I Walked with a Zombie (1943)

A nurse is hired to care for the wife of a sugar plantation owner, who has been acting strangely, on a Caribbean island.

Director:

Jacques Tourneur

Writers:

Curt Siodmak (screenplay), Ardel Wray (screenplay)

Stars:

Frances Dee, Tom Conway, James Ellison

3 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
James Ellison	...	Wesley Rand
Frances Dee	...	Betsy Connell
Tom Conway	...	Paul Holland
Edith Barrett	...	Mrs. Rand
James Bell	...	Dr. Maxwell
Christine Gordon	...	Jessica Holland
Theresa Harris	...	Alma - Maid (as Teresa Harris)
Sir Lancelot	...	Calypso Singer
Darby Jones	...	Carrefour
Jeni Le Gon	...	Dancer (as Jeni LeGon)

Storyline

Young Canadian nurse Betsy comes to the West Indies to care for Jessica, the wife of a plantation manager Paul Holland. Jessica seems to be suffering from a kind of mental paralysis as a result of fever. When she falls in love with Paul, Betsy determines to cure Jessica even if she needs to use a voodoo ceremony, to give Paul what she thinks he wants.

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Plot Keywords:

zombie | voodoo | cult director | cult film | haiti | 

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Taglines:

Who said the dead don't walk?

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Genres:

Drama | Fantasy | Horror

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Certificate:

Approved

Did You Know?

Trivia

The legal disclaimer at the end of the credits, which roll at the start of the film, makes light of the film's subject. The disclaimer states: "The characters and events depicted in this photoplay are fictional. Any similarity to actual persons, living, dead, or possessed, is purely coincidental."

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Goofs

When Besty goes to talk with Wes on the porch about an hour into the film, they are both lit by light coming through the louvered door to the left. But, in the next closer shot, that striped lighting pattern disappears.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Betsy Connell: [narrating] I walked with a zombie.
[laughs]
Betsy Connell: It does seem an odd thing to say. Had anyone said that to me a year ago, I'm not at all sure I would have known what a zombie was. Oh, I might have had some notion that they were strange and frightening - even a little funny. It all began in such an ordinary way...

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Crazy Credits

At the beginning, in small letters at the bottom of the screen is this disclaimer: The characters and events depicted in this photoplay are fictional. Any similarity to any persons, living, dead, OR POSSESSED, is entirely coincidental.

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Connections

Referenced in The Cheap Trick or Treat Halloween Ball (2006)

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Soundtracks

Etude in E Op.10 No.3
(1829-32) (uncredited)
Written by Frédéric Chopin
Played on piano by Tom Conway

User Reviews

One of the best of all B-Movies

"Jane Eyre" transferred to the West Indies with Voodoo, Witchcraft and the occasional Zombie thrown in. Jacques Tourneur's "I Walked with a Zombie" is considered one of the most poetic of all horror films and it's certainly that; it's a film full or beauty, (gorgeously shot in black and white by J. Roy Hunt), with its frights mostly understated. Like "Jane Eyre" it's more of a dark love story and it's beautifully done. Frances Dee is outstanding as the young nurse who comes to a West Indian island to care for the wife of Tom Conway in the Rochester role. The best sequences finds Dee taking her charge through a plantation at night to a voodoo ceremony followed by an even more frightening scene when the giant native Carrefour, (Darby Jones), comes to steal the wife. If this a B-Movie it is one of the best ever made.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 April 1943 (USA)

Also Known As:

I Walked with a Zombie

Filming Locations:

RKO Studios - 780 N. Gower Street, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

RKO Radio Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

69 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1