Film Review: I Walked with a Zombie (1943)

Today word “zombie” is associated with hordes of mindless unstoppable flesh-easting people that destroy civilisation. In prior times “zombie” had somewhat different, although still sinister, meaning and such zombies were motives used in Classic Hollywood horror films very different from those made by George A. Romero. Best known among them is I Walked with a Zombie, 1943 film directed by Jacques Tourneur.

Protagonist and narrator is Betsy Connell (played by Frances Dee), nurse in Ottawa who gets well-paid job that would take her to Caribbean island of San Sebastian. She is to take care of Jessica Holland (played by Christine Gordon), beautiful wife of Paul Holland (played by Tom Conway), owner of sugar plantation. Her patient is near-catatonic, although able to move and obey simple commands. Her physician Dr. Maxwell (played by James Bell) explains Jessica’s condition as aftermath of tropical fever that affected her spinal chord, but Holland’s black employees, descendants of people who were brought on the island as slaves, claim that she became a zombie. Betsy meets Paul’s half-brother Wesley Rand (played by James Ellison), who is resentful towards Paul and tries to drown his sorrow in alcohol. She later learns that Paul tried to run away with Jessica shortly before her illness. Situation for Betsy is complicated with romantic feelings she developed towards Paul, and later Mr. Rand (played by Edith Barrett), Paul’s and Wesley’s mother, makes shocking revelation related to voodoo rituals.

I Walked with a Zombie was made with low budget and produced by Val Lewton, following great success of his previous film Cat People. The film was nominally based on eponymous short story by Inez Wallace, an account allegedly based on author’s experiences with real zombies in the Caribbeans. Lewton disregarded and instead opted for scriptwriters Curt Siodmak and Ardel Wray to take much simpler idea based on Jane Eyre, classic novel by Charlotte Brontë. The result was simple but stylish film in which director Tourneur has put less emphasis on plot or conventional horror genre narrative devices and much more on the atmosphere. That included excellent black-and-white cinematography by J. Roy Hunt (which used “day for night” technique in number of scenes), effective production design, presence of Darby Jones as memorable zombie-like Carre-Four. I Walke with a Zombie benefits from music and includes Trinidadian singer Sir Lancelot, best known for making calypso music popular, as some sort of Greek chorus whose song “Shame and the Scandal in the Family” would become great hit, covered by many artists in subsequent decades.

However, despite some memorable images and effective atmosphere, I Walked with a Zombie suffers from undeveloped plot. While there are some interesting details in it, mostly revolving around tragic legacy of slavery and suggestions that voodoo and whole mythology of “living dead” might be its reflection in modern times, it is reduced to simple cliches. Some characters are underdeveloped, most notably Paul, who, despite being played by regal Tom Conway, can’t develop proper chemistry with Frances Dee. Despite being very short film, I Walked with a Zombie has problems with pacing in the middle and the finale is disappointing and anti-cathartic. Although far from high standards of horror genre and definitely very different from any today’s film with “zombie” in title, I Walked with a Zombie can be recommended to today’s viewers mostly thanks to Tourner’s way of showing that Classic Hollywood could produce quality content even with low budgets.

RATING: 6/10 (++)

Blog in Croatian https://draxblog.com
Blog in English https://draxreview.wordpress.com/
Leofinance blog https://leofinance.io/@drax.leo

Unstoppable Domains: https://unstoppabledomains.com/?ref=3fc23fc42c1b417
Hiveonboard: https://hiveonboard.com?ref=drax y
Bitcoin Lightning HIVE donations: https://v4v.app/v1/lnurlp/qrcode/drax
Rising Star game: https://www.risingstargame.com?referrer=drax
1Inch: https://1inch.exchange/#/r/0x83823d8CCB74F828148258BB4457642124b1328e

BTC donations: 1EWxiMiP6iiG9rger3NuUSd6HByaxQWafG
ETH donations: 0xB305F144323b99e6f8b1d66f5D7DE78B498C32A7