Bewitching, hypnosis, voodoo, rites of transmigration: a lowbrow comedy made in an epoch when some people, at least, thought these things made a comedy be more intriguing, more quirky, more over the top; like many others, they aren't humorous horrors, or over the top horrors, but comedies taking Gothic pretexts and spoofing them, 'King …' is a pure spoof, and a kind of a B favorite for people who don't really know or enjoy B cinema, and who believe this is what B cinema ought have been. Budget-wise, the show was neat, and its sets and cinematography look good.Joan Woodbury and Moreland are the walking trailers of this comedy, and he has a handful of funny one-liners.She has 2nd billing, and him, 3rd. For some reason, Archer got 5th billing, while Purcell got the … 1st.Tahama, the eerie cook, is also the priestess of the cult, and Sangre's hypnosis works as a complementary method, with the same results. Since war was at hand, the Austrian refugee is shown despising the black people, while the Yankees care for the manservant almost brotherly, when they descend some stairs one of them puts his hand protectively on the black man's shoulder. On their way to smashing the unbelievers, during the transmigration rituals, the zombies are switched to another target. If the recasting of the zombies' urge looks casual, provoked by Archer's shout, some significance is given to the religious nature of the gathering: apart from the ministers (the priestess, Sangre who blends voodoo with Irish bewitching), there is a congregation of black people, for whom the living dead have a religious meaning, legitimacy and value, the storyline reveals this social understructure, the religious side of the slavery (presumably not because of the scriptwriter's awareness, but because the trope was still such); when the Viennese refugee visits the priestess while she bewitches the seaman, he looks convinced by the theoretic efficiency of her ritual, though scoffing at the result.One of the tropes is the colonial _bewitcher and mastermind: a creepy foreigner who establishes a kingdom in a remote land. Both classic zombie tales and colonial manhunts recycle this trope, who must of been as much socio-historical as literary.Two actors aside, the rest of the cast isn't so likable. The cast and the script are the two main drawbacks; suspense isn't as much as attempted, nor any unholy feel, and, for a story supposed to be playful, it's _univentive, uninspired and trite. Archer, Purcell as the _zombified Irishman, Henry Victor as the insipid Sangre (played as a gentleman or a butler), Patricia Stacey as his mindless wife, and Guy Usher as the folksy seaman, weren't really a nice comic team. Given that they wished to have Lugosi or (at least) Lorre for the Sangre role, their other pick seems _unobvious, with a mostly bland and placid replacement.'King …' looks neat, but is bland, not very lively, as atmospheric or scary as any 5th rate sitcom, perhaps unconvinced, as if the crew didn't believe much in it, and it has an also bland, mediocre cast and a very bland script; there are cretins who hail it as a B classic.The line about Sangre's wife having tried to warn the guests alludes to her mysterious visit.

Film buffs who are desirous of getting their hands on the obscure little horror/comedy "King of the Zombies" (1941) seemingly have no other option than buying the DVD currently available from the Roan Group. This DVD is actually a pretty good deal, as residing on its flip side is the second zombie movie ever made, 1936's "Revolt of the Zombies" (1932's "White Zombie" was, of course, the first). But be forewarned: "ROTZ" is a fairly terrible film, slow moving and deadly dull, despite its 65-minute length. I have written elsewhere of this pathetic little stinker, in which Dean Jagger learns the secret of zombification in the ruins of Angkor Wat and uses his newfound powers to take vengeance on the fiancée who had jilted him. Happily, "KOTZ" is an entirely different proposition. While certainly nobody's idea of an exemplar of the cinematic arts, it is at least entertaining, and very often quite funny. Though made on the proverbial shoestring by "Poverty Row" studio Monogram Pictures and clocking in at a brief 68 minutes, here, the viewer is left quite contented, although actually wishing for more.In the film, three men on a mission for the Navy crash-land on a very strange island in the Caribbean. Pilot "Mac" McCarthy (Dick Purcell, who would go on to star in the "Captain America" serial in 1943) tells his two fellows that they are "somewhere between Cuba and Porto Reeker," while fellow officer Bill Summers (John Archer) frets and his manservant, Jefferson "Jeff" Jackson (an absolutely hilarious Mantan Moreland), offers up a steady stream of pop-eyed one-liners. Their plane a hopeless wreck, the trio seeks shelter at the gloomy abode of Dr. Miklos Sangre (Henry Victor, who many will recall as circus strongman Hercules in the 1932 classic "Freaks"). Sangre's household, however, is a strange one. His butler Momba (Leigh Whipper) and cook Tahama (Madame Sul-Te-Wan, who would go on to appear with Moreland in the 1943 film "Revenge of the Zombies") are like the denizens of a spook house, while--what else?--the living dead walk the halls, the creations of Sangre for an unnamed foreign power. And then things grow even worse, as both Mac and Jeff are turned into zombies, and Sangre plots to use his pretty niece (Joan Woodbury) in a voodoo ceremony to effect transmigration....To my delighted surprise, "King of the Zombies" turns out to be a perfectly acceptable entertainment for both young and old. Writing of the film in his excellent encyclopedia "Zombie Movies: The Ultimate Guide," author Glenn Kay bemoans the "cheapness of the production" and the film's "sluggish pace," leading him to give the picture "stinker status." But I think Kay is being much too harsh here. Yes, the film surely was made on the cheap, but director Jean Yarbrough (who had previously helmed 1940's "The Devil Bat" and would go on to direct 1946's "The Brute Man" and, uh, 1967's "Hillbillys in a Haunted House") keeps things moving along very well; the picture is never boring and has decent-enough production values...at least, as compared to "ROTZ"! The film LOOKS just fine, and builds to a fairly tense little conclusion (that voodoo ceremony). And the picture's music, by composer Edward Kay (no relation to Glenn, I would imagine!), features a surprisingly earwormlike opening theme and a highly hummable voodoo chant; amazingly, the musical score for this picture was actually nominated for an Academy Award! Our three heroes are extremely likable men, and as for Mantan...well, he easily steals the movie; in fact, without his always amusing presence, I shudder to think what a drag this film might have been. Far from employing the Stepin Fetchit style of embarrassing black caricature that has torpedoed so many other films of that era, Moreland is ingratiating, cool and, in general, a riot! Yes, his eyes bug out quite often to the point where one would think him an advanced glaucoma patient, and yes, he is capable of uttering a line on the order of "Who's thems?," but overall, the actor/comedian's performance here should sit very well with modern-day audiences. Just about every single line that Moreland delivers is hysterical. (It did not surprise me to learn that Mantan was briefly considered when Shemp left The Three Stooges!) When he awakens in a cemetery after the crash landing and learns that he is NOT dead, he declares, "I thought I was a little off-color to be a ghost!" After he's asked what he thinks of Tahama's magic potion, he opines, "I don't know, but it ain't kosher!" After Sangre hypnotizes him into being a zombie, he declares to a file of the undead, "Move over, boys, I'm one of the gang now." And when Summers asks him what he thinks of the distant voodoo drums, he responds, "I don't know, but it ain't Gene Krupa!" In short, Moreland maintains his dignity throughout, and never embarrasses the viewer once, as the mumbling, "I's a'coming" Fetchit always did. I believe that I had previously only seen Moreland in one other film, the cult classic "Spider Baby" (1964), in which his role is a small one. Seeing him in "KOTZ" has made this viewer an instant fan, and I eagerly look forward to seeing "Revenge" one day, in which Mantan reprises his hilarious "Jeff" Jackson character. Anyway, the bottom line, I suppose, is that "KOTZ" is certainly nothing great, but darn it, this movie is both fun AND funny...again, unlike "ROTZ," which really rots and is absolutely devoid of humor. Apropos of its zombie theme, perhaps, "ROTZ" was dead on arrival. "KOTZ," on the other hand, just might make you howl with laughter to awaken the dead....

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.

The best thing about this movie is Mantan Moreland. The plot is silly but that's okay because everybody involved with it surely knew it was silly as did the audience – but it was also fun. Our two heroes with their man servant (of course that has to be Moreland) are forced to land on a spooky island. They are searching a for a missing admiral. There are two especially funny lines – although for different reasons because one was meant to be funny and one was not. Upon hearing voodoo drums, Moreland says to his confederate who asked what that sound was replied that: "It sure ain't Gene Krupa." The second funny scene is when Purcell, while in a zombie-like state, is shot up close five times by the bad guy. When Purcell is recovering (?), the doctor says "Those bullets sure didn't do him any good." Purcell and Archer did fine in this movie as did Joan Woodbury – a much underrated actress. But Moreland had all the best lines. This little movie is very entertaining and I know I'll be watching it again.