The Walking Dead (1936)
Boris Karloff is unscrupulously framed for murder by the mob and sent to the electric chair. A mad scientist, played by Edmund Gwenn (Miracle on 34th Street), revives him and the undead Karloff wreaks bloody revenge on the gangsters who betrayed him.
This macabre take on the Frankenstein story from director Michael Curtiz, who would just six short years later direct one of the greatest films of all time, and my personal favourite in Casablanca, is a remarkably moving film which benefits from a superb performance by Karloff as the hollow eyed zombie pianist.
Curtiz' direction is flawess, with some almost expressionistic photography and a script allowing Karloff and Gwenn to shine as well as gain the audiences sympathy. Like so many B-pictures of the time the film is short -a mere 65 minutes. However it's 65 minutes well spent with three of the finest names in Karloff, Gwenn and Curtiz, of Hollywood to come.
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