Bela
Lugosi got there first—before Val Lewton, George Romero, or the AMC
network. Yet, when he appeared in what
is considered the very first zombie film, it was thought to be a rather odd
career choice at the time (the first of many, as it turned out). Of course, Victor Helperin’s White Zombie (trailer here) would look like a prestige picture compared
to his Ed Wood films. In fact, the
Haitian voodoo chiller has always had its champions, very definitely including Rob
Zombie, but the state of the public domain prints has made it difficult for
mere mortals to embrace it. In a welcome
turn of events, Kino Classics has released a crisp new restoration (produced by Holland Releasing) on DVD and
BluRay, now available from online retailers everywhere.
Madeleine
Short and Neil Parker are to be married in the manor house of Charles Beaumont,
but they really shouldn’t. The plantation
owner is really interested in taking Short for himself. Not exactly a seductive figure, Beaumont
seeks the help of Murder Legendre, a voodoo master who runs his sugar mill
entirely with zombie labor. With a name like
that, Legendre has to be evil, but whether he has supernatural powers is a
debatable point.
Unable
to win over Short, Beaumont slips her Legendre’s zombie mickey on her wedding
day. Soon after tying the knot, Short
passes away—or so it seems. Of course,
Legendre has her up on her feet and shambling about Beaumont’s estate in no
time. Much to his disgust, the wealthy
old planter finds her soulless body to be poor company. Can Parker save her, once he pulls himself
out of the bottle? He will have some
help from the missionary, Dr. Bruner, whose constant need of matches serves as
the film’s annoying comic relief.
Lugosi
is pretty darn sinister as Legendre, who does some really cool voodoo business
with candle fetishes. Presumably the
price of sugar is down, since he cannot seem to afford a full set of buttons
for his tunic (even with a horde of unpaid zombie laborers at his disposal). Nonetheless, we should not let pedantry stand
in the way of our appreciation of a great Lugosi performance.
While
Lugosi delivers for his fans, his co-stars often sound like the former silent
stars they were. At least, as Parker nee
Short, Madge Bellamy spends a good portion of the film in the form of a
speechless zombie. Likewise, fellow
silent veteran John Harron’s over-acting will make viewers miss the mannered
David Manners (the WASP-ish protagonist of Dracula,
The Black Cat, and The Mummy).
So
White Zombie offers Lugosi and
zombies, which should be enough for viewers any day of the week. There is also an original rumba composed for
the film by Xavier Cugat, heard in the unusually expressionistic scene of
Parker’s mournful binge-drinking. Such sequences
can be more fully appreciated when seen as part of the restoration, which looks
tremendous on BluRay. Although
independently produced by Edward Helperin, White
Zombie could be considered an honorary Universal monster movie, since it
was filmed on U’s back lot, with richly detailed sets and props leased from the
studio. It also features the work of one
of Universal’s biggest stars, Lugosi, and the studio’s make-up wizard, Jack
Pierce.
