VCI Entertainment has released a Blu-ray with a pair of low-budget grade Z movies, King of the Zombies and Miss V from Moscow as part of a ‘Poverty Row Collection’. I know there are plenty of fans, including myself that love these types of pictures, and are happy to see them get a little Blu-ray love.
Directed by Jean Yarbrough (The Devil Bat, The Brute Man), King of the Zombies stars Dick Purcell(X Marks the Spot), Joan Woodbury (The Rogues Tavern, Charlie Chan on Broadway) John Archer(Bowery at Midnight) and Mantan Moreland (Spider Baby, Cracked Nuts) in an early horror film with zombies. Ok, it’s a horror comedy, but it still has the walking dead in it!
In this feature, three travelers James McCarthy (Dick Purcell), Jefferson Jackson (Mantan Moreland) and Bill Summers (John Archer) who are on a course to go from Cuba to Puerto Rico run low on fuel and get sent off course due to a nasty storm. The three wind up on an where an evil doctor, Dr. Miklos Sangre(Henry Victor, Desperate Journey, Suicide Fleet) is working with foreign spies and in control of zombies through voodoo spells. The three are in danger of becoming zombies themselves. In Fact, Bill becomes a zombie, and Jefferson also thinks he’s become one!
King of the Zombies is a fun, little film. I know it’s billed as a horror, but it’s minor, even less horrific than White Zombie. Mantan Moreland provides comic relief in the movie, some of it is worth a chuckle or two. He had an amazing career that would last for 40 years. During the 1940s he would play Birmingham Brown in the Charlie Chan series with Sidney Toler, possibly his most well-known role.
In the obscure Miss V for Moscow, Vera Marova(Lola Lane, They Made Me a Killer, Deadline at Dawn), is a Soviet spy known as Miss V, is sent to Paris to impersonate her lookalike, German spy Greta Hiller who was recently murdered by the French Resistance. She is there to pick up where Greta left off in gathering information from the Germans in their plans to attack the Soviet Union. She looks so much like Greta that pulls the impersonation off. She easily gets back in touch with the Nazis and the Gestapo and learns of their attack plans. Miss V is not alone in this delicate mission as she receives help from a pair of soldiers, Steve Worth (Howard Banks, Murder in the Blue Room) and Gerry Naughton(Victor Kendall). Albert Herman handled the directing chores for this one, and did quite a few low budget movies from the thirties and forties!
VCI Entertainment presents King of the Zombies and Miss V from Moscow on Blu-ray and DVD. It is a two-disc set and will cover the Blu-ray.
King of the Zombies fares much better in the image quality department as the picture look fabulous with strong black levels and shadow detail. The grey scale is balanced with an overall clean and polished image throughout. Details to the scenery on the island and characters also look fantastic. I saw no issues such as speckles or lines. King of the Zombies looks about as clean as I have ever seen it.
Most likely due to the film elements, the video for Miss V from Moscow isn’t as attractive as King of the Zombies. The film does have speckling, some blurriness, a few vertical lines and hazy looking shots along the way, but it is certainly more than viewable. Details are decent to the scenery and the characters faces, but it won’t blow you away. Despite some of the problems, the picture quality at times does look clean, but it is not going to dazzle or ‘wow’ you. It is a serviceable Blu-ray, and you can toss the Alpha Video DVD
For the Blu-ray, English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono was used, and the audio is pleasant on both films. Dialogue is easy to understand on both films, although King of the Zombies does sound a little bit sharper and clearer. Miss V from Moscow had one drop-off where the sound went lower but it did not last for very long. The dialogue is clean for the two films. What there are for the musical scores blend in fine with the fidelity not overpowering. English subtitles are available for both movies.
Extras for this release include:
A great commentary track for King of the Zombies by Tom Weaver
The News Parade of 1941which runs for nearly ten minutes.
VCI Presents – Poverty Role Studios: A brief history of B, C and Z films. This is an interesting feature that runs about eleven minutes.
Overall, I found this VCI offering to be satisfying. Even though King of the Zombies has already been released on Blu-ray, this one looks to be a little better, plus Miss V from Moscow gets a Blu-ray debut! Let’s all hope more Poverty Row Classics receive Blu-ray releases in the future! Recommended!
Poverty Row Classics – King of the Zombies / Miss V from Moscow
Director – Jean Yarbrough / Albert Herman
Cast- Dick Purcell, Joan Woodbury, and Mantan Moreland / Lola Lane, Noel Madison
Country of Origin-USA
Distributor – VCI Entertainment
Number of Discs –2 (one Blu-ray, one DVD)
Reviewed by – David Steigman
Date –1/6/2025