The Walking Dead is a 1936 American horror film directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Boris Karloff and featuring Edmund Gwenn, Ricardo Cortez and Marguerite Churchill in supporting roles.
Down-on-his-luck John Ellman is framed for a judge’s murder. After he is convicted and sentenced to death, witnesses come forward and prove his innocence, but it's too late for a stay to be granted and Ellman is executed. A doctor then uses an experimental procedure to restore him to life, although the full outcome is other than expected.
Tropes:
- Amoral Attorney: Nolan is one of the top defence attorneys in the city, and secretly a high-ranking member of The Syndicate that controls it. He takes on the job of defending John Ellman specifically so he can ensure Ellman is found guilty and gets the death penalty. After Elllman is brought back to life, he has himself appointed Ellman's guardian so he can keep control of the situation, and attempts to have Ellman committed to a psychiatric institution.
- Bad Guys Play Pool: The racketeers who control The Syndicate are shooting pool while they discuss their plan to assassinate Judge Shaw. Professional Killer Trigger Smith underlines his claim to never miss by making a particularly difficult trick shot.
- Bottom Less Magazines: Nolan and Loder fire 17 shots from a six-shot revolver without reloading.
- Chairman of the Brawl: On finding Ellman in his bedroom, Merritt grabs a chair and attempts to hit him with it.
- Death Amnesia: After Dr. Beaumont brings John Ellman back from the dead, he is desperate to know what lies beyond death. However, Ellman either cannot remember or cannot express (or perhaps is forbidden from expressing) what he experienced, and anything he does say is frustratingly vague. The one thing he does know is that Beaumont should not have brought him back.
- Destination Defenestration: Merritt suffers a heart attack while trying to attack Ellman with a chair and falls backwards through his bedroom window.
- Flatline Plotline: Dr. Beaumont uses an experimental procedure to bring John Ellman back to life after he has been wrongly executed. After Dr. Beaumont brings John back, he is desperate to know what lies beyond death. However, Ellman either cannot remember or cannot express (or perhaps is forbidden from expressing) what he experienced, and anything he does say is frustratingly vague. The one thing he does know is that Beaumont should not have brought him back.
- Frame-Up: The Syndicate frames John Ellman for the murder of Judge Shaw.
- Fright Deathtrap: Three of the men responsible for Ellman's execution die as a result of seeing coming for them without him laying a hand on them. Smith trips over a table and shoots himself with his own gun; Blackwood panics and runs in front of a train; and Merritt suffers a heart attack and falls out a window.
- The Gambling Addict: Comic Relief character Betcha keeps offering bystanders odds on anything from the outcome of a trial to whether he catches the next green light. He doesn't win a single bet he makes in the entire film.
- High-Voltage Death: The last two villains, Nolan and Loder, die when their car skids off the road and knocks over a power pole; causing the power lines to fall on their car. This is a Karmic Death as it was their Frame-Up that sent John Ellman to the electric chair.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Professional Killer Trigger Smith trips over a table while trying to get away from Ellman and shoots himself with his own gun.
- Just Got Out of Jail: The Syndicate picks John Ellman to be the fall guy for the murder of Judge Shaw because he has just been released from prison after serving a 10 sentence he received from the judge.
- Karmic Death: Having just killed John Ellman for the second time, Nolan and Loder suffer a High-Voltage Death when they crash their car and power lines fall on it. This is karmic because it was their Frame-Up that sent Ellman to the electric chair in the first place.
- Locked into Strangeness: After being brought back from the dead, John Ellman develops a skunk stripe down one side of his hair.
- Look Both Ways: On seeing Ellman coming for him at the railway station, Blackwood panics and runs into the path of an oncoming train.
- Offscreen Afterlife: After Dr. Beaumont brings John Ellman back from the dead, he is desperate to know what lies beyond death. However, Ellman either cannot remember or cannot express (or perhaps is forbidden from expressing) what he experienced, and anything he does say is frustratingly vague. The one thing he does know is that Beaumont should not have brought him back.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Nolan's driver is a gambling addict known only as Betcha.
- Professional Killer: Trigger Smith is a high-priced hitman brought in by The Syndicate to murder Judge Shaw and frame John Ellman for the crime.
- Railroad Tracks of Doom: Blackwood arrives at the railroad station, intending to skip town. When he finds Ellman waiting for him, he panics and tries to get away by running across the tracks, and directly into the path of an oncoming train.
- Shown Their Work: The "glass heart" machine used to revive Karloff's dead character was said to be "nearly a prefect replica" of an actual perfusion pump—a device designed to keep organs alive outside an organism's body—which had been built by Charles Lindbergh, when the legendary pilot and engineer was working with a Nobel-winning scientist at New York's Rockefeller Institute research labs in the mid-1930s.
- Spinning Paper: A succession of newspaper headlines are used to show the progress of Ellman's trial and his journey to the electric chair.
- The Syndicate: District Attorney Werner describes an elite group of racketeers who hold the entire city under their collective thumb. When Judge Shaw sends one of their number to prison, they conspire to murder Shaw and frame John Ellman for the crime.
- Trespassing to Talk: Whatever strange force that enables Ellman to know who was responsible for his Frame-Up also compels him to visit them and ask them why. As a result, both Smith and Merritt are startled to find Ellman in their homes asking them questions. Neither of them feel like talking.
- Unwanted Revival: Dr. Beaumont uses an experimental procedure to bring John Ellman back to live after he has been wrongly executed. In his more lucid moments, Ellman tells Beaumont that he should have left him dead.
