Revenge of the Zombies [The Corpse Vanished] *** (1943, John Carradine, Gale Storm, Robert Lowery, Veda Ann Borg, Bob Steele, Mantan Moreland) – Classic Movie Review 8,927

The 1943 American comedy horror film Revenge of the Zombies stars John Carradine as mad scientist Dr Max Heinrich von Altermann, working to create a race of living dead warriors for the Third Reich.

‘DEAD MEN CAN’T DIE… but live to follow a mad-man’s will!’

Director Steve Sekely’s 1943 low-budget poverty-row double-feature zombie comedy horror B-movie Revenge of the Zombies [The Corpse Vanished] tells a tale of manic monster madness when, down on the Bayoux, a Louisiana crazed renegade scientist with the splendid if rather unsubtle name of Dr Max Heinrich von Altermann (John Carradine) experiments on people and creates an army of Nazi zombies down in the cellar. He is also attempting to find a life-giving potion after turning his wife Lila (Veda Ann Borg)’s corpse into a zombie. But the late Lila challenges her husband for control of the zombie horde.

Monogram Pictures’ Revenge of the Zombies [The Corpse Vanished] is intriguing and entertaining, if not perhaps as manic as you hope it should be with this delirious premise, and it is unfortunately rather limited by what appears to have been the tiniest of tiny budgets, though, even so, it is atmospheric in places, with some sequences, with the lab and the swamp graveyard sets effective.

Carradine’s rousing performance as Dr Max Heinrich von Altermann is more or less the whole show. Horrible broad comedy from Mantan Moreland as the servant Jeff damages it by being the wrong tone, plunging it into a zombie comedy. But, nevertheless, it is still an amusing and tolerable attempt to cash in on the success of Monogram Pictures’ 1941 zombie comedy horror movie King of the Zombies. Revenge of the Zombies is both a sequel and a partial remake of King of the Zombies, with Mantan Moreland reprising his role as Jeff and Madame Sul-Te-Wan returning as a different character. It is co-written by Edmond Kelso, who wrote King of the Zombies, and tells a similar story.

Mauritz Hugo plays Scott Warrington and Robert Lowery plays his hired detective Larry Adams, who arrive at an old Louisiana swamp mansion to meet Warrington’s brother-in-law, Dr von Altermann, after the death of Warrington’s sister Lila von Altermann (Veda Ann Borg), Dr Max’s wife.

And there is even a Second World War wartime relevance too. Dr von Altermann is shown as a Nazi creating zombies for the armies of the Third Reich. They are the perfect troops. They don’t need feeding and they won’t die from bullets. Zombies, however, are of course always relevant. How did you lose the war, daddy? Oh, it was zombies! It may be the first appearance of Nazi zombies in the movies.

Also in the cast are Gale Storm, Bob Steele, Barry Macollum, Madame Sul-Te-Wan, James Baskett, Sybil Lewis, Robert Cherry and Franklyn Farnum.

It was released on 17 September 1943, which meant that it followed Jacques Tourneur’s 1943 RKO hit I Walked with a Zombie, premiered on 21 April 1943.

In the UK it was retitled The Corpse Vanished, as locals apparently hadn’t heard of zombies. But in the US, it was safely assumed that the audience knew what a zombie was after King of the Zombies and I Walked with a Zombie.

Unsurprisingly, the Office of War Information and the Bureau of Motion Pictures disapproved of several elements of the script, and the producers had to enter elaborate negotiations to have it approved.

Filming was meant to start on 10 May 1943 with Bela Lugosi starring, but it was delayed and John Carradine took over.

Mantan Moreland had just signed a six-film contract with Monogram Pictures and this was the first result.

Steve Sekely is credited as Istvan Szekely. The Hungarian Jewish film director Steve Sekely (February 25, 1899 – March 9, 1979) was born in Budapest, Austria-Hungary, as István Székely, and was also known as Stefan Szekely. Miracle on Main Street (1939) is his first US film. His best-known English language film is the 1962 UK sci-fi thriller The Day of the Triffids. 

Revenge of the Zombies [The Corpse Vanished] is directed by Steve Sekely [Istvan Szekely], runs 69 minutes, is made by Monogram Pictures Corporation, is released by Monogram Pictures (1943) (US) and Associated British Film Distributors (1943) (UK) (theatrical) (retitled as The Corpse Vanished), is written (original screenplay) by Edmond Kelso and Van Norcross, is shot by Mack Stengler, is produced by Lindsley Parsons, is scored by Edward J Kay, and is designed by Dave Milton.

It was released by Kino Lorber on Blu-ray on November 26, 2024.

The cast

The cast are John Carradine as Dr Max Heinrich von Altermann, Mantan Moreland as Jeff, Gale Storm as Jennifer Rand, Mauritz Hugo as Scott Warrington, Robert Lowery as Larry Adams, Bob Steele as United States agent posing as Sheriff, Veda Ann Borg as Lila von Altermann, Barry Macollum as Dr Harvey Keating, Madame Sul-Te-Wan as housekeeper Mammy Beulah, James Baskett as Lazarus, Sybil Lewis  as Rosella, Robert Cherry as zombie Pete, and Franklyn Farnum as zombie.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8,927

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