This is more or less a sequel to RKO’s horror classic, I Walked With a Zombie.
Seriously.
Now most people will tell you that Zombies on Broadway is a rip off of those Abbott and Costello horror comedies they made at the end of their career.
The only problem is that it came out two years before the first of those films, Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein.
Okay, Hold That Ghost was earlier, but it was more of an Old Dark House comedy that a straight horror comedy.
In fact, Zombies on Broadway reminds me far more of Bob Hope’s Ghost Breakers from 1940.
Now I tend to agree with those who think Wally Brown and Alan Carney aren’t trying that hard to be Bud and Lou. While Wally is, like Bud Abbot, the sharper and more aggressive character, he is a lot sillier than Bud was ever allowed to be and no one would ever for one moment be fooled by his attempts to blame everything on his partner.
And we all know Bud usually got away with that one!
Art is more or less the comic character, but never really comes across as the comic half of the traditional comedy team. He’s far closer to the silly comedy relief we’ve seen in so many films.
Of course, the big draw here is Bela Lugosi. He’s playing a mad scientist named Dr. Renault, trying to learn how to make his own zombies. After all, if a bunch of natives can do it, then a genuine, card-carrying mad scientist shouldn’t have any trouble figuring out how to do it.
It’s one of his more subdued performances, and doesn’t occupy too much of the running time. You have to wonder if he saw it as a few days work and just wanted to get done.
It would have been a far different film if he’d played him like “kindly Dr. Carruthers.”
As far as I can tell, though, there’s absolutely no connection between his character and Twentieth Century Fox’s Dr. Renault’s Secret (1942).
It’s just a very strange coincidence.
However it is no coincidence that this film takes place on the same imaginary island, San Sebastian, as I Walked With a Zombie. Nor is it a coincidence that two of the characters from that film return — the zombie himself, and a Calypso singer played by Sir Lancelot.
I suppose it seemed like a good idea to someone.
It’s hard not to see that this film — and the Abbot and Costello horror comedies which would follow — reflects the decline of the horror film, a decline which would shortly bring to end Universal’s dominance of the genre.
At any rate it is an amusing if extremely minor film. And it’s short.
And we all know how much that can help a film.
While Wally Brown and Alan Carney may not be Bud and Lou, they still manage to get a few laughs.
Let’s face it: Zombies on Broadway isn’t a bad way to spend an hour. It offers some lighthearted comedy, and it has Bela Lugosi.
And that’s never a bad thing…
rivets on the poster 