Black Moon (1934)

Director:

Roy William Neill

Writers:

Clements Ripley (story)
Wells Root (writer)

Release Date:

15 June 1934 (USA)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

Love battling against the sorcery of the jungle!

Plot:

A young girl who lives on a tropical island loses her parents to a voodoo sacrifice, but although she manages to escape the island...

Plot Keywords:

Voodoo | Jungle Film | Hanging | Revolt | Human Sacrifice

Cast

Jack Holt	...	Stephen Lane
Fay Wray	...	Gail Hamilton
Dorothy Burgess	...	Juanita Perez Lane
Cora Sue Collins	...	Nancy Lane
Arnold Korff	...	Dr. Raymond Perez
Clarence Muse	...	'Lunch' McClaren
Eleanor Wesselhoeft	...	Anna, the nursemaid
Madame Sul-Te-Wan	...	Ruva
Laurence Criner	...	Kala, the priest
Lumsden Hare	...	John Macklin
Henry Kolker	...	The Psychiatrist

Runtime:

68 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Creole

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:R | USA:Approved

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

The language spoken by the native characters, and by Juanita (Dorothy Burgess) when she addresses them directly, is Kreyol (also spelled Creole), the African-influenced dialect of French that is the common language of Haiti.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Lady with the Torch (1999)

Intriguing obscurity

This film proves that a decent retrospective of the films of Roy William Neill is long overdue. A forgotten horror movie of real merit, BLACK MOON is obscure enough not to be listed in Halliwell's Film Guide but of sufficient interest to have played in New York's Film Forum a couple of years back (where I first saw it on a double billed with ZOMBIES OF MORA TAU!) The plot is right out of "Conjure Wife" with a slight foreshadowing of I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE. A New York socialite (Dorothy Burgess) is haunted by her childhood memories of being brought up by a voodoo priestess in Haiti. Her hope is to free herself from the past by confronting it outright but her plan proves disastrous. Returning to the island, she is promptly elevated to the status of a white goddess among the natives and is soon participating in human sacrifices, eventually plotting against her husband and infant daughter.

I have to admit my enthusiasm for this movie isn't shared by others in my immediate movie circle. The major flaw is that Burgess' transformation into a jungle high priestess is simply glossed over in the script. Indeed, she's off-screen for the better part of the movie. Instead the film focuses on the budding romance of Jack Holt as the harried husband and his secretary (that she's played by Fay Wray is at least a consolation). Still the film works up to an ominous mood, creating a palpable hothouse atmosphere as voodoo drums beat steadily on the soundtrack.

The film played on Turner Classic Movie many years back and is, presumably, in limited circulation. It's dated racial attitudes undoubtedly won't help it get the wider distribution it deserves. It's safe to say that a DVD release is unlikely but the film is worth tracking down.