Lord of the Zombies - Island of the Living Dead

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Movie
German title Lord of the Zombies - Island of the Living Dead
Original title King of the Zombies
Country of production United States
original language English ,
German
Publishing year 1941
length 67 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Jean Yarbrough
script Edmond Kelso
production Lindsley Parsons
music Edward J. Kay
camera Mack Stengler
cut Richard C. Currier
occupation

Lord of the Zombies - Isle of the Living Dead is a 1941 American horror comedy film directed by Jean Yarbrough .

action

James McCarthy, Bill Summers and their black servant Jeff are on their way to the Bahamas on a secret government mission during World War II , but they got lost at night. After a long period of silence, they suddenly receive a radio signal, whereupon they crash land on an island. Jeff is horrified when he finds himself in a cemetery, the three men hear the drums and shortly afterwards they see a stately property that they enter. Inside they are led by Dr. Miklos Sangre, who pretends to be a doctor from Vienna, is greeted. He offers them to live with him because a boat won't be able to pass the island for two weeks. He doesn't want to know anything about a radio message from his island.

Jeff is suspicious; he is taken by servant Momba to the kitchen in the basement, where he meets old Tahama and kitchen maid Samantha. Samantha willingly tells him there are zombies in the house and brings two creatures into the kitchen by clapping her hands. Jeff escapes to Bill and James, who don't believe him. Dr. Sangre pretends to be clueless, and indeed both creatures are gone when the men return to the kitchen. Samantha makes it clear to Jeff that Dr. Sangre would rather keep the zombies a secret. Shortly afterwards, the newcomers learn Dr. Sangre's wife, Alyce, who looks zombie-like, but according to her husband, is just sick. He also introduces them to his niece Barbara. Like them, he and his wife allegedly fled Austria from the National Socialists. Bill and James inquire with Dr. Sangre after Admiral Wainwright, who also crashed over the island a week ago, but the doctor says he has not seen anyone.

In the evening Jeff meets two zombies and fled to James and Bill. They allow him to sleep in their room; at night Jeff sees Alyce who seems to be walking through walls. James and Bill refuse to believe him again, but find the woman's earring on the bed. You get suspicious. In the basement, James gets into a duel with a zombie; Meanwhile, Bill surprises Barbara with a book about hypnosis in the library. She believes that Alyce is under hypnosis and wants nothing more than to disappear from the island with her aunt. Since Bill and James heard a power generator that night, they suspect that Dr. Sangre lied about the radio call. Barbara promises to look for the generator.

The next morning, Bill and James find an excavated grave pit not far from their plane. James sets out to find the generator and is now lost. In the evening Bill and Jeff are looking for him; Jeff is led by Dr. Sangre smuggled into the basement through a secret passage and hypnotized. He now believes he is a zombie and leads the other zombies to eat in the basement. James, meanwhile, appears unresponsive to Bill, who puts him to bed. Doctor dr Couillie examines James and finds that he has been dead several hours ago: James has become a zombie. Meanwhile, Jeff is awakened from his trance by Samantha and notices that he is still alive. With Bill he follows the secret passage and ends up in Dr. Sangre's secret room, in which he is currently trying to use voodoo magic to transfer information from the unconscious Admiral Wainwright to his niece Barbara, who is in a trance, in order to pass on information that is important for the war effort to the enemy. When Dr. Sangre Bill and Jeff notice that he wants to set his zombies on them, but Bill manages to get their leader James to turn back. The zombies are now attacking Dr. Sangre who falls into the fire and dies. The zombies come back to life and Admiral Wainwright comes to. The coast guard will fetch you from the island the next day and bring you to safety.

production

The shooting of Lord of the Zombies - Island of the Living Dead took place from March to April 1941. For the role of Dr. Sangre were originally intended for Bela Lugosi and Peter Lorre .

The comedic element of the film, which was intended as a satirical replica of the popular horror films of the time, is Mantan Moreland's role as Jeff. Jeff, introduced as the black servant of the two government agents, refuses the initially typical attribution as a subordinate, insists on his full name Jefferson Jackson and shows himself eloquent and intelligent, unlike the genre. Only the transformation of Jeff into a zombie leads to the genre-typical representation of the "black slave" who has no name and no identity. Screenwriter Edmond Kelso does not portray slavery as “natural”, but as an unnatural consequence of coercion and oppression.

Lord of the Zombies - Isle of the Living Dead was shown in US cinemas on May 14, 1941. In Germany, the film was released directly on DVD on January 26, 2007. An indirect sequel to the film is Revenge of the Zombies from 1943, in which Mantan Moreland can be seen again as Jeff.

Awards

Lord of the Zombies - Isle of the Living Dead was nominated for an Oscar in the category Best Film Music in 1942 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ King of the Zombies (1941) - Original Print Info. In: Turner Classic Movies . Retrieved October 25, 2019 .
  2. ↑ a b King of the Zombies (1941) - Notes. In: Turner Classic Movies . Retrieved October 25, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Cedric J. Robinson: Forgeries of Memory and Meaning: Blacks and the Regimes of Race in American Theater and Film before World War II . UNC Press Books, 2012, pp. 376-377.