Product Details

• Actors: Wally Brown, Alan Carney, Bela Lugosi, Anne Jeffreys, Sheldon Leonard
• Directors: Gordon Douglas
• Writers: Charles Newman, Lawrence Kimble, Robert E. Kent, Robert Faber
• Producers: Benjamin Stoloff, Sid Rogell
• Format: Black & White, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• VHS Release Date: May 29, 1991
• Run Time: 69 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302025087
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #360,871 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Do Do That Voodoo That You Do So Well, September 12, 2002

By 

Gary F. Taylor "GFT" (Biloxi, MS USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Zombies on Broadway [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Paramont had Bing Crosby and Bob Hope; Universal had Abbott and Costello. RKO responded with Alan Carney and Wally Brown--and although they never challenged Crosby and Hope or Abbott and Costello, they were popular enough to justify a dozen or so "B" pictures during the mid-1940s. The best of these is ZOMBIES ON BROADWAY, a weird little parody similar to Crosby and Hope's ghost-busting flicks and Abbott and Costello's meetings with every classic monster from Dracula to the Werewolf.

What makes ZOMBIES ON BROADWAY fun is the absolute absurdity of its plot. Carney and Brown are publicity agents hired by gangster Sheldon Leonard to promote a nightclub called "The Zombie Hut"--and much against their will find themselves sent to the island of San Sebastiane with instructions to bring back a real Zombie for the club's opening. Once on the island, they encounter none other than Bela Lugosi, who can still do that voodoo that he did so well in such 1930s classics as WHITE ZOMBIE. This isn't a classic by any stretch of the imagination, and it certainly won't make any critic's short list--but it is just strange and weird enough to hold your attention through its fairly short running time. The entire cast plays very broadly, and the script is about as subtle as a wrecking ball, but its all in good fun. Recommended as ultra-light entertainment.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Brown and Carney's best (but...), July 19, 2005

By 

M2 (Glendale, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Zombies on Broadway [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Much in the same way "The Monkees" were manufactured by Hollywood to take advantage of Beatlemania, the comedy team of Brown and Carney was created by RKO to try and clip off some of Abbott and Costello's huge success in the 1940s. While the Brown and Carney films are not objectionable, Bud and Lou did not have to stay awake at nights worrying. The chief distinction of this team is that in each film they made they played the same characters: "Jerry Miles" and "Mike Steager." Why they didn't just use their own names, in the fashion of Laurel and Hardy, The Three Stooges, and occasionally Abbott and Costello, is a mystery. The single biggest problem with Brown and Carney, though, is that they aren't funny. In particular, Alan Carney seems completely incapable of generating a laugh -- and he's supposed to be the comic partner, though Wally Brown is actually better at timing and double takes. Chubby and rubber faced as he is, Carney nonetheless misses every opportunity to finess a gag through a reaction. His "comic" expression of fright looks more like David Hedison's as he's about to be eaten by the spider in "The Fly," and his constant, high-pitched, babyish scream "Miiiiike!" (Carney's version of "Heyyyy, Abbott!") is just annoying. That said, "Zombies on Broadway" is probably their overall best effort. The plot is suitable insane, the acting suitably broad, the music suitably brassy, and there are even a couple of suitably creepy moments involving Darby Jones as a shuffling zombie. What really makes this film worth a look, though, is the performance of Bela Lugosi, which belies the frequent comment that he never really understood comedy. His rendition of the old Three Stooge "dresser-with-a-life-of-it's-own" routine is funnier than anything Carney does in the film! "Zombies on Broadway" is pleasant, but your sides won't ache.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Lugosi Makes the Most of a Bad Situation, January 14, 2012

By 

Scott T. Rivers (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Zombies on Broadway [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Wally Brown and Alan Carney prove they are no Abbott and Costello in RKO's bizarre horror-comedy. The only saving grace of "Zombies on Broadway" (1945) remains Bela Lugosi as a truly mad scientist. When Bela is off-screen, the movie stumbles in the dark. A strange curio directed by the always-reliable Gordon Douglas.