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I Walked with a Zombie

  • 19431943
  • ApprovedApproved
  • 1h 9m
IMDb RATING
7.1/10
12K
YOUR RATING
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • IMDbPro
Frances Dee in I Walked with a Zombie (1943)
Theatrical Trailer from RKO
Play trailer1:04
1 Video
41 Photos
  • Drama
  • Fantasy
  • Horror
A nurse is hired to care for the wife of a sugar plantation owner, who has been acting strangely, on a Caribbean island.A nurse is hired to care for the wife of a sugar plantation owner, who has been acting strangely, on a Caribbean island.A nurse is hired to care for the wife of a sugar plantation owner, who has been acting strangely, on a Caribbean island.
IMDb RATING
7.1/10
12K
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Jacques Tourneur
  • Writers
    • Curt Siodmak(screenplay)
    • Ardel Wray(screenplay)
    • Inez Wallace(original story)
  • Stars
    • Frances Dee
    • Tom Conway
    • James Ellison
Top credits
  • Director
    • Jacques Tourneur
  • Writers
    • Curt Siodmak(screenplay)
    • Ardel Wray(screenplay)
    • Inez Wallace(original story)
  • Stars
    • Frances Dee
    • Tom Conway
    • James Ellison
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 120User reviews
    • 95Critic reviews
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 3 nominations

    Videos1

    I Walked With A Zombie
    Trailer 1:04
    I Walked With A Zombie

    Photos41

    Frances Dee and Darby Jones in I Walked with a Zombie (1943)
    Tom Conway, James Bell, and Frances Dee in I Walked with a Zombie (1943)
    I Walked with a Zombie (1943)
    Christine Gordon in I Walked with a Zombie (1943)
    Frances Dee and Darby Jones in I Walked with a Zombie (1943)
    I Walked with a Zombie (1943)
    Frances Dee in I Walked with a Zombie (1943)
    Darby Jones in I Walked with a Zombie (1943)
    Frances Dee in I Walked with a Zombie (1943)
    I Walked with a Zombie (1943)
    Frances Dee and Christine Gordon in I Walked with a Zombie (1943)
    Frances Dee, Christine Gordon, and Darby Jones in I Walked with a Zombie (1943)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Frances Dee
    Frances Dee
    • Betsy Connellas Betsy Connell
    Tom Conway
    Tom Conway
    • Paul Hollandas Paul Holland
    James Ellison
    James Ellison
    • Wesley Randas Wesley Rand
    Edith Barrett
    Edith Barrett
    • Mrs. Randas Mrs. Rand
    James Bell
    James Bell
    • Dr. Maxwellas Dr. Maxwell
    Christine Gordon
    Christine Gordon
    • Jessica Hollandas Jessica Holland
    Theresa Harris
    Theresa Harris
    • Alma - Maidas Alma - Maid
    • (as Teresa Harris)
    Sir Lancelot
    Sir Lancelot
    • Calypso Singeras Calypso Singer
    Darby Jones
    Darby Jones
    • Carrefouras Carrefour
    Jeni Le Gon
    • Danceras Dancer
    • (as Jeni LeGon)
    Richard Abrams
    • Clementas Clement
    • (uncredited)
    Doris Ake
    • Black Friend of Meliseas Black Friend of Melise
    • (uncredited)
    Rita Christiani
    • Friend of Meliseas Friend of Melise
    • (uncredited)
    Vivian Dandridge
    • Melisseas Melisse
    • (uncredited)
    Alan Edmiston
    • Job Intervieweras Job Interviewer
    • (uncredited)
    Kathleen Hartsfield
    • Danceras Dancer
    • (uncredited)
    Norman Mayes
    • Bayardas Bayard
    • (uncredited)
    Jieno Moxzer
    Jieno Moxzer
    • Sabreuras Sabreur
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Jacques Tourneur
    • Writers
      • Curt Siodmak(screenplay)
      • Ardel Wray(screenplay)
      • Inez Wallace(original story)
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
    • All cast & crew

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Val Lewton did not like the article "I Walked With A Zombie" by Inez Wallace that had been optioned, so he adapted the story to fit the novel "Jane Eyre" because he felt the article's plot was too clichéd.
    • 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.
    • 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...

    • 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.
    • Connections
      Featured in Aweful Movies with Deadly Earnest: I Walked with a Zombie (1969)
    • Soundtracks
      O Marie Congo
      (uncredited)

      Traditional

      Performed by ensemble

      [Sung by the crew of the clipper ship]

    User reviews120

    Review
    Top review
    7/10
    Good, but flawed in my view
    The film opens with Betsy Connell (Frances Dee) being interviewed for a home-care nursing position. Oddly, she's asked during the interview if she believes in witchcraft. She gets the position, working for Paul Holland (Tom Conway), who is a wealthy plantation owner on the Caribbean island of St. Sebastian. Holland has hired her to take care of his wife, Jessica (Christine Gordon), who is in a perpetual state that resembles somnambulance. As Betsy spends more time on the island, she learns that most of the population believes in and practices voodoo, and she learns that Jessica had a relatively tumultuous past with Holland's family.

    This was director Jacques Tourneur and producer Val Lewton's second horror/thriller collaboration (the first being Cat People (1942) and the third The Leopard Man (1943)). For many viewers, it is their favorite of the three. While I like the film, I don't like it quite that much--I prefer Cat People. But still, I Walked With A Zombie ends up with a 7 out of 10 from me.

    The horror aspects of I Walked With A Zombie are really very minor. They're really present only as a kind of personification of the results of complicated romantic and familial relationships. Yes, there is an admirable "haunted house"-styled scene involving a spooky stairway and creepy, distant sounds, and yes, the trek to the voodoo "home fort" is well done, but this kind of material doesn't work as well for me here as it did in Cat People, because here it's not really the focus of the story. It's ancillary material with the function of helping to solve a very different kind of mystery. Also, much of the voodoo material (such as the actual ceremony) tends to be overrated in my opinion, although the final sequence related to the voodoo theme is appropriately eerie.

    But what works best for me in I Walked With A Zombie are the many dialogue-heavy scenes where the three main characters--Connell, Holland and Wesley Rand (James Ellison)--gradually learn more about one another, and where the "mystery" is gradually uncovered. A scene where a local "minstrel" sings part of the backstory while Connell and Rand are having a drink is exquisite, for example. Yet, even with this positive aspect, I never felt that the backstory was sufficiently explained. The mystery remains, and the moralizing bookends of the film do not help, either.

    Still, I Walked With A Zombie is definitely worth a watch, and based on the extravagant praise that many viewers utter towards the film, you might like it much better than I do.
    helpful•54
    17
    • BrandtSponseller
    • Jan 25, 2005

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • April 30, 1943 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Ich folgte einem Zombie
    • Filming locations
      • Sequit Point, Leo Carrillo State Beach - 35000 W. Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu, California, USA
    • Production company
      • RKO Radio Pictures
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 9 minutes
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

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