Director: Gordon Douglas
The most enduring element of Zombies on Broadway might be that irresistible title, but the picture is actually a nice treat for fans of the horror classic I Walked With a Zombie. Returning to the screen are the calypso singer Sir Lancelot and the unforgettable Darby Jones as a towering zombie with bulging eyes. Even Bela Lugosi shows up to the further delight of genre devotees! Stars Wally Brown and Alan Carney were RKO’s answer to Abbott and Costello, only they didn’t have the same charm or chemistry. What this film gets right, however, is very much in predicting the formula of Abbott and Costello’s later horror pictures (this one actually predates Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein). The horror elements are played straight, with the bumbling comedians mostly reacting with fright to the undead monster lurking in the jungles. Bob Hope’s dalliances with the genre better captured the horror aesthetic and even found genuine scares, but this is a surprisingly watchable effort from the forgettable team–perhaps because they have more reasons to keep their mouths shut!
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