Skip to main content

I Walked With A Zombie

  • Director: Jacques Torneur
  • Year: 1943
  • Run-time: 1 hr 9 min
- If I were a snarky Youtube reviewer, I would subtitle this movie "Jane Eyre, with added sexism and racism". And there is some truth to that - the "wife in the attic" becomes the titular zombie, but her fate is largely due to her own desires to run away. Also, although Torneur takes a more honest look at the effects of colonialism and slavery than any contemporary film, the needs of the schlock-horror setup means that, yes, the powers of voodoo are actually real. Ultimately, this was a fascinating film, but a deeply flawed one. Torneur has a wide oeuvre, though, so I have rising hopes for the others of his films on the list.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Bringing Up Baby

Director: Howard Hawks Year: 1938 Run-time: 1 hr 42 min - Bringing Up Baby  is in my mind the epitome of the screwball comedy, and probably its finest example.  Hepburn and Grant are just so perfect in their roles, and the level of constant absurdity gets to the point where it overrides any cultural datedness and just becomes fun.  (The main exception is the Irish stereotype, but given that he is justified in how he behaves, it's excusable.)  I was a bit shocked to discover that this was not a commercial success, and indeed almost ruined Hepburn's career (she had the most to lose, given how novel her quirky performance is). - Looking back at the three screwballs so far on this list, it never occurred to me before how the genre seems to rely on a rich and "privileged" female lead to be the one to challenge and emasculate the male lead.  Perhaps that was the acceptable way to present it to a depression-era audience?

The Cat Concerto

Directors: William Hanna and Joseph Barbera Year: 1947 I'm sure it's no coincidence that music plays such a strong role in many of the animated films featured on the list. By this point, there's nothing especially novel about this Tom and Jerry  short by another great animation studio led by Hanna and Barbera, except that the execution is so spot-on. This is eight minutes of pure delight. 

The Fall of the House of Usher

Director: James Sibley Watson and Melville Webber Year: 1928 Run-time: 13 min Source: Youtube In one of those strange cinematic coincidences, there were actually two adaptations of Poe's wonderful melancholic work, the short story The Fall of the House of Usher .  In France, Jean Epstein (featured on our list for Coeur Fidele ) partnered with a new-to-the-industry Luis Bunuel, putting out a critical success - Ebert, for example, ranks it among his favorite films. This is the other one.  Contrary to national stereotypes, the American director James Watson took a much more impressionistic and avant-garde approach to the source material.  Although the three characters are present, and a few of the key scenes are recognizable, anyone who hasn't read the (very short) tale will have a hard time following along.  The key takeaway from this highly experimental work is the overbearing sense of anxiety and fear that it imparts.  As with the last film, I watched it ...