"Dead Men Walk" is an old black-and-white vampire movie with George Zucco in duel roles (pardon my pun). A dark drama, it is built on the dramatic creepiness of the evil undead rather than gruesome monsters or contemporary romanticized immortals.

Elwyn, a man who delved into the practice of black magic, has died. Did his nobler brother Lloyd kill him? It didn’t work because rather than the world being rid of an evil man Elwyn is now more powerful than Lloyd can possibly imagine and not in Obi-Wan fashion: Elwyn has risen as an undead vampire.

When people start dying and a young girl becomes perpetually and inexplicably ill nobody believes the crazy notion of a supernatural evil. Elwyn uses this to his advantage as he sets out to destroy his brother who is raving on about chasing monsters. Who’s going to believe that? It’s easy to convince the skeptical townsfolk that Lloyd, not Elwyn, is the evil brother. Lloyd has some fight in him, though, so he will not go quietly into the night.

This is a pretty good idea. It’s not just a hunter going after a vampire it’s a family dynamic with the undead Elwyn using his powers to bring down the still living Lloyd. It’s a calculated revenge rather than just a mindless bloodlust which gives the story a personal element. It also keeps the vampiric villain from being a straight Dracula rip-off giving him deeper motives and his own personality.

Unfortunately despite the good ideas the pace is slow, often far too much so. The story and suspenseful atmosphere are just enough to keep the slower parts from devolving into boring (most of the time at least), but the pace could still be a lot better.

The acting sometimes helps the slow pace and sometimes hurts it. George Zucco, playing both the heroic and villainous leads (they are twins after all), does a pretty nice job, but virtually nobody else is memorable. Even the iconically recognizable Dwight Frye isn’t particularly good. Zucco manages to create some distinction between his two characters although with them being on such opposite ends of the moral spectrum I guess it wouldn’t be all that hard to do. It’s not nearly as impressive as the differences between John Barrymore’s Jekyll and Hyde, but it’s more than enough to keep the characters from being confusing.

This is the last year Dwight Frye would make any movies before passing on. I don’t know if he was in poor health at this time or what, but his performance seems like little more than a rehash of previous roles. Mary Carlisle is not bad as the afflicted daughter of Lloyd; I would say she's the only other actor besides Zucco who really carries her role well. This movie wrapped up her career as well from what I can tell.