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The Walking Dead came to me as a complete surprise when I watched it, yesterday afternoon for the first time. "Surprise", because I cannot believe I hadn't seen it before now! I was delighted to discover that it was helmed by the great Michael Curtiz, one of my all-time favorite drectors, and easily one of the best and most prolific filmmakers of his era, having made such bonafide classics as Casablanca, Yankee Doodle Dandy, Mildred Pierce, Angels With Dirty Faces and countless others as Warner Brothers' in-house auteur. He instantly lends The Walking Dead a look and feel of quality and authenticity that was generally lacking in alot of the more standard horror films of the time. Karloff is truly mesmerizing as John Ellman. Greg Mank is right, there is something truly mystical about this man, because you just cannot take your eyes off of him, especially here, because he was never been more handsome and simply arresting than in this movie. His performance easily ranks along-side some of his best, such as his Frankenstein films, The Mummy, The Black Cat, The Invisible Ray, The Body Snatcher and The Mask of Fu Manchu. The thing I like most about this movie, and Karloff's peroformance is that Ellman doesn't actually kill ANYBODY! It's just his mere presence, and the fact that he is literally "the walking dead" that drives his enemies to their graves. "Why did you have me killed?", and I'm instantly choked up. Chalk up yet another one for "KARLOFF THE UNCANNY"!

There is plenty more that I like about this movie, such as the great supporting cast (Edmund Gwenn is always dynamite, and Marguerite Churchill is charming, in addition to being gorgeous!), but in the interest of time, I will stop here. From a technical stand-point, The Walking Dead is probably the most well-made horror movie of the thirties, and the fact that isn't so much of a "blood-and-thunder", supernatural thriller as all the rest from the period (and because of Curtiz's involvement) has alot to do with that.