Good movie but grossly overrated

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Being in the mood this weekend to watch a quick and easy black and white "monster movie",I decided to have a lot at a pile of DVD's containing films which I have been meaning to revisit for some time.Getting near the end of the pile,I was pleasantly surprised to discover a triple feature disc,that along with the surprisingly good The Amazing Transparent Man and the disappointing Attack of the Giant Leeches also contained a Zombie movie,which I have been meaning to re- watch,since seeing the film for the first time on Halloween 2011.The plot:Reciving information from one of his most trusted soldiers-Armand Louque that secret experiments are taking place in a part of Cambodia that are turning the residents of the area into a powerful army of Zombies,General Duval decides to gather a group of his loyal soldiers to come along with him on an undercover mission to destroy what ever is being used to turn people into Zombies.Arriving in Cambodia with hope of having gotten there before the experiments destroy everyone,Duval and Loique begin to fear that they may have arrived too late,and are now unable to stop the revolt of the Zombies from taking place.View on the film:Giving the film an intriguing Cambodia setting,the screenplay by director Victor Halperin,Howard Higgin and Rollo Lloyd disappointingly waste the opportunity's given to them with the setting,by using the moment that Duval and Louque enter the Cambodia jungle to change the movie from a fun "men on a mission",into an annoyingly plodding Romantic Drama,which leads to all of the Zombie elements of the film being pushed to the side and being left as dead,empty shells.Despite Dean Jagger giving an extremely wooden performance as Louque,the cute Dorothy Stone gives the movie some much needed jungle sass as Duval's daughter Claire Duval,while George Cleveland gives a cheerfully hammy performance as General Duval.Whilst the screenplay that he co-wrote is sadly flat,director Victor Halperin does show that he has a good eye for creating a boiling appearance.With a stabbing committed in the shadows and a search for a long lost artifact being particular highlights,Halperin also uses the last 3 minutes of the film to show the revolt at full flow,which also sadly shows what the rest of this 62 minute "revolt" should have been.

After watching Revolt Of The Zombies starring future Academy Award winner Dean Jagger I was left with one burning question. How was a society that created these ultimate warrior fighting machines ever defeated in the first place? That's the question you'll be pondering if you take time to watch Revolt Of The Zombies. Towards the end of World War I, the French discover a cult from occupied Cambodia where these undead creatures who cannot be stopped with bullets form a brigade of monks who go over the top and dislodge the Hun.This scares the living fecal matter out of everyone concerned so an international expedition is formed to find out destroy the secret of these zombies so no nation can get their hands on it and rule the world.But we've got some dissent in those ranks. First is Snidely Whiplash villain Roy D'Arcy who murders the Buddhist monk who has the secret and second is Dean Jagger. Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac as we all know and he's determined to woo Dorothy Stone away from rival Robert Noland.I think you've got some idea how this comes out, especially since a race of zombies didn't conquer the world for one country. Dean Jagger as he got the Oscar for Twelve O'Clock High must have shuddered every time he thought about this film and the awful dialog he tried to give a spark of sincerity to.Moral of the story, you might make an ultimate warrior with the zombie potion and the zombie chant, but you can't make an ultimate love slave.

"After World War I, an expedition representing the Allied countries is sent to Cambodia to stop the efforts of Count Mazovia in creating a zombie like army of soldiers and laborers. Hoping to prevent a possible outbreak of war due to Mazovia's actions, the group presses through the jungle to Angkor Wat in spite of the perils. The group includes Armand who has his own agenda contrary to the group's wishes," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis. Heads up! the zombie make-up department revolted before the cameras started to roll. Also, this "Revolt of the Zombies" has little to do with its supposed predecessor "White Zombie" (1932) *****, which starred Bela Lugosi. If that film's zombies didn't thrill you, this one's certainly won't. A younger-than-usual Dean Jagger (as Armand Louque) stars as a man obsessive with blonde Dorothy Stone (as Claire Duval). A couple supporting performances are good: devilish Roy D'Arcy (as Mazovia) and subservient Teru Shimada (as Buna); however, neither are given enough material to really pull this one out of the dumps.** Revolt of the Zombies (1936) Victor Halperin ~ Dean Jagger, Dorothy Stone, Roy D'Arcy

Of the many problems with this film, the worst is continuity; and re-editing it on VHS for a college cable channel many years ago, I tried to figure out what exactly went wrong. What seems to have happened is that they actually constructed a much longer film and then chopped it down for standard theatrical viewing. How much longer? to fill in all the holes in the plot as we have it would require about three more hours of narrative and character development - especially given the fact that the film we do have is just so slow and takes itself just so seriously.That's staggering; what could the Halperins have possibly been trying to accomplish here? Their previous film, "White Zombie", was a successful low budget attempt to duplicate the early Universal Studios monster films (The Mummy, Dracula, etc.), and as such stuck pretty close to the zombie mythology that those in North America would know from popular magazines.Revolt of the Zombies, to the contrary, appears to have been intended as some allegory for the politics of modern war. This would not only explain the opening, and the change of Dean Jagger's character into a megalomaniac, but it also explains why the zombies don't actually do much in the film, besides stand around, look frightening, and wait for orders - they're just allegorical soldiers, not the undead cannibals we've all come to love and loathe in zombie films.I am the equal to any in my dislike for modern war and its politics - but I think a film ought to be entertaining first, and only later, maybe, educational. And definitely - a film about zombies ought to be about zombies.Truly one of the most bizarre films in Hollywood history, but not one I can recommend, even for historic value.