The enterprising Bud Pollard, one of the uncrowned kings of the fast-buck, quick-turnover exploitation film, goes "pacifist" on us in The Dead March. Using miles and miles of newsreel footage of WWI and the recent fighting in Manchuria and Ethiopia, Pollard and screenwriter Samuel Taylor Moore has fashioned an impassioned plea for world peace. Much of the narrative is awash with symbolism, as the ghosts of unknown soldiers from various armies converge in a grotesque "Dead March," but not before repeating the nationalistic words that sent them to their graves. The film is narrated by radio commentator Boake Carter, whose pronounced anti-British stance comes through loud and clear. Ambitious in conception, Dead March was somewhat lacking in execution.
by Hal Erickson
synopsis
