Cinema Revisited: White Zombie (1932)
When Hungarian-born actor Bela Lugosi campaigned heavily for the role of “Dracula” in Tod Browing’s movie production, he was met with some resistance. Lugosi had been successfully playing the role on Broadway, but the film was set for horror master Lon Chaney, with whom Browning had worked often. When Chaney died, Lugosi got the role. And although he only played the Count in only two movies (one of them an Abbott and Costello comedy), he truly made the role his own, defining it for all time and generations.
Unfortunately, while he is known as the quintssential Dracula, it has caused Lugosi’s many other fine performances to be overlooked. And one of his best is in the brilliantly atmospheric “White Zombie” (1932). The story, based on a book by William Seabrook, deals with a couple, Madeline Short and Neil Parker, who are about to be married. Beaumont, a man that Madeline met on a voyage wants her hand, so he invites the couple to be married on his plantation home. While the couple sleeps, Beaumont goes to see evil voodoo master Murder Legendre (Lugosi) and asks him to put a a spell on Madeline so she will instead marry him. Legendre convinces Beaumont to give her a potion that will turn her into a zombie.
Brothers Edward and Victor Halperin made several low budget horror films, with Edward producing and Victor directing. “White Zombie” is likely their best. Despite its budget, he film never seems cheap or restrained. Director Victor Halperin uses a series of wide and medium shots to present the vast bleakness of the settings, offering masterful, effective close-ups of the glaring Lugosi to help define his character. His use of darkness in some scenes is also effective, as are some impressive over-the-shoulder shots. His vision is never overbearing or pretentious.
The performances by the male leads (John Harron as Neil and Robert Frazer as Beaumont) are pretty lackluster. While both actors died young (Harron in 1939, Frazer in 1944), they had long careers that dated into the silent era. Both men fared better in silents, as their dialog readings are often stilted. Madge Bellamy does not fare any better as Madeline. In later years she would claim it was because she lost her voice to a cold and was dubbed by another actress, but this is not true. Living to the age of 90, Bellamy was around long enough to see “White Zombie” become a cult classic, and would often attend screenings as a guest of the exhibitors, to tell stories about the early movie days and sign autographs. It is Bela Lugosi who carries the film, his performance resonating so strongly, the viewer overlooks, or perhaps forgives, the shortcomings of the supporting cast.
"White Zombie" was shot in only 11 days, and while critics were not kind to the film upon its initial release, it was a big hit at the box office, making well past its meager $50,000 budget. Bela Lugosi was paid only $800 for his role. He later regretted taking so little money, after the film was such a box office hit. It fell out of copyright, as many older low-budget indie films do, and became widely available as soon as VHS tapes started permeating the market in the 1980s. What’s interesting is that the film was lost for years, until a print as discovered in the 1960s.
“White Zombie” has generated a cult following due to its public domain status making it readily available on video for decades. Prints were usually pretty washed out. Kino-Lorber through their Classics division put out a nice blu ray a few years ago, produced by Holland Releasing, which has been digitally restored from a 35mm fine grain print. That is the one to buy. There are two versions on this disc, one fully restored, and an unenhanced version with the natural film grain intact (some believe that without this, cinema loses a bit of its visual integrity). Special features include commentary by film historian Frank Thompson, a 1932 interview with Lugosi, and a 1951 re-issue trailer.
Here is the link: White Zombie KINO
Here is the film on YouTube: White Zombie YouTube