I Walked with a Zombie (1943)

37k jpg of Betsy leading Jessica to the voodoo ceremony in I Walked with a Zombie
31k jpg of Betsy and Jessica meeting the zombie guard Carre-Four in I Walked with a Zombie

560k WAV sound clip from I Walked with a Zombie (Sir Lancelot's calypso)

A young Canadian nurse, Betsy, comes to the West Indies to care for Jessica, the wife of Paul Holland, who seems to be suffering from a kind of mental paralysis as a result of fever. When she falls in love with Paul, Betsy determines to cure Jessica even if she needs to use a voodoo ceremony, to give Paul what she thinks he wants.

Director: Jacques Tourneur. Assistant Director: William Dorfman. Script: Curt Siodmak, Ardel Wray. Based on a story by Inez Wallace. Photography: J. Roy Hunt. Editor: Mark Robson. Art Directors: Albert S. D'Agostino, Walter E. Keller. Set Decorators: Darrell Silvera, Al Fields. Music: Roy Webb. Musical Director: C. Bakaleinikoff. Songs: 'O Marie Congo' (chant); 'British Grenadiers' (Calypso Singer); 'Fort Holland Calypso Song' (Calypso Singer); 'O Legba' (chant); 'Walee Nan Guinan' (chant); Chopin's E Minor Etude (piano). Sound Recordist: John C. Grubb.

James Ellison (Wesley Rand), Frances Dee (Betsy), Tom Conway (Paul Holland), Edith Barrett (Mrs. Rand), Christine Gordon (Jessica Holland), James Bell (Dr. Maxwell), Richard Abrams (Clement), Teresa Harris (Alma), Sir Lancelot (Calypso Singer), Darby Jones (Carre-Four), Martin Wilkins (Houngan), Jeni LeGon (Dancer), Jieno Moxzer (Sabreur), Arthur Walker (Ti-Joseph), Kathleen Hartfield (Dancer), Clinton Rosemond (Coachman), Alan Edmiston (Mr. Wilkins), Norman Mayes (Bayard), Melvin Williams (Baby), Vivian Dandridge (Melisse).

Notes:

• RKO executives really out-did themselves when they came up with this title and told Lewton to "make a film to go with it." But in what was to become standard procedure for Lewton, he used the title and spooky setting as a cover to make the story he wanted to make, a re-working of Jane Eyre.
• Some interesting things may have influenced Lewton in deciding to re-work Jane Eyre in this way. Before the RKO job, two novels he worked on film adaptations for were Jane Eyre and Rebecca. Also, Lewton came to RKO in the large wake of Orson Welles. One of the early stage triumphs for Welles was a voodoo re-working of MacBeth.
• Lewton biographer Joel Siegel calls this movie "Lewton's masterpiece."
• The role of Betsy was originally slated for Anna Lee (who later starred in Bedlam).
• Zombies on Broadway, a 1945 RKO movie was a comic send-up of I Walked With a Zombie, a vehicle for their comedy team of Wally Brown and Alan Carney (often described as a 'cut-rate version of Abbott and Costello'). The movies share some locations and sets, and Darby Jones and Sir Lancelot reprise their roles. This may sound great (it did to me!), but be warned, reviews I've seen of it are all pretty negative. Edmund Bansak in his Lewton book (cited in my bibliography) calls it 'nothing more than a curio for Lewton devotees and Lugosi buffs.'
• 'Fort Holland Calypso' is available on Sir Lancelot's CD Trinidad is Changing, titled 'Scandal in the Family'.
• The scandalous calypso sung by Sir Lancelot in I Walked with a Zombie did have precedent in real life. A real-life incident, described by Donald R. Hill in his book Calypso Calaloo, took place in 1933 Trinidad when a cuckolded husband paid a calypsonian to compose a song about his wife and the other man - the Inspector General of Constabulary, no less. The song became quite popular despite embarrassed attempts to suppress it, and is now best known in the form 'Country Club Scandal', sung by King Radio.
• Retrospective submitted by Karin Wikoff (possible spoilers)
• Erik Weems has a web page devoted to I Walked with a Zombie which includes many screen captures from the film accompanying the text.

To the Previous Movie To the Next Movie

To the Internet Movie Database entry for I Walked with a Zombie