Dead Men Walk (1943)
Grade: C+
Moody vampire flick stars George Zucco as twin brothers, Drs. Lloyd and Elwyn Clayton. Naturally, there's one good one and one bad one, but Zucco makes it easy to tell which is which: Lloyd wears glasses, and is right as rain; Elwyn goes without, and is evil as eggs. You know how these things go.
After a brief opening narration (with the requisite heavy-handed references to vampirism), the movie begins with Elwyn's funeral, where we soon learn that he dabbled heavily in the occult...and that Lloyd was responsible for his death. Hmmm.
Meanwhile, we're also introduced to Lloyd's niece, Gayle, and her fiance, Dr. David Bently. If you like doctors, this is the movie for you!
(From the neck down, she's nothin' but Tribbles. Enjoy yr honeymoon.)
It's no spoiler to reveal that Elwyn has, in fact, done what Peter Loew could only dream of doing (dude!), and is taking nibbles out of local yokels. Revenge is on Elwyn's mind, and soon he turns his attention to Gayle...though for once, we have protagonists who (once prompted) take intelligent countermeasures.
(No dinner for you, sir -- Jesus has dibs on this one.)
From here the plot is more or less by-the-numbers, and so nothing in Dead Men Walk will surprise anyone who's seen their share of evil-twin movies (let alone vampire movies). It's even got a hunchback assistant and everything! The ending is easy to predict, but disappointingly pat when it arrives.
Still, we admired the film's restraint, atmosphere, and willingness to take its time. Dead Men Walk is a refreshingly competent movie, too, with solid performances throughout, cinematography that's easy to watch, and a score that doesn't offend the ears.
It also doesn't hurt that it's short.
("So...is everyone in this town a character actor?")
The open question: how much credit does a movie deserve for, well, not failing? Have we watched so many B-pictures that we're bedazzled by the basics, and marvel at mediocrity? Does the absence of glaring flaws in Dead Men Walk denote the presence of something admirable?
Well, not as such. But once the fundamentals are in place, brevity and atmosphere go a long way in our book. And isn't it nice to look at pretty things, anyway?
("Look at me, friends, look at me! Aren't I pretty? Don't I have a pretty smile?")
