The comedy team of Wally Brown and Alan Carney were a poor man’s Abbott and Costello act. They did eleven films together, about half using the same character names as here. Afterwords they both went on to do television, but not together as far as I can tell.
Bela Lugosi played the evil scientist character in the spooky mansion. Past sixty, he still displayed a fair level of physicality. With his Universal features behind him, he took just about every acting job offered. Becoming a parody of himself, he effectively weakened his brand and hurt his reputation in Hollywood. Please take note Nic Cage. Old friend Ian Wolfe appears as a museum curator. I believe this makes eight films. Our ingenue this evening was pretty Anne Jeffreys, who has fairly little to do in the film. She performs a musical number, catches Wally’s eye, and gets captured. She appeared to have some acting chops, not that this was the venue to display them. She had played Tess Trueheart in Dick Tracy. Her movie career never approached A list level and went on to do a steaming pile of television. She passed away just this past September.
Zombies had a few more things in common with I Walked With a Zombie (1943). Both are set on the same fictitious Caribbean island. Calypso singer Sir Lancelot and head zombie Darby Jones all but recreated their earlier roles. Darby (and others turned zombie) wore prosthetic bugged out eyes. The effect was actually quite effective.Zombies on Broadway wasn’t even as amusing and entertaining as the title suggests. At no moment did I giggle, even the slightest. The frady Abbott and Costello bits were tedious at best and insulting at worst. 1945 was far too late in the game for blackface to be either clever or funny, but there we have it. I also felt sorry for the black extras who had to dress as “natives” and jump around. At least they had work. AMRU 2.
“A great scientist. Yes, some people say he is crazy. I don't think he is crazy... well, ah, not very crazy, anyway.”
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