I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE
I Walked with a Zombie may be the best movie with the dumbest title in motion picture history. Cranked out by the b-movie horror unit at RKO pictures in 1943, this low budget gem is far better than you might expect.
This was the second in a string of really good low-key horror movies produced under the supervision of Val Lewton, one of filmland’s most underappreciated artists.
RKO had two rules Lewton had to follow. One, he had to produce his films on a small budget. Two, he had to use titles the studio’s marketing department had already dreamed up and tested. The studio didn’t care about the actual plots, as long as Lewton used the titles.
So after they saddled Lewton with The Cat People and he turned that title into a really great horror movie, they gave him an even sillier title for his follow-up.
I Walked with a Zombie concerns a young nurse (Frances Dee) who arrives at a sugar plantation on the Caribbean island of Saint Sebastian. She is to care for the invalid wife of the plantation’s owner, played by Tom Conway. The wife appears near catatonic and is given to taking silent, dreamlike walks at night. The local legend is that the wife is not sick, but actually dead and returned to life as a zombie by the island’s voodoo practitioners.
This was a time well before George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead, when zombies were not malevolent flesh-eaters, but merely soulless reanimated bodies who, according to legend, were employed as free labor on plantations throughout the Caribbean.
It soon becomes apparent to the young nurse that there is more to the story than she is being told, particularly as it relates to Conway, his somnambulant wife and his half-brother (James Ellison). She also finds herself falling for her employer, who is obviously still married – but is it to a sick woman or a zombie?
The film relies more on your imagination than trying to scare you with special effects. The climax of the picture takes the young nurse and the sleepwalking wife/zombie through the wilds of that island to a climactic voodoo ceremony. As with most of Lewton’s films, the viewer is left to decide for themselves whether the events are supernatural or can be explained away by more mundane coincidences.
The plot is actually cribbed from Jane Eyre, as Lewton was a fan of classical literature and longed to be making costume dramas instead of these low budget thrillers.
Lewton served as the producer and often the un-credited co-writer of his films. For directors, he gave a start to some young guns who would go on to much greater fame, including Robert Wise (West Side Story) and Mark Robson (Von Ryan’s Express). I Walked with a Zombie was directed by Jacques Tourneur (Out of the Past), who also went on to a long, successful career.
All of Lewton’s horror films did well at the box office, but genuine critical acclaim would have to wait until the 1970’s. Today’s Lewton’s movies are hailed as some of the best b-movies in Hollywood history, studied and praised by master filmmakers like Martin Scorcese, who narrated a televised tribute to Lewton a few years back.
If you want something this Halloween that’s more creepy than bloody and more cerebral than slashing, check out I Walked with a Zombie, readily available on either disc or from streaming outlets.
Perhaps the Guiltiest of Guilty Pleasures for a Rock Fan
With the possible exception of ABBA (who we’ll talk about at a later date, trust us), there was no band who took more flak from “serious rock fans” than the Pre-Fab Four.
Criticized from the beginning because they were not a band who came together in the traditional sense, the Monkees were “cast,” mere actors signed to pretend to be a rock band on television show. Adding insult to injury, it was quickly revealed that the lads didn’t even play on their own records! So “serious rock fans” quickly wrote them off.
But how valid was the criticism? In truth, not very.
Yes, they were cast as actors on TV sitcom, but they all had genuine musical ability. Davy Jones had entertained Broadway audiences as the Artful Dodger in the musical Oliver! He had even been signed as a singer to Columbia Pictures’ (the studio that produced the Monkees’ TV show) Colgems record label. Michael Nesmith had already written “Different Drum,” which became Linda Ronstadt’s first big hit. Peter Tork had been playing guitar in the L.A. club scene and Mickey Dolenz turned out to have one of the great rock & roll voices of that era.
What’s more, although we didn’t know it at the time, many of the bands we idolized were not playing on their own records! The group of elite session musicians known as The Wrecking Crew not only played on the Monkees’ records, but they also were playing on every Beach Boys album from Today through Pet Sounds. Outside of Roger McGuinn, the Byrds didn’t play on their first album either. It was the same guys who were playing on the Monkees’ records.
So cut the Monkees some slack. Their songs were written by some of rock’s most gifted performers including Neil Diamond, Carole King, Jeff Barry & Ellie Greenwich, Harry Nilsson, Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart and many more. Mike Nesmith developed into a legitimate songwriter and performer, scoring several solo hits and getting credit for developing the market for music videos with his landmark Elephant Parts – the first collection of music videos ever marketed (released pre-MTV). And because of very strenuous pushing, mostly by Nesmith, the Monkees got control of their own recordings beginning with their 3rd album, Headquarters.
If you haven’t listened to them lately, you’ll be surprised at how well their music has aged.
Having been back together on a “sometimes” basis since 1986 and having released their most recent album, Good Times, in 2016 (including a posthumous track recorded by Davy Jones), the Monkees have earned a place of honor in rock & roll history.
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Somehow I doubt you'd still find these at Woolworth's. As a matter of fact, it's probably pretty difficult to even find a Woolworth's these days.
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