White Zombie (1932)

Directed by Victor Halperin
Written by Garnett Weston

Unrated

"White Zombie" is one of the many old films that have had their copyrights expire. I don't understand all the legal mumbo-jumbo, but essentially, this means they are public domain. Anyone with a print of this movie can duplicate and sell it with no copyright consequences. So go burn a copy today! It has also been made available to watch or download for free online.

"White Zombie" is the great-grandaddy of zombie movies and the inspiration for the name of Rob Zombie's first band. Fans of modern zombie films may expect something resembling "Night of the Living Dead", but "White Zombie" has its own unique take on the zombie theme.

The film revolves around Madeleine Short (Madge Bellamy) and her fiance Neil Parker (John Harron), who are on their way to get married in Haiti when their carriage is stopped in the middle of the road by a native funeral. Their driver explains that in Haiti, people bury their dead close to or under well-traveled roads to protect them from corpse thieves.

"White Zombie" actually sticks closer to the origin of real-life zombies than the bulk of zombie fiction. The roots of zombie mythology lie in the Haitian practice of punishing those who commit crimes against their communities by poisoning them with a drug (usually containing tetrodotoxin, which is found in blowfish poison) that causes them to appear medically dead for anywhere from 8 hours to a few days. The victim is buried, and then dug up later and forced to work on a "zombie plantation", where the victims are forced to work as slaves, and are kept perpetually drugged to keep them docile and prevent escape.

Madeleine and Neil soon encounter the owner of a zombie workhouse, "Murder" Legendre (the fantastic Bela Lugosi) who approaches their carriage with a group of his zombie slaves as the lovers pass. The driver hurries on, terrified, but not before Legendre develops a creepy obsession with Madeleine. He grabs a scarf from around her neck through the carriage window as the lovers continue on into the night, a lurid memento of his brush with beauty.

 Madge Bellamy as Madeleine in her unflattering bridal undies.

Madeleine and Neil are en route to be married at the house of Charles Beaumont (Robert Frazer), a friend Madeleine met while traveling. What they don't know is that Beaumont has also fallen in love with Madeleine, and will do anything to keep her for himself. He invites the young couple to be married in his house, then tries to dissuade her from marrying Neil even as he's walking her to the wedding. When she marries him anyway, Beaumont goes to see "Murder" Legendre himself to ask his help in obtaining an unwilling bride.

Legendre informs Beaumont that the only way to make Madeleine forget her love for Neil is to make her into a zombie. Beaumont is initially disgusted by the idea of turning the object of his affection into a brainless slave, but is willing to go to any lengths to make her his bride. Beaumont follows Legendre's instructions, putting a pinpoint of the powder on a flower which he gives Madeleine on her wedding night.

Using the scarf he stole from her by the carriage and a candle carved into the shape of a woman, Legendre channels that good-ol'-fashioned Hollywood voodoo to steal Madeleine's soul. She becomes suddenly ill, and collapses as though dead. Neil mourns in a whiny manner and an immediate funeral is arranged. After the funeral, Beaumont, Legendre and his band of zombies descend on Madeleine's coffin, stealing her body away back to Beaumont's estate.

Neil has a hard time giving up on his dead newlywed, especially when he learns of the Haitian practice of zombie-making. With the help of a doddering old minister (who keeps annoyingly asking the main characters for a match to light his pipe), Neil heads for Beaumont's castle to face Beaumont and Legendre directly. On his way, he and the minister rest for a bit at the base of the mountain that castle Beaumont sits atop. At this point, the filmmakers use an interesting image layering effect to show Madeleine on a balcony looking out, the castle, and Neil at the same time. I was struck by this experimental editing technique. In conjunction with sappy music, this scene conveys a sense that the lovers share an emotional connection that is stronger than Legendre's voodoo hypnotism.

Meanwhile, Legendre uses some of his zombie powder to paralyze Beaumont. He then explains that he did not make Madeleine a zombie for Beaumont's sake, but intended to keep her as his own bride. Neil races to the castle to save Madeleine, but can Legendre and his small army of bug-eyed zombies stop him?

 

I gave "White Zombie" a 6/10. It moves along slowly enough to bore most modern audiences (though was probably quite thrilling at it's original release). The filmmakers use interesting editing effects to spice up the visuals. Many of the beautiful, gothic sets were originally built for other big-budget horror films of the same period, like "Dracula" (1931), "Frankenstein" (1931) and "Hunchback of Notre Dame" (1923). Bela Lugosi himself is creepy as always as "Murder" Legendre. Unfortunately, like many of his post-"Dracula" roles, this one keeps him in a fairly tight two-dimensional gothic villain typecast and doesn't give him much opportunity to exercise other aspects of his acting talent. Madge Bellamy is catatonic for most of the film, but she does that well enough. She's got a cute zombie-face. As a zombie film, "White Zombie" may disappoint, but only because it bears so little resemblance to the zombie films of later years. For hard-core zombie junkies or avid fans of Mr. Lugosi, "White Zombie" is a must-see. Watch it here for free:

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