders. If you love him, you'll probably laugh your tail off watching this. If you don't, this will go over like a lead balloon.

A zombie chiller.

[michaelRokeefe · 5/10 · 9 April 2009]

The search is on for a missing American Admiral. A special agent, his butler and pilot crash lands on a WWII Caribbean island, but will they find their man? What they do find in the jungle is a sinister German doctor and his wife, who is suffering a strange trance. It is discovered that the island is full of zombies. The suave but sinister doctor is actually an enemy spy and is grooming his "walking undead" to be a weapon to either prolong or even end the war.

Veteran actor Mantan Moreland is actually the star of this comedic horror B-feature...he just doesn't have top billing. Typical zombie flick, but actually entertaining and worth recommending. The cast also features: John Archer, Dick Purcell, Henry Victor and the easy-on-the-eye Joan Woodbury.

Mantan Moreland; king of zombie-comedy.

[Coventry · 5/10 · 8 August 2005]

Insignificant and anonymous little 40's horror production, saved from total oblivion by one man: Mantan Moreland. Several ideas in the script are quite good and the enthusiasm of all the cast and crew members is more than admirable, but the film simply lacks a decent budget. The story is set on a Caribbean island during WWII, where the military plane of James McCarthy crashes whilst on a mission to seek another military admiral who disappeared in the same area. McCarthy, along with his pilot and black servant, receive shelter from a mysterious Professor of German origin who runs a suspicious business on the deserted island. He uses the natives, and even his own family, for hypnosis-experiments and turns them into zombies for the German army. Exactly as in other old zombie-movies (like "White Zombie" and "I walked with a Zombie"), the living dead are portrayed as disciplined and docile slaves, which severely affects their spookiness-impact. You can imagine that it's not very eerie to see a bunch of zombies distinguishably line-up to eat soup! It won't be for another 30 years, with George A. Romero's groundbreaking "Night of the Living Dead", until zombies become real terror icons that hunt and kill for their own interest. Still, 'King of the Zombies' is certainly worth a look, if it were only to listen all the witty remarks of Mantan Moreland's character (McCarthy's black servant). He won't shut up for a minute and most of his lines are spot-on hilarious.

A good way to spend an afternoon

[sdsmith123456 · 7/10 · 28 August 2005]

I was sat home alone one Sunday afternoon with nothing to do so i decided to give this movie a chance. I was expecting nothing from it and was very pleasantly surprised. I believe anyone going into this film with any expectations of a chilling horror film will be truly disappointed.

I wouldn't really know how to describe the film other than an interesting way to pass some empty time and the perfect sort of film to watch with a few friends over a drink or two.

The ending of the film could be longer and built up better but all in all i enjoyed this movie

Move over Boys. I'm one of the gang now!

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 27 October 2015]

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.

One of the Gloriously Outrageous Treats of 1940s Junk Cinema!

[Chance2000esl · 7/10 · 31 December 2008]

This film is a horror comedy that unintentionally skewers the low budget horror genre. Mantan Moreland finally gets to shine as the comic star, though he has third billing to the two bland and clueless leads, Dick Purcell and Joan Woodbury.

Dick Purcell, to be blander in 'Captain America' (1944) here is apparently supposed to be the clichéd 'hot shot' pilot: Irish and spouting snappy tough guy slang like "right up my alley," "a cinch," and "I'll be glad to get away from this dump!" On a mission to track down America's enemies, he is forced to land his plane on a secret island. The government agent, John Archer, is totally dull in all senses of the word; his valet, Mantan Moreland, is the spark of the film, stealing every scene he's in with his physical takes or off the cuff remarks ("That something ain't never no good for nobody to do no time," etc.).

They land in a graveyard ("Must be someone's marble orchard," Archer says in his only witty line) and soon discover they are on a zombie island, lorded over by Doctor Sangre, (played by Henry Victor, in a part originally written for Bela Lugosi) who is trying to transfer the mind of a captured American military officer into that of his wife.

Most of the film follows Moreland as he wanders around. He has several scenes in the kitchen interacting with the help (all black, of course) and eventually with the zombies, who act like lumbering stupefied robots rather than the flesh eating types we think of as zombies today. He joins their ranks but later becomes 'dezombified.' This is like a film told from the point of view of the hired help rather than the putative stars. As such you keep waiting for Moreland to come back on screen to liven up the dull proceedings with his humorous and natural delivery. And he does. For fans of Mantan Moreland (who usually appeared in the background in Charlie Chan movies), seeing him star in this film is a treat.

You can also see him get major screen time in the 'buddy' movies he made with Frankie Darro such as 'Up In The Air' (1940) or 'Let's Go Collegiate' (1941).

The film also features interesting camera work by Mark Stengler, with some great angles and composition.

Especially because of the decision to build the film around Mantan Moreland, this zombie film stands out as one of the gloriously outrageous treats of 1940s junk cinema. I give it a 7.

Billing bias.

[st-shot · 5/10 · 15 November 2020]

Billed third, it is obvious within the first minutes that this is comic actor Mantan Moreland's picture. Given more screen time and lines than the "heroes" or villain, a Bela Lugosi clone, he carries what humor is to be found in this comic horror from start to finish.

Three stooges in a model airplane crash on an island run by a Lugosi manque, Dr. Sange (Henry Viktor). Sange tinkers with zombies but is also working as an agent for an enemy government. Two of the stranded are pretty dense to what is going on but Jeff (Moreland) with the assistance of a comely maid is soon up to speed.

Moreland's reactions and throw away non-sequitors are hilarious most of the way as you willingly give into the far fetched plot but outside of Viktor and Madame Sul-Te-Wan as Tahama the cook the chills remain tepid and it is left up to Mantan to give scenes any life with his wide eyed, mumbling responses in what is basically a one man show..

One of the TOP 'Poverty Row' productions!

[binapiraeus · 8/10 · 2 February 2014]

"King of the Zombies" certainly is one of the most MAGNIFICENT horror spoofs ever made - although, or maybe BECAUSE it was made by 'poor little' Monogram Pictures. Monogram had always had a VERY fine crew of actors, directors and screenwriters to make the very best of whatever means of production they had; and one of their best steady cast members was Mantan Moreland, known today mostly for his role as 'Birmingham' in the Monogram Charlie Chan movies. But here he's not just the second assistant to the great detective and his sons, but kind of a semi-lead - and of course the very core of the comical part of the movie.

And just like the Monogram Charlie Chan movies always managed very elegantly to hold the balance between crime mystery and comedy, so does "King of the Zombies" with horror and comedy. There's everything the horror film fan's heart desires: an isolated island, a mysterious mansion with dark vaults, a strange scientist, zombies - and the adequate musical score to send shivers down your spine; and on the other hand, there's Mantan Moreland, better than ever (and getting, of course, a lot more opportunity to show his magnificent comical talent, with his eyes popping with fright and his knees shaking, and at the same time wisecracking and flirting with fate as well as with the kitchen maid...

This much-underrated movie surely deserves more attention and a much higher ranking among classic horror comedies; the atmosphere is haunting, but at the same time you find yourself in the middle of a creepy zombie tale, you can't help laughing with the jokes thrown in at the most improbable moments - FIRST-CLASS entertainment from a small but classy production company, and a sublime cast and crew!

"I am a zombie......I is?"

[Bezenby · 7/10 · 11 September 2013]

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.

Who is they? Who is they?

[lastliberal · 5/10 · 10 October 2010]

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.

Fun cheeziness

[one4now4 · 29 October 2003]

I agree with what was said of Mantan Moreland, because this really is his show. He was really good at what he did and could have been in many, many better movies. With that aside, this movie is a schlocky laugh riot, combining Moreland's intentional humor with everyone else's unintentional humor to make a horror-comedy classic. One of the greatest laughs is an unintentionally hilarious moment where the "Irish" guy gets into a fight with some less-than-alive assailants. The oh-so-diabolical Henry Victor character blames the attack on over-zealous guards, but the "Irish" guy aggressively comes back with, "Are ya sure it wasn't a zombie?!" I also love it when Victor is given lines like, "That's nonsense, zombies don't eat... meat." Aside from Victor, Moreland seems to be the only real actor out of all of them. Some of the intentional humor is hit-or-miss ("Look out, admiral, here we come"), but Moreland carries nearly every joke with comic flair. I don't consider "King of the Zombies" a total classic by any means (as schlock or otherwise), but it is fun and more than worth the four bucks I spent to buy it.

Zombies just want to have fun

[bkoganbing · 2/10 · 14 December 2016]

You had better be a fan of Mantan Moreland's clownish behavior not to mention racial stereotyping in order to sit through King Of The Zombies. In the days of the studio system this could only come from the mind of Sam Katzman at Monogram who probably just wanted to get use of the jungle set on the Monogram lot for a dirt cheap picture.

Dick Purcell and John Archer looking for a lost admiral get fooled by a false radio signal and crash on the island of Dr. Sangre, second cousin to Dr. Moreau. Henry Victor is the good doctor and when he's not working for German Intelligence he's conducting experiments in hypnosis and voodoo with the natives. He's convinced a lot of them that they're zombies.

Mantan as Archer and Purcell's manservant is with his employers and he does the whole Mantan shtick during the film while one of them is taken captive. It was the usual claptrap up to the very end.

But when one of our intrepid heroes, now convinced he's a zombie, keeps coming for Victor as he fires point blank into him without any effect and knocks Victor into a flaming pit. And then in the explanatory postscript we are told he's just ailing a bit and he'll be up and around good as new in a bit, I throw my hands in the air.

As did I'm sure many who saw this travesty on the big screen in 1941. It's not even decent wartime propaganda.

Unless you just Mantan Moreland, stay away from this stinker.

"Move over, boys. I'm one of the gang now."

[JoeytheBrit · 4/10 · 9 November 2005]

Dr Mikhail Sangre (Henry Victor) is a man who isn't big on company. Hidden away on his Caribbean island, he keeps his wife (Patricia Stacey) in a state of perpetual hypnosis while he attempts to transfer the mind of a captured US admiral (Guy Usher) into the head of his reluctant stepdaughter (Joan Woodbury) in order to unlock the secrets within. He also digs up recently deceased locals and turns them into zombies to create an army to aid the axis powers in their war against the allies. Such were the heights of comedy-horror writing at the poverty row Monogram Studios back in the 40s.

Into this cosy domestic scene crash our intrepid heroes James 'Mac' McCarthy (Dick Purcell) and Bill Summers (John Archer), and their not quite so intrepid butler Jefferson 'Jeff' Jackson (Mantan Moreland, all bulging eyes and astonished double-takes), who are searching for the missing Admiral. Quite why the intrepid duo felt the need to bring their manservant along is never explained, but it's fortunate for the film that they did because Moreland is by far the best thing in this half-hearted comedy-horror. Only Marguerite Whitten as a sassy maid comes close to him, and they share a number of amusing scenes.

Seeing zombies everywhere while his 'masters' see nothing, Jeff, like Shaggy and Scoob whose cartoon adventures this film perfectly foreshadows, always waits until they have disappeared before thinking of alerting anybody. It's all pretty grim and unimaginative, as you'd expect from an ultra-low budget forties flick, but while some may find Moreland's routine politically incorrect in today's enlightened times, there's no denying the fact that he was a talented comedian with impeccable timing. He's far better than the material he is given to work with here and manages to single-handedly lift the film above the level of completely terrible.

The role of Sangre is crying out for the familiar figure of Bela Lugosi rather than the rather bland features of Victor. While he's OK in the role, he fails to generate any sense of menace as he attempts to ensure his unwelcome guests never leave his island. Purcell and Archer needn't even be there: just vanilla wallpaper against which Moreland performs his high jinks, while Woodbury has uniquely attractive looks but little to do. While this film does have some entertainment value, most people would be better off giving this one a miss unless they're a fan of Moreland.

Worth seeing once for Mantan Moreland

[lemon_magic · 5/10 · 27 November 2012]

This movie reminds me of an episode of Scooby Doo, with Henry Victor playing the part of the spook master, the two bland men-of-action white guys playing the roles of Fred and Daphne, and Mantan Moreland playing the parts of Shaggy and Scooby. (I suppose the role of Velma is split between the white female lead and the black female lead, since they both appear to be waaay smarter than the men.)

Obviously intended as a spooky comedy of sorts, the one good thing you can say about it is that it gives Moreland a chance to do his stuff, and he does so: he basically steals the movie with a wonderfully consistent and energetic performance.

I realize that this sort of role might be painful and jarring for modern "politically correct" viewers to watch, but as a creation of his time and place, Moreland had the stuff. He wouldn't have been out of place on something like the Flip Wilson show in the 60s before people like Richard Pryor and Dick Gregory evolved black acting and comedy to the next step.

The rest of the movie and cast is competent in that early B&W 40's Monogram way - the movie gets the job done, but it's nothing to get excited about.

Effective zombie comedy horror

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 13 August 2016]

For those who thought that RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD was the first real zombie-comedy-horror, think again. A good forty years before that film, a movie came along that portrayed the undead menace with an equal number of laughs and chills. That film is KING OF THE ZOMBIES, and it's a great little movie. Now, I may be biased, seeing as how the last zombie film I watched was the god-awful REVOLT OF THE ZOMBIES, made five years before this. That movie was a boring, zombie-free mess. KING OF THE ZOMBIES, by comparison, is a tightly-paced little thriller set on the confines of a tropical island.

Essentially it's one of those 'haunted house' type movies, as our protagonists find themselves trapped in an eerie building and menaced by mysterious figures and the walking dead. These 'zombies' are of the classic variety, the hypnotised-workers group, and the make up, although simple, is more than effective. There's a lot of running around and voodoo ceremonies going on in the basement, and it all seems rather quaint and dated by today's standards. The majority of the cast are fairly wooden in their roles, especially the stiff-upper-lip 'heroes', but Henry Victor does a passable imitation of Bela Lugosi and Joan Woodbury wins points on her sheer loveliness alone. And then there's Mantan Moreland.

You see, this is a COMEDY horror, along the lines of the classic Bob Hope type 'old dark house' comedies popular during the 1940s. And the presence of Mantan Moreland, a black actor typecast in this genre for his wide-eyed terror, means that we're in for a very funny ride. The type of humour seen here might seem racist and highly dated to a modern audience, but this is what passed for top comedy back in the 1940s and there's no point putting modern political correctness on an old, creaky black and white flick. Moreland shivers with terror, screams, runs and makes wisecrack after wisecrack in his various run-ins with the undead, and he's easily the best thing in the movie: he displays sound comic timing, great acting, and is a sheer likable personality. He also gets a huge amount of screen time, making this a very painless film to watch.

Who is they? Who is they?

[lastliberal-853-253708 · 5/10 · 2 October 2012]

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.

Hugely entertaining!

[Prichards12345 · 7/10 · 14 August 2009]

This is one of those films where it helps to forget today's standards of racism - there is no way Mantan Moreland's black servant would be depicted in this fashion today. I'm as anti-racist a person as they come, but I always try to remember that racial standards were entirely different 50 years ago when watching movies of this vintage. Besides, Moreland is the star of the show! He's like a black Woody Allen, constantly dropping wisecracks and one-liners - even when in a zombie state. Get past the first couple of minutes of racist jokes he's made to utter and this film becomes a witty little gem!

The story concerns two secret service guys and Moreland's servant looking for a missing Admiral whose 'plane has disappeared. Following his trail their own aircraft crash-lands on a mysterious island where they discover a sinister Austrian doctor (Henry Victor) in residence with his niece and catatonic wife. He appears to have created a small army of zombie servants, and seems intent on adding his new arrivals to the ranks! In all truth Henry Victor is pretty lifeless(no pun intended) as the villain - the part was crying out for Bela Lugosi to put his unique comic and mystery talents to use. But the script is witty and engaging. Sure the lack of budget shows - I'm pretty sure Lugosi's Devil Bat laboratory set turns up here redressed - but this is a highly enjoyable zombie romp, made with such good humour it'll win over all but the most jaded. Possibly the best film I've seen turned out by Monogram.

Moreland is terrific and John Archer, Dick Purcell and Joan Woodbury are excellent in the lead parts. There's some mild horror stuff but it's the humour you'll remember. Well worth a watch!

You know a film is bad when the best part of it is Mantan Moreland!

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 25 February 2007]

Most old B-movie buffs know Mantan Moreland as the sidekick for Charlie Chan in the later Monogram Pictures Chan films. In this role, he was often very funny but also the embodiment of what many Black Americans hated about Hollywood during the era. He was almost always cast as the scared Black man who overreacted as White folks laughed their heads off at his antics. He was quite funny, but at the same time this reinforced a negative and paternalistic stereotype. Now I do NOT recommend people avoid his films--after all, throwing out his films would do a disservice to his talents and living in a 100% politically correct world where we cannot allow evidence of "incorrect thinking" is a scary prospect indeed. But be aware of this before you watch the film--you could easily be offended. Oddly, however, while this is definitely a horror film featuring Mantan reacting to zombies and the like again and again, his antics weren't nearly as offensive as usual. Plus, oddly, he had one of the best vocabularies of any character from his age--using very high-brow words AND using them in the correct context! So, while Moreland might have been a negative role model in one way, in another he showed that a Black man can be very bright and articulate as well (now THAT'S a first in film).

Apart from Moreland, the rest of the film is a pretty flimsy story about a plane that crashes onto an unnamed Caribbean island. There they are assisted by a guy who obviously is a German but the three men never seem to catch on and put 2 and 2 together! While the US was not yet in the war when the film was made, WWII was in full swing and only a group of idiots wouldn't have guessed what was really occurring! Because the heroes were too stupid to live and the plot was handled so much better in films like WHITE ZOMBIE and I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE, this film is totally skip-able. However, if you do watch, don't expect it to be either bad or good--sort of like the VELVETA of films.

subversive black cinema

[winner55 · 9/10 · 10 September 2006]

implicitly intended for an urban African-American audience, this film is mantan Moreland's masterpiece performance. a wicked parody of the b-movie horror cycle that washed over American screens in the wake of the success of the universal monster movies, Moreland - with blessings from director Jean Yarbrough and writer Edmond Kelso - uses his role to rip, tear, kick, and generally trash all the expectations concerning race in his culture, rightly pinioning it as little better than the racism of Nazi Germany.

the white 'heroes' of this film are completely stupid, especially the Anglo-Saxon guy John Archer as 'Bill Summers', who can't quite figure out how he could be trapped on an island just because his plane crashed and the local Nazi doesn't want him to leave.

although the Nazi's role was clearly intended for Bela Lugosi, Henry Victor does a pretty good job sounding like a slimy spy who doesn't even like Irish people, so we can guess what he thinks of blacks.

but it's the black guy who saves the day - the black guy who solves the mystery - indeed, the black guy who even figures out that there is a mystery, while the hokey white boys scratch their heads. and along the way, he drops a lot of little gags about the African-American cultural experience, especially in Harlem, then de-facto capital of African-America, and how he would rather be there than chasing 'hants' on some dumb Nazi's jungle island.

this is a Jean Yarbrough film, so of course there are a lot of silly goofs and gaffs, and unintentionally funny stuff - i especially like the line about the guy who just got shot through the chest five times getting better in a little while; yeah.

but this is an historically important film because it is not only mantan Moreland's one leading-role star-turn, but because it is clearly designed to subvert the culture that made it impossible for actors and comedians as good as Moreland from getting their fair share of star-turn leading roles - a culture which, sadly, still needs some subverting today, 65 years later.

but like it or not - and i happen to love this film - this is the first, the beach-head in that ongoing underground cultural war for civil rights and justice in all areas of American life, even the Hollywood film.

A decent Monogram Film

[t_janson · 7/10 · 6 December 2004]

During WWII, a Govt, Agent Bill summers (John Archer) is searching for an admiral whose plan went down somewhere in the Caribbean. He's accompanied by the search plane pilot "Mac" (Dick Purcell) and his servant Jeff Jackson(Mantan Moreland).

While searching, their own plane goes down and crashes into a cemetery on an island. They are taken into the residence by Dutch Dr. Sangre who claims to have fled there from the Nazis. He's accompanied by his wife who walks around in a trance-like state.

Not only that, but there's several black zombies skulking about the creepy house that only Jeff ever seems to encounter. It's soon revealed that Dr. Sangre is a nazi conspirator who has the Admiral captured and is using a voodoo priestess to try and get sensitive military info out of him.

Along the way Jeff get's "Zombie-fied" by the doctor in the movie's funniest bit. This film really seemed to be a vehicle for Lugosi in the role of the mad doctor Sangre but Henry Victor does an admirable job.

Mantan steals the show with his one-liners and really brings some life to the film. Purcell is OK as the pilot but Archer is REALLY wooden as the would-be hero.

Yes it is a bit racially stereotyped as Jeff his told that he cannot stay in a guest room and must instead stay with the other black servants. But instead of running it down lets remember the era that the film was made in.

No one should much feel sorry for Mantan Moreland as he steals virtually every scene he's in.

The film is no gem but has some fairly atmospheric creepiness and better than average Monogram film.

Where's The B-Movie Fun?

[ReelCheese · 3/10 · 25 July 2006]

KING OF THE ZOMBIES begins with a three-man airplane crew making an emergency landing on a remote island. It's there they find the home of an eccentric doctor, his servants and, of course, an attractive young woman. Things get even more bizarre when a few individuals from the non-living ranks -- the result of the fine doctor's experiments, we learn -- begin roaming around.

Despite the potential for black and white B-movie fun, KING OF THE ZOMBIES is a very forgettable, unspooky effort. It's a slow mover with too much buildup and not enough reward. Fans often point to the antics of Mantan Moreland, playing the pilot's black servant, as the saving grace. However, Moreland is more of an annoying distraction, to say nothing of the racial stereotype he represents (of course this was 1941). In trying to strike a balance between humor and horror, the film succeeds in neither.

Whatever you think of KING OF THE ZOMBIES, it will most certainly go down as the most unlikely picture ever nominated for an Oscar. Incredibly, it was up for the 1942 Academy Award in the Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic Picture category. That fact is actually more unbelievable than the plot of this or any other zombie movie!