I Walked with a Zombie
I Walked with a Zombie is a 1943 horror movie directed by Jacques Tourneur. It was the second horror movie from producer Val Lewton for RKO Pictures. The movie stars Frances Dee as Betsy Connell, Christine Gordon as Jessica Holland, and Tom Conway as Paul Holland.
I Walked with a Zombie | |
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Directed by | Jacques Tourneur |
Produced by | Val Lewton |
Written by | Curt Siodmak Ardel Wray |
Based on | I Walked with a Zombie by Inez Wallace |
Starring | Frances Dee Tom Conway Christine Gordon |
Narrated by | Frances Dee |
Music by | Roy Webb |
Cinematography | J. Roy Hunt |
Edited by | Mark Robson |
Distributed by | RKO Radio Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 69 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
The story is about a nurse named Betsy who is hired to care for Jessica, the wife of plantation manager Paul Holland. Jessica has a mental paralysis as a result of fever. Betsy determines to cure Jessica even if she needs to use voodoo.
Officially, the movie was based on an article written by Inez Wallace for American Weekly Magazine. Lewton asked his writers to use Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre for giving the story a narrative structure.[1][2]
I Walked with a Zombie was declared to be "a dull, disgusting exaggeration of an unhealthy, abnormal concept of life" by The New York Times in 1943.[3] Critics later called it "intelligent",[4] "exceptional",[5] and "the most elegant" in Lewton's RKO horror series.[6]
I Walked With A Zombie Media
Darby Jones as the zombie-like Carrefour
A theater in Montreal that showed I Walked with a Zombie in 1943
A scene taking place in a houmfort, or Haitian Vodou temple
References
- ↑ "Focusfeatures.com". Archived from the original on 2011-09-27. Retrieved 2013-05-23.
- ↑ TCM.com
- ↑ Review in The New York Times, April 22, 1943
- ↑ William K. Everson: Classics of the Horror Film. The Citadel Press, 1974.
- ↑ Leonard Maltin's 2008 Movie Guide. Signet/Penguin Group, 2007.
- ↑ Time Out Film Guide, Seventh Edition 1999. Penguin Group, 1998.
Other websites
- I Walked with a Zombie on IMDb
- I Walked with a Zombie at the TCM Movie Database
- I Walked with a Zombie at AllRovi